Echo Bend in HD

Luc and I floated Echo Bend twice for a double-header on the Eagle River.  The only other time we floated this was in September at lower water - around 300-400 cfs.  Our trips were pushing 800 cfs which made it pushy but fun!

Enjoy the video in HD shot with my new GoPro.

Echo Bend Twofer from Matt Johnson on Vimeo.

Fall Packraft Season...its on

Pictures of packrafting don't do the sport justice...that's why you see all the video's posted.  And still the videos don't do the rivers and creeks any justice...that's why you just need to get out there and do it, and maybe swim a little, and throw your buddy a rope once in a while.

I've had some firsts this year, to include the South and Fork of Eagle River, what I would call "Middle" Bird Creek, and hopefully Canyon Creek to Six Mile before freeze up, and I should prolly mention - thigh straps!  Others have been hitting some huge lines (CL V) to include the Magic Mile on Kings River (check out Timmy J's boof at 2:23) and the Upper Willow.  Be sure to check out these videos, as they are the pioneers of packrafting.

Marc and I toured up Echo Bend at higher water (600 cfs) and found this to be very pushy, yet enjoyable.  View Marc's first hand video of what it's like to swim the best beafy part of Echo Bend.


I recently had the opportunity to boat with the Roman Dial's, as the old man gave us a run at a good stretch of Bird Creek.  His video shows some good carnage on Center Falls, much like mine does.  I took some newbs back on Columbus Day for the goods.  Here is an account of how things went down.

I suppose "The Birdcage" is my first named rapid.  The "Birdcage" was my nickname after my last trip to the desert.  Frank "Rage" Palestini nicknamed me the "Birdcage" after our hellacious upper body workouts.  Seeing that I suffered from lagging chest development, he deemed it appropriate to give me some birdseed for the parakeets.

So i'm anxiously awaiting my new paddle purchase, a Werner Powerhouse, 4 piece, 197cm, 30 deg feather.  Thank you PFD.  Lets go paddling...

I'll leave you with a quote that I saw on Forrest McCarthy's 2010 video compilation:


"Ironically as they paddle more and more whitewater, their reward circuitry (for dopamine) dulls, which makes the easier runs less satisfying and drives them to still harder runs and bigger drops to compensate. They are essentially chasing the high of earlier, heavenly thrills on easier water. This is precisely what we see with chronic alcohol or substance abuse." 


This explains it all.

The Thigh Strap Revolution

Ok, i'll admit this post might be an advertisement for lingerie.  Not the case.  Read on and you'll find out that this strictly deals with getting into the backcountry.

At the end of last year, Tim Johnson started the packraft revolution of adding thigh straps to his raft.  Soon, many other pioneers followed suit like Luc Mehl, Roman Dial, Becky King, Tony Perelli, and JT Lindholm.

At first I was very hesitant, especially with a limited whitewater background.  As I floated and negotiated more CLIV+ rivers, I began to see the utility.  It wasn't until this paddling season when I bought my finance (Meg :-) an Alpacka sized raft.  I jumped in it one night on the local stomping grounds and found the fit to be a lot better giving me more control than my Yak.  And it wasn't until I floated with Erik Tomsen that I rationed the thighstraps.  We conversed and he told me I was really looking for the added control that a smaller boat would give me.  I was sold...

I made a visit to Tracy Harmon of Alaska Raft & Kayak.  For a mere $73.56, I was setup with 4 1" Aire Brand D-Rings and some Aire Brand Deluxe Thigh Straps.  Grab the glue, we gonna have a huffin' party!

Thanks to Roman and Tim for the YouTube video and instructions.

These are the elements of a successful thigh strap installation party.  Note the domestic light beer.  Less calories.

The installation of the 1" D-rings.

 I loosely fit the thigh straps.  In order for the glue to dry, it is recommended to wait 72 hours without any kind of load or tension.  I still need to move my seat forward and add new velcro.  I purchased a new seat and explorer seat today from Alpacka.  All I need is a sewing machine (Maqina de Coser, in spanish).  Anybody got one?

Ol' Blue:  another look at the finished product.  Your daily history lesson - my Dad used to have an Oldsmobile Delta 88 that he used to call "ol' blue".  I'm bringing it back!

In other news, after the large flows on the Eagle River there is a lot of new wood in the campground rapids.  The river right channel is totally plugged up.  The river left channel is navigable.  This photo was taken last Thursday night, at 1380 cfs.

Public Service Announcement:  This Saturday, 21 August 2010 is the 3rd Annual Six Mile Fest.  Held near Hope, Alaska on the Six Mile River - the best and most consistent CLIV-V river in Southcentral Alaska.  New this year is a packraft mass carnage...i mean start.  Maybe I'll raft...next year.

Packrafting....SoFo style

I finally got to run my backyard whitewater run, the South Fork of Eagle River.

Sam C and I usually link up at this trailhead for backcountry skiing.  But this time was to run the South Fork of the Eagle River.  I had been up here a week ago on a trail run, and noticed that the river was runnable.

We put-in at the bridge over the river, and took out at South Creek Road.  You can actually take out where the river crossed Highland Road, but we went out after work.  Here is the route:

The run was awesome.  A little bit of rocks here and there, but nothing more than expected from some SoFo style butt-boating.  There were 3 bridges that had to be portaged, but the river was free of sweepers...well except for the one Sam C got wrapped around.  And of course the usual packraft boat pin.

 A video of our adventure can be viewed here, enjoy!!


A special shout-out goes to the Hoff, he is sweating his ass off at the National Training Center. The water up here is nice and cool...

Willow Creek

I think Willow Creek is my favorite whitewater run in a packraft.  Of course you've got the classics, Campground Rapids (local stomping ground), Six Mile (big smiles at low water), Bird Creek (short but technical), Lion's Head (really silty)....but for some reason I love going back to float the Willow.

The water is crystal clear and relatively warm, yeah you still need a drysuit.  The rapids are technical, but won't absolutely thrash you due to the "pool-drop" style characteristics of the river.  Meaning if you swim a drop, you'll likely be able to swim to shore at the bottom of the recovery pool.

There are two runs on this river, Redgate and Guardrail.  Redgate is the more beginner float at CLI-II, and Guardrail being the more intermediate run at CLII-III.  The Upper Willow is run by the hardshellers and experts at CLV+.

The Hoff and I made an early morning jaunt to take advantage of a recent rain spike in the gauge.  The trail was super slick, and I ended up on my ass more than twice.  This would be the M.O. for the first rapid, "Warmup Rapid".

After scouting the put-in, we chose to run "the drop above the Guardrail put-in".  There aren't any pictures of our run, but here is a vid put together from our run about 2 weeks ago.

Shortly after this 3-4 foot ledge drop, you enter "Warmup Rapid".  I viewed most of this rapid upside down, as the burly water took me for a ride.  It was good to cool down in the recovery pool.  The rest of the run was all smiles.  I'd look back at Marc, and see grins had by all.  We got to surf a lot of waves on the Redgate section, and made the run in about 90 mins.

Here is a map of our adventure.

 Definitely one of my local favs, and even better with a Summer Ale at the take-out.

The Little Su(sitna)

I've been wanting to run this section of the Little Susitna ever since driving up to Hatcher Pass to go skiing.  Tim Johnson calls this the "best non-stop, road-side, bang for your buck in Alaska!" in his book Alaska Whitewater:A Guide to Rivers and Creeks in the Last Fronteir.


So we didn't actually run that section of the river, but ran from the Hatcher Pass bridge over the Baby Su, to the Edgerton Parks Road bridge.  I must say, it was mad balla.

I always love after work packrafting in SCAK.  The regular team rallied for another adventure, with a small contingent from the Meetup Group.

And this is how we started the day.  Doc with a little swim lesson.  The "Warmup Rapid", a small little Class III section.


Gearing up at the put-in.

Doc, Patrick, and Doug ready to shred the "Sieve".  Doc would get his boat pinned below the large rock in the center of the river.  This was his second rope rescue of the night.

Jody workin' it.

Doug running the "Sieve".  The rock in front of him is where Doc got pinned.  I ran it clean ;-)

Lots of Class II splashy fun.

Brian 'splainin what it's all about....F-U-N.  Shown in one of the many pools of the pool-drop characteristics of this river.

Schooners of beer and pizza were on the agenda at Pizza Man, an after boating tradition.

Speaking of other boating traditions... is to drink a beer out of your bootie if you swim a particular rapid.  It's known as the "bootie beer".  And if someone in your group retrieves you or your gear, you owe them a round.  Doc declined.

Packrafting Adventures on the ER

I'm still in the delinquent category for postings.  I've still got Rabbit Creek and Denali National Park on the drawing board.....so stay tuned.

But first at hand is the recent packraft adventures.  What's a packraft you say, well check out this link.  You may also want to see the bloggage from the Grandfather of packrafting, Roman Dial.

While the fam was in town for a visit, I took my bro-in-law Brendo for a trip down the Eagle River.  We did the standard run known as bridge-to-bridge.  Starting at the Briggs Bridge on the Eagle River Loop Road, and running to the Glenn Highway Bridge.

Filling up the boats.

Da boys, B'do and Matty J ready to shred.

The river was running about 1000 cfs, so a little bit juicier than previous runs.  Brennen quickly got the hang of it and we were off.  The packraft is fairly forgiving, so any mistake wasn't too serious.  We did see a cow and her newborn calf on the side of the river - and B'do almost flipped it.

Of interesting note, Meg snapped this picture of Raina and Peeking.  An area that we skied a couple of weeks ago.  We skied the cooler from the top of the saddle on the lookers right, Raina Peak.

We got out just above the Class III section of the Campground Rapids and met up with the ladies, and scouted the rapid.  I was the only one to run it, and did so river right.  It was nice and pushy, and very fun.

The day wouldn't be complete without some swiftwater rescue.  We decided to do some rope training.  Me and Brennen on the float...

Rope!!!

I said put the rope on your opposite shoulder.  Matty J slays Goliath...

Brennen pulling a king from the Eagle River.

I'm not sure if this was the highlight of his trip, or the large quantity of Ice Axe Ale consumed.  By my count it was around 12 pints and 1 Growler.

Pete's North and Glacier Creek

Another year older...

I celebrated my 32nd birthday this past week.  What a better way to ring it in than with an outdoor backcountry adventure.  I got this hairy idea to ski-raft-bike all in one day.  What the heck...lets do it!!

I convinced my buddy Marc to join me.  He just returned from 6 weeks in the lower 48, and was jones'ing for an outing.  The plan was to ski this couloir in TPass off of Pete's North, packraft Glacier Creek, and mountain bike back to the truck.

Phase I: Backcountry Skiing

We headed down to the pass with a truck full of gear to find dismal weather.  Typical Western Prince William Sound weather - windy, rainy, and snowy.

Marc making the best out of a difficult situation - skiing in a ping pong ball...

We never reached our destination.  We lived to ski another day, and skied the mellower aspect down to Pete's Creek.  The pass received about 6-8" of fresh heavy snow, so we saw a lot of wet snow slides.

Marc workin' it.

Marc hucking his meat.

Marc enjoying the heavy wet stuff.  But its fresh, so that's why he's in the back seat...

This is what May skiing is all about.

Instead of going back the way we came (good idea), we headed down Pete's Creek (not so good idea, but interesting and fun).

We made it back to the 'Delta Tango', and were headed to the next destination.  Damn that's a lot of gear.

The finer things in life.  Utica Club and Dynafit's.  Phase I complete.

Phase II: Packraft

We headed back to Girdwood and dropped our bikes at the bridge near Chair 5 and headed to the Crow Creek Mine.  Our objective was to float Glacier Creek, but the lack of a recon would prove to be a terrain mistake.

I did see a pretty neat vehicle though.  This is a vintage 'Deuce and a half' with the US Army Alaska shoulder sleeve insignia.  We call it the "Binky Bear".

We rapped down to Crow Creek and inflated the boats.  Marc making his way to the put-in.

And the parting shot.

At this juncture, I am unable to give details about the final leg (ie. Phase III) of our trip.  You'll have to ask Marc or I for further details.  All I can say is that it involved a situation that would require problem solving and both of us swimming.  Nuff said.

We were successful in our triple header, finally navigating lower Crow Creek to Glacier Creek.  We made it back to the bikes in wet gear, and pedaled the ~4 miles back to the trailhead.

As one of my skiing buddies say, "Backcountry adventures make you late for dinner."