Trinity River on Sunday

Really quick we wanted to throw up some pictures of our trip to the Trinity River last Sunday with Greg and Teresa. This is the Pigeon Point run which starts near the confluence of the North Fork and the Main Fork of the Trinity River, about a 1.5 hour drive from our house. We were lucky enough to have Rapid Replay taking pictures that day and here are the results. Both of these pictures were taken at the Hell Hole rapid.

Best of all it was not smokey outside and for that would like to take a moment to thank all the fire fighters who have had such a hard summer, especially those that died keeping the rest of us safe. There are still fires in our area and hopefully the rains come a bit early this year.

-BnT

Weekend on the North Umpua. Again!

Last weekend Beth, our friends Greg and Teresa, and myself headed up to the North Fork of the Umpqua River to do some kayaking and camping. This is the second time in three weeks we have kayaked this river (See Greg's blog for previous trip). It is an amazing spot located east of Roseburg, OR.

This weekend was the inaugural run in my new kayak. I just purchased a Pyranha Ammo. From the first to the last rapid I had a smile ear to ear; this boat rocks!

We kayaked two sections, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday; both sections are class III runs. We had a blast. Section 1 on Saturday starts off with a bang. You put on and just downstream is a class III rapid. We pulled off to scout the rapid and develop a strategy. Once back on the river, Greg and Teresa headed out. Next it was Beth and my turn. Just as Beth came to the top of the rapid, an eddy line rolled her, but Beth promptly rolled herself back up and made the moves she needed to make.

After finishing the section, we headed back to camp and to give Diego his required river time. It just so happened that we had a play wave right at the campground and so we put back on the gear and headed out. We had played in the wave two weeks earlier with success, but the slight change in flow made the wave mean. It would let you in and then spit you out, often upside down. Nonetheless it was fun.

Day two was spent running Section 4 (in all there are 5 named sections). We all like this section and had sooo much fun. "Buried" is the first rapid and after scouting we all finished successfully (Nice roll Beth!).

Teresa (first) & Beth (second) in "Buried"

Next is "Bathtub," now aka "Toilet Bowl." Two weeks earlier we didn't scout Bathtub and to our surprise it was a bit more technical than we expected, I swam. This time we checked it out and made a plan.


Beth and Teresa finding their line

Greg in the Bathtub

Travis (first) & Beth (second) in the Bathtub

First Greg went, then it was my turn followed quickly by Beth. I had a little hiccup at the beginning, but got myself corrected and finished it off. Beth, acting like a long time pro, went through flawlessly. Teressa, the river queen that she is, found a different line and made it look great.



Lunch time!
The rest of the run was great. In the end we didn't have any swimmers.


Its the water!
Unfortunately, Beth and I had to drive home that day. Greg and Teressa took time off from work and were planning on staying most of the week. Beth and I decided to go home a slightly different path than we did coming. We decided to drive down the Rogue River. On our way, we stopped by Crater Lake since we were so close, but we knew we had to keep moving in order to get home at a decent time. Crater Lake is amazing and it turns out that the Rogue was everything I hoped for. To bad it is dammed because I bet there is a lot of great river lost.

Crater Lake on the way home


Entrance to the Rogue gorge
Well, Beth and I pulled into home at 12:30 AM exhausted. We both had to work in the morning so it was bed time.

That is it... the Umpqua was amazing again and we had a great time with our friends. Anytime anyone wants to go to the Umpqua, Beth and I are ready to go!

Say hi to Diego in the Subie