Upper Klamath offers editing break

By Jesse Coombs

Hi Everyone,

While working with Ben, Mac, Darin and the boys on Hotel Charley 3: The Lost World we had the opportunity to paddle the Upper Klamath. At the same time I was shopping for a new van to use for our 26 city film tour this Spring. Click this link for the tour schedule. I found an all-wheel drive Toyota Previa I thought would be a good candidate. Of course you never want to buy a car without having driven it, so I talked the owner into letting us take it for a little spin to the put in for the Upper Klamath. I am not sure he was super happy with the result. 🙂 On the other hand I was ecstatic to see that even though we got the Previa buried, she pulled right out after two 180 pound meatballs (Ben and Darin) got out to inspect.

After getting the new tour rig up to the put in I was excited to get the Super Hero on big water. WOW. There is NOTHING the Super Hero does not excel at doing. It handled the big water impeccably. Darin was in his Hero and said that it just made everything easier. He and I spent the entire river trip talking about every little aspect we loved about the boat. It was like a ‘Super Hero self help group’ or something. We couldn’t get off the topic. I like how maneuverable it is…. And he likes how stable it is….And I like how easy it is to roll… And he likes how comfortable it is….And I like how well it surfaces….And he likes how easy it packs gear….And I like how I can focus on the oncoming whitewater instead of correction strokes…..etc. By the end of our day, our local friend Dan Thurber, said he was ready to go out and buy one. Speaking of which, after one day in the Super Hero Devin Knight (see this story) went out and bought one THE NEXT DAY.

When we took off the river Ben and Darin made a fire and dinner while I rode off on the mountain bike to run shuttle and retrieve the Previa. To give you an idea of how bad the road is, it took me 55 minutes to ride up the road on the mountain bike and 50 minutes to drive back. If you ever get the chance to kayak the Upper Klamath I highly encourage to take advantage of the opportunity and use someone else’s rig for shuttle. 🙂

Happy Paddling!

Jesse