The past few years have been full of adventure. The pursuit of whitewater paddling has risen to become the foremost focus in my life. I've shaped my lifestyle, both personal and professional, into a mold that allows me to more fully immerse myself in the navigation of swiftly moving, and falling water. There is a closeness, a tremendous bond that forms among people who share any passion, or who triumph jointly over great challenges. Often adventure is met at the point where great passion and challenge come together. It can be both enlightening and terrifying, exulting and tragic. Whitewater is the medium on which I choose to focus my passion. It is the challenge for the body, mind and soul that elevates focus and blots out all distractions. And it is over this incredible dynamic medium that I have been able experience and explore some of the most incredible places on earth and share time with some of my closest friends. I hope this blog will serve its purpose of sharing the passion for adventure and whitewater equally with both those who may already be familiar with its draw and those to whom it is foreign. I'd like to nurture that closeness, and strengthen that bond that has been created as a result of these pursuits while also shedding light toward the reason behind my addiction to whitewater for my non paddling friends and family. Through photos and stories this blog is my shot at defining adventure.

Friday, November 13, 2009

North Fork Payette: BIG water in July

With a couple months of summer time creekin under our belts and levels on the Green Truss and Little White Salmon starting to drop, Curt Joyce, Tyler Houck and I loaded up the truck to head out to Idaho to catch the big water action on the legendary North Fork of the Payette. This fifteen mile run offers nearly nonstop big water class V whitewater. Running top to bottom you descend 1700 ft through some of the longest, most chaotic rapids I've ever seen. Highlight rapids are Nutcracker, Jaws, and the enormous Jacobs Ladder. Many thanks go out to Brian Ward, possible the worlds most hospitable paddler. Putting us up, and showing us around Boise wasn't enough, Brian also ran our shuttle on day 2 and took a ton of photos for us (he was busted up from a hard digger he took on his bike a couple days earlier and couldn't paddle with us). The following pictures are thanks to him.

Drew Austell charging into a one of the endless rapids on the North Fork of the Payette. I think this one is S- turn... so much whitewater the endless glare burns your eyeballs out.
Photo: Brian Ward


Our second day, back at the N. Fork, we met some Germans, Bobby and Wolf, and paddled the run with those guys. They were a blast. This is Curt Joyce bringing up the rear of our day 2 group of five.
Photo: Brian Ward

Me taking a break below Jacob's Ladder, and scared for the Golf course, home to some of the toughest holes on the N. Fork.
Photo: Brian Ward


"It just goes on forever". The intimidating view down into Golf Course. Tyler finally proved he can swim like the rest of us about halfway through this monster, a scary place indeed, but the end result was not to bad.
Photo: Brian Ward





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