Monday, April 20, 2009

Prospect Creek and an out of town booty beer!



Saturday afternoon we loaded up a truck with creek boats and took off for Thompson Falls and Prospect Creek.

Patrick, Darren and I took the two hour drive from Missoula to Thompson Falls to check out this not-so-often run gem of a creek without a whole lot of information. All we knew was that it had a pretty fun class IV upper gorge, beautiful blue water and quite possibly a whole lot of wood.


We put in and paddled a couple of fun class III rapids when we came to the hardest part of the gorge, a stacked set of powerful looking class IV rapids stacked right on top of each other. No one had the cahones to fire it up so we opted for a quarter mile portage around the meat of the first gorge, vowing to come back and get a piece of the more difficult rapids on another day. After our portage we paddled several fun class III and IV rapids, making our way finally down to the final gorge. The final gorge consisted of a fun little rapid with some tight moves and high walls followed by the last rapid of the stretch that emptied into the Clark Fork River.

Patrick fires up the first drop on the final gorge.

The final rapid on the last gorge had a great seem where the water meets up and plunges towards the final hydraulic. Hitting it just right sends you deep, deep, deep into the bottom of the river for a super fun ride.

Darren melts into the final hole

Once in the final hole you can get some pretty crazy enders after spending a little time in the depths of Prospect creek.

I get some stern squirtage in the final rapid of Prospect Creek.

Patrick with some more of the same

Last weekend we had a little visit from a good friend Shevy Schmuas. Schmaus has been living in Seattle for a while and dropped back into town for a couple beers and some time with her family. She took a trip down to Brennan's Wave Saturday afternoon and after a bummer of a paddle drop she took a swim in the Clark Fork River. She paid the price like a champ however and took a booty beer out of my booty no less!

Like a champion

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Brennan's Wave and Strongwater opening!

Kayaking season is upon us...



The good old Clark Fork water levels have been on the rise and with Lochsa season bearing down on me I've put in my two weeks notice at work so I can kayak my brains out for a few weeks before I start my new job taking photos for ROW on the mighty Lochsa...

As if all of this wasn't enough to get your juices flowing, local playboating rockstars KB and Luke just opened up their new paddleshop - Strongwater. They're stocking all kinds of Jackson kayaks (That dynamic duo demo is calling my name already) and other cool kayaking stuff. They started everything off with a keg of beer and a party Saturday afternoon. Combine that with a little afternoon session on Brennan's Wave and you've got one helluva Saturday.

Darren Rabosky kicked the day off with a couple spins on the surfer's left wave. With the water levels coming up the left wave has gotten better than it was this winter, but the real action has been on the middle hole.


The middle wave gave up some big loops, and sorts of other little trickies for the paddlers out there tough enough to throw them down.



Patrick Hooper has been working hard on his loops for the past week, and they're starting to look straight up effortless.


The rest of us had to work a bit harder for our loops. While there is plenty of power in the middle hole, it isn't super steep, so timing is essential and finding that sweet spot is a must to make big tricks happen.


Darren and I spent a pretty frustrating afternoon trying to finish out our loops. Which was made all the more frustrating because we had to watch Patrick do this.


Anyone who's in Missoula or passing through Missoula should also stop by and check out Strongwater, killer owners and I'm sure it's gonna be one helluva shop. Check them out on Facebook right here.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

What the *$&%)%(* is a booty beer?


What is a booty beer? You have no idea? Well my friend, you are in for a treat.

A booty beer is,

Utterly disgusting. Completely cathartic. Truly revolting. Soothingly spiritual.

It is simultaneously one of the best and worst experiences of my life.

Anyone who has spent enough time with a whitewater kayaker, rafter, river boarder or enthusiast of any discipline knows both the horrors and the joys of the booty beer. A booty beer combines the punitive spirit of Catholic nuns with the joys of alcohol and the horrors of toe fungus.

As the tradition goes, any rafter or kayaker that finds themselves unintentionally out of their craft and "into the drink"during a river trip has to pay for it in booty beer. An alcoholic beverage, preferably warm and flat, is poured into the poor paddler's "booty." If the paddler is "bootyless" they may have to imbibe from someone else's booty. Either way, as penance for their daring trip into the frothy waters of whatever river they've dumped themselves into, the boater must down the fungus-laden drink as quickly as possible.

Ever since my very first booty beer (I can't remember when this took place and I'm not sure if that has something to do with the amount of beer I consumed after the booty beer to get the taste out of my mouth or some sub-conscious memory blocking mechanism) I have had a bizarre fascination with the ritual. It has the same feel as a fraternity initiation, minus the, "Thank you sir! May I have another?" But if you look closer at what is going on, I think you'll find something much more valuable.

In the name of science, we're going to take a careful look at exactly what goes into a booty beer and why it is such a strangely important part of a sport that, unlike maybe NASCAR or rugby, does not cater exclusively to drinkers.

In this case I'm going to embarrass Alley, mainly because she now lives in another country and can't hurt me for doing this. Also because during her epic swim on the Lochsa River in Idaho, her shoulder was dislocated. After swimming herself to shore, Alley forced her own shoulder back into socket and said, "Dammit, there goes my paddling season." Alley is the essence of a boater and she took her booty beer like a champion.

It started with (lucky Alley) a lovely selection from Missoula's own Bayern Brewery.


With a little hlep from kayaking buddy Patrick, the beer hit the booty.


And then Alley took care of business...


To the lay person this is either lunacy, a severe violation of health code or, in the words of many a drunk college student, FREAKING HARDCORE!

Some paddlers treat this act as pure obligation. To not drink a booty beer after a swim is heresy. Others dismiss the act as a superstitious idiocy. Either way, it's always been a huge part of boating for me.

Maybe it's because every time you swim someone has to hit you with a rope, chase down a piece of your gear or tow you to shore. The act of watching you choke down some foot-soaked booze is a little bit of vengeance and payback for the lunacy that comes in the wake of an epic swim.

Paying back your paddling buddies for their efforts with a disgusting act of loyalty is bonding, powerful and fun. But the most important question is likely, why the hell would I name a blog after the act of chugging fungal booze, and what am I going to talk about in this ridiculously titled blog?

To answer simply? Everything.

The booty beer is everything that keeps people kayaking, living and taking risks. It makes light of a dangerous situation and it is the consequence for inevitably biting off more than you can chew. Many boaters have told me that, "We're all in between swims." But I'd like to think that we're all in between booty beers. It's what reminds us why we really take risks. The people that catch us when we fall. We owe it to them to not only push ourselves but to take appropriate risks.

So this blog is going to be dedicated to both my fool hardy outdoor adventures, as well as the reason they happen. It's one thing to push yourself, but it's an entirely different thing to know why.

The booty beer reminds us...