A Beautiful Day on Giant Gap

Photos

By Stephen Wright

I had the pleasure of joining Darin McQuoid and 3 other good friends for a sunny day of beautiful paddling on the Giant Gap section of the North American on Wednesday. I’d never been able to run this section before, though I had always wanted to. I wasn’t disappointed. This stretch was stunningly beautiful with huge canyons and great class 4/4+ rapids. There was 3 mile warm-up with good rapids spread out, then 4 miles of continuous big rapid fun, followed by an 8 mile paddle-out with easier rapids spread throughout moving flatwater. The water was clear, everyone aced all the lines, and a great day was had by all.

Combine 4 hours on the water with the 1 1/2 mile downhill hike to the put-in and it made for a tiring day–my little hobbit legs aren’t made for those sorts of hikes! My NRS kayak sherpa made it a comfortable hike for the first 1/3 of the hike, but then my knees just didn’t like going downhill with my Hero’s weight any more. So I ended up dragging/sled-riding my boat the rest of the way down. Anyway, enjoy the photos–most of which were shot by Darin, with a few of mine as well. It’s good to be back to Reno/Cali!!!

Live from Reno, NV,
Stephen Wright