Back in Spring of 08', Charlie Center, Shon Bollock, Ben Wartburg, and Justin Patt completed the first decent of Fulda Creek, a tributary to the N. Fork of the N. Fork of the American. This is the first time all the footage from myself and Charlie has been put together in one video. The beats are non-other than my good friend Wisdom (www.wisdomcreations.com). Hope you enjoy the adventure and look forward to some winter water.
Shon
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Catchin' some of the last water in Cali. The South Feather.
In late September myself, Ben Stookesberry, Taylor Robertson, and Eric Petlock met up for some South Feather action. On the run we met up with our fellow comrade Chris Kobulic. It was very cold at night out there but during the day it was a decent temperature. Below the entry 10 footer, there is a chunky rapid down the right. As I hit the seam at the bottom, I flipped and smashed my shoulder on a rock. This was the beginning of a day of beat downs. Hahhahaha good stuff. We only got some of it was on film because we were on a speed mission. We finished the run in about 2 and a half hours with a couple portages. Enjoy the little footie we got and pray for rain.
SB
SB
Friday, October 3, 2008
N. Feather Release Tobin Festival 08'
Last weekend, Sep. 27th and 28th, Justin Patt and myself rallied the 7hr journey to Quincy CA from Santa Cruz. Through the weekend we got to hang with all the boys out at the event. There were 27 short boast along with a sick long boat division, which Charlie Center swept the competition. I took 11th following Shasta Boyz own Devin Knight. J-Patt took 5th in short boat follwing Ben Stookesberry in 4th. It was a very fun weekend with a great crew representing. Enjoy the vid and hope to see everyone out on the S. Feather release.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Shasta Boyz and Wisdom Creations
This video was shown at the GoPro booth and at Sanuk during Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City this year. There was a very positive response and many companies shown prime interest in what we are doing. I had the pleasure to meet the artist Wisdom at a festival in Ashland where we connected and exchanged ideas. He was gracious enough to gift me his music rights in the support of our sport and we need to do the same in supporting his music www.wisdomcreations.com This whole segment was edited to his beats so enjoy the little flick and look forward to seeing you all on the water.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Nor Cal Biking 08
If there is one sport that I can relate kayaking to it would be downhill mtn. biking. This summer while stuck in Shasta working, when all mi amigos ran the sh#t, I got to do some cross training on my bike. This is some footage of myself and local Shasta ripper Taylor Russell killin' it around Shasta and Ashland. Enjoy.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Mt. Shasta Kayak Clinic
Come out for an evening of fun with the Shasta Boyz and Mr. Ben Stookesberry. We will be presenting kayak safety, technique, and basic roll instruction. Learn from the experts and come out for some good times. Contact Shasta Base Camp for more details and or gear 530 926-2359.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
South Merced
The South Merced, flowing out of Yosemite, is described in the white water bible as a true pristine Cali classic. Back in mid spring a good friend Rusty Sage spoke of great boulder gardens and remote wilderness which didn't take much more discussion to count me in. We set out from Rusty's house in Santa Cruz around 5am to meet Phil Boyer and Mike of Coloma at the Wowona putin in Yosemite for the 2 day mission.
The run was classic. Fun, continuous boulder gardens, with some great lines. We had minor carnage on the run with a total of 3 swims and no lost gear. We camped below Superslide and met up with a couple other groups of boaters. It was Johnny Kerns bachelor party, accompanied by Lil' Dave, Lindgren, Jason Hale, and a whole crew from Mammoth. We 15 kayakers camped there all fired up for the next day.
Day 2 was just as good with some more great boulder gardens and fun slides. We took out at the Hwy. 140 bridge around 2pm. The trip was epic and Yosemite is a magnificent place. Enjoy the vid.
The run was classic. Fun, continuous boulder gardens, with some great lines. We had minor carnage on the run with a total of 3 swims and no lost gear. We camped below Superslide and met up with a couple other groups of boaters. It was Johnny Kerns bachelor party, accompanied by Lil' Dave, Lindgren, Jason Hale, and a whole crew from Mammoth. We 15 kayakers camped there all fired up for the next day.
Day 2 was just as good with some more great boulder gardens and fun slides. We took out at the Hwy. 140 bridge around 2pm. The trip was epic and Yosemite is a magnificent place. Enjoy the vid.
Friday, May 23, 2008
UCSC Kayak Club Trip
From May 16-18th I attended the annual UCSC Kayak Club trip. We met at the UCSC Rec. Department on Friday and made the mission out to the South Fork of the American. It was a great weekend with support from Liquid Salvation and other UCSC Kayak Club sponsors. There were many new boaters with the chance to step up their game and the people that attend were a pleasure to be around. Check out the vid of the fun and keep tuned for more goods to come.
Shon
Shon
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Brush Creek Race, Dry Meadows Creek,1st Decent Fulda Creek, and more...
On April 18th myself and Justin Patt met up in Santa Cruz to drive south to reap the goods. After a 5+ hour drive we reached Kernville and crashed out to get into some business the next day. We woke up around 9am and met a fellow kayaker by the name Nathan who hailed from Kirkwood. We decided to check out Brush Creek (A tributary into the Kern)since JPatt had only seen it once at extremely low flows and I had never seen it, and we both planned to race it the next day.
The creek was very fun with clean class IV slides, tea cups, and a interesting crack drop called "Spearchucker". After a run on that we were still very hungry to do some creekin'so JPatt and Nathan talked of Dry Meadows Creek. It sounded great with 6 or so waterfalls and a mellow hike in. So we refered to the white water bible and checked out the directions. It could of been because it was so close to 420 or that we just wanted to get on the water real bad, but we drove past Johsondale and put on way to high.
At first we didn't know if we were even in the right drainage but we committed ourselves to a 8+ mile hike out through red ant covered bushes and unknown terrain. JP had done it once but hiked up from the bottom to the tea cups so we were flyin blind. After a mile or so we came upon Camp Whitset where a large amount of construction churned up ton of silt and turn the creek chocolate brown. As we pushed further we found a 10 footer and little did we know that it would be one of the highlights for the day. Since I wasn't confident walking down a drainage we didn't know, in a direction we were some what guessing, I said I thought we should maybe throw in the towel.
JP volunteered to run ahead and check to see where the teacups were downstream. He found the mile section we were supposed to run and since it was near dark we decided just to finish our hike down to the Kern just in time to run the couple miles out in the dark. Apparently there are rapids on the Kern and we ran a pretty big on in the dark named Carson Falls. Probably the most excitement of the day and we finished out the day with great excitement for dry clothes and food.
Waking up the next morning Justin and myself were beat. We got a couple practice runs in but it was clear that we were both pretty beat. Justin beat me by 5 sec and took 23rd, while I was right behind him in 24th. Great event and another adventure for the record books.
The weekend after our wonderful hike, I spoke with Charlie Center and he said he had a adventure lined up for us. I met him at Camp Lotus to check the topos before heading out. It was going to be a long day with 3.6 miles on Fulda creek, 7 miles on the North Fork of the North Fork of the American, and 14 on Giant Gap, dropping over 3500 feet. We began the day getting up at 5:45am meeting the crew (Alex Wolfgram, Ben Wartburg, myself, Justin Patt, Charlie Center, & Chris Zawacki). We started hiking to put in at 7am and started the day with log portages and some fun waterfalls.
To make this story a bit shorter, it took us 7hrs to go the 3 miles on Fulda and reached the North Fork of the North Fork at 2pm. From there we had another large portage and some very serious boat scouting. We got to the Giant Gap put in at 8ish and decided to stash out boats and hike out 2 miles to the road. Justin and I were freezing at an outhouse while Chuck and Ben made the barge to get a ride out. We got back to Coloma around 2am for some quick food and a much needed sleep.
The video has footage from Fulda, Brush, our Dry Meadow Creek hike, and a little footage from the 08' Nordie race...enjoy.
The creek was very fun with clean class IV slides, tea cups, and a interesting crack drop called "Spearchucker". After a run on that we were still very hungry to do some creekin'so JPatt and Nathan talked of Dry Meadows Creek. It sounded great with 6 or so waterfalls and a mellow hike in. So we refered to the white water bible and checked out the directions. It could of been because it was so close to 420 or that we just wanted to get on the water real bad, but we drove past Johsondale and put on way to high.
At first we didn't know if we were even in the right drainage but we committed ourselves to a 8+ mile hike out through red ant covered bushes and unknown terrain. JP had done it once but hiked up from the bottom to the tea cups so we were flyin blind. After a mile or so we came upon Camp Whitset where a large amount of construction churned up ton of silt and turn the creek chocolate brown. As we pushed further we found a 10 footer and little did we know that it would be one of the highlights for the day. Since I wasn't confident walking down a drainage we didn't know, in a direction we were some what guessing, I said I thought we should maybe throw in the towel.
JP volunteered to run ahead and check to see where the teacups were downstream. He found the mile section we were supposed to run and since it was near dark we decided just to finish our hike down to the Kern just in time to run the couple miles out in the dark. Apparently there are rapids on the Kern and we ran a pretty big on in the dark named Carson Falls. Probably the most excitement of the day and we finished out the day with great excitement for dry clothes and food.
Waking up the next morning Justin and myself were beat. We got a couple practice runs in but it was clear that we were both pretty beat. Justin beat me by 5 sec and took 23rd, while I was right behind him in 24th. Great event and another adventure for the record books.
The weekend after our wonderful hike, I spoke with Charlie Center and he said he had a adventure lined up for us. I met him at Camp Lotus to check the topos before heading out. It was going to be a long day with 3.6 miles on Fulda creek, 7 miles on the North Fork of the North Fork of the American, and 14 on Giant Gap, dropping over 3500 feet. We began the day getting up at 5:45am meeting the crew (Alex Wolfgram, Ben Wartburg, myself, Justin Patt, Charlie Center, & Chris Zawacki). We started hiking to put in at 7am and started the day with log portages and some fun waterfalls.
To make this story a bit shorter, it took us 7hrs to go the 3 miles on Fulda and reached the North Fork of the North Fork at 2pm. From there we had another large portage and some very serious boat scouting. We got to the Giant Gap put in at 8ish and decided to stash out boats and hike out 2 miles to the road. Justin and I were freezing at an outhouse while Chuck and Ben made the barge to get a ride out. We got back to Coloma around 2am for some quick food and a much needed sleep.
The video has footage from Fulda, Brush, our Dry Meadow Creek hike, and a little footage from the 08' Nordie race...enjoy.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
An EPIC and Possible First Decent
On Sunday (Jan. 27th) myself and Justin Patt decided to explore the waters of the Arroyo Mocho by Livermore, hearing of a 35' waterfall and some gradient. We located the creek pretty easily but due to our college style wake up at 11am we didn't put on until 2pm. From a previous "ducky" expedition we read that the landowners at put in were not so friendly, so we hopped the barbed wire fence and quickly made it down the hill side in our bright boating gear. We came upon the waterfall within 1/2 mile and took some time to scout. At first the drop look very intimidating due to the stout lead in which had a 10' boof at the top, into a pot hole 8' boof that lead straight off the 35 footer. After scouting for a half hour or so from both sides of the river we both decided it was good to go. A quick game of rock, paper, scissors decided that I was the victor to go first. J-Patt set safety for me at the lip of the waterfall just in case something didn't happen as planned, even though we both knew that the gorge walls were too steep to help if anything really went wrong. We both ended up with perfect lines and were both fired up for the day, but little did we know what lied in front of us. Due to our time concern we opted not to take camera (dumb move) but here is a shot of the waterfall from Bill Tuthill's ducky expedition from cacreeks.com.
This could have been a first and second decent of this drop but we aren't sure and haven't heard of anyone else getting in there and firing it up. The rest of the run was continuous class IV and III+ with wood, bushes, and barbed wired fences across the river (Landowners out there must not like kayakers). With numerous portages, Justin losing his paddle twice and the last miles of the run going straight through bushes the day was getting late. After finding JP's paddle the second time it was officially dark. We chose to rally in the dark since we were sure we had to be close to the take out. This was some of the most sketchy boating I think we both have ever done. Justin ran into one of the wonderful barbed wire fences in the middle of the dark crossing the river, but lucky didn't get hurt. Both of us were on edge at this point and a little hesitant to keep boating down this river we didn't know in the dark, with bushes, wood and barbed wire fences everywhere. Justin was leading through the bushes after the barb wire incident and once in a clearing the water quickly rushed in a pile of logs across the creek. With no eddies, he got pined underneath the logs and I pined on top of his boat. I held on top the log so I didn't go underneath it but my leg was pined in my kayak by the nose of Justin's boat. After a very long 30 sec. Justin came out flustered and glad to be alive. Once he gathered his head he helped me push my boat up-stream so I was able to get out and climb the log to shore. With both of our boats pinned underneath the logs and the multiple near death experiences, we both decided that once we got our boats out we were hiking out. With some snazzy rope work and lots of tugging, with water up to our necks, we got the boats out and got ready to hike. I was lucky that I brought a head light to hike out but the rain had made the steep hill sides very soft and challenging to climb. Once at the road we saw that we were only a quarter mile from take out so we got a quick ride in the back of a pick up from a local and recapped on the day. It was a great adventure and we were stoked to get in there even though it was such a mission. We got off the river a little after 7pm in time to get some burritos and start the drive home.
You gotta' love the epics...
Shon
This could have been a first and second decent of this drop but we aren't sure and haven't heard of anyone else getting in there and firing it up. The rest of the run was continuous class IV and III+ with wood, bushes, and barbed wired fences across the river (Landowners out there must not like kayakers). With numerous portages, Justin losing his paddle twice and the last miles of the run going straight through bushes the day was getting late. After finding JP's paddle the second time it was officially dark. We chose to rally in the dark since we were sure we had to be close to the take out. This was some of the most sketchy boating I think we both have ever done. Justin ran into one of the wonderful barbed wire fences in the middle of the dark crossing the river, but lucky didn't get hurt. Both of us were on edge at this point and a little hesitant to keep boating down this river we didn't know in the dark, with bushes, wood and barbed wire fences everywhere. Justin was leading through the bushes after the barb wire incident and once in a clearing the water quickly rushed in a pile of logs across the creek. With no eddies, he got pined underneath the logs and I pined on top of his boat. I held on top the log so I didn't go underneath it but my leg was pined in my kayak by the nose of Justin's boat. After a very long 30 sec. Justin came out flustered and glad to be alive. Once he gathered his head he helped me push my boat up-stream so I was able to get out and climb the log to shore. With both of our boats pinned underneath the logs and the multiple near death experiences, we both decided that once we got our boats out we were hiking out. With some snazzy rope work and lots of tugging, with water up to our necks, we got the boats out and got ready to hike. I was lucky that I brought a head light to hike out but the rain had made the steep hill sides very soft and challenging to climb. Once at the road we saw that we were only a quarter mile from take out so we got a quick ride in the back of a pick up from a local and recapped on the day. It was a great adventure and we were stoked to get in there even though it was such a mission. We got off the river a little after 7pm in time to get some burritos and start the drive home.
You gotta' love the epics...
Shon
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