Back in Ithaca again.

• Name: Jim Janney
• Email: jgj5@cornell.edu
• Phone: 314-550-6601

• Movie: BC initial cut:
  
  
  

BC Part III - Waterfalls, Mice, and Swimming

After a long trip back to Whistler, we were ready to get back the Cheak campground,and hit the sack quickly after hatching a plan for Callaghan the next day. Morning came way to early and we were heading off to Callaghan. Although the creek was low, all I have to say is that it was totally classic. A couple nice waterfalls and then a couple miles of class IV boogie in a beautiful gorge, what more can you ask for. A couple of the boys tangoed with the log in the first waterfall, but nothing really came of it. The second waterfall is simply amazing. We got off early and decided to check out 21 mile creek before heading back over to the Cheak for another upper run.

• Movie: Curtis on Callaghan's Biggie:
  
  

Upon hiking up to the waterfalls on 21 mile creek, it was quickly determined that they were too low and not worth the effort to boat, but well worth the effort to see. We headed back to the Cheak, finding the water was much lower than before, at 2.5 on the gauge, but the run is still a couple miles of great boogie. Angus, Tom, and I bombed it quickly.

• Movie: Tom on the Cheakamus' Triple Drop:
  
  

The suburban hadn't been running great, so we decided to change out the plugs and wire before darkness hit. Well, too make a long story short, after too much cursing and far too long we got the job done. Upon checking out the air filter, we found a nice surprise, a whole nest of perfectly roasted blackened mice. Yummy...

The next day we decided to head over to the Upper Birk. Despite hearing rumors of high flows, we didn't get onto the river until early afternoon. Once on the river, it was obvious that we had pretty nice low-medium flows, a great way to see the river for a first time. The Birk is pretty much the perfect boogie water run, building from easy class III to hard class IV by the final gorge. Tons of clean rapids and boofs, nothing super high stress, and everything is fairly easily portagable. Tom's Jefe cracked towards the end of the run, but a little duck tape patch dealt with it for the rest of the run. All in all, just a great boating experience.

• Movie: Jim flailing down towards the end of the Birkenhead:
  
  

Upon getting off the river, the mosquitoes at the take out hastened our packing up, and decision to go check out Rogers Creek. Ever since seeing pictures and video of Rogers on the range life, I've been waiting to go check it out. The whole time we were in BC, we kept hearing rumors of high water and crazy local chiefs at the take out. Angus and I went to check the situation out in the dwindling light while the others set up camp.

We went with the advice of Daniel Windham and hiked up the decommissioned FS road on creek right to an overlook of the triple 20 about a mile up. Well, there's not that much you can tell from 600 ft. up, other than it's an beautiful section of waterfalls, but we already knew that. It looked good to go to me, and it didn't take much to convince everyone else. After the hike, we drove around looking for other access options and crazy locals, but decided the FS road was the easiest way to deal with it. Heading back to camp, I was fired up for the next day.

We woke up pretty early and hatched a plan while working on welding up Tom's big ass crack from the previous day. The plan was to park on the far side of the Lillooet River, ferry across and hike up the creek, paddle back down and ferry back across. Well, it was a lot of trouble to avoid some locals, like recommended by everyone, but it worked and we saw no chief. The hike up was hot, sweaty, and steep. When we got to the waterfalls, we could tell the flow was great and we continued up. We got to the clearcut and started dropping in. This was the worst part of the whole hike, a couple hundred yards down a hill of sharp plants before a semi-controlled slide down a couple hundred more yards of tree covered steepness and we arrived a beautiful little creek.

After a little food break, we suited up and headed downstream, noticing how low the flow felt. Soon though, the bed rock started showing up and things got someone less boney. The first scout was of a super burly steep drop that plowed into a rock and sent everyone walking. Soon after, the gorge really narrowed in and we were running some slots that we couldn't really scout but everything went fine. The gorge up here is absolutely amazing, so tight with moss everywhere. And then, after running a slot down river right, you arrive...

The triple twenty is everything it's cracked up to be. We all started scouting and I was ready to go pretty quick, but everyone was still scouting. I got pretty impatient, as I'm not a fan of standing and looking at big drops when I'm ready to go, plus it was getting pretty late. After everyone was done, I got ready. It's pretty nerve racking being on the edge of the world like that, but I just let it flow. Nice delayed boof, brief pause along the right wall, head left and boof way too flat for something that big, brief pause in the eddy, ferry out and plug. And it's over and you're looking back up at the most amazing set of goodness you've seen.

• Movie: Angus Cleaning Up the Triple 20:
  
  

Tom was up next and had an absolutely styling line, followed by Dave and Curtis who were a little shaky, but held it together. Angus batted clean up and definitely cleaned up. It was getting late so we started heading down more slightly too low water boulder gardens before getting to another amazing rapid, a boof into an s-turn slide into another slide. Just a super clean drop. Pretty soon it was getting junky again and we saw a log jam. We quickly portaged as we were told the chief's house overlooked the log jam, and we were off, crossing the Lillooet and fired up. Rogers has some amazing drops, but the in between is really scrapey unless the main drops are really high, but still a great run.

After some celebratory beers, we started the long trek back to whistler to hit Callaghan once more before trying to check out the Ashlu on our last day in BC. Waking up the next morning, Angus headed out for Skook and Dave headed for home, so Curtis, Tom and I headed up for another Callaghan run. It was a little lower than last time, but still okay. We made good time through the waterfalls and were quickly bombing boogie. As we finished a little drop, I noticed Curtis catch an edge and flip, rolling up quickly with bloody hands from the sharp volcanic basalt. He caught an eddy and evaluated, concluding he had broken his thumb. Well, with the gorge walls and heinous BC bush, we decided it was better to keep heading downstream. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter Curtis did a little hole surfing, missed a few rolls, and swam. I got him in to an eddy with his stick while Tom caught up to the boat. After some boat and people ferrying due to gorge walls, paddler and boat were reunited with a nice dent in the nose of the burn. Heading quickly downstream, we made good time through the rest of the gorge and headed to a medical clinic. After a couple hours of watching 100's of Mountain Bikers being dragged in, Curtis emerged with a big splint for his dislocated, not broken, thumb. It kinda put a damper on the trip, but we decided to head down to the Ashlu anyways and check out the scene.

All I can say, is that the Ashlu was a beautiful river valley, and parts of it still are, but the damn site is a destruction zone. We headed up noticing far too much water in the box, wanting to check out Tatlow. The takeout pool is perfect, so Tom and I headed upstream walking THROUGH the densest bush I've ever seen, only to get a partial view of the big slide with a lot of water flying down it. We headed back down to the Box Canyon bridge, planning on a quick morning run on the mini mine. Just as we were cooking, the heavens opened up and it poured, fitting for a rain forest like the Ashlu Valley.

Waking up, it was still cold and rainy, and Tom and I suited up and headed up to the mini mine put in. After seeing far too much bear shit and huge bear prints, we found the canyon and headed downstream. It was an experience to paddle out of the dense jungle canyon into the destruction of the damn site, and then immediately back into the jungle canyon with the back hoes working in the background. After a couple miles, we got to a rapid with a long lead in to a huge hole. I didn't think much of it, but after hesitating about which way to try to avoid it, I found myself right in the middle of it. After a short bout of survival surfing, I decided I wasn't going anywhere in my boat and I pulled. I surfed for a little bit with one leg in the boat, then out of the boat, and them went deep. When I popped up I started swimming for an eddy. Tom was there to help pull me in, but as I got close to the eddy line, I subbed out. He said he could see me deep under the clear water. When I popped up, I got into an eddy, pulled myself out, and took off downstream while Tom chased my gear. After about a half mile of being really scared about bears, I saw my boat on the other side and Tom paddling across to my side. He couldn't get my paddle, which washed down into the box, but with the boat rescued I whipped out the breakdown and finished the last 1/4 mile down to last tango. The water was pretty high, and I was content to leave the Ashlu with my tail between my legs. Unfortunately, that's not the first time my little brother has saved me when I got my ass kicked.

• Movie: Tom ferrying with the Dam Site in the Background:
  
  

And with that, we packed up and headed home. After a couple hours at the border, we hit Boulder a little under 24 hours later, and St. Louis the following morning. The return trip wasn't as eventful as the trip out (good thing), but a few hiccups including a warning ticket for no headlights in Kansas slowed things up. Hopefully this story, if nothing else, can convince you that BC truly is the place to be in mid-August. Now go get you some...

• BC Part II - Stein River

If you want the first part of the story, scroll down to part I.

We awoke early so we could get all our gear sorted out for the Stein before Curtis had to take off for the 3 hour each way shuttle to Lytton. We started packing as lightweight as we could into our stow bags. It was my first overnighter, but I think my total overnight gear was a little over 10 pounds with food and backpack system. Around 9am we were done and ready for Curtis to take off on the shuttle.

After Curtis left, I went to look for someone to help me fix my boat, but it seemed that the plan of the previous night had broken down. It turns out I had missed my opportunity and the expert help had already left to go mountain biking the whole day. Not good when we were flying out around 6.

Well, after lots of worrying and running shuttle for some Cheak runs, Rob from Hood River returned from a resupply trip to Squamish and offered to help fix the crack. After acquiring some knives from a local cafe, we went to work melting plastic strips from the cockpit rim with the red hot knives after they were heated over a whisperlite, complements of Daniel Windham. After melting tons of plastic into the crack and getting everything bonded well, Rob added a melted ducktape patch to the outside as well as an internal Vinyl Mastic patch complements of Austin Rathman. Thanks for help with the patch boys.

With the patch done and my brother back from his Cheak run, we headed for Whistler Air. Big thanks to Jeff for the ride. We got there around 4:30 and started putting the finishing touches on our set ups. After about 45 minutes the shuttle crew of Ali, Angus, Heather, Nadege, and Curtis returned, telling stories of high water swims from a group that had just got off the river. We all quickly payed for the flight and got our boats totally ready. About when we were ready the Otter returned, accompanied by a huge storm on the mountain peaks. After a short discussion, the pilot informed us that the flight wouldn't be happening until the next morning, at least they offered us a 15 passenger van for the night... beat fitting 7 into Angus' mid-80's subie.

Before we arrived back at the Cheak Campground the heavens had opened up and it was pouring. We quickly cooked up a steak on the fire and ate it caveman style (off a fork). With an abundance of rain and a shortage of shelter (at this point we had only our overnight boating gear), we headed to the bar for some dryness and beer. Upon returning, some slept in the van while other found extra tent space (Thanks again Daniel). It was a nervous night of sleep with thoughts of a patched boat and rain potentially bringing the river up more, and with a brief bout of drunken shenanigans from the southerners.

The morning arrived all too early and perfectly clear. We rallied to breakfast around 7:30, calling the pilot who informed us they were still totally fogged in. After breakfast we headed back to Whistler Air, were everything really was socked in. Around 9:30 the clouds broke and, after a last minute return to the campground for a headlamp, we took off for the Stein around 10:30.

The gorgeous flight in consisted of glaciers everywhere with deep blue lakes scattered throughout huge peaks. About 20 minutes later, we were seeing the massive slides of the North Stein as we descended into Stein lake. After a quick unload, the pilot was off and we were paddling for the East side of the lake.

Arriving at the far end of the lake, everyone else started the 2 mile hike while Tom and I rigged our backpacks. After a few minor adjustments, we caught and passed the others about 1 mile in. After some brief confusion about where to drop into the river, the group was split and found the river in different places before finding each other. My advice is to walk shortly past the second footbridge before dropping down. At last we were at the river, although it was already nearly 1pm.

After portaging the top half of Snake Falls due to wood we quickly started making our way down a fine selection of mellow slides. We were kinda wondering what was going on, as the water level seemed to be just a little low of medium. After a brief lunch we continued down more great rapids and mini-gorges with a few log portages and one nasty cascade. We were making good progress but slowed up a little with Curtis' crash and swim and unfamiliar communication as most of us had never paddled together. After a final push through the tightest gorge of the day with some confused hand signals, we were running continuous class III looking for camp with darkness approaching. We finally found a nice bench just as things were getting dark and hit some dinner before retiring quickly.

• Movie: Tom showing us how to boof:
  
  

The next morning we awoke to another beautiful day to continue down the continuous class III. After a few miles things eased to flatwater and shortly the logs followed. The first portage wasn't bad, but the second took 45 minutes of over and through logs. After some lunch, eagles, and miles of flatwater the river started dropping again. After a mile or two of nice continuous bolder gardens we found a nice campsite and mellowed out for a nice relaxing evening.

Waking to more sunshine, we quickly headed downriver for the most continuous part of the trip. Lots of class III-IV boogie and a few portages and some hole rides later, we arrived at the Fraser confluence. It was an amazing trip and I feel fortunate to have paddled the Stein River. After being really nervous before the trip, it turns out the water was just a tad on the low side and my boat survived, with the duct tape patch intact. After packing everything up in the incredibly dry Fraser valley we headed back towards Whistler with Angus while the others returned to Calgary, our thoughts now turning to Callaghan Creek before the water got too low.

• Movie: Typical Stein Boogie:
  
  
  
  

• BC Part I - Getting There and "Welcome to BC"

After weeks of sitting around in St. Louis, it was finally time to go. Curtis picked me up on Friday afternoon after work and we started rallying for Colorado. Even though Curtis' headlights were out and we were rolling with brights, we made good progress to a rest area in Kansas, waking up the next morning to finish the drive to Colorado.

We finally met up with my little bro Tom in Boulder around noon, taking too much time moving shit into the big blue 'burban. We decided to break up the drive a little by heading up to hit the Poudre Narrows with no flow. Tom and Curtis decided they wanted to run the lower, although I must say whiteline looked mighty tasty. So, we headed down and quickly racked up some quick laps on the lower Nars. A little low, but not a bad warm up.

• Movie: Curtis on the Poudre:
  
  

We took off north for I-80 which would take us west towards the promised land. Unfortunately, shortly after leaving 80 in Laramie, the suburban started having issues holding gear. We limped into Rawlins, aka the middle of nowhere, on a Saturday night, realizing we weren't going anywhere until Monday. After a lovely night in the local KOA (don't stay there if you don't have to), we burnt Sunday touring the frontier prison and catching a movie. After another night at fabulous night at KOA, we were at the GM dealer at 8am to get the truck in, unfortunately it wasn't to be. After telling us they couldn't look at it for 4-5 days, we started looking for options in Rock Springs and Laramie.

Well, it turns out Laramie, 100 miles the wrong direction, was the only place that could help us, so it was time to try to limp back. Starting the drive with a top speed of 50 mph wasn't too bad; however, about 30 miles from Laramie we were crawling up hills at around 5 mph, and decided to call in for a tow. After getting a 30 mile tow on the insurance company $, we were at the repair shop. After a few hours, we saw them driving the truck around, except it was loud. Turns out they had taken off the exhaust to discover it was a Catalytic Converter issue, and we'd be waiting another day for one to show up from Denver. So, it's off to KOA (a different one) for another night. We head back to the shop early, hoping they've got it done, but it takes until 1pm until were rolling again.

24 hours later after Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, we were finally in BC. After picking up some bear spray (giant cans of mace), we headed to the Upper Cheak for a quick run. We founnd Jeff from Corvallis hanging out at the takeout/boater campground and get ready for a quick run. After a 15 ft. seal launch below a nasty waterfall, it was a great warm up run with big water feel and cold clear water. Tom took the first surf of the trip after missing the river left flair boof under the bridge, but worked his way out after 45 seconds. We took a quick scout at triple drop before flying through bouncing around on the boils.

Pretty soon we were at the last rapid at the take out, House Rock. Jeff and I headed through fine, but Curtis flipped at the end and got pushed against the wall. After a few missed rolls he swam, and we're off to the races. I got Curtis and paddle onto river left before Tom and I took off after the boat. I got it into an eddy a little below the take out, but couldn't get it out due to rock walls and surgy the surgy eddy. I hopped out to try and grab it but the boat took off. Tom went after it as I ran down the shore, getting warned by a biker about a waterfall downstream. I was running as fast as I could but started getting into million dollar Whistler cabin land. I headed back to the road once the BC jungle started to get too thick and headed downstream until a road went down to the town sanitation plant. I ran down there and found no sign of Tom, and more jungle downstream.

I ran back up to the campground, now pretty worried that my brother bombed solo into some crazy BC gorge chasing a boat on the first day. I grabbed Jeff and we paddled downstream in our boats while Curtis drove down the waterfall and gorge. Just after the passing the sanitation plant, I saw Tom and Curtis' boats up in the bushes. After getting out, there was no sign of Tom, but at least I knew he wasn't in the water and we had all the gear.

I started carrying Curtis' boat back to the campground, so Tom would know we found it if he comes back. After 15 minutes, I had finally walked about 100 ft. through the jungle and was breaking through to the sanitation plant. Walked the rest of the way back up to camp and found Tom. After more jungle walking we had all the gear back up at the campground. It was amazing how thick the BC jungle was, even though we were basically 100 ft. from the main road through Whistler. A few minutes later Curtis came back, glad that we had tracked down all the gear. All the other boaters had to say was, "Welcome to BC."

After some beers and relaxation, Jeff and Rob talked me into going for another Cheak run. We seal launched and were flying downstream for about 5 minutes when I realized I'm taking on water. We paddled down to just above triple drop and I got out to take a look. There's a 6 inch crack on the left edge of the boat where I had a deep cut from the Upper Blackwater a few weeks earlier. After emptying the boat, I decided we could just bomb the rest of the run and I'll do alright cause it's just boily down the middle stuff anyways. Well, it worked out, but it was definately and exciting ride.

• Movie: Jim and Jeff on the Cheak:
  
  

So, after one day in BC on a class IV warm up run, we had one swim, a lot of bushwacking, and a broken boat. On top of this, we were flying into the Stein River the next day for 3 days of backcountry boating that we thought was a little bit on the high side. Since Tom and I had saved his boat, Curtis offered to run the 6-8 hour shuttle the next day, while Tom and I were to work on fixing my boat and maybe paddling a little bit before getting to Whistler Air by 4 the next day. After enlisting some expert help for welding my boat the next day, it was time to sleep.

• Firth Movie Part 1:
  
  
  

• Firth Movie Part 2:
  
  
  

• Colorado Movie, produced by Tom Janney:
  
  
  

• Maine Creeking Movie, produced by Jeff Sharpe:
  
  
  

• Taste of Vermont:
  
  
  

• Spring Break 2007 Movie:
  
  
  

• Powerplant Movie:
  
  
  

Finally got the carnage video for 2006 together, here ya go

• Carnage of 2006:
  
  
  

Heres a shorty from the local on campus park n' huck location, and there was plenty of carnage dished out.

• Fall Creek Carnage:
  
  
  

A few minutes of video from the early part of the fall Adirondack creeking season.

• Fall Creekin' in the Adirondacks Part I:
  

• Fall Creekin' in the Adirondacks Part II:
  
  
  

On the way back from Cali, I swung through Hood River, Or to visit my cousin, and of course do some boating with Taylor who I met in Cali. In 2 paddling days we got on the Little White, Green Truss, and Upper Upper Cispus, all of which are awesome. For some pics from the Upper Upper Cispus, go here

Some Cali Eye Candy South Silver Style, Photos by Kevin Smith, or at least taken with his camera

• Autobahn:
  

• More Autobahn:
  

• And a Little More:
  

• Teacup 1:
  

• Teacup 2:
  

• Teacup 3:
  

• Last Teacup:
  

• Lookin' Down the Teacups:
  

• The Goods:
  

• Taylor Droppin' Skyscraper:
  

• Kevin Gettin' Plastic:
  

• Don Droppin In:
  

For Video from low water the Next Week, check this
Or for another, try this

Sights from Southern Idaho Canyons on the way west

• Upper Owyhee Canyon:
  

• The Widowmaker:
  

• Bruneau Canyon:
  
  
  

A Sample of New York

• Racquette Narrows:
  

• Split Rock Falls Movie, Gettin Beat Down:
  

• West Sacandaga Movie, Horrible White Balance:
  

• Jimmy Creek Movie:
  

• South Grasse Twin Falls:
  

• Bottom Moose Movie:
  

• Beer Kill Movie:
  

• Upper Yough 2004 Movie:
  

• Ocoee/Chattooga/Tellico Movie: