David Suzuki, Rachel Carson and Argon

I was listened to KDVS on my way home. They were playing this installment of the Bioneers Series by geneticist and television producer, David Suzuki.

It was part of the lecture series that the popular Northern California radio station presents "Restoring Life's Fabric, The Biological Bottom Line: Is the Economy the Most Important Thing?"

Canadian author, David Suzuki says the economy is just a subset of ecology. Drawing on native wisdom and state-of-the-art science, he vividly demonstrates that what we do to what surrounds us, we do to ourselves, and suggests how to restore the fabric of the biosphere.

That said, it was interesting talk about the "Green Movement" in Canada, and the battle that rages on that originally began with

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring published in 1962.

Yes, interesting until he started a riff about components of our respiration. The gases of our respiration comes into focus. The lecture became fascinating. His revelation about Argon was amazing; in that, Argon is a "Nobel" gas that forever is unchanged and unchanging.

Therefore, we statistically are breathing with every breath, the Argon inhaled and exhaled by Genghis Khan, Jesus, Buddha, Charles Manson, Bob Marley, John Wayne Gacy, Richard Nixon, Flipper and every Tyrannosaurus Rex that ever roamed the earth.

With that, you could say eeeeew! Or you could say that Argon is the gas that binds all living, respiring organisms together... not quite like sharing spit... but, not unlike sharing an old toothbrush amongst an Appalachian family of 16 (without the disease and stench). Except, Argon remains noble.

It is unchanged, un-modified, un-polluted, and impervious as well as indifferent to the vagaries of time, weather, and economies.

In a sense...Argon lives the life of a Deity as it floats effortlessly through our snotty nostrils and rests upon our "progrenitor and stem cells; and then assess cells from three sites and structural tissues within lung: 1) airway cells in bronchial mucosa (epithelial cells, mucus cells and glands, ciliated cells, and neuro-endocrine cells); 2) alveolar unit cells (Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 (Brush) cells and fibroblasts in the interstitium); and 3) pulmonary vascular cells comparing endothelial cells from different vascular structures, smooth muscle cells and adventitial fibroblasts." (Note from editor: uhh... is there a doctor in da house?)

"Helpful medical link about our lungs" ...giving us nothing but full lungs and a distribution of the other good and noxious gases that fill our atmosphere...

Argon, the Noble Gas or Argon, the omni-present and maybe, all-knowing? It's been around forever and the element will never leave.

All in all, the writers of the series "Lost" missed an opportunity. The "Smoke Monster" could have been Argon; the Noblest of the Noble gases.

Thanks to Big Poppah Jah for this "random" post!

(Note from editor: I beg to differ; the "Smoke" was a flawed character and Argon is pure nobility!)

SPRING RAFTING TRIPS for 2012

Spring turns it up a notch: BAM! (This post is from 2009)

From Spring 2009 Whitewater Rafting photos

Sun, Rain, Snow, and Flowing California Whitewater Rivers!
Day One of Spring... travel time!

From Spring 2009 Whitewater Rafting photos

Day Two of Spring, we hit the South Fork and North Fork American Rivers. Some adventurous couples ran the Chili Bar section of the South Fork American with Drew and Booty, and a bachelor party ran the North Fork with Justin, Alex H. and Greg D.

From Spring 2009 Whitewater Rafting photos

The flows were perfect and the weather cooperated. That night in camp at Camp Lotus we had students from UC San Diego that came up early for the NoFo on Sunday.

From Spring 2009 Whitewater Rafting photos

Day Three of Spring, we picked up the UCSD students at Camp Lotus and drove to the North Fork American...then the rain started... and by the time we reached Weimar and Colfax, it was snowing BIG FAT FLAKES of Spring snow!!!!! The North Fork American was 1,700 CFS (cubic feet per second) ...perfect... and the snow turned to rain. (UC Berkeley wha 'sup?)

From Spring 2009 Whitewater Rafting photos

By the time Justin and Alex hit the takeout at Ponderosa Way, the sun was out and the golden California Poppies were open and blazing orange: a beautiful California Spring on amazing California Whitewater!

From Spring 2009 Whitewater Rafting photos

We're now 18 days into our season and we've been on the river 15 of those days, and we've run the North Fork American and South Fork American repeatedly. What's next? Who's next? Back to it!

From Spring 2009 Whitewater Rafting photos

So far... Country Mike, Drew, Booty, Robin, Nick, Duff, Greg D., Chad, Bird, Alex H., Chris Z., RoBo, and Justin have answered the call... so where are you Saul, Jonny, Jason, Meg, Mag, K-Dawg, Rob, Wolf, D-Rex, Mac, Theo, Tom, Kyle, Ninja Mike, Disco E, Cool J, and Heffe?

From Spring 2009 Whitewater Rafting photos

Hehehe ... bring it.

... stay tuned... shhhhhh Triple Crown on American River next week!

GUIDE POST from Berkeley (Bezerkeley)

Well, now that I have a little time in between working all day on the river, and writing papers all day for school, I figure I will take a break to briefly document some of last summer’s better adventure rafting trips. The year started off very well for the W.E.T. crew, completing the 2 day run of Generation and Giant Gap on the North Fork American River. Along with several other W.E.T. guides, notably J. Orban and Data Dax, we made the 5 mile hike into the Generation Gap with some Kayaker assistance (Heffe, fem Alex, and The Wolf), and put on at a perfect spring flow on a perfect spring day.



The Generation Gap has been run multiple times before in rafts, but was still a very challenging class V run, involving a few good portages, some quality boxed-in canyons, and Wolf-scouted rapids called “lefty lefty, scrapey scrapey.” (Note from WET staff: LOL!) On the second day we reached the confluence with the North Fork of the NoFo, and got a healthy boost in water to run the Generation Gap with somewhere a little under 2000 cfs. (For the record the Kayakers portaged Locomotive, and we styled it in the raft with Orban guiding). The run finished with no mishaps, a few sketchy backwards moments, and a bunch of tired, cold, hungry, and happy guides.



The highlight of summer boating was without question Wolf and my descent of Upper Cherry Creek. With little argument about attempting to make the six to ten mile hike, and nine mile high Sierra run, The Wolf and I set out in the Toyota searching for steep drops, big hits, and granite super highways. After receiving great beta from veteran rafters such as Guy (“you’re going to die”), we were fired up to check out what the upper Tuolumne tributary had to offer.

Along with us, and central to the success of the trip, was Fem Alex and adventure dog Marley, who provided quality ground support and photography. To my best knowledge, Upper Cherry has been run maybe three other times in rafts in the last five or so years. While we were not the first raft to make it down the run, I am almost positive that we did make the first decent in a bucket boat. The Wolf Special, a 10 foot, superlight, all black, two thwart, PVC bucket boat, was the perfect inflatable to boat this run in.



We set out early in the morning with a heavy load and a long day ahead. Before leaving on the trip I struck a deal with Wolf, where I would carry all gear for the trip (food, sleeping bags, first aid, throwbags, repair, top-off pump, ect.), if he would carry the boat. Good to his word, Wolf hauled the raft with a camstrap like a purse, while I managed the hike in with a hefty drybag load. Without any major incidents we hit the river around 3:00pm, and then made the hike up into Cherry Bomb gorge to begin our run.

Due to anticipated lower flows, we opted out of hiking into the section above Cherry Bomb because we didn’t want add miles of additional portages to our trip. As expected, we had a fairly low flow, which made for a great amount of water for exploring the run. Our first set of rapids involved a 200+ yard slide, into a boxed-in teacup section. Luckily both Wolf and I have had extensive slide and waterfall practice up on South Silver Creek, so we were fairly prepared for how the GI Jane bucket boat would handle down the drops. Even with our foreknowledge, I think we were both surprised at how deep you can go in a raft when you’re full of water going over teacups. After an extremely long first day, we camped just below the drop known as “Dead Bear,” and enjoyed a spectacular high Sierra evening.



The next morning we awoke like little kids on their birthdays to about a mile and half of read and run class 4+ slides and small drops. The highlight of day two was probably a 35 ft. off-vertical falls, into a picturesque, Shangri-La pool. This one was so fun, Wolf and Fem Alex hauled the boat back up the granite cliff for another run.

The entire trip went without mishaps. While there are several significant portages on the run, (dependent on flow), we were probably able to boat about sixty percent on the water, which was much better than what I had in mind when we set out. We managed to make it to Cherry Lake around 5pm just in time for a healthy three mile paddle across the flat-water. To top the run off Wolf ran the seven mile shuttle up the ridge to our cars, cruising in to pick us up at 9:30pm, just in time to make the 1:00am Denny’s crowd in Jacksonville, and our 8:00am South Fork American rafting trips the next morning. All in all it was an outrageous summer full of good times on the water.

Hope everyone had a good rest this fall and winter, so we can gear up and go big this coming spring. Also mad props to Wolf’s Tunnel Chute flip for some of the best rafting photos I’ve ever seen.



Note: Thank you Alex for the memories! WET crew is ready for rafting! Cya all on the water!

Family, Love and Tradition

Family.

Tradition.

Love.

Namaste.

Our connections to one another have never been stronger and never more pertinent.

The nuclear family has changed for sure and for ever and that is a very good thing. Our iconoclastic, cellular, and micro-concept-manifest destiny that embodied the Ozzie & Harriet wax-statue family values that stereotyped our collective visions of the American Family for too many decades has been shattered and with good cause: Change Happens.

Our families have changed for good. Our families have become larger, more diverse, and non-traditional. That non-tradition had become a new tradition of richness and invigorating freshness.

Thanksgiving 2008 is a mixed bag of emotion that ranges from the economy to Barack Obama to the choice to serve a Vegan meal instead of the flesh of foul. Let's celebrate what we have become and what we are yet to be...

This year our family has diversified, flexed, re-focused and moved toward new frontiers while "embracing change". We will meet together this Thursday with a brilliant conflagaration of individuals that bring their unique talents, thoughts, gifts, and needs to the magic table of "Fun Castle" with a bounty of food, drink, music, art, and conversation. Sure we'll talk about whitewater rafting, trips, music, events, the economy, jobs, and fun/fun/fun ....but, we do it together as a diverse and flexible family of friends, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, cousins, and mystery members ...Thanks to all.

Namaste.

(Hail to the flesh...fowl and faux!)
Check white water gift certificates for a great family gift!
And don't forget the rafting teens this year...
Oh yeh, t-shirts in the online rafting store.

HALLOWEEN International

The sunlight is fading, and the darkness grows as we prepare for the Winter Solstice and the longest night and shortest day…but first Halloween!

Halloween has officially (I'm calling it) the biggest celebration in the World. Yes… true. Christmas is big, but it's still a secular holiday. New Years is big as well if you don't count the Lunar New Year celebrated by China and many of its neighbors (except the Hmong and Lo Mien that celebrate the New Year in late Fall). Carnival is huge; however, it too is secular and limited. Halloween is everywhere! East to West and in-between, we as a World now celebrate and participate in the rituals of Halloween (dressing-up, sweets, food, drink, parties)…. what's not to like?

Yes, there are those remnants of Druid rituals, All Hallows Night, All Saint's Day etc. brought to us in America by Irish immigrants after the Potato Famine; however, the Melting Pot that is America distilled the World's rituals into the unique celebration of Halloween that has spread to the middle, near, and far east and expanded the pre-existing celebrations of Europe.

We all love Halloween for what it is: an opportunity to be something/someone different and to celebrate with our children, family and friends.

So get your mask on, touch up your make-up, stock-up on candy, buy some eggs to chuck and don't forget to vote!

Psst….this year's secret, best-ever costume: a River Guide! Think of the possibilities: dreadlocks, spandex, poly-pro, big shorts, helmets, facial hair, thrift-store shirts, knives, PFD's, sandals, bad hair, tattoos, hemp chokers, and chipped teeth (or no-teeth!).

I'll be at Java Lounge to see two hot bands: Sucks (check out SacBee Sucks review) and Fatty Acid!

I'll leave you with this:
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
Oscar Wilde

Fall Rafting and End of Summer

We've had an amazing rafting season of California rivers that included the Rafting Triple Crown, all kinds of guide and rafting parties, Music, P.O.W. event, and river travel!

All the rafting activity wraps up now as we head into deep Autumn and Winter. Fall rafting will continue on the American River white water. Here's some pictures of rivers I took during some current rafting trips this past week.

Fall photos

We've had our first rain and a dusting of snow on top off the Sierra's as the rivers calm down and the preparations begin for the 2009 rafting season and a season of snowboarding and travel. 2009 is expected to be even better than ever with some new additions to the W.E.T. River Trips menu of trip itineraries and activities and the prognosticators are predicting an above-normal winter of rain and snow ...nice!

Some of the W.E.T. crew are headed out to new adventures with Mac going to Brazil, Chris Z. to Panama, Booty & Justin to Chile after a stop in Costa Rica, D-Rex (Ryan) will be ice-climbing and back-country skiing in Colorado, K-Dawg is expected to make the patrol roster at Sierra at Tahoe, Nate is remaining King of Patrol at Kirkwood, Jon is headed to the Caribbean after finishing up college in Maine and Utah, Kyle is getting married, Maggie is surfing a desk while stalking Mt. Rose daily, Greg D. is headed to the Canyon, Country Mike is having a baby, Saul is becoming an urban (Newport) farmer by establishing sustainable agriculture on his patio, Wolf and A2 are headed to Mexico after prepping for the GRE, Alex is finishing up at UC Berkeley, Jason is deep into fatherhood, Jonny is plotting a come-back, Meg is missing Cali, Mike S. and Mogli are honing their respective Ninja skills, Big Job Rob will be patrolling Sierra at Tahoe, Andrew will be blazing new trails in the entertainment media, Bird flew to Ashland, and Heffe is in love!

Fall brings changes and challenges...the rivers, the mountains, the oceans, and the guides of W.E.T. River Trips are out there soaking it up and prepping for the next big season of California Rafting beginning in just 4 short months.

It's beautiful outside... enjoy and think of that sweet cold, clear spring run-off and all that it brings to the rivers!

MOD MUSIC for RAFTING PARTY

Events, parties and everything California, the sun is shining here! Our rafting trips are going full bore now with daily trips available from now until the end of September. Group rafting trips are being organized everywhere, and they are coming to go rafting with W.E.T. River Trips. Woot people for bachelor/bachelorette parties, birthdays, anniversaries, reunions... you name it. Cap that party or event with a whitewater rafting trip with us... make it truely memorable.

Our young blogging staff sent up this cool list of places on the net to check out bands, music, up-coming shows around Northern California. Organize your group, load up on music, come check out the shows and head up to the river. California love... it's our lifestye.

Yet another amazing Sacramento House Show the other night featuring a very special guest percussionist hailing from Pennsylvania. Taysuya Nakatani was creating some of the most amazing sounds I have ever heard. All by himself, he creates music with a drum kit that you could carry in a large backpack aside from the 3' gong.

The nights other performances included Kevin Corcoran who is also a solo improv drummer worth checking out. Kevin and Chad Stockdale have a seven-inch that they recorded together on clear yellow vinyl that is definitely worth the loot. And my buddies from Hexlove winding up the night with an amazing loop pedal, keys and drums... fun fun. It was a good night... woot!

I went to an amazing party the other night at the Horse Cow Gallery to check out my girlfriend in a fashion show featuring local designer Amy Hemmens among others. There was also live music from Night Nurse, the beautifully noisy brainchild of Sacramento's own Hailey Chase featuring one of my favorite Sacramento saxaphone dogs Chad Stockdale.


Now, everybody must get blown away by Animal Collective's newest release, the Water Curses EP which is being released by Domino Records on vinyl and cd.

If you are living near Sacramento, you should also be very excited about all the awesome shows coming up in the next couple of months. We are soooo lucky that bands such as Mutators, Shearing Pinx, Modern Creatures, Mae Shi, Pre, Uneasy, and Magick Daggers are going to be passing through our city.

Also be expecting a new EP from Prints out soon... I think it's going to have a DFA remix on it.

MORE MUSIC RESOURCES FOR RAFTING TRIPS:

white rainbow

http://www.myspace.com/whiterainbowwhiterainbow

yume bitsu

http://www.myspace.com/goldenvessyl

dirty projectors

http://www.myspace.com/dirtyprojectors

aids wolf

http://www.myspace.com/aidswolf

XBXRX

http://www.myspace.com/xbxrx

yacht

http://www.myspace.com/yacht

lucky dragons

http://www.myspace.com/luckydragons

night wounds

http://www.myspace.com/nightwounds

twin crystals

http://www.myspace.com/twincrystals

shearing pinx

http://www.myspace.com/shearingpinx

mutators

http://myspace.com/mutators

modern creatures

http://myspace.com/moderncreatures

Oh yeh, WhiteLite, our fav music blogger has a cool announcement: Mutators and Modern Creatures are playing with WhiteLite's band at Funcastle on the May 4th! Congrats, dude... I'll be there.

California Rafting and Music

Yo! On my way to rafting trips, I have to listen to my tunes. Especially if you are heading for the Class 4 stuff like the North Fork American... so close to home! If you live in California's great valley around state capitol Sacramento, then I'm sure you know how hard it is to purchase good music around here without having to order from online distros and such.

For me it's really annoying, 'cause I love to buy new music fairly regularly. So to get my fix, it usually requires making a trip to the Bay Area to dig around in the bins at Amoeba Records store in San Francisco and Berkeley. I recently found some great albums for super cheap. Titles such as CARIBOU's new album "Andorra" is out now on Merge Records and DAN DEACON's "Spider Man of the Rings" on Carpark Records. Both albums are totally amazing if you are into electronic music or trance.

Another outstanding release from last year is the MAGIK MARKERS album "Boss" on Ecstatic Peace. This is a band that I can't get enough of and is highly recommended especially to fans of SONIC YOUTH. Some other albums to check out are BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW's "Dandeloin Gum", Japanese band OOIOO's "Taiga", and for the noisier side of life, check out anything and everything on Load Records; especially KITES.

RESOURCES FOR WHITE WATER RAFTING MUSIC from W.E.T. River Trips:

California Whitewater Rafting Blog

Myspace Music Friends

Dan Deacon

Ecstatic Peace

Black Moth Super Rainbow

Load Records

Caribou

OOIOO

Peace
WhiteLite:::: more rafting music coming from my homies at W.E.T. River Trips!

ps! WhiteLite just introduced us to Zach Nelson from albums Who's Your Favorite Son God, HexLove and Prints! He is sooo ridiculously cute! Yoko Tuttle from Fatal Insomia says of his music "This sounds like right now!" Woot!

California Salmon in February?

UPDATE about a recent W.E.T. River Trips Rafting Adventure
Country Mike wrote:

I hope all went well and everyone came home fine. As long as you did not have Mogely (spelling) splitting his thumb into pieces I am sure life was good! Is Sollie still ambiguously hetero? When we hitting the NoFo!!!!???? WHITEWATER!

Country Mike
Here's Sollie's first webcam from the helmet... I got dizzy watching it!




DAY 1: Sollie arrives at Sacramento International Airport at 1:00 PM
Meets Heffe at warehouse to load after picking up the W.E.T. rafting truck
Bird goes Frisbee golfing with Wolf (freshly back from Ecuador)
I ride my motorcycle home from Oakland to beat the traffic
I lane-split the entire ride and arrive at Save-Mart at 5:15 PM to meet Sollie for a food buy
Final pack and load
We then meet up with Bird, Wolf, and Heffe at my house
Waited until 7pm for Justin and his Bro stuck in traffic coming from UC Berkeley
Little Alex was stuck in the same traffic so Justin stayed back to wait for Little Alex
(He was carrying Bird and his Bro Brian as well)
We agreed to meet at Petro on I-5
Petro became an opportunity for Heffe to drink a 32 oz Miller High Life
We had ample opportunities to shop the wares at Petro...

Sollie bought a fluorescent orange fleece "Elmer Fudd" hat. Justin showed up at 9 pm and he off-loaded Bird to my truck after Bird power-smoked at least four cigarettes and bought his body weight in candy. We rolled out of Petro with Sollie, Heffe, Wolf, and Bird in the Dodge and Justin, Brian, and Little Alex following in the shiny, Black Toyota (important detail for later). We drove Hwy 299 to Hwy 101 (with an obligatory stop in Willow Creek and the tempting prospect of buying the only piece of Chester-Fried chicken: a cold wing). We arrived at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park at 3:30 AM... stoked.

Day 2: I roused the camp up with some coffee
(hot water for Heffe & Sollie...Metro-tea boyz)
We head to the Oregon Hole Run

After the boys did the run twice with multiple swimmers and a near flip at the Hole, the consensus dictated a quick run on the South Fork and a chance to run class 4+ "Grandma's Pantry." All went well and smooth except for Big Poppa getting in the grill of a local "Game Warden" who thought it prudent to educate our guides on commercial operations and permits. He left by telling me to "talk to the tire" under his breath. He refused to clarify his comments as he loaded into his navy blue Silverado. (nice, Big Poppa... bite the hand that feeds us...)

That night we had a fat-feast and Little Alex and Wolf played guitars while Justin and Brian drummed along. Heffe was sick; however, he made a run at the Early Times until Bird thought he was at a Rave with Disco Eric and he dropped a glow stick into the bottle. Before shutting down, we all agreed to get up early and make a run to Nordheimer to put down a river run before dark through class 5 Freight Train.

Sun: Out of camp by 8:45 AM without a problem
Headed south to Orick
Took a Wolf-inspired Short cut to the Klamath River via Bald Mountain Road (why oh, why does anyone follow Wolf on these short cuts?)

This is an incredible road. Views of everything and everywhere unfolded of huge redwoods, amazing meadows, and the bonus of an un-tracked snowfield on the summit that Sollie made a first D on in Heffe's kayak with a last ditch bail-out 10 yards from the tree line at 30mph. Well done. We continued on a single track dirt road lined by snow fences getting both trucks filthy...that's why I go with White (remember the shiny new black truck). We hit a detour about five miles from the end of the line (we knew it was a possibility) and we took a detour through Hoopa and back out to the Klamath.

The boys put in at Nordheimer at 2:30 and made a run to "Freight Train." At "Whirling Dervish" the newbie-rookies opted out and Sollie, Justin, Little Alex, and Wolf took on new "Freight Train" and nailed it. Camp was awesome with a great fire and a tepid scuffed bottle of Early Times floating a dark-stick.

Monday: Woke up to find everything covered in ice
About 20 degrees Farenheit
Butler run on Cal Salmon with a put-in at 35 degrees

Everyone nailed it and we were on the road by 11:45 AM. We delivered Sollie to the Sacramento International Airport at 5:15 PM in time for his flight back to Newport Beach.

About 950 miles, 3 days, five different river runs, sunny skies, and a quarter full plastic, half-gallon bottle of Early times for the warehouse refrigerator. A great Winter rafting trip that will be hard to match or beat. We'll try.

Trains hittin' Berkeley... next stop Emeryville... see ya. North Fork American in 2 weeks puppies!

SHINY NEW BLACK TRUCK UPDATE: When we made a quick stop in Orleans for gas on the way to the California Salmon... Sollie, writes into the muddy side of Justin's truck. "I wish my girlfriend was as dirty as this truck!" in 6" letters not knowing (because Sollie rarely is in-touch with the pragmatic, real property aspects of life and the respect for possessions that was ruined by his upbringing in a hippie commune) that his letters would be etched into Justin's formerly shiny new black paint... uhmmm ... Justin was stoked, yet calm.

I'm fairly sure that Justin washed his truck Monday night.

Posted by Big Poppa w/ whitewater photos, rafting video and side notes by crew of W.E.T. River Trips

Tunnel Chute Rapid vs Gear Boats

Last summer, brought copious rafting adventures my way. A late June South Silver run with some of the W.E.T. River Trips crew was definitely a highpoint; the bedrock slides and pour-overs surpassed all expectations and left me itching to get back there for some more teacups. In another instance, I was lucky enough to have a chance to run the bulk of the lower class 4 section of the Middle Fork American at a healthy fish flow. The 350cfs experience— complete with a California sunset— was a high point in my time on the Middle Fork American River.

While moments like these are personally significant, I was also able to take part in some pioneering raft lines last summer as well. On the Middle Fork American the infamous Tunnel Chute is an ever-changing rapid.

Rarely run in the rivers early commercial history, the rapid has become a staple of the Middle Fork over the years. Recently, Middle Fork legends such as Mack have pushed the evolution of Tunnel Chute even further by running the once class VI “left” line in paddle boats. Since the high water in 2006, the left line at the Chute has become more class 4+ ish, eroding into a fun, super-steep, 20-yard slide that kicks off a six-footer at the bottom into the pool. While still consequential, this line has been run successfully by many paddle boats.


So what’s next?

I have always been a little anxious about running Tunnel Chute in a gear boat because it is kind of like driving a bus on skies down a snow hill. You have lots of momentum, no turning, and no breaks. To say the least, the Chute has caused problems for guides in the past.

So this year I thought about stepping it up a notch and going where (to my knowledge) no one had gone before in a gear boat, and headed over to the left line of the Chute. I had done my homework, and knew more or less what to expect, the entry move, and what the locked-in downhill slide felt like. In July I made my 1st D in an oarboat and had great success.

Probably the hardest part of the rapid is the entry where there are a few guard rocks that could cause problems if the bumped you in a wrong direction. Other than these few rocks, once you make the squeeze into the top of the slide, the boat gets right into the rapid and its over before you know it.

As an added bonus, the heft of a loaded gear boat usually sends you fairly deep on the landing as well.

Probably the most hazardous aspect of the rapid in an oar frame is watching your oars in the tight river channel, but this is really no different than the normal “right” line at Tunnel Chute. Needless to say the left chute goes. I had the satisfaction of running the left a few more times last summer with similar success;— a highlight run occurring during another outfitter's scout of the Chute. Since last summer, the only other person I have ever heard of attempting the oar-frame descent, is the world renowned Wolf, who had a successful run in August. I think the more water the better for this line. When the gauge got down to 11.4, it becomes pretty boney.

In the future, it could be possible that the Chute’s left line becomes more commonly run for both paddle boats and gear boats. I look at it somewhat like the “fish ladder” skirt of Rainy Falls on the Rogue River. While I could be the first to run in a gear boat, I don’'t think I will be the last.

Post by: "Little Alex" from University of California at Berkeley:: UCB
Big thanks to Hotshot Imaging in Coloma, California for this series of photographs of W.E.T. River Trips through Tunnel Chute rapid on the Middle Fork American River.
Also, big thanks to Bill Tuttle and his awesome website at CACreeks.com! He's got a blow by blow description of all the runs in California.

Wolf in Ecuador! MIA is found!

Missing in action, we got a message recently from Wolfe. Where did he go? Well, the mystery was recently solved with this email to the office:

"Hi, guys! I got a new email address, and (I) am currently in Tena, Ecuador. I´ve been here for three days and boated (kayaking, rafting) every single day so far. It's been a very good time. Lots of kayakers and rivers all over the place. Every direction you look, there is a river flowing into the Napo that has whitewater.

A2 and I, have been playing it very safe and getting accustomed to the rivers before we step it up and start running harder stuff, but it has been fruitful and impossible to not go boating every day. The locals are all very nice, but the beer is "muy malo."

We managed to get our play boats on the plane. We have been doing all these creek runs in the play boats making things very interesting. Weather is warm, and when it rains, the rivers shoot way up (in flow) and then drop off quickly.

Today, we were waiting for our shuttle driver after doing a class 4 river and the river came up like three feet while we were hanging out. So, we got a taxi, and we did the run again at flood stages, and then, never had to pay for our initial shuttle!

For four kayakers to go 30-miles into the mountains and do two runs, and it only cost us 7 dollars total. I could do this for a while. Anyway, Volvo is almost all put back together. It's minus a valve cover because when I got the head machined, the machine shop lost a tiny plastic grommet that I had to order. She´ll be up and running though as soon as I get back in mid February in time for some more white water trips. Hope all's well with you guys, Peace. "

Come back soon Wolfie! Time for the the North Fork American...

Rafting and Music

Recently, we were reviewed by internet marketers as a prime example of blogging and marketing. The California whitewater rafting blog is really old. Started as a journal on our original website on Geocities as a way to get our passion for rafting and whitewater out to the public, we are now part of Blogger, a division of Google.

We have various tags or labels for each post since we seem to blog about everything including our rafting trips. But here's what's happened to this blog: it's become a lifestyle blog for our rafting company and has become bigger than just outdoor recreation. The young bloggers who blog about college life, extreme sports and the adversity of young adulthood are also, heavily into the music scene.

All of us listen to music on the way to river trips or traveling and working to the mundane chores of life. Music, like recreation is a way of life. Our young bloggers want to let you know about the coolest music that they love and they want to share it with you, our paddling and rafting friends. We welcome WhiteLite to the team, an artist, a musician and a passionate advocate for music. Here is his first post...

All right dudes check it out! Two new really awesome albums that are out on Paw-Tracks Records are Eric Copeland’s “Hermaphrodite” and Animal Collective’s “Strawberry Jam”, the hit “Peace Bone” on Strawberry Jam is particularly awesome, even my mother likes it. The music video that you can find on YouTube is disgustingly magical.

Another magnificent release to check out on Paw-Tracks is the latest Black Dice album "Load Blown." I saw these guys live with the band f*ckwolf (note from W.E.T. River Trips; sorry parents, but some bands like to shock with just their name) a couple weekends ago at San Francisco’s 12 Galaxies, and they really know how to put on a show. Their music is mesmerizing.

Another very respectable artist to pay attention to is Ariel Pink who is currently touring the East Coast. His music is a classic pop song washed out in a mess of psychedelic effects.

Last month, I went to Big Sur to see him play at the Folk Ya Music Festival. The festival ended up being a piece of sh*t and made me want to barf after seeing so many terrible bands. Ariel Pink was good as usual, and he even artistically shaved his legs on stage while singing. The only other entertaining act to play that festival out of the 20 terrible bands was Lucky Dragons. This two-piece band from LA was whimsical and original .

If you live in Sacramento, about 45 minutes from the American River whitewater, or happened to catch Hella’s last tour, you probably witnessed co-touring band Who’s Your Favorite Son God an awesome band featuring some of Sacramento’s best musicians.

The drummer Zach Nelson also has three other equally as rad projects including his collaboration with Kinseth from the band Pinback called “Prints”. The project Prints is out on Temporary Residence records. Zach Nelson’s other projects include Chant’os with Sacramento local pianist Carson McWhirter from Hella, and his solo project Fahlouah.

Last, but not least, I also found myself dancing to Cornelius. He is labeled the “Japanese Beck”, and for good reasons. His evaluation of a pop song is the closest thing to perfect. Check out his hit "Smoke" off his album Point.

Check out our Second Life rafting avatar myspace site, too. She's gotta lot of music friends...

Post by WhiteLite... more to come!

BIG BOY: Weekend Warrior

Nowadays, you hear the term, "Weekend Warrior" more and more. What is it you ask? Someone who takes care of business and responsibilities Monday through Friday and on the weekends... well we will get to that...

Every time I heard the term, I would think of my dad or an older adult who lives it up on the weekends. Someone who works 10 hour days Monday through Friday and has 14-hour adventures on the weekends. The past couple years of my life, I thought I would always be able to go skateboard, hang out with my friends, go on road trips, and even party everyday; no matter what day.

The last couple of weeks have sure proved me wrong. Being a full-time student and a part time employee, had to buckle down a little, tighten the notches on the belt so to speak. My social life dwindled, and I started to become MIA (missing in action). I was also recently given the opportunity to interview for a personal assistant job with a financial brokerage house. Being the adventure seeker, I am, I thought to myself... hey, maybe there is a future in this, and it's probably good money, so I jumped right on it.

I am very confident and obviously I love to talk, I am a people person, that's what I am. The interview went well and I was offered the job on the spot. So, I took it. After a few days of work, I realized I got myself in over my head. Two part-time jobs, a full load of school, and a social life... well, lack of social life that is. I now work and go to school Monday through Friday from 8am to 6pm. Whether it be from work to work or school to work, I am on the run constantly. The longest break I have is a half hour for lunch and a half hour to drive from one destination to another.

My body is exhausted from no sleep and perpetual brain functioning. I verve and run around strictly on two things, coffee and cigarettes. Both which are absolutely HORRID habits of mine that I would like to break everyday, but at this time in my life, they help me get by. I'm hoping that my routine will become habitual and my lifestyle will serve me well in the long run. I was tired of being a poor college student and had to start building my bank account up again. I just didn't realize how hard it was to do just that.

Most people who have graduated from college tell me, "I have one thing to say... stay in school as long as you can..." But why would I want to be a poor college student for as long as I can? No way, I want a degree and I want it fast. This leads to another problem with people my age. Our minds change everyday, and it's hard to stick with one subject of study. I, myself, still have no idea what I'm in school for but I'm on my way to figuring it out.

So back to my daily routine. Once I'm done with work and out of school, I'm way too burned out to get to any of my social life or skateboarding. I can't even start to begin how many phone calls I get asking, "Where have you been? Come hang out?" My response, "Sorry guys and girls, I have to be a Big Boy now and take care of my priorities." Most of my friends don't understand. The few that do, I respect them for understanding that sooner or later, we all have to grow up. Hence, the "Weekend Warrior" term.

I now look forward to living to the utmost on the weekends. It's seriously the only time I can sit and relax and be on my own time... K-Dog time... I like that. Most people go through a phase like mine, and yes; it's a challenge. Personally, I like a challenge to see what I am really made of, and what I can prove to myself. I'm not going to lie though; this is one of my biggest challenges I have yet to deal with in my life.

There is no telling if I will continue to work both jobs and stay in school, but for the time being, I plan to do so. A lot of people say that they are waiting for their "big break" if you know what I mean. Yea, I used to wait around for that to; someone to come up to you and offer you the job of a lifetime or a opportunity of a lifetime. But, NEWS FLASH everyone!!! It's not going to happen!!! Sometimes you just have to go out there and take life by the horns, grab them, and hold on tight to the bull. It's a wild ride and you might get bucked off but you gotta get back on and give it your all.

My two jobs are the horns and college is the bull that I am sitting on in my life right now. If I fail this time, at least I know to approach the bull a different way next time I go on for a ride.

I'm going to leave everyone with one last quote by the infamous Shane Cross... rip...

"LET'S LIVE".

K-Dog Post... he's growing up folks...

Note from W.E.T.'s teen blogging staff: hey, parents, we do finally grow up...

Return from the Trip of a Lifetime

After the 3 week trip to Europe, my friends and I returned home to our home town. What a relief it was to be home to feel comfortable again, see our families, friends and get back to our lives. It took me about 4 days before I realized how much real life and growing up is a pain in the ass.

But we all have to do it sooner or later. I came back and have been searching for a job, a living situation, and trying to figure out school for next semester. I have now realized how important it is to plan ahead and have short term goals so you don't get in a rut. As most teenagers, we are working hard to do right when we're are having fun partying and not taking care of business.

Not only is it tough to do this, but another member of the Euro crew, Zee, came home to a big decision and responsibility of her own. To go to college here in town or in the Bay Area... going to the Bay Area school on a scholarship and for something that can line up her future as an artist... whatever she may choose will be a stressful decision, but hopefully work for the better.

All the stress of a teenager and growing up can be extremely hard on young adults... that's why we need our friends and families for support. Personally, I think the best support is, that whatever we do, our friends and parents just want us to be safe and be happy with our lives. Yea... it might take a few of us a few years to figure out if school is the right choice, but so be it.

School is not for everyone, but if we are happy and content with our lives, that's all that should matter... if you want me to elaborate more, let me know; just writing this was stressful haha... K

Parents... listen carefully... words from a wise soul on the torture of teen angst... believe us, when we say, their lives are filled with enormous pressure. Facing real life decisions with a teen brain has got to be intense...
your friends, W.E.T. River Trips

More Grist from Sollie

Hi Y'all,So last night I was a little depressed being American... oh, and I ate Sea Cucumber, but it wasn't the worst thing I tried yesterday.

So we got up early last night, and went on this great hike to the waterfalls - they call them water curtains. How cute. It was much like crossing suspension bridges and tunnels through areas in California. From there, we ate, and for the first time, I was needing a little comfort food so I indulged in hash browns. Mumm greezy.

So from there, we went to this high school which was a giant place, almost college-like but a private high school for 800 students. They had 11 piano classrooms and 3 tea ceremony classroom. Wild. Oh, and they were very green - no air conditioning to waste energy. Doh.

From there we went to the Buddhist University, which was amazing. Someone is donating major money for this place. It too was awesome, and they treated us to a vegetarian lunch. They only serve veggies - some Buddhist thing about not wanting to kill animals. Also, there were sleeping dogs all over the campus - wouldn't want to disturb anything.

At this time they ran out of things to show us, and we drove to some random places... went to the beach... super rocky, but I did buy some melon ice cream. Went to a fish museum/store. They had a few fish, but sold lots of dried fish. Hummm. From there to some Japanese WWII hotel/art exhibit.

It was there that group leader took me aside and said, do you want to try some stinky doba? Huh? Do you mean stinky tofu? Yeah, yeah, tofu. So we walked down the street to where I just knew there was an open sewage pipe. We walked into the hut, and he ordered up some of their stinkiest. Lots of people in the hut just eating away, and I am about to die of stench poisoning. Finally the offending food came out, we put some chili on it, and ate away. It tasted like regular tofu, but wowie! That smell. By the time we finished, everyone was on the bus, and waiting for us. I walked into the bus, and they all smelled me. Hahahahahaha.

From there we went to a restaurant for everyone else. Lots of fish stuff, but also a protozoa named Sea Cucumber was served. It reminded me of chicken Jello that Grandma Sophie used to serve.

Next up, a train back to Taipei. On the train, many of the principals were joking and being really loud. A meekish passenger from the train asked them to be quiet. They didn't. Later she stomped up to them and sternly told them to shut up as her baby was trying to sleep. They grinned and chuckled under their breath the way a 7th grader would when told to stop laughing at a classmate who just spurted milk out of their nose.

I was sitting next to one of our guides, and we had a discussion about how Americans appear rude and ugly on a world scale. Once we returned to the hotel, a part of my group decided to go to McDonalds because they didn't eat any of the dinner. The Taiwanese people may be the nicest people on the planet. I have been here a week and have only spent a few dimes on internet use.

Everything else in my 5-star trip they are paying for. Every person we run into is the kindest most gentlest person you can imagine, and our group is loud, thankless, craving McDonalds, and ordering beer and pork at the restaurants, and knowing not even the most basic Chinese words. I feel a bit embarrassed by the American tag today.

Off to Korea tomorrow. Not a moment too soon...

Sollie

Sollie, is a long-time crew member of W.E.T. River Trips. A guide with an extraordinary sense of fair play, people-skills, guide skills and leadership. His observation is telling. As Americans, we need to keep the perspective of a guest when we travel to other countries. Respect their culture and their language. Try to learn at least a rudimentary level of communication such as "thank-you" or "good-bye." The locals will be impressed with your attempts. The world welcomes us, we just need to have a bit more manners out there.

Lunch Meat's Dog Dilemma

A new roommate arrived while the bloggers and skaters were in Europe. M, or Lunch Meat as he is affectionately called by his friends. He signed the contracts and knew that no pets were allowed at the rental house for the team. W.E.T. River Trips was searching myspace recently and came across a picture of M's dog in the kitchen of the rental. BUSTED. Here's his pitiful little story about "lying to the landlord." Growing up, coming of age, these teens are learning that life is tough. Sigh... the first-time renters are quickly learning the ins and outs of rental contracts... and grown-up life.

"Well it all happened the day after 4th of July... My sister and her husband were leaving town and she had asked me if I could watch her dog. He's an old fart, so I figured as mellow as he is, that him staying with me at the house wouldn't be a problem. I did post a pic of the dog on myspace as a joke hoping to give Liz a scare... well, I guess W.E.T. got a hold of the picture before her and gave me a scare.

We all know nothing can be kept secret if its on "the space" and with that stated, you should know that I had no intentions of hiding anything. Plus, I remember an old Full House episode where the girls tried to smuggle a dog into the house and Bob Sagget ended up finding out. The girls went through so much trouble to keep the pup a secret, but Mr. Tanner was just too much brains for the girls.

Since then, I always knew it was impossible to hide a dog in someone's house. Anyhow, I'm sorry again, I should have asked and made sure it wasn't a problem. I hope we're even now... if not, let me know what I can do to make it up to you.
Sincerely Lunch Meat. :)"
Whaaaaaaaa.... says the landlord... no pets, period.... not even fish.

KD and Barcy Nightlife

Today is day 14 of my trip to Barcelona, Spain. I had never been to Europe and was not too sure as to what to expect. The trip was solely planned around one thing and one thing only; skateboarding. To the average person, Spain's architecture is amazing and beautiful. In the eye of a skateboarder, we see a giant playground. Not only is the city itself perfect for skateboarding, but so is everything that comes with it.

For example, the weather is cooler, and as far as the laws for skateboarding on the streets, mellow indeed. There is no real reason that the police are more giving out here with skateboarders. But after two weeks of skating around, I have a theory. The fact that skateboarding is less familiar here in Spain, it has only begun to blossom, and has only been around for maybe 10 years or so. Therefore, compared to California, or just America in general, skateboarding in Spain has not had enough time to become a problem. Which for now, is AWESOME for skateboarders.

I came over here to skate and then got here and realized I had a new plan. Don't get me wrong, I have been skating non-stop and taking advantage of how much fun it is, but came across a different comfort zone. Obviously, being in another country where they speak a different language is going to take you out of your comfort zone right? Well, I had never really thought about it until I got here and jumped right into it. For me, the thing I really enjoyed is meeting people from other countries. But, very sadly trying to communicate with each other with the bits and pieces of words we know from each others languages was a bit frustrating.

One night, the skate crew and I decided to go out to the clubs and check out the Spanish night life. Luckily, the drinking age over here is only 18 which was a recipe for disaster for us, right? HA HA HA. So at one point, we were all together dancing and having a good time in a club called FELLINIS. I decided to go outside to get some fresh air for a few minutes, and I found myself at another bar separated from the crew.

Thinking I knew my way around town, I decided to go with it and have a good time by myself. I took a seat at the bar, and, within 5 minutes, I was chatting it up with 2 Spanish guys who lived here and 2 girls from Norway that spoke English and Spanish. The girls would interpret my English for the Spanish dudes and vice verse. They were surprised I was still out and about even though I was lost from my crew of team mates. The girls offered to hang out with the Spanish guys for the rest of the night, and, of course, I went with them.

We went to 2 more clubs and 1 more bar. Throughout the night, the Spanish dudes kept saying they wanted me to have a good time and kept buying my drinks. Being the gentlemen, I could not refuse a drink someone offers me. When the sun was coming up and the bars closed, we said our good nights and "nice meeting you's," and I took off in search of my destination; our apartment. Little did I realize, I was about a 30-minute walk from the apartment. After asking a million people for directions, I finally made it home by 6 in the morning.

The next day, my friends asked what happened to me the night before, and so I told them about my lost wild night. Then I realized I didn't even remember the Spanish guys' or the Norwegian girls' names. It was funny to think I had made friends and hung out with them all night long, but never got their names. The more and more people I meet now and see, I have concluded that it doesn't even matter if I get their names or not because it's more of a good-nature thing. Whether you speak English, Spanish or French or whatever, it's human nature to speak with one another and teach one another.

We still have another 4 days here in Spain and the weekend should be fun. Hopefully, I will have another story to tell before I come home. THANKS for reading ya'll... KD

Check out these resources on Skateboarding Barcelona:
Why skate Barcelona?
Thrasher Magazine Article
Barcelona Skate Tours
Barcelona Metropolitan Magazine
Against the Law

After skateboarding all day in your current heatwave in California, ya otta check out whitewater rafting. It'll give you the same thrill except no road rash. LOL... ollie-oop...

Graduation 2007

My baby is graduating. And the heaviness that weighs inside is almost unbearable. How did my teen become an adult overnight? The flurry of end-of-school year events is helping to distract me from my agony. Yes, I am in agony. This day just seemed so far away, and now it's here.

The baby came on a cold rainy day... one of the rainiest days ever. I always looked at that as being a sort of cleansing. A purifying of the world before the baby arrived. Those days seem so far away, now. The diapers, the breast feeding, the sleepless nights. I remember I felt as if the non-stop baby routine would never end. And now, it just seems like a small blip in all of our family life.

All the family trips that we took were just not enough. The road trips, the rafting trips in California, Idaho, Oregon... it was just not enough. And the thought that we may never get together as a family again for any vacation trip really gets to me. I could just cry.

College beckons now for my adult student teen. Already, my teen is a busy college student; taking care of paperwork, getting classes together, meeting with counselors, getting ready for the open house. Going away will be hard on all of us. We've purchased all the sundries to accommodate the new living quarters, and we've probably bought way too much. My teen doesn't seem to understand how difficult this is for us. And they shouldn't feel our sadness. I don't want to rain on their blossoming heads.

The confidence and independence that we had hoped to instill is reflected in their almost cavalier attitude of leaving home. This is how it should be. My teen is ready for adulthood, and as far as mom and dad? We're the ones who aren't ready.