I have been on an extended fall kayaking road trip around the southeast, and even though the Moose River is all the way in up-state New York, I figured I should go to Moosefest while I’m on the east coast. The rapids on the Moose are super fun with friendly waterfalls and slides, and big pools between drops. Moosefest is pretty much a downriver race on Saturday, awards at Mountain Man, a party at the bar in Old Forge, lots of paddlers on the river, and a good time! The race goes from Agars Falls to the pool below Crystal. Agars Falls is a ~15ft drop that lands right above an easy, but fun and fast slide. The last, and biggest drop is Crystal right above the finish line. I ran the river on Friday and Saturday morning and then raced on Saturday afternoon. There was no short boat class, so most of the racers were in long boats, but the Zen was really fast compared to the other short boats. I used the Zen 75 for the extra speed and it was still easy to control and paddle through the rapids. The race was a la mans start, meaning that it was a mass start where we had to run to our boats and then get in and start paddling. I really need to practice putting my spray skirt on because I was the last person off the shore; the long boats were half way across the flat water above Agars Falls before I was even in the water. There were only two women participating in the race, Louise Irwin and myself. I had a really good line through Agars and passed Louise and then passed another short boat in the flat water below Agars. I finished third from last, but was the first women. The Moose River is far if you live in the southeast, but Moosefest is a good time if you are ever in the area or motivated to drive. Plus, once you are in up-state New York, the Ottawa is not that far.

After Moosefest I went up to the Ottawa to surf garb and corner wave with the new star. For two days garb was outstanding, giving up huge air!! I got my first even pan am and aerial clean blunt! The new star is great on a wave; it’s loose, easy to edge, and retentive. Then the water level came up so I surfed corner wave for the next two days until I couldn’t move!! Now I’m getting ready to head south and go back to North Carolina for more creeking!