Canyon Creek Race TR

It was actually a good thing to come rolling down the hill to the registration area and find absolutely no place to park. Canyon Creek had been settling back in a state of competitive dormancy for many years as if to save it’s beauty and geological luster for that one special day when the sun came out, and boaters could gather to flourish in a river environment rich with positive energy and community.

The flow went in the right direction all day from registration, put in, start, finish, shuttle, and coordination of the event party. The energy must have been special as evidenced by the fact that we were finally able to stay in the boat all day. “I didn’t know rafts could do Canyon Creek”, the ranger commented at the put in. Not only could the raft pilots successfully huck waterfalls, but the ease and style of which this was executed by the top two teams, which certainly was not us, was quite impressive. ORT was satisfied on this day of getting two teams in the top five of this 12 boat field. Further indication that our whole, an R6, is greater than the sum of our parts.

Special thanks to Mike and Brenda Olsen for opening up their home and river property to the paddlers of our region. Next Adventure (NA) http://www.nextadventure.net/ for their continued efforts towards the proliferation of whitewater sport in our area. NA will be providing a free shuttle service down to the first ever Upper Klamath race next weekend. Kayakers are encouraged to contact Luke or Bryan at their earliest convenience to reserve a spot in the Sprinter which will leave NA headquarters at 6:30pm Friday April 17th. If these 8 spots get filled up, Rob of Kayak Attack http://www.kayakattack.com/ will drive down his Econoline van with trailer.

Noah’s Rafting of Ashland will be providing free camping which includes shelter if it rains. This section of river is exceptional.
river-whitewahttp://www.noahsrafting.com/klamath-ter-rafting.php. The UK is not commonly done by a lot of boaters simply because at summer flows the rocks can be a bit problematic, and the shuttle is long and expensive (4.5 hours of driving, $100 for the shuttle driver, another $100 for gas). Event participants which includes racers or river runners get 2 days of shuttles for $20. ORT has been working hard for months to provide this opportunity for all boaters.

FREE shuttle from Portland courtesy of NA.
FREE camping at Noahs.
Dirt cheap river shuttles provided by Noahs, Rogue Klamath River Adventures http://www.rogueklamath.com/index.htm, and Wilderness Adventures http://www.wildrivertrips.com/.

Ashland is a special town and will serve as the home base for the first ever Upper Klamath race.

We all hope to keep the momentum building as the Western Whitewater Championship Series moves on. For more details go to http://www.oregonraftingteam.com/.

Tim