Clay’s ‘Way out West 07’

July 23, 2007

By Clay Wright

Photos

The Teva Mountain Games was just incredible – and Dan Gavere and I challenged the athletes even more this time by adding a ramp to Homestake, adding buoys on Dowd’s paddle-cross, adding said ramp sections to beef up the hole and make a ‘big loop’ freestyle event where there was barely any cartwheeling, and adding tons more ‘8’balls’ for the final competition. Thanks to all the athletes and especially to Mike Mather who got cold and wet and saw-dusty for us all week. Oh – also TEVA! Check out the Tevamountaingames.com site for more info and showtimes.

After all that work, I was ready to paddle. Now it’s been about 6 months since I really boated last so I though I would warm up with some Homestake-Gilman gorge action in my shiny new 07 Rocker. Went great – kinda like riding a bike till the next day when you are so sore in such weird places (neck, low back, and sides). So fun I went to Lyons for that even and raced the S. St. Vrain . . .oops – got dry-docked on a rock for a moment to come in 12th, guess it’s not like riding a bike after all! So I headed to Bailey instead of USB the next day, intent on some practice in a less threatening spot. Great time, great group! But as everyone talked of FIBARK I knew I had to shift gears once again . . on highway 80 across Wyoming then north thru Utah and Idaho towards Washington State where my buddy Tracy Clapp (Falling Down anyone?) was getting hitched in Seattle, followed by Jay Kinkaid’s wedding in Eugene.

The weddings went great – who knew they could be this fun? Only my liver wished we were paddling instead. With Tara flying out to Seattle, we touristed Olympic Penn Park, Space Needle, the coast, and sea kayaked through down-town. Down in Eugene, we paddled with Jay and crew – my first trip in the 07 All-star! – and biked on the McKenzie Trail with Nick Troutman and then enjoyed the wedding festivities with so many ‘rodeo family’ friends flying in I knew it would be one hell of a party. Who wasn’t there? Barely rallied for biking the next day with Jed, and was glad to sweat off all that whiskey amongst the gi-normous trees and lush ferns of the Oregon forest.

After that it was time to head North. Found myself in Portland meeting Jed Weingarten, Willie, and Johnie Kern for some more Mt. Biking (my knee re-hab) as well as dropping Green Truss with Nick Troutman, Tao Berman, Nate and Heather Herkbeck before driving on up to Skook with the JK RV + film crew. We had a sweet session on the wave, just discovering the speed and carving ability of my 07 All-star made the trip worthwhile, not to mention the beautiful bike ride in and out and epic sea-side views. Back to Hood River to finish up the Jackson’s filming by taking the fam down Green Truss of the White Salmon, then to the Wind for some park n huck. But with the Jacksons heading for the Jr. Olympics back in CO, I decided to stick around and enjoy more of what Hood River had to offer instead of heading back to the hot, humid, drought stricken SE.

Hooked up with Dan Gavere and Nate Herkbeck for their ‘after-work paddle’ sessions where I met up with Andy Maser, LJ Groth, Lane Jacobs, Jared Seiler, Josh Bechtel, Shannon Carrol, and Christie Glismayer and many other travelling ‘pro’s who ended up in ‘the hood’ after Cali ran dry, as well as local boaters like Todd Anderson and Eric Boomer. With such great people to boat with, it was hard to do anything else. But this is Hood River so how could I not try Kiteboarding again when Dan offered? Josh Bechtel and I headed out in a tandem kayak to meet Dan who kiteboarded upriver and out of the crowds. Up at the island, we got a quick run-through about how to use the gear and then Josh took the first leg as Dan and I paddled behind to pick up the pieces. On Josh’s first attempt to get up on the board he soared 20 feet over our head, crashing back down with a splash as the kite crashed. Now I was more worried about this than I was about BZ, Big Brother, and Spirit combined. But he got it together after that and soon I was skipping across the water trying to ‘set an edge’ to carve upwind as well. Great sport this kiteboarding … like wakeboarding while driving the boat at the same time.

While I also got to Mountain Bike at Post Canyon and try a couple ‘stunts’, the highlight of the trip was the same as every visit to Hood River … Spirit Falls. Everyone kept saying the Little White was too low, yet we found an estimated 2.2′ to be 100% good to go on every rapid. There is far less scraping here than the Green at 100% and rapids like S Turn, Stove Pipe, S-turn, and Spirit are true classics in every sense of the word. With my back sore from looking up at the kite (and being drug across the water by 20 mile an hour winds) I was eager to put my ‘tuck’ to the test on these classic drops, so I battened down my ears securely (vaseline, Doc’s Plugs, duct tape, swim cap, scull cap, and full-face helmet) and headed for the bottom of the river on all the big ones, rejoicing in the bottomless geology us South Easterners rarely get to experience.

Back in Rock Island now, enjoying evening swims on the lake, weekend Ocoee boating, and seeing Tara as well as all sorts of JK / Ocoee friends and re-packing before heading off the the Ottawa for summers end coaching at Wilderness Tours. Have Flow, will travel. See you on the river …

Clay Wright