January 23, 2006

My buddies Leif and Jacob of the Sweet Bunion Productions posse were in town
over winter break, so we headed out to the creeks and rivers of Oregon and
SW Washington. Leif just got a new camera and he was eager to test it out.
It was raining quite a lot, so I decided it would be best to leave mine at
home and let Leif’s camera get broken in a bit. A lot of our video from
break features a slightly wet or foggy lens as a testament to the constant
wet weather. This video segment (Windows Media Player, 3.89 MB) was shot by Leif and Jacob while we were
paddling the Washougal River and then a small, steep tributary called
Stebbins Creek. We had an awesome mission up to Stebbins Creek with a
scenic four-mile hike in to a remote, untouched wilderness. The water in
Stebbins was a little low, but that was probably good for our first time
down so that we could easily scout for logs and unknown class V drops. It
was remarkably beautiful and great to do an exciting run that seemed so far
from human touch. Thanks to my bros Leif and Jacob for taking this video
and to Jason Rackley from OregonKayaking.net who provides some awesome beta
on his website.

Later,
Dan Rubado