Just one week left

There's something peculiarly Californian about the sound of a beer opening prior to putting on. Popping a Pabst Blue Ribbon Matty cheerfully praised the cheapest beer in safeway (at $7 a dozen he's not far off) as we hung out in the shade at the top of another section of boatscoutable class IV.

We've just come south again after a visit to the far north - we walked through red woods for Mike's scenic experience, and visited Otter Bar to pick up Matty's new boat. Due to the late melt and close to 200% snow pack up there we got to run some spring sections, including the North Fork of the Salmon and the New River Gorge. Friends from home Jo and Keith looked like the Otter Bar lifestyle was something they were just managing to cope with.

The snowmelt bubble further south has passed and this week it looks like the big runs are going to drop. With new friends arriving in the state and lots of time on class IV under the collective team belt it looks like it's time to take on a little more. Middle Fork of the Feather here we come...

Birthday with the river gypsies

Paddling trips are - happily! - much more than time on the river. We've been sussing out local boaters at the put in of the biggest runs we've done for years, settling in for long beer-ful evenings in the bar playing pool, and making the thousands of tiny team decisions that shape each day.

In our first week Matty has been a bit crook and his initial strategy - drink beer and get out on the water - finally backfired and he took a few days off to work on his tan. Mike and I paddled with Norwood and his crew on some classic Californian sections of the Yuba River.


There's still a lot of snow up there and with warm rain and rising temperatures the rivers went off their chops. While I scrambled along the bank, Kenny and Scot ran most of the Sierra City to Downieville section.



We've just met up with Leland, Andria and Hudson, oggled their new guidebook (check out brushymountain.com) and it seems that with the levels like this the best thing to do is to hop in the car and drive north. Otter Bar! Here we come.

Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Polly

Fourth day in Cali...

Arriving in California Matty's lengthy period in a windowless room with Immigration was matched by my fairly tedious wait on the tarmack in Vancouver. All sorted itself out eventually and we are now the proud drivers of a substantial American carrrr, and have got out on the water.
Our warm up run on the Chamberlains Falls run on the American River demonstrated they've had a pretty weird spring here. Gleams of sunshine were followed by spots of rain. In late May! The forecast says it's all about to warm up.

Happily, the weather cleared as we drove south to the Tuollome river and ran the lower river. This eighteen mile stretch was a super exciting high water trip when I ran it ten years ago - this time with a third of the flow and a much larger boat it is a fun way to see a beautiful wild canyon with some friendly locals.

Having had our first experience getting lost at midnight, we found the north fork of the Stanislaus. I asked the locals nicely for some intermediate creeking - and that's what we got. Friendly boofs and short steep rapids in a pretty granite gorge with huge pines. We're here!

More photos soon.

Polly, Matty, Mike

House! Now it's time to go on holiday...

The first six months living in my own house (it’s the first time I’ve ever managed it) have been surprisingly fun. Discovering the domestic goddess within I have not only managed to paint the roof but found new kitty Ajax, discovered that most curtains are expensive but some are more boring than others, and embarked on my first renovation project.

Houses are nice to live in, but boating is much more exciting. Happily, Matty, Mike and I have booked a sneaky three weeks in California mid year. June in Christchurch is dark, cold, there isn’t any snow, and even the ever-popular pot luck dinner format is wearing thin. The prospect of sunshine and Californian creeking meant May zoomed by as I got off the couch and tried to get vaguely fit. Balancing the house and holiday budget meant that going wild on new toys wasn’t really an option, but somehow I acquired a new boat, camera and pink hoody (thanks Ngaio) in the lead up to the trip.

We fly into San Francisco on 26 May and pick up our rental carrrrr. In a trip which is bound to do terrible things for our carbon footprint, we plan to drive a big shiny inefficient American SUV all over the state in search of boatscoutable class four. And maybe some class five for Matty, which I can walk around.

Photos from Cali soon!
Polly