Upper Klamath and Scott River Weekend.

4 events in 17 days.

North Fork American Race, Canyon Creek Race, Fundraiser/Season Kickoff Party, Upper Klamath Race.
(+ 3 midweek flatwater trainings.)

ORT coordinated the UK event and of course our fundraiser, drove like hell to get to the other, and hucked like lemmings at CC. This all took a lot of organization, teamwork, effective communication, and dare I say a little love.
Brother it was all worth it.

It took many phone calls and emails beginning four months ago to get the permit approved through the BLM for the first ever Upper Klamath Race. When we glanced at the forecast and saw that it would be snowing on this special weekend, the boys didn’t miss a beat, just another time to dig a little deeper and finish out the push.

Character may be defined as : The complex mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation. The development and maintenance of character especially as it relates to resiliency and community is what outlines the soul of ORT, and as you will find yet another example below, this also inlcudes the soul of our region’s boating community.

Bart Baldwin of Noah’s Rafting http://www.noahsrafting.com/ in Ashland Oregon is an old friend of mine. Steve, Justin (Ringworm), Andy, and the rest of the Noah’s crew kept us warm all weekend by allowing event participants to sleep in their heated warehouse as the snow fell outside. On the river many well trained and experienced guides were staged throughout the runs. Noah’s also provided transportation to both the Upper Klamath and Scott Rivers as did Rich and Barbara of Rogue Klamath River Adventures http://www.rogueklamath.com/upper_klamath.htm. Bryan from Next Adventure of Portland http://www.nextadventure.net/ provided a free shuttle vehicle and personally drove down a crew of kayakers after work on Friday.

Saturday morning we loaded up around 40 rafters, 8 kayakers, 1 cat-boater and headed up Greensprings Highway, literally a wagon trail of a road to the UK put in. At the Spring Island launch site we were greeted with the churning brown water the UK is famous/notorious for at a generous 2,800cfs. After a non-eventful 4 mile paddle in to the canyon the crew was rewarded with a horizon line that marks the beginning of Caldera (IV/V) and 6 continuous miles of the “juice”. I can still remember the first time I scouted Caldera 14 years ago and immediately thought what the hell am I doing here? Huge holes and pourovers have to be negotiated at the very top and you can’t really see the bottom of this long rapid.

I’ll take the first group!
50 solid paddlers glanced back at me with that “I gotta pee you go first” look.
So off we went, had a good run, and peeled into the bottom eddy to set safety and shoot some video. Eventually everyone made it safely to the bottom with big smiles and white knuckles, this was going to be a good day.

Hell’s Corner was the next major test, not really scoutable, boaters rely on auditory processing (remembering verbal directions), and follow the leader river running strategies as even if you can read water well, there are a few hidden surprises in this long rapid which at this level includes; 4 entrance ledges, a pushy ferry to the opposite side of the river, 2 huge boat stopping curlers, a ledge behind those, some boney/grabby features, another hard left to miss the meat of the “Dragon”, which feeds you right into another boat stopping 7 foot curler.
YEE HAW. The whole durn party made it through HC cleanly! After 4 more miles of big but straightforward class III-IV excitement we met the bus and the vans at the State Line TO. The vehicles had somehow managed to cut a bunch of time off the long shuttle to greet us in a timely manner.

To summarize what happened next:
The kids went to a lasagna dinner-
Tired, I went to a friends house to crash and left the keg unsupervised at the warehouse-
The next morning when I returned, the keg was nearly empty and it was reported that;
- a bon fire had somehow encouraged bystanders to frolic about it’s flames.
- amateur cage fighting had taken place.
- a variety of angles can be utilized in the consumption of beer.
This was all evidenced by;
- an empty keg.
- a black eye.
- difficulty in locating some members of, and waking up the crew…
- and, there was now snow on the pass and we couldn’t get the buses up to the UK...

So let’s run the Scott instead, read and run race, and, it never rains in California!

Thus, we dusted the snow off the boats and rolled the debaucherous crew into the nearest vehicle and rambled south down I-5 to the Scott River which was running at a technical but fun 800cfs. http://www.c-w-r.com/rivers/scott-river.htmlWe set the course; the start would be in the big eddy at the first bridge below Canyon Creek Rapid (how ironic) The 3.7 mile run would conclude about .5 mile below Tompkins Creek Rapid. This would give us about (7) Class IV-IV+ drops and a potpourri of features in the II-III range.

It was also sunny outside.

We had a “boaters who would be paddling fast” meeting, the safety boats staged, and the kayakers, in no shape to race, stumbled down ahead to take pictures and puke.
7 full raft crews ripped off the line to bang there way down the Scott. Following a full contact battle with a determined and rather verbose Bigfoot team, the ORT Red team was finally able to pull ahead and reach the take out first. Luckily, a few bystanders were able to record the times which went as follows:
R6
ORT Red : 29 minutes, 10 seconds.
Bigfoot : 29:52
Caliwomen : 31:04 (1st place women)
Noah’s : 32:15
ORT Grey : 33:33
Twinkies : 40:19 (2nd place women)

Cats
Zach Collier (ECHO River trips, event sponsor) : 31:48
http://www.echotrips.com/Nate (Who also made the NFA Race) : 34:33

Kayakers
All physically accounted for.

All participants then enjoyed chili, refreshments, and we handed out shwag and really cool awards provided by:
Whitewater Designs
WRSI
Gerber
NRS
Cascade Outfitters
Next Adventure
Viso Energy Drinks
Andy and Bax

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Cal Salmon in 2 weeks!

Please join us as we strengthen the character and spirit of ourselves, our teams and our river communities one event at a time!

Tim
http://www.oregonraftingteam.com/

ORT Fundraiser

Great turnout!
Our boating community rocks!

For a variety of reasons some serious positive energy exists in the Portland whitewater community.

The wave of mojo is flowing south this weekend to Ashland Oregon to stage for the first ever Upper Klamath Race.
http://www.oregonraftingteam.com/

Very special thanks to:

Fire on the Mountain for the accommodations and kick *** wings.
Viso Energy Drinks
Cascade Outfitters
NWRA
NA and posse.
ENRG- for the video equipment.
LVM- for the vids.
AIRE
WRSI
Aquabound
Kells Irish Pub

Whitewater Designs - high quality safety gear manufactured in Eugene Oregon.

Wilderness Adventures - Roger Lee has more first raft descents and has trained more class V guides than anyone on the West Coast.

pdxk, and pnww for gettin the word out.

Please check the schedule for the Western Whitewater Championship Series on the ORT site and join us for what is turning out to be likely the best season of racing and development of river communities ever!

Remember-
Free shuttle to Ashland from NA for the event.
Free sheltered, wood stove heated camping at Noahs Rafting when you get there.
Dirt cheap river shuttles inlcuded in the entry fee.
8 safety rafts piloted by seasoned and certified Noahs guides on the water.

Hope to see you soon,

Tim

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

Western Whitewater Championship Series : Race 2

North Fork of the American River

It never rains in California….

The girls always warn ya. It was nice and sunny all weekend. After completing an 11 hour drive from Portland Oregon to Colfax California, Dottie from the Cali Women’s Team greeted us at 2am when we arrived at the Mineral Bar campground. ORT had waited up for the Cali Ladies after they drove all night for the Wind River Race in Washington just two weeks prior. These two rafting teams have taken whitewater racing to the next level this past season by creating and promoting quality river events in addition to supporting each other. Just another example of developing positive and even nurturing river communities which has and continues to be the goal of the Western Whitewater Championship Series. (WWCS).

After a few hours of sleep, Sikbird, Otter Boy, and Timber rolled out of the sack to get a quick practice run in on the Chamberlain Falls section of the North Fork while the Red Team rested up for the race. We downed a yogurt and a few bottles of Viso
http://drinkviso.com/ and were off into the cool morning mist. The 4.3 mile race course was characterized by three Class IV drops, and a number of tricky but entertaining Class IIIs. Our read and run practice trip was not exactly clean, but that’s why they call it practice. Bogus Thunder presented the most significant challenge, especially considering that the line that appeared to be the cleanest had a kayak pinned in it.

15 rafts had entered the race on this day which included several teams of guides that knew this section very well. We had our work cut out for us. The boys geared up and we began our warm up jog knowing that I was the only member of the Red Team that had seen this section before, and no one was going to give us style points for driving all night. Ox, Action, Hoser, Rasta, and WFE were up to the challenge. They nailed every line and pulled with a purpose. There was no backing off from the rocket ship start to the long push through the lake like sections of flatwater at the end.

ORT finished the roughly 4.5 mile course in 41 minutes.
The Cali Women’s Team took second overall approximately 2 minutes behind our time, and a men’s team from WET took third with a time approximately 2 minutes behind that.

The ladies then hosted a barbeque and awards ceremony. The ORT boys kept themselves in check knowing we would have our hands full when we took on the Giant Gap section of the North Fork the following morning. Mostly kept in check anyway, next trip we’ll move WFE’s tent a little further from the team’s camping area.

At 7am we awoke to hammer a quick breakfast and prepare for the 1.5 mile hike in to the put in for Giant Gap. 2 rafts and all the necessary gear had to be humped down the steep trail to the put in. The hike went without incident until WFE lost control of his personal gravitational field and caught a stick in the eye. Funny that, he had full control of gravity the night before…anyway. Around 11am we shoved off for what was basically a read and run descent of one of the most gorgeous and dynamic sections of water in the USA. The Gap contains three Class V drops and a number of technical class IVs. To summarize, our R2 and R5 boats ran everything. We actually scouted two of the Class Vs and simply charged through Locomotive which may have only been IV+ at this level which was likely around 750cfs. At this lower level, we did wrap a few times but got off rather quickly and without rope. Of course the flip was a hoot, especially since we flipped, wrapped, and then I got guide launched all in the tricky little drops leading up to Dominator. Nothing like having your cage rattled a bit before the big one. At Dominator, OX and I intended to R2 the bigger boat down the right side but once we got stuck near mid channel, I announced we’re goin big instead. So we peeled off the rock and charged into the evil looking pillow which funneled into a dark 8 foot ledge. All the other boats on the water that day had avoided this line, yet after we moshed through cleanly we quickly high fived and paddled easily to the bank as if to say “we meant to do that”.

At around 4pm we reached the take out and hastily packed up to begin the 10 hour drive back to Portland. Encoded in our memory banks was a weekend like we had never experienced. Challenge, competition, fatigue, laughter, resiliency, accomplishment, peace, all of these feelings and experiences produced a strong sense of brotherhood. ORT, we are more than just a whitewater rafting team.

For some sweet Bogus Thunder race footy by Daniel, go to:
http://www.awetstate.com/NFARace08.html(We’re the second raft going through).

For WWCS points standings go to:
http://www.moldygear.com/
Canyon Creek this weekend, keep pushin on,

Tim