Slowing it Down

I was hoping to be ending my three part series of my Middle Salmon trip pretty quickly, that did not happen. Only a few days after posting my second part of the series my best friend, Shannon Christy (and large part of my Salmon trip) died in a kayaking accident on the Potomac River. My world began to spin and suddenly my summer changed from being the best summer I have ever had in my life to hearing the worst news and feeling the most heartbroken that I have felt. 

Waking up every morning. 

Things happened pretty quickly, Snowy and I had to drive to the Potomac to get the Dagger van and also to see people at the memorial service. The next weekend I decided to hop a flight to Rhode Island to go deep sea fishing with my dad and sister, Shannons' memorial service was the next weekend, the weekend after that I suddenly showed up at Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, and the next weekend I found myself in Michigan with my mom, sister, grandmother, and two aunts. Things never slowed down. When not grabbing flights, I was at the NOC training really hard for the quickly approaching Freestyle Worlds event.  

The last river trip with my best friend.

Every person grieves differently. Shannon was one of the very few girls who I have ever let get close to me. She knew me better than any other woman, she could read me like a book, I never got anything past her. We both taught each other a lot and we could always bounce ideas off of each other without fear of being judged. After three years with my boyfriend, Snowy was stoked to see me hanging out with another girl, everything was going so well. That didn't last long enough, there were a lot more things that Shannon and I wanted to do, have her be my maid of honor at my wedding, raise our kids together, and drive people nuts when we got old. We had a lot more adventures planned and we were always looking for new adventures.

The confluence of the Middle and Main Salmon

After my whirlwind month, sitting quietly is painful. I didn't cry very much that first month. I cry every day now, the smallest thing's set me off. A song that reminds me of her, a picture that I find, or even just looking at a red Mamba. The one positive thought that I have for all of this is that I have an angel on my shoulder all the time now. She keeps me safe, comfortable, and she reminds me to be happy, even in the hardest of times. 

God placed Shannon on this Earth as an angel, a ray of light that will never dim, even when we can't be with her physically, she is there spiritually. 

I will always love Shannon and I will never be able to replace her with anyone. I will tell my children of an angel who dropped onto my lap and caused me everlasting happiness. 

December 7 1989-July 11 2013

Middle Salmon Part 2

Shannon, tanning her legs, as kayakers, we have white legs!!

 After hiking up a mountain and surfing the crap out of the wave at Marble, I was beat. We slept under the stars that night and I woke up at one point to just see the true beauty of mother nature. The stars were out in a full force and all I could do was be in awe of them. I was so tired, I was only able to keep my eyes open for like 45 seconds but it was amazing. In the morning, Shannon and I heard that it was going to be a pretty easy day so we were happy to sit on the raft and be princessess again. 

River otters

 One of the things about rafting is, you can sleep and still make progress downstream! It was brilliant, we went like 6 miles and we slept the whole way. Along the way we did wake up to see these cute river otters having lunch on the side of the river. It was so cool to see wildlife. 

Campbell's Crew on the Middle Salmon

When we made it to camp that night we heard rumor of some awesome hot springs. It was the Loon hot springs, about a half mile up the creek. Since we had such a hard day of laying on the raft, instead of walking up there before dinner, we spent the afternoon plucking each others eyebrows and painting nails. Yep, I just said that. It was also tequila night for dinner and I definitely could not miss that!

Camp at Loon

 After dinner that night, the "young" crowd all rallied to the hot springs in the dark, using the light of the moon and the lightning storm going on. Luckily, I had the foresight of setting the tent up before we left camp that night... We had a great time at the hot springs, sipping on whiskey, loving on mother nature, and taking periodic dips in the freezing water of Loon Creek. It was a great way to spend a late afternoon with the girls. That night, we awoke to some very loud crashing and then sheets of torrential down pouring. A massive thunderstorm had rolled through, Shannon and I happily just rolled over and fell back to sleep, while listening to many people at camp struggling to put their tents up :-)

Scenery

The first half of the day started off amazing and we were happy to be back on the river. It was cloudy and had cooled off considerably with the storms coming through. We didn't have very many people in the duckies and even the kayakers were a bit cold. 

My best friend.

When we stopped for lunch, the sun came out, the clouds broke, and we all stripped down to our bathing suits. I took off my drysuit and was running around in just a bikini top and some underwear for a while! 

A normal outfit for me

 Everyone was hoping this wasn't a "sucker hole" but no one wanted to talk about it. After lunch, I tied my boat up and got back in the raft with Tessa and Rachel for more "princes boating". That lasted for about four minutes when I noticed some very dark looming clouds ahead and I promptly found my drysuit to put on. 

Rafting in a hail storm, in June??!!!

 Literally 3 seconds after zipping my trusty drysuit all the way, we looked downstream to see a wall of water coming towards us. We thought it was water, really it was hail, and coming down hard! The wind picked up very quickly and suddenly we found ourselves hunkering in the middle of the river for warmth. It was pretty miserable, the only consolation was that I knew it would end at some point. 

Not a pretty sight

 This deluge of rain/hail made all of us pretty cold for the rest of the day. We got to camp at a reasonable time but we were all pretty beat from the cold weather. Shannon and I crashed out on our paco pads without even letting them blow up! We woke up to dinner being made and a whiskey tasting was going on, we can't miss that. We also got to witness home made tiramasu being made with some very nice chocolate and whiskey.

Waterfall in the gorge

At lunch time the next day we were able to stop at this amazing, sacred, place. It is a round "bowl" with water flowing out of the top of it, that comes from the bottom of a tree, and falls down to where the people are sitting in the picture above. The fall moves with the wind and, once again, it is truly magical to watch mother earth work what she can do.

Pictographs

 We also got to see our first pictographs of the trip in this same place. I can understand why the "Sheepeater" indians wanted to stay here so bad. It is green, lush, easy to hunt long horned sheep from,  there is fresh water, and easy river access. 

Dated up to 8,000 years old

I could have stayed here the rest of the day and been completely content. I also knew what was ahead, the Impassable Canyon. 

Entering the Impassable Canyon

I was paddling my play boat most of the day and I was so exited to surf some massive waves. As the day went on, more water entered into the river. I had been surfing all day long but I was looking forward to the Impassable Canyon the most. 

I'm going to leave it at that for now. I'm sitting next to the Nantahala River, finishing my coffee at Rivers End, about to go train for Worlds in freestyle. Time to go kayaking! Make sure to check back periodically for the last part to my Middle Salmon series. 

Happy kayaking!!

Middle Fork of the Salmon part 1

Best airport ever

 So I was lucky enough to be invited on an all womens' trip on the Middle Salmon that had been put on by both Backcountry Babes and Canyons Rafting Company out of McCall Idaho. It was the first ever all womens trip, including women driving a boat called the "sweep boat", more about that later. My partner in crime, Shannon Christy, and I flew out of Denver sunday morning and landed happily in Boise, only to get on a four seater, gum package sized, airplane to get to McCall. We packed all of our stuff, kind of slept for a night, and then got back on the gum package sized airplane to fly to the put in of the Middle Salmon. 

Tessa Greer, rower extraordinare!

 We met the rest of our trip at the Boundary put-in. There would be 26 women on the trip with us, including all of the guides and safety kayakers. It was looking like it was going to be a great 6 day trip. The put in was bustling, between our trip putting on and all of the privates, there was little space to get on the water! It reminded me of the Gauley!

Craziness at the put-in

I immediately realized how beautiful this area was. The Middle Salmon area is the largest piece of land that is protected and untouched in the continental United States. Everyone got all packed up and we were briefed by the crew that would be taking us down the river for the next six days, five nights. We were finally off and I was happy as a clam in my bright pink Remix 59. Shannon and I were boofing every rock in sight and also marveling at what was surrounding us.

Sheepeater hot springs

 After paddling 14 miles we stopped at Fire Island, the first camp of our trip. We were all very happy to make the half mile treck up stream to the Sheep Eater Hot Springs even though it was already 85 degrees outside. After cooking in the hot springs for a while we came back to camp to find that there were crab cakes that had been made for us as appetizers! Yes, I said crab cakes, on the river. We also got a chance to play some bocce ball, until I lost my ball. We re-named the camp "Camp Blue Ball", there is still a blue bocce ball somewhere out there! Some clouds rolled in as the evening went on so Shannon and I decided to set up a tent. 

Morning yoga session to warm up

 The night was amazing, sleeping next to the river is so natural and we all slept like babies. In the morning we had eggs cooked to our liking and loads of fresh fruit. We had 20 miles of paddling in front of us and from what we heard there were going to be some big rapids. This trip was more about being with an amazing group of women than about running rapids, though that is fun too... I got to go "ducky" for the first time since I was 11 and I was stoked! 

Devon Barker-Hicks, so happy to have her with us!

 After lunch, Shannon and I heard the rapids slowed down pretty substantially so we opted to tie our kayaks to the raft and go "princess boating". We pretty much laid on the front of the raft, on a paco pad, and slept. It was the best way to go down a river ever. At one point, Shannon and I found ourselves clutching each other in the middle of the raft, literally kicking water away from us so we didn't get wet. This lead to hours of laughing and giggling between the three of us, Shannon, Tessa, and I. 

Just along for the ride

 Every corner that we turned was even more beautiful. 

The view from our post for most of the second day.

 We tried our hardest to stay away from the water and make sure we got a good tan on. I had to make sure my poor bald head didn't get burnt too!!

My best friend and I. Princess boating at it's best.

 We spent more time taking pictures of ourselves and laughing at each other than anything. It was a cool experience to turn over the reigns to someone else on the river and just be along for the ride, like a real tourist. We don't do that very often so it was an interesting perspective.

Tessa at one point told me to row. I'm no good. 

 Tessa gave me the chance to row the boat for a little bit, I was very terrible. It went against everything that I have ever known about kayaking, in fact, its the opposite. I was only behind the wheel for like 4 minutes  and I was happy to give Tessa back the power. 

Shannon and I stoked on surfing at Marble!

 After spending half of the day tanning and drinking beer we landed at the night two campsite, Marble left. I heard rumor there was a great surf wave here, the rumors were true! I was so excited to jump straight into my Biscuit and rally onto the water to get some surfing in!! It was the first real "wave" that I have surfed in years and it all came back to me very quickly. 

Camp is all the way at the bottom!

 After the evening surf session I decided to tackle the huge mountain that was behind us. I ran up it. It was hot, the sun was still very high in the sky, and I went for it. By the time I got to the top I was tired, broken, dirty, and very sweaty. The view from the top made up for all of the hard work that I had just put myself through. I felt like I could see for years up there! On the way down, I knew every step I took got me closer to a nice drink and some awesome food. 

Huge bull snake at camp

We also got the chance to share camp with this huge guy. Hes a big ole bull snake, harmless to humans, also known to eat rattle snakes, he was very welcome in our camp as Monica shows here! 

There are so many more pictures and more stories to come! Please keep checking back soon for more on this amazing trip!!!

GoPro Mountain Games 2013

Entering the "Bird Bath"

 As always, the GoPro Mountain Games (formerly the Teva Mountain Games), starts off with a bang at Homestake Creek in Colorado. We are about 30 minutes outside of Vail in a town called Red Cliff and theres a roadside section of river that drops 450 feet per mile. Its an amazing stretch of whitewater and this year it actually had some water in it! My runs didn't go as well as I had hoped and I ended up in 3rd place behind Martina Wegman and Natalie Anderson.

Setting up for something huge!!

My mom and dad were at the Games this year so it was awesome to be able to see both of them for the weekend also. Going into the freestyle I was worried this year because it was a big cut for the females. We were also competing agains the juniors, who are better than most of us!! We cut 50%, from 12 to 6. I (luckily) ended up 6th!! We cut straight to finals for Saturday afternoon so most of Saturday I spent packing for Idaho and making sure I got my hair cut!

Before

 As some of you know, I did a pretty massive fundraiser for First Descents. I wanted to raise awareness of the organization and at the same time do something that people would ask about.  I wanted to be able to give back what I was doing, so I decided to shave all of my hair off.

Check out my page, even though I made my goal, every dollar counts and if you have some change feel free to keep donating to this amazing cause. My page will stay open until the end of the year.

http://teamfd.firstdescents.org/2013/fd/shaveQuickie/

So, I shaved my head at the Games right before my finals run. I felt like I was at least 10 lbs lighter!

After

I then had to compete in finals in a stacked line up. Sage, Haley Mills, Courtney Kerin, Rowan Stuart, Emily Jackson, and myself. I revealed my new hair cut to the crowd and I got a huge, very empowering, cheer from everyone watching. 

Proud of Sage Donnely for having a great ride

 I knew it was going to be tight to get into 5th place, for the money so I had learned how to McNasty the day before the competition, with some help from Dustin Urban. I doubted that I would stick one in this feature, I was watching the men wash out trying them, but I didn't care. I had a relatively good ride and I decided to let it all hang out. I went for it, and stuck my first ever McNasty in competition. 

So stoked on sticking it!

 I didn't care that I ended up 5th place, I had done a move that no other women did in the competition and to me, that was winning. 

Huge huge loop!!!

This spot was also giving out some massive loops, which are my favorite thing to do! Always a fun move to stick.

Cartwheels

 All in all, I was happy with where I ended up in the competition and I was happy that I learned a new move. The GoPro Mountain Games were great this year and I hope to be a part of them for many years to come. 

I also got the chance to meet the owner of Jati Suits, Burton Falk and he hooked Haley Mills and I up as the newest team members/ambassadors!!

http://www.jationepiece.com/

Check out their suits online, they are super warm and so comfy I have been living in mine as of late. 

I also got to spend time with an amazing family during the weekend. My little buddy Campbell and his whole family, known to me as the Arizona Fan Club, this family comes up every year to watch the athletes at the Games. They are an inspiring family and also have an amazing story to tell. If you get a chance check them out on Facebook, Campbells Crew. 

Campbell and I 

A quick huge thanks to everyone who supports my habits!! Thanks for reading. I headed to Idaho the day after the GoPro Games for a big adventure. See what it was coming up next!!!!

Special thanks to the photos: Campbells Crew, my mom, Stephanie Viselli, and Phillip Robert

Burton and my new Jati Suit

East to West 2013

Chasing Haley during the SUP Cross

Two weeks ago, I got to travel to Richmond, Va for the Richmond Dominion River Rocks festival. I signed up for three events, the Boater Cross, SUP Cross, and the freestyle event. This event is super cool because we are in the middle of downtown Richmond the whole time and there are all sorts of other events going on at the same time. It is like the east coast version of what used to be the Teva Mountain Games, now called the Go-Pro Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado. 

Crossbow!!

 The boater cross was awesome and it ended up being three heats of going really hard for 2 minutes at a time. I won the event and all of the other girls were super stoked. We headed to the SUP Cross shortly after that and it was the same set up. We did a time trial, then on to the SUP Cross race. Three races again and we had three gates to go through. Haley Mills (my Partner in Crime) is a super good SUPer and she "missed a gate" so I ended up winning,  even though I fell over, head first, into the water during the race. 

Right before the head plant. 

 The next day we did a freestyle event but it was a downriver freestyle because there was no feature to surf. It was pretty interesting and we all did as well as we could, I think I won because I did an awesome rock spin :-) All in all, the Dominion event was awesome and I came home with some money in my pocket. I will most definitely be back there next year!

Courtney and I taking first and second in the SUP Cross.

Right after the Dominion event, I headed back to Greenville for a day just to re-pack my car and drive to Colorado, solo. I made it all the way to Salina KS and stopped for four hours, only to wake up next to Clay Wright's rig!! I finished the drive and was stoked to make it to Buena Vista, Colorado in good time. We have better water here than last year and the event went off without a hitch. Blog on that to come soon.  

Freestyle winners!

A small bag of 5 foot candy

There are a lot of things that I want to share with the kayaking world about the travels of the "Colorado Tour" because everyone thinks that it is this glorious lifestyle but it's really not. The tour is full of good times and hard times. Every day is not as easy as it looks.

Our days are full of selling gear, doing blogs, competing, and having fun. That sounds easy right? On the side, there are always other things going on; family problems, travel drama, where to shower, what to eat, not doing well in competition, and watching other people do really well.

I will share more of this later. I want to personally thank Jeff Turner and Matt Porter at Kokatat for housing me and taking very good care of me over the weekend during BV Paddlefest. I have been embraced by the Kokatat family and I feel really loved by them. So, thank you, Kokatat for all that you for me and the kayaking community.

2013 US Freestyle Kayak Team Trials

Even though it was a cold, rainy weekend, last weekend was great. We had the 2013 US Freestyle Kayak Team trials for Worlds, which are being held at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in September. I learned how to kayak at the NOC over 10 years ago and the Nantahala River was the first river I ever paddled on. I thought it would be pretty amazing if I could represent the US in this monumentous event. 

Trying to make the best out of a cold day.

 I was super stoked on Saturday when it was 55 degrees and raining that I had just picked up my newest sponsor, SurfFur. They have super warm sweatshirts and a full length, waterproof, windproof, parka that is big enough to change in. In prelims the day before, I ended up in 1st place going into semi-finals! Throughout the day on Saturday there were rumors of impending heavy rain and some speak of having finals on Saturday night. 

Flippy flopping my way to victory. 

 Saturday after semi-finals I was in 2nd place behind Haley Mills with Elaine Campbell in 3rd, Emily Jackson in 4th, and Devon Barker in 5th. Emily is heavily pregnant at over 7 months but we all knew that she had a lot of "tricks" up her sleeve for finals. Sunday morning we woke up to heavy rain and a  rowdy looking radar. As a "creek" boater I would normally be pretty pumped, but I had other things on my mind that morning. I knew what I had to do to come away with what I wanted, a spot on the US Freestyle Team. 

Dropping into a flushy, brown, feature.

The water came up over 400 cfs in under two hours and it was raining over an inch an hour while we were eating breakfast (at 1030). We were all watching the hole slowly disappear and we were all on edge not knowing if we were even gong to have a finals. The five women got into our kit and all of us were (abnormally) quiet in the eddy prior to competing. Haley, Elaine, and I are pretty well known for being a bit rowdy in the eddy. What's the point of competing if you can't have fun!!??

Nervous faces or game faces???

 I won't give the play by play but Haley and I had "good" first rides and we ended up 1st and 2nd respectively. We were (once again) the ones to beat. Elaine pulled out a ride that was up to par and placed her in 3rd again. For the first time ever Emily Jackson ended up in 4th place and just out of contingency for Worlds, she is first alternate however, so there is still a chance she will compete at Worlds in September.

Happy face!!

Stoked that even though the hole was not so good and it was cold and rainy, I still made the US Team!! I represented the US in Thun Switzerland in 2009 and I wanted to have another chance that this "kayaker" can do some freestyle!! 

Celebratory beers with my teammates. 

We all ran into the dry area where, magically, there was a keg of beer!! We celebrated the night away with our victories and tried to stay warm and dry. 

I then traveled back to Greenville, SC on Monday and headed to an awesome 24 hour shift with Greenville County EMS, like nothing ever happened. I sure do love the split of lives that I am living right now!! Super shout out to my sponsors; Liquid Logic, Kokatat, Werner Paddles, Jen-ai Apparel Shred Ready Helmets, SurfFur, Watershed Drybags, and Smith Optics