Mission: Epicocity and Enter The Donkey Box Set!

There are several milestones in the life of a kayaking video company, that let you know that you've made it. The first is when you create a kayaking video that your friends like. The second sign is when you create a video that actually make girls like you, regardless of your personality. The third and final milestone in the life of a kayaking video company is when you create a video and make a box set.

It brought a silent tear to my eye when I learned that Spencer Cooke (of the Effort.tv and LVM fame) contacted us about doing a box set with his video "Enter the Donkey."

"Enter the Donkey" is an incredible film that displays the best of kayaking jackassery. I know that's not really a word, but it's the only way to discribe the film. To see more just clik the link below.

Click here to check out the box set

Summer Camp!

Teaching at a summer camp can be stressful. Keeping track of all your campers, staying up all night with you’re friends and waking up at 6:30am every morning, campers whining…that being said, the fact that it’s fun every waking second is pretty worthy.

Passages is a day camp in Richmond, VA. It’s where I learned to kayak and where I’ve worked for almost 10 years. Every summer I pile into a town house in down town Richmond with 10 to 20 other staff for a month or two. It’s awesome. Granted, I’m a bit on the older end of the camp councilor curve. Many people think that 23 or 24 is a good time to get a real job, but I’ll keep coming back for a long time.

Random dance parties popping up a few times a week, late night karaoke, summer flings, and midnight kayaking trips are the norm. Sleep is pretty much non-existent as well as privacy and down time.

Here are some photos from my highlights. The first two are from running the Green with the paddlers I grew up with, some of whom had been wanting to run the Green for 5 years and finally got on it this season. Also during this trip, I got to run the left side of sunshine. Sunshine is one of the “big three” on the Green. It’s got more folklore and scary stories surrounding it to give any creeker nightmares, mostly because so many people have been running the Green for soooo long. Recently people have begun running the left side of the drop, where it looks like you’d break your back on the rock and get shoved into the wall. Amazingly, if you do it right, it seemed softer than the normal line.


Trip Jennings running Sunshine
View more steep creeking photos here



Trip Jennings running Sunshine
View more steep creeking photos here


Notice in the photo of Mike on Gorilla (another of the big three), that he’s paddling, not one of the shinny new Gus’s or Jefes that the staff has access to on the weekends, but a 12-foot long Corsica. Running hard rapids is one thing, but rocking them in a 12-foot long boat made over 10 years ago is rad, style points to Mike.


Mike on the Gorilla
View more steep creeking photos here


Next up is the Shoremaster. The floods of early July were nice enough to bring us some interesting things, new logjams, 10 inches of new sediment, and a L-shaped floating dock. So, we did the only thing a group of self-respecting boaters would…float it through the hardest rapid we could find, That happened to be the mighty Hollywood Rapids on the James River through Richmond, VA. It’s urban class III/IV whitewater right in-between skyscrapers, so it’s been run thousands of times, often by people who have no clue what their doing, and in all sorts of crafts. This is yet unconfirmed, but I’d like to venture that we got the first floating L-shaped dock descent of Hollywood Rapids.


Tackling Hollywood on the L-shaped dock
View more steep creeking photos here


Shoremaster on the James
View more steep creeking photos here



Riding Hollywood on the L-dock
View more steep creeking photos here


Sadly, all good things must come to an end, but as Karl said, the end of every good trip is just an invitation to plan the next one, so in that spirit, I will be heading to Mexico on Saturday the 29th to study Spanish in Queretaro. Stay tuned for updates from paddling with Eleanor Perry in Mex.

Peace,
Trip

Jackson, WY Premiere - July 29th

Mission: Epicocity will be playing at 7 PM inside of Rendezvous River Sports in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Snake River Brewery is kind enough to donate a keg for the event and all proceeds will go to the Snake River access fund.

EP will also be holding a big WAVESPORT demo on the nearby Snake River. We will meet at the West Table put-in at 10 AM and then paddling down to Kahuna wave. If you want to try out any of the boats or get some instruction then come on down and join us on the water.

EP

Environmental Protectional Agency THREATENS WATERWAYS!

Karl: Okay, two things make me poop:
1. coffee in the morning and,
2. being really mad.

We ran out of coffee this morning, but luckly AW sent this out via email. I can't believe how dumb our governement is, or how dumb they think we are, to let this happen. Please read this and take the time to let the EPA know that this will not happen.

Source: American Whitewater
https://secure2.convio.net/amr/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=SplashPage&id=819&autologin=true

Under the Clean Water Act, pumping polluted water from one body of water to another is illegal without a permit. The law (and common sense!) tell us that transferring dirty, contaminated water into clean water poses grave threats to public health, fish and wildlife.

Yet the Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to exempt water transfers from the Clean Water Act -- no matter how contaminated the transferred water is and even when it is being pumped into drinking water sources! This proposed rule undermines the Clean Water Act and compromises the health of our nation's lakes, rivers, streams, coasts and other waters.

The agency is accepting public comments until July 24. It is important that EPA receive as many comments as possible in opposition to its reckless policy proposal.

Please tell the EPA today that pumping polluted water into clean water without a permit must remain illegal under the Clean Water Act.

Go here to save your local waterway:
https://secure2.convio.net/amr/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=819

Mission: Epicocity Premiere - Missoula (7/22) @ 8PM

Hey ya'll,

We're doing another video premiere and WS demo in Missoula this weekend at EDGE OF THE WORLD.

Come on down this saturday to Brennan's wave in town to demo any of Wavesports' new boats. We'll be there all day from 12 - 7 PM and then we'll head over to Edge of the World for Montana's first premiere of Mission: Epicocity. Kegs pending...

Ep

Mission: Epicocity Premiere - Aquabatics, Calgary (7/15)

Aquabatics in Calgary is hosting a premiere of "Mission: Epicocity" and a Wavesport Demo on the 15th. The Demo is going to feature all of Wavesport's new boats starting at 10 O'clock at the Kananaskis Playpark. WS boats will be available free of cost all day.

After the demo we will be heading over to Aquabatics for a few beers and a showing of EP's new video "Mission: Epicocity" around 7PM.

See you there.
EP

South Silver, California

Conor getting a handful of silicon on Plastic Surgery

On Monday we met up with legend Macy Burnham, Ben, and Ryan for a little run on South Silver. If you’ve never been there, then you are missing a classic California amusement park.

South Silver lies in between Lake Tahoe and Sacramento, and it houses one of the best miles of whitewater in the world. The best indicator of the creek is that the put in is a 200 foot slide dubbed Autobahn for the speed paddlers reach at the bottom. Past that paddlers are treated to rapids such as Skyscraper, Off Ramp, and Plastic Surgery.


Conor taking the Off Ramp

If you’ve never been to South Silver then you are truly missing one of California’s classic runs.

Unfortunately good things never last long enough, and South Silver access is being threatened. While we where there the Forrest service approached us about the increasing number of kayakers coming to South Silver. They don’t want to restrict access (even though the portage is on private land), but they are concerned with the safety of everybody if the numbers continue to increase.

So stay safe, and remember to be good stewards to the river, the environment, and everybody else around you. We’re all out there to have a good time.


Karl on Plastic Surgery

Five Lakes Creek, 1st D

Five Lakes Creek involves 2,000 vertical feet of climbing to the top of Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, then bushwacking 1,000 feet down the backside to the river. Though this may not be the best way to get to the river, our indecisive group: Rush, Charlie, Mac, Merlin and I (behind the camera) were tired of not kayaking and wanted to get on the water. It took us four hours to hike the four miles over the ski resort and down the backside. Luckily, we ended up getting to the river just before it became totally dark.



Five Lakes
All photos courtesy of Epicocity
View more steep creeking photos here


We found a sweet little campsite next to the river and checked the flow and guessed it to be about 200 cfs. Once settled at camp, we cracked open the Brazilian liquor-in-can called Boshitzna, (or something similar) turned on portable speakers, and partook in your other overnighter customs. All courtesy of Mac I might add.

We woke up and paddled some class III for a mile or so until we came to the first gorge. It had three cracky ledge style drops so we were stoked to see some whitewater. After pulling a log out of the first drop we all successfully gave her.



60-foot Slide...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


Next rapid was a stout one, a twisting 10-footer that flowed directly into a 40-footer. The drop itself looked pretty good, but there were nasty pockets on both sides of the landing and no real way to set up safety. After everyone eyed it for a while Rush stepped up and dropped it in a semi-successful manner. He had a great line but when he resurfaced he was pushed right and momentarily pinned on the outcropping of rocks forming the river right pocket. Teetering in between washing out of the cauldron and recirculating back into the pocket, he fought his way into the outflow of the cauldron in a commendable manner.



Marginally Scoutable...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


Next was a clean 15-footer followed by a fun, pillowed out rapid. Around a couple more bends the river changed in character. The river gorged up and we knew from the topos that this is where most of the gradient was.

First rapid we came to was awesome! It was a boulder maze with vertical walls on each side, which all led directly into a narrow slide. Below this slide was another cool 15-foot boof, which we all ran in a narrow slot on the right. Then we came around the corner and found a marginally scoutable drop, which looked good to go if you moved from right to left. After probing it, the rapid turned out to be a little bigger than expected. After this drop we came on a burly 60-foot twisting slide that only Charlie ran. My photo doesn’t do this drop justice because it turns to the river right and keeps dropping. Once he got in the meat of it, he made it look about as full on as it really is.



A Narrow Slide...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


After this rapid the river dropped into some super gnar mank and we all portaged high until we found a good spot to get back in. So we dropped back in to the gorge and paddled a quarter mile until we came upon "The Beast." This fall consisted of a 25-footer with a death cave on the left wall that lead directly into a 30-foot slide, which dropped off of a 40-footer at the bottom. The drop is definitely runnable, but we were all pretty beat at this point from all the hiking, portaging and paddling. One day someone will probably run this drop.



The Beast...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


A half mile of some more mank and we arrived at Hell Hole Reservoir. Now all we were left with was five miles of flat water across the lake. The lake didn’t claim any swimmers and we all ended up making back to Auburn in time for some quality burritos.

Five Lakes is an adventure and is worthy for someone who may be training for a triathlon. For me though, it will be a one-timer. The amount work it takes doesn't really outweigh the run. There are some quality rapids; you just have to be willing to put up with some mank, flat water and mountain climbing to get to them.

Skookumchuck Demo!

Skook's going to be raging this weekend, and EP will have a whole rack of Wavesport boats available for demo. Come down to the wave and huck your meet in a Project or ZG. The high tide will be at 5PM so expect to paddle down around 1 PM, with the wave getting sick around 2ish.

See you there.

07/08 4:55 PDT 13.91 knots Max Flood
07/09 5:39 PDT 15.25 knots Max Flood

Mission: Epicocity Premiere - Seattle Raft & Kayak (7/7)

For those of you that haven't heard yet, Seattle Raft & Kayak is hosting a Mission: Epicocity Premiere and Wavesport Demo this Friday (7/7).

For the Wavesport demo we will all meet at "the store" in Index, WA at 10 AM. Then we'll do the run on the Skykomish with all the Wavesport boats available for demo, free of cost.

After the demo we are all going to rally back to Seattle Raft & Kayak for a big premiere of EP's new video.

See you all there,
EP

SurfNV

After a late night of partying in Sacramento, we packed the wagon up and headed east for the land of hot sun, slot machines, and SurfEnvy: Reno, NV.

We cruised around town looking for the play park, but all we could find was casino after casino. Finally a homeless guy gave us directions to the park, and we quick located the put-in/start of the carnival.



If you’ve never been to Reno then you are missing out on two things:
1. Endless rows of casinos
2. Ridiculous amounts of tuber, swimmers, and rafters going through a play park.

I’m not kidding when I say that we couldn’t get though one full ride in any hole, without being assaulted by somebody riding an inner tube, a lost flip-flop, or an empty beer can. I’ve also never seen so many people enjoying the water, nor as nice of a river park. Reno has invested a ton of money in the park and the features, and have done an awesome job.

On Sunday we held a big WS demo in Hole #3 which was adjacent to an all day concert in the park. One thing that I never got used to was an audience giving a round of applause for a big loop. I mean, yelling and whooping is one thing, but the spectators would actually clap for big tricks.



All in all Reno rocked, and it definitely goes on my list of favorite paddling places.

Sac Town

We kicked off the Mission: Epicocity Premiere Tour in Sacramento at California Canoe & Kayak. I love doing premiere tours because I get to travel the country and visit bad ass shops like CCK. The boys at the shop rolled out the red carpet (and their beer budget) to kick off the premiere tour.



California Canoe & Kayak...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


We pulled in to the CCK parking lot after an all night drive from Eugene, Oregon. We met up with the shop guys and then headed down to the American for a Wavesport boat demo and a little low water beat down in the hole. The water dropped out on us turning Chili Bar into a sticky pourover. You could do huge loops, but they usually finished off in power windowshades. After a few hours we decided to fire up the long boats and race the Diesels downstream.



Getting ready to demo...



After the demo we headed back to CCK for a big Bar-b-que, video premiere, and drink-a-thon. There are a lot of good shops out there, and there are a few great shops. CCK is one of those rare shops that knows kayaking is not just about selling boats, but about supporting the kayaking community and partying like rockstars.



Sacramento's Wave Sport Demo...



Big thanks to Jeff, Nick, Ryan, the Germans, and everybody else that showed up for the premiere and demo.

EP's New Trailer

Well we've done it.

After many hours of spray painting (and several hundreddead brain cells later) we have finnished EP's new trailer. It's a 1970's International 3/4 ton truck bed converted into the greatest kayaking trailer ever.

Keep watching this blog to see when EP will be hauling this bad boy to a "Mission: Epicocity" premiere near you.

peace

The Mighty James

On Saturday the 24th I hopped on a plane in Portland, Oregon headed for Richmond, Virginia. I was ready to leave school, unusually cold weather and visit home for a few weeks, so flying back for five weeks of teaching kayaking at Passages Adventure Camp was a welcome change. I had heard talk of super low levels really early in the season, so I figured the kayaking would be mediocre at best, but, I was pleasantly surprised.


Paddling the Might James River...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


Richmond is a unique place, a city of over a million people, and class III/IV whitewater running right through town, honestly in-between skyscrapers. The Mighty James River is where I learned to kayak as a 12-year old camper at Passages. When it rains hard in western Virgina, it turns into a raging class IV/V big water run with fun play and amazing access.

On Monday the 26th, the forecast was for rain and the river was forecasted to go from 1,000 cfs, mid-summer low, to 60,000 cfs, usually a winter high. I didn’t believe it. I told all my friends that work at the summer camp not to get excited, NOAA had to be wrong, the river wasn’t about to multiply its flow by 60 times. I was wrong.





At 1,000 cfs, or 3.5 feet, the James isn’t so mighty, more of a bony place to learn your roll and perfect dodging rocks, cartwheeling and running class III. At the peak flow in this flood, 16.8 feet, the James is half a mile across with multiple channels. There are eight miles of whitewater, the first five feel like an ocean of standing waves with three memorable surf spots with blunts, cartwheels and everything but air possible. The highlight is the Z-dam, a river wide wave with space for hundreds of kayakers right next to a very popular scenic drive. The best part of the wave can be cartwheeled, looped, blunted, you name it, but is near impossible to shoot without a helicopter.





The bottom three are steeper at close to 24 feet per mile and include many dams, bridge supports, islands, and drops. Hollywood rapid, the biggest and most famous, is a 100 yard section with three man-eating holes big enough that a few people go in and never come out each year, usually not kayakers. The move is to ferry as hard as you can 50 yards from the bank and last eddy to avoid one monster hole, then paddle as fast as you can back to avoid the second and scariest hole, then back out to the center of the river to avoid the last.






At 16 feet we were able to run a fun boof, which is usually dry due to a 15-foot diversion dam. It’s actually made by a concrete walkway. Notice the handrails in the photo of Van Null boofing.

Hope for more floods!
Trip