Our Own Kayak Adventure

 

Last weekend we hung out with our houseguests, Brian and Louise Hogan, who were here to speak for the Backpackers DTS.  They had gone out on the trail with the DTS and Brian had injured his knee hiking in the snow.  We thought a visit to Gold Fork Hot Springs might be just the thing for that knee (which it was), so we drove out there Saturday evening.

On the way out there, at times the road paralleled the Gold Fork River.  Steve remarked that it looked like a great river to paddle in our tandem flatwater kayak.  So we asked about it at the Hot Springs.  They informed us that there was a dam on the river, but couldn't describe exactly where, although they said there was a short 1/4 mile spur road that leads down to the dam.

So on Sunday afternoon, we got onto Google Maps and zeroed in, using satellite view, on what looked like a likely spot for the dam.  After a few tries on some back roads, we found our way there.

Just a nice little dam out in the middle of nowhere.  An irrigation canal forks off of it below the dam.

 

The stretch of the river that we had admired was upriver from the dam.  Was it safe to put in right next to the dam?

We were a little nervous, but the current didn't seem too strong right there.  We had to think about getting back out at the end of our paddle as well. Steve seemed fairly confident we could do it, so I trusted him.  It was only AFTER I got in the kayak, that he said he was mildly concerned what might have happened if I'd fallen in while boarding the kayak from the muddy bank. The water was fairly deep, probably over my head, and might have swept me directly towards the dam.

 

Fortunately, we embarked safely and docked safely at the other end of our trip.  The current was flowing much stronger further upriver and we finally gave up after paddling with effort for 45 min or so, stopped for a picnic lunch, and floated back downstream in about 10 min.

We are so blessed to be able to jump in the truck and be paddling on a beautiful mountain river or lake in less than 1/2 an hour!  Steve just keeps the kayak on the truck, so we're ready to go at a moment's notice.

Kelly's Whitewater Park

This last weekend Kelly's Whitewater Park in Cascade was the venue for the USA Freestyle Kayak National Point Series Championship.  Okay, I didn't know anything about freestyle kayak competitions either.  But it was a lot of fun to watch on a beautiful summer day. 

These kayaks are so short they seem almost like a pontoon molded around the kayaker's legs, which enables them to do tricks like spins and flipping upside down.  The yellow kayak in the foreground of this picture is called "open canoe style".  Also, in this picture there's actually a surfer out there demonstrating for the crowd on the main wave feature which is called "Big Nasty".

Here's a better picture of the surfer, taken by Mike Leeds, whose photos appear on http://www.kellyswhitewaterpark.com/about.html

Actually Mike had a lot of better pictures than I got with my phone.  Here's a photo of some of the competitors practicing the day before the competition.

 

And a kayaker rolling over.

 

Here's another one of Mike's photos that shows the calmer channel through the whitewater park, the rock island in the center of the river, and the visitor center.  Cascade is so blessed to have this whitewater park that opened 1 year ago.  Our county and town are very economically depressed and this park has put us on the tourist map again.  Many thanks to our mayor who had a great idea, Hans Barbonus who donated the land on the riverfront, and Mark and Kristina Pickard of Miami Beach, FL, who financed the building of the park grounds and the 5 wave features in the river.

 The park also hosts outdoor events like concerts and art shows.  You can learn more here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V67zbh_aT0

And, finally, here's my photo of Steve just to prove we were really there!