Reno River Festival 2007

Reno River Festival 2007 was AWESOME! Last Thursday Glenn and I (Larry) headed to Tahoe to stay at his family’s condo. What an incredible spot, just feet from the water. It was really all about the great views. Friday morning at almost 2 a.m. Jeremy started calling my cell phone from outside the front door. He didn’t want to wake up anyone in the condo next door, which was vacant.

We got an early start the next morning and headed into Reno. The three of us registered for “intro to playboating”. This clinic was scheduled for Saturday morning. We checked out all of the booths, which included all the major companies and local adventure outfitters. After that we headed up to explore the Truckee River.

We decided to run the class III-IV section running from Boca down to Farad. For all of you adrenaline junkies………this first part is reminiscent of the lower Kings. After a lazy float we came to some great rapids. We had scouted Bronco on the way down to Reno earlier in the day. Just when we thought we were there we encountered another rapid upstream. I decided, last second, that I wanted to scout it. I was unable to catch the “mini” eddy and worried that I was headed into what I thought was a hazard. All three of us made it through that without and rolling.

We got out at Bronco to take a quick scout. After getting back in our boats we all made some final adjustments. I went down a small drop and my backband came loose. I ended up rolling three times on that rapid because my backband was gone. This was a great section and I would definitely do this section again. Sorry, but we didn’t take the camera along for this part of the river.

On Saturday we headed back down to Reno for our playboating clinic. Jeremy tried out a new boat and spent quite a bit of time in a hole in the slalom channel. Glenn and I both got into the meat of hole 2 & 3, which was lots of fun. I got window shaded, lost hold of my paddle and ended up swimming with a huge crowd there to watch. I don’t understand why no one applauded…..it was a perfect wet exit!

We had a great time watching the playboating events and seeing some of the greatest playboaters competing. We saw E.J., Emily and Dane all perform well. Actually, all three took second in each of their events. We also saw good performances by Jay Kincade, Stephen Wright, Tanya Faux, Ruth Gordon, Nikki Kelly. The kids were amazing and Jason Craig rocked!

Here is the really great news for the festival. A new record was set with over 30,000 people in attendance during the event. Cool!

Dinkey Creek (Super Dink)

After an infinite amount of time looking at Dreamflows, the N. Fork Kings gauge finally got up to 350cfs. This is a moderate/low flow for the Super Dink section of Dinkey Creek. After some packing and a short drive, Daniel and myself found ourselves at the Dinkey Creek Campgrounds, ready to start our adventure, and an adventure it was.

On Friday, we drove to the highest known put-in for DC. It's on a switchback that puts you just under a mile away from the river. It was a difficult hike, but not too bad. Upon reaching the river, we hiked around a bit, upstream of our put-in location. We found some beautiful waterfalls, log jams, and granite rocks.


Getting Ready

What's left of our season


After our hike, we put in on an easy section of river that was mildly technical, Ala Willow Creek. The easy stuff let up almost immediately and we were soon faced with large granite drops and slides. After the quick portage of a manky drop, we seal launched back in and ran ran some fun slides and drops.


Easy Stuff at the top

After a few more slides, we discovered a fantastic gorge that boasted to 20+ foot drops, more slides, and a few 10-12 footers. Unfortunately, the gorge was walled in and if you decided to run one drop, you had to run them all. Worst part is, there is a class VI drop in the middle that requires fancy romp work to get around. Needless to say, we opted to walk around.


Hiking around the gorge

As we went up and over a large granite dome, we found ourselves at the top of the Super Dink Section, just above Infinislide. After scouting out the slide, we decided to call it a day. It was 6:30 and we still needed to hike out and set up camp. We left our boats and gear next to the river and quickly made our way back to the Quarry. This took about an hour and since we were losing light, we opted to hitch hike back to the car rather than run our Mt. bike shuttle.

Hiking out after first day

By 9pm we had camp set up down by DC-campgrounds, and enjoyed some hot dogs and brownies. Soon after, we were joined by Paul Martzen and Dan Hogg. Both were excited and nervous for the following days adventure. We went to bed with visions of Infinislide in our heads.

The next day we enjoyed a great breakfast, packed up our gear, and headed back up the hill. This time we decided to hike in from the Quarry, and then up to the top of Super Dink. The hike inn was painful for Dan and Paul who were both carrying their boats. Daniel and I helped where we could, and we all made it save to the top in just over an hour. Once there we suited up and made our way to our first drop.

The 1st waterfall was a 15-20 footer with a series of shelves on the left and a clean drop on the right. Dan went first. He decided to go left and had a bumpy but clean run. I opted to run it on the right and boof the drop. That went well, and Daniel soon followed with the same line.

1st drop of the day


Just below was a wild rapid that comprised a series of slides and drops. Daniel and I walked it, but Dan stepped up and ran it. His had a jolting ride, but managed to keep it upright. I was bummed I walked it after seeing his line.

Day 2 Scout

Next up was Infinislide. This slide is a thrill ride to say the least. It is between 1/4 and 1/2 mile in length. It has many small drops, holes, ledges, and mixed in with it's seemingly endless smooth granite slides. The only thing it lacks is eddy service, but there are enough on there to break up the action.

Infinislide

We made our way down the slides in 3 sections. The 1st was the fastest and most thrilling. It went so fast, it's a blur. After that we eddied out and went down the second section. This footage was captured on my helmet camera, as well as by Paul who was filming above.

After one more eddy, we dropped into the last section of the slide. We found some 20-30ft slides into pools, some smaller slides, and then finally a large eddy on river right. Beyond that eddy was a small drop that led into a smaller pool, then straight into a 15-20 foot water fall. We all ran it clean and were all happy to be at the bottom.

Last Drop

After some discussion, we decided to call it a day and hike out. We weren't sure if we had enough time to finish the run before it got too late, so we packed up and headed out. Although we look forward to finishing the run, trying to make it to the bottom may have been difficult for us that day.

The hike out was pure hell. The terrain is steep and there is no trail. It took about an hour and a half to make it out, but we did so safely. Even though we only boated the upper section of Dinkey Creek, we had a great time, and our whistles are wet to do some more.

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Overnighter on the Tuolumne

Dan, Daniel, and myself did our first overnighter on the T last weekend. It was a really great time. We arrived at the takeout to find Jeremy Lynn waiting to take us to the Put in. Jeremy made this run possible and we can't thank him enough for it.

We put in at 3pm and paddled until about 5:45pm. The 1st 3-4 miles were amazing class III-IV rapids. They kept us very engaged and happy. At about mile 5, we hit Clavey Falls. At this level (900 cfs) there was a nice line on the right and a easier line on river left. We all ran it right. While scouting the rapid, Daniel spotted a small rattle snake in the rocks. It was fun to look at. We ended up eating it for dinner. Just kidding.

After paddling around 9 miles, we took off the river at a nicee sandy beach and camped for the night. Dan kept us all well fed with Tri-tip and spicy sausage. We spent the evening talking by the fire and then we hit the sack. Dan and Daniel had an intimate Brokeback moment that I can't really get into here.

The next day we ate some breakfast, broke down camp, and then hit the river around 9am. We paddled 1-2 class IV rapids and a bunch of III's. When we reached the final rapid we were greeted again by Jeremy, who had come down to take us to Rainbow Pools.

After a late lunch, we arrived at Rainbow Pools and played for about an hour on a nice 15-17 foot drop. It was sweet running it both in and out of a kayak. Jeremy and Dan were doing some cool cliff jumps, while Daniel filmed us.

We had a great run and hope to do it again soon. Unfortunatly, we read and ran almost everything, so I had very little time to film anything. I did manage to get a few of the rapids. I hope you enjoy the video.

Take care

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Dinley Run on the Kaweah

Jeremy, Brandy, Larry, Jeff and myself ran the Kaweah last Friday at around 800 cfs. It was a fun day on the river and everyone had a good time.

Enjoy the Video

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