One Day Holiday Sale! 20-50% off!!!

Come join us for beer, food, socializing and killer deals on Tues Dec. 8th @ 4Corners Riversports!

20-50% off storewide! Come check it out. 10am - 8pm. Food and beer from 4pm on.

Can't make it to the store? Give us a call or order online for the same great deals!

Niko checks in from the PacNW

Me on a "Campus visit" in Febuary

Hey everyone, Niko here:

I'm just checking in to share some of my recent adventures here in the Pacific Northwest. In August I left the 4Corners crew to start school up here at Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon.

Getting out on the water hasn't exactly been easy though. There aren't many motivated boaters on campus here and I don't have a car. Also, my dorm room isn't really big enough to fit all my gear.

The most dangerous part of kayaking right here

This hasn't stopped me from getting out though. All the goods are up the Columbia River Gorge near Hood River, east of Portland. Luckily for me, through some friends in the area, I've got a couch to sleep on, a place to store my boat, and a connection to the HR boating scene. I've been hitchhiking up there on the weekends and bumming rides back with Portland boaters who come up for the day.

For all you Coloradoans, let me tell you that all the fantastic tales you hear of about the northwest really are true. The waterfalls are big, clean and cold, the season is nine months long, and yes, you really do need a drysuit.

Feeling comfy in my new Kokatat suit

Only 15 minutes outside of Hood River, the Green Truss section of the White Salmon is basically like the Animas Town Run for the locals.....

Just another day on the Truss for Dano

Except for the waterfalls and stuff!

Other runs have finally started to come into good flows though and I've recently been branching out onto some new runs.

Dano at the Lyle Gorge Put in. Fisherman style....

The day after Halloween, Scott Baker, Chris Leach and I met up with Dano to run Eagle creek... the one with Metlako falls. Metlako wasn't on the agenda for the day... but Skoonichuck was!

Me about to boof

and afterwards...

Baker aired out

Punchbowl falls was last and we all ran it but the pictures didn't come out. It's too bad because it's one of the prettiest drops out there

The highlight of my paddling up here so far has been the Little White Salmon, known as L-Dub to locals. I met up with Louise Geltman on his birthday for a guided trip down this amazing run. Going just on verbal beta the whole way, I really didn't have a chance to get out and take pictures. My camera sucks but here are a few snapshots in a feeble attempt to capture the beauty of the place.

Louise not feeling thirty yet...

Wishbone

S-turn

Sacraledge

entrance to chaos

Spirit Falls

Thats all folks!

The rains are coming and rivers are rising so i'll keep you updated on any new runs I do

-Niko

Tony Miely Helping Hand Benefit Raffle and Party

Most of you blog readers will remember posts from a few months back about Tony losing his right hand in an ATV accident. He's on the mend, but has some outrageous medical bills mounting, so we're throwing him a benefit raffle and party!

We've put together a 15' Jacks Plastic cataraft package, including an NRS frame, Sawyer oars, Yeti cooler, plus a load of other gear, all worth over $6000 to raffle off!

Click HERE to purchase raffle tickets.

$25 for 1 or $100 for 5. No need to be present to win.

Also, be sure to join us for the Tony Miely Helping Hands benefit party at SKA Brewing World Headquarters in Durango on Saturday, January 9th from 5 to 10 pm. Beer, music, bands, silent auction and raft raffle, all to help a good friend with his mounting medical bills. See you there!

Team Boof or Die tackles the Cotahuasi!

Machu Picchu

The Cotahuasi... a mixture of your favorite continuous class 4 run, placed in the bottom of a much tighter Grand Canyon, and then place all of that on Mars and you get an idea of what the Cotahuasi is all about.

We had a great crew, "Team Boof or Die," Andy McMurray, John McConville and myself, Chris "Mc" Baer.

Let's start with how you might get to this river:

Step
1. Fly to Peru.
2. Take a long, loud, bumpy over night bus ride that you're not going to sleep a wink on, to Arequipa.
3. Take another bus that is even bumpier and the window leaks on you to the town of Cotahuasi.


John and Andy in the town of Cotahuasi

4. Find a hostel in Cotahuasi at 4 am. SLEEP, you're going to need it.
5. Wake up, eat as much as you can, find a driver and ask him to do a two part shuttle.
6. Get in a little 4-wheel-drive mini-van, with a tuff-as-nails driver, and 4-wheel your way to Puente bridge.
7. Get on the water with empty boats. This section has a ton of great white water. Most of the rapids are class 4, 4+ with a couple of class 5's tossed in to keep you on your toes.

The team just about to put-in


Andy getting warmed up


John boofing in "5 lefts"

8. Get out at Sepia bridge, or if you are feeling really aware, keep going till you see the road on the left start to head up the hill. Then GET OUT! Sepia falls is just around the bend. Sepia falls is a multi-tiered 300 footer.
9. Jump back in your awesome drivers mini-van and head up over the pass to the far side of Sepia. Ask the driver to stop so you can get a peak at Sepia, a monstrous rapid that hides in a crack in the earth.


The view from the side of the road looking back up at Sepia

10. As you come down the back side of the pass you will enter into the tiny village of Chaupo. Chaupo is the real beginning to the multi-day trip. Grab your multi-day gear out of the van, cram it into the boats and get ready for an amazing adventure through one of the deepest canyons in the world.
11. Hike to the water, this hike is sketchy, take your time, hand the boats down to each other, don't slip and fall 1000+ feet into the river.


Don't slip

Now that you are at the river it is time to enjoy your over-loaded creek boat in some amazing whitewater. We went a very short distance that first day and pulled over to camp. Camp was beautiful and right above a great section of class 5. We had a big camp fire, stuffed our faces with some calories and slept well with the anticipation of a big day to come. The next morning, with no warm-up, we bombed into a great first section, boofing over rocks and sliding through slots down to a particularly mean looking rapid.

This rapid looked gnarly. There was some large slab rocks on the right hand side of the river and the water was sliding down one of the slabs into a mean looking hole. The hole was backed up by three huge rocks that where definitely sieved out. If this wasn't fun enough, all the water then shot hard right into a very undercut slab. After some deliberation, I walked back up, grabbed my boat and put it on my shoulder. It is always a hard decision to walk, but when you are in a super remote canyon with huge walls it becomes a little easier.

We got back on the water and started cruising down stream. Mile after mile of constant class 3 with great class 4 rapids tucked in everywhere. We bombed into some and scouted other rapids, but one thing was for sure we where making a lot of miles quick.


John boofing the edge of another nasty hole


Andy deep in the canyon

Night 2 camp had it's issues with sand flies. They were every where. We got our fire started early and kept it smokey trying to detour the sand flies.


Camp 2 - the boys purifying water

Day 3 was amazing, tons and tons of class 4 with three great class 5 rapids mixed in. I almost got worked in a nasty rapid. All the water came in on a funny curler into a big rooster tail. The water on the left side of the rooster tail smashed into a undercut wall and the water on the right led you into a sticky hole. The hole on the left side was backed up by a wall, and looked very undercut. This is where I ended up, pulling hard on my right paddle blade trying to pull out of the back wash. I felt myself losing the battle and sliding backwards into the hole, I swapped my edges quickly and slid right across the hole and out the exit tongue. It was a close call in the deepest canyon I have ever been in.


Andy in another great rapid


Andy dropping into another dark canyon


John just above Meter Gorge


John coming into Centimeter Gorge


John coming through the Centimeter


John dealing in Big Hump

We blasted through Meter and Centimeter gorges, both holding some very cool rapids. We headed down stream to find the confluence with the Rio Maran. We stopped at the confluence for some photos and a small celebration. At this point the river changes names entirely and turns into the Rio Ocona, we paddled this down to a tree protected camp three. The winds at camp three were still harsh to say the least, this was great! it keep the sand flies at bay.


The confluence


The view from Camp 3

Day 4
Back on water and we paddled 5 hours through class 2-3 rapids with fish traps everywhere to the little town of Iquipi. Iquipi was our take out and we hiked up to town and ate some food, drank a delicious beer, listened to some disco, and passed out at the local hostel until 7 p.m.. That evening we got on the bumpiest loudest bus yet, which delivered us to Arequipa at 4 a.m. Hopped in a cab and cruised to our home here in Arequipa: Yunta Wasi B&B. This place is rad! The owner Pichin is super rad, he's the dad that feeds you Pisco sours.


Leaving Iquipi

It is going to take a few days to decompress, catch back up on sleep and calories, and to start our next adventure to Chile.

Chris Baer Signing off in Peru.

Jackson Kayaks new budget system: The Super Linear Series

This year, Jackson is debuting their new, pocketbook-friendly alternate boat packages: The Super Linear system. Foam seat, traditional foot foam system, a welded-in floor track with an easy adjust seat matched to a linear plastic shell make this boat option a full $150 less expensive than the Elite Series. Available for Jackson's full line of whitewater boats in 2010.



The Elite series retains the same great Jackson outfitting from years past including the Sweet Cheeks, Happy Feet, composite beam floor support and Cross-Linked plastic shell. Available for the 2010 Star, Fun and Hero Series.

Baer on the Toxaway

Chris Baer checks in with his first run of the "off-season"... the Toxaway.

This run has been on my hit list for years, and last Wednesday I finally got it.
Chad Pickens texted me at 8 am: "Toxaway". I sprung from bed and cruised into Brevard to meet Chad and a posse of other boaters.
The rest of the guys wanted to run a section that i had ran the day previous. That left Chad and I separate; we wanted the Toxaway. We headed towards the Upper East Fork of the Tuckasegee and turned off to see if anyone was at the Toxaway take out. There they where: Billy Jones, Drew Duval, Garth, Lorra Farrel, and Jacob. We piled boats and equipment in and took off to the put in. The hike down to the river only took a couple minutes, and as soon as we got there I knew all the dreams and fairy-tails of this run where true. The put in slide is really low angle but covers a huge distance.


Base of the put in slide

Down stream it was heads up, read and run Class V slides, into more slides, into boofs, into, into into. It just kept coming and my smile kept growing.

As we entered into the big ones I knew I was going to have one of those amazing days. Everything felt good, the skies were blue and the water level was spot on.

I hate seal launching.... well I'm just not good at it and looking at the seal launch for Punji Sticks, or Mini-Land Bridge as Billy would like it to be called, or possible Punji Bridge, or I like Mini Stick, lol, I realized it was game on. It was an 8-10 foot seal launch into a crack. By the time I reached the bottom of the slide 5 seconds later, I had a huge smile and was ultra fired up.


Mini-Land Bridge, Billy Jones


Punji Bridge, Chad Pikins

The big ones keep on coming


Feeding Trough, Chad Pikins


Feeding Trough, Garth


Feeding Trough, Chris Baer


Top of Energizer, Garth


The bottom of Energizer

I missed photos of Land Bridg,e as I was puckered about another seal launch.

After Land Bridge there is another small portage and I crossed the pool to meet up with Drew and Garth, the only two not scouting and Drew asked me simply if I wanted to just run it.
I didn't hesitate a bit with "I love running shit blind!"
Drew gave us a tiny discreption, of a huge rapid, Winter Green. Drew then instantly peeled out of the eddy, Garth hollered at Drew "I'm right on you", in turn I hollered at Garth that "I'm on you". All three of us where within 30 feet of each other at the lip. As I slid off the lip down the 20 or so foot drop into an explosion of water. I quickly cleared my eyes to see a huge horizon line that just domed over. All I could do was smile.


Winter Green Chad Pickens


Winter Green Chad Pickens


Winter Green Billy Jones

We got to the bottom within seconds of each other and a bunch of hooting and hollering ensued. We then turned our attention, and cameras towards the rest of the crew everyone looked pretty good for such a big drop. Billy even came down the second half with only one hand on his paddle, we all thought he was showing off. Turns out Billy hit something in the landing zone of the first drop and really hurt his ribs, he was holding his ribs all the way down the second slide. We reconvened at the bottom of Winter Green. Billy was going to hike out with Garth, and the rest of us where going to boogie down to the take out.

We cruised to the take out through blind corners, sticky holes and lots of wood. Once there, the second half of the adventure begins a 4 mile hike out. It sucked.

All said and done, Toxaway is the shit. The slides are huge and dangerous, the portages are nasty, and even with an incredibly strong crew this is an all day affair. Especially with that ridiculously long hike out.

Another adventure brought to you by Chris Baer

Stay tuned, Nov 10th I leave to Peru, Chili, and Argentina for 4 months it's about to get epic.

Tony Miely needs your support!

For those of you who haven't heard, 4Corners manager and co-owner Tony Miely was involved in an ATV rollover accident last week. During the accident, Tony's right hand was mostly severed. Tony was rushed to the hospital and then flown to Denver where he underwent several long surgeries to attempt to save what was left of his hand.

Unfortunately, the surgeries didn't take and yesterday the doctors were forced to amputate Tony's hand. Obviously this will put a huge damper on his paddling career not to mention his day to day life.

For those of you wishing to keep up on Tony's progress, please go to tonymiely.blogspot.com
Anyone who would like to donate to the Miely family can do so through the website above or through the Bank of Colorado (970.247.5151) via the Tony Miely Helping Hand Fund.

Please keep Tony, Tina and the rest of his family in your thoughts and prayers.