I hope that you get outside this weekend - the woods, the rivers, the lakes, the beaches, the mountains, the deserts, the caves, the canyons; anywhere outside of the air conditioned walls most of us spend our workdays in.
June 10, 2011
The way it feels to paddle whitewater - via video
This is a nice find for me this morning: a point of view video of the Wenatchee, that somehow captures the way kayaking whitewater feels to me - a combination of gliding, flying, rollercoaster riding, and endless movement.
May 26, 2011
What now?
What do you do after the loss of your parents? It's like floating in the air under a parachute, wondering where you will touch down.
I'm trying to keep busy - going paddling as much as possible, because that is my great stress release. Everyone at work has been very kind to me and my sister. I find myself thinking strange thoughts, like, "Well, mom outlived Bin Laden".
I've also been watching PATTON for the first time; it's on Netflix online. Wow what a great movie. It also strikes me as being a movie about my parents' generation, the best of us I think. My father and my uncles on both sides of my family were all in WWII. My mom was born in 1930, so during the events in the movie she would have been a young teenager. My father was in his 20's, as he was born in 1920.
I took a playboating class last weekend (my penchant for non-sequiturs has remained solid) and it was hard for me to get into at first. We stayed for a couple of hours at the Slow Joe wave at the NOC, then went up to the top and played down to the Ledges. I even thought, as we drove to the put-in, that I might just bow out for the rest of the class. Details of my mother's suffering in the hospital kept popping into my head. But I decided to keep with the class, I went anyway and I am glad I did. I rolled a lot and that cold Nanty water got my mind out of its funk, at least for awhile. This was during the Boaterchik festival, and that night we all had barbeque and beers at the festival and I and my group of friends slept in this crazy bunkhouse, in sleeping bags because it got pretty nippy at night. The next day we had the second part of the playboating class and again, at first I wasn't really into it. We put on at Ferebee and went down to the stern squirt spot behind the flat rock, and that cold water slapped me upside the head over and over and it was the best thing. We paddled to the takeout and I had a good line at the falls.
Crossfit has been helping too - it is such a ridiculously hard class, every time, that it drives any bad thoughts out of my head and replaces them with sweat and gasping for air. I have had great improvements in my paddling from it, both in terms of strength of strokes and in terms of stamina (metcon aerobic endurance). Most of my classmates are much younger than me and run rings around me, but I soldier on.It is a positive and encouraging environment.
This is a rambling mess but I'll post it anyway.
I'm trying to keep busy - going paddling as much as possible, because that is my great stress release. Everyone at work has been very kind to me and my sister. I find myself thinking strange thoughts, like, "Well, mom outlived Bin Laden".
I've also been watching PATTON for the first time; it's on Netflix online. Wow what a great movie. It also strikes me as being a movie about my parents' generation, the best of us I think. My father and my uncles on both sides of my family were all in WWII. My mom was born in 1930, so during the events in the movie she would have been a young teenager. My father was in his 20's, as he was born in 1920.
I took a playboating class last weekend (my penchant for non-sequiturs has remained solid) and it was hard for me to get into at first. We stayed for a couple of hours at the Slow Joe wave at the NOC, then went up to the top and played down to the Ledges. I even thought, as we drove to the put-in, that I might just bow out for the rest of the class. Details of my mother's suffering in the hospital kept popping into my head. But I decided to keep with the class, I went anyway and I am glad I did. I rolled a lot and that cold Nanty water got my mind out of its funk, at least for awhile. This was during the Boaterchik festival, and that night we all had barbeque and beers at the festival and I and my group of friends slept in this crazy bunkhouse, in sleeping bags because it got pretty nippy at night. The next day we had the second part of the playboating class and again, at first I wasn't really into it. We put on at Ferebee and went down to the stern squirt spot behind the flat rock, and that cold water slapped me upside the head over and over and it was the best thing. We paddled to the takeout and I had a good line at the falls.
Crossfit has been helping too - it is such a ridiculously hard class, every time, that it drives any bad thoughts out of my head and replaces them with sweat and gasping for air. I have had great improvements in my paddling from it, both in terms of strength of strokes and in terms of stamina (metcon aerobic endurance). Most of my classmates are much younger than me and run rings around me, but I soldier on.
This is a rambling mess but I'll post it anyway.
May 11, 2011
My momma
My momma passed away last night around 7:30. She had terminal cancer in her lungs. It was a very fast sickness and she spent less than a week in the hospital.
The Palliative Care Unit at UAB was wonderful to my mom. So was the general medicine wing of Spain Wallace. So was the ER at UAB. I can't tell you enough about how sweet everybody that worked there was to my mom and to my family.
Here is a picture of my momma and my poppa that I love.
The Palliative Care Unit at UAB was wonderful to my mom. So was the general medicine wing of Spain Wallace. So was the ER at UAB. I can't tell you enough about how sweet everybody that worked there was to my mom and to my family.
Here is a picture of my momma and my poppa that I love.
February 17, 2011
MULBERRY FORK PARKING ALERT
The attorney for Blount County has notified the Birmingham Canoe Club that any cars parked on Whitewater Drive, the paved county road leading to the BCC property at the takeout for the Mulberry Fork River, will be towed at the owner’s expense. The county will be posting signs in the near future. Please park in the parking area only!
WildWater movie
The new movie WildWater will be shown at the National Paddling Film Festival - see my last blog post for NPFF details.
The trailer for WildWater is excellent, enjoy:
February 16, 2011
National Paddling Film Festival
The National Paddling Film Festival, aka NPFF, will be Feb. 25-26 in Frankfort, Kentucky. This is a great event and will feature the new movies Raven Fork and WildWater. This event benefits American Whitewater, Team River Runner, First Descents, and other regional conservation-based non-profit groups.
Locust and Mulberry levels
I am reposting this to start the new (ish) year off with my data regarding the Locust and Mulberry Levels.
Online gauge for the Mulberry:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02450000&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060
Online gauge for the Locust Fork:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02455000
This information is NOT intended as a gauge for safe water levels. Be sure to check the readings at the put-in bridges. Use your judgment and DO NOT attempt to paddle if your skills do not match the river conditions. Gauges change, and rivers change.
CFS Conversion
*Note - the Mulberry Gauge is being moved to a site upstream. The correlations to the bridge gauge will all have to be re-done over the coming year(s).*
Link to spreadsheet of new Mulberry correlations
I've had this in a printout on my wall for years. I don't think it is online anymore so I am going to type it in so I have it handy online. I don't know who originally compiled it. I've altered it to suit my own experiences.Link to spreadsheet of new Mulberry correlations
Online gauge for the Mulberry:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02450000&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060
Online gauge for the Locust Fork:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02455000
This information is NOT intended as a gauge for safe water levels. Be sure to check the readings at the put-in bridges. Use your judgment and DO NOT attempt to paddle if your skills do not match the river conditions. Gauges change, and rivers change.
CFS Conversion
THE
CFS Flow
|
LOCUST
Stage or Height
|
FORK
Comments
|
222-441
|
2’0” to 2’6”
|
Minimal flow for paddling
|
530.5-630
|
2’8” to 3’0”
|
Good Paddling begins at this level.
|
732
|
3’2”
|
Ideal technical paddling with a little push.
|
962.7
|
3’6”
|
House Rock rapid gets strong; ender hole is prime for tricks.
|
1230
|
4’0”
|
House Rock rapid needs scouting; Double Trouble rapid gets less technical; ender hole begins to wash out; surfing and wave wheel paradise.
|
1970
|
5’0”
|
Big Water river in trees;
|
2900
|
6’0”
|
A real flusher; Whirlpool above Ender Hole becomes very dangerous.
|
THE
CFS Flow
|
MULBERRY
Stage or Height painted on Bridge. Subtract 3.3 from the online USGS gauge to get the correct feet on the painted bridge gauge.
|
FORK
Comments
|
250-300
|
0”
|
Bump and scrape. Too low!
|
420
|
0” – 6”
|
Class I.
|
600-750
|
1’
|
Class II. At 651, bridge gauge said 1 ft with lots of little surf waves. -at bridge 1ft./700 cfs the surf spot between the islands at Glen Clark was in. *at 702 cfs 9-10-11 this spot was not in. But we found a great surf spot right below the bridge and a spin spot near the top of the turn to Glen Clark, new stuff.*
|
800
|
1’6”
| |
1100
|
2’0”
|
Enjoyable run; great down river run.
|
3000
|
3’0”
| |
4000
|
4’0”
|
Pushy; rapids and eddies begin to wash out; floating debris may be present; 5.0 questionable but the hole behind is great.
|
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