After several weeks of hectic preparation Ed and I are officially on the road. The soul tour rig is picking up chicks with style. We’re hulling a 1970 bubble camper trailer behind a full size ford 4x4 complete with blue SS racing strips from bumper to bumper. Our collection of 18 kayaks where generously donated by Perception, Wave Sport, Eskimo, and Riot.
After an all night drive from Salt Lake City, we arrived dazed and confused in Kernville, California. Reality slapped us with inflated unleaded priced at $1.69 a gallon, and a below average year for snowfall.
Our first clinic was on Brush Creek, a small, slick granite playground averaging 50 cfs and 300 fpm. It was like seal-launching into a skateboard park watered by a garden hose. We then ran into another large group filming a show for OLN, (Outdoor Life Network) and quickly decided that we had picked the wrong river, lesson learned. Next door on the famous Dry Meadow Creek, 75 people were picking there way down the 7 teacups all at the same time. Busy weekend on the Kern….
Driven off by high gas prices, crowds, and no water, we left for Fresno California. We had some unfinished business with our trailer lights and refrigerator. Luckily our friend Jeff Barnett owns a refrigeration business and helped us solve problems for two days. With details in order we made off for Sequoia NP to run the Kaweah River. We met some friends at the put-in of the Hospital Rock section and had a great day. The river was at a perfect water level, and running clear green through white granite gorges, chalked full of class 5 rapids and a few Great Falls. In the evening light we broke out the longboards for an exhilarating downhill ride.
Next we camped for 2 days at an epic hole on the Merced River. We felt that it was our duty to personally test all the rodeo boats to see if they worked correctly.
We then made our way to Nevada City California for a weekend of racing on the South Yuba River. Saturday was the 2nd annual Chuck Kern memorial downriver race on the Class 5, Rt. 49 to Bridgeport run. The next day Ed and I competed in the pedal paddle race, a grueling 14-mile Mt. bike ride followed by 5 miles of downriver class 4.
We are now on our way to Oregon and Washington for several weeks of paddling. Look for us on the road, we would love to paddle with ya….
