Beatin on my chest screaming MIDWEST

Its been 1 year since Ive posted anything or boated due to a bad decision and a dirtbike. The accident happend last year on 9/11 (go figure) where I tore everything in my AC Joint thats possible. ER basically told me I would never have full roation in my shoulder and would be in pain the rest of my life. I ended up at Steadman hawkins (http://www.steadman-hawkins.com/)

I talked to the doc which he had good news that it could be fixed, but would take surgery. With reconstructive surgery and a kadiver graph on 11/30, 6 months of rehab, 2 months of rest(due to broken collar bone), alot of pain, and pills; I finally started feeling a little better. I had one more check up a week before my trip to Colorado, so I was kinda sweatin till the Doc gave me the thumbs up. YES!!

Before Surgery (colar and shoulder bone are sticking out)

After Surgery

After 24 hrs of driving and some good sleep; off to the 1st day where we headed to Eldo Canyon. Eldo was a breathe taking gorge with full on rock climbing and kayaking. It was kinda high having not checked the gauge until we got back (290 cfs). It looked very intimidating so we opted out on running Harmon which had a keep hydrolic in the entrance. The stuff below was GOOD including a tiny slot in the middle that was around 10 or so feet. I had a rough day consisting of flipping and pinning on alot of junkie stuff, so the rest of the trip I kinda gripped about hurting myself again.

Eldo Beautiful place to hang out.

Afterwards we drove up to Neiderlands for some free camping. The next day we did a super fast run on Alto-Alto which was a fun wave trains with some holes mixed in. We grabbed some lunch then waited for the other guys (Clint, Andy, and Joe) and immediately jumped back on Alto for one more run. Next day we made some calls and headed to Crested Butte...

Baileys Soft and Creamy

Here are some pics from 08 Baileys Canyon

How to not run Rocket Launcher

Here is Chris running Rocket Launcher and getting beat down



I decided to "let the cat out of the bag" and write about what else happened in the Poudre. So it was our first full day in Colorado after 27 hrs of driving. We ran Joe Wright and Spencer Heights down to Poudre Falls. The last rapid is called Rocket Launcher which is a couple of 100 yards above the falls. After Chris got beat down and swam, we chased his boat down the road. Finally it had gotten hung right beside a bridge. We got his boat out in some what of 1 piece. Chris then realized that when he had swam his keys which was in his vest were ripped out. So already thinking it couldnt get anyworse a Black dude and a Hippy chick were on the side of the road and saw what happened. The offered give us a ride up to our truck in a mustang, we stashed Chris's boat in the woods and Andy's down a ditch. We get to the top and the guy not saying much, gets in his boxers and runs around in the woods. We were a little frightened at the time but being thankful for the ride we give him water and off he drove. We finally got a woman to call the police and give them my AAA information from a call box. About that time the yellow mustang was back, this time pulling the E-Brake comming into the parking lot. He got out and had a hammer in one hand and a big skinning knife in the other. He started to take his shirt off and say that we stole their purse. We calmy talked him down and simply told him that were stuck here and that we wouldnt steal anything from anyone. The guy finally leaves so we walked back up to the road to wait for AAA. About that time a truck drove by with Andy's green Nomad and all we could do was watch it drive away. AAA finally arrived and gave us a ride back into town where we stayed at a motel 8 for the night. The next morning AAA picked us back up and drove us back up the mountain. When we got there the black guy was there...AGAIN!! This time had our bed cover undone and digging through it. We got out mad as hell, shaking with adrenaline, and confronted him and repeatedly told him "WE DONT HAVE YOUR F$#KIN WALLET" he then appolgizes and leaves. About a hour later we get a key made in town and decided we werent goin home yet, so we proceeded to drive back up that mountain 1 more time. On the up we were just chit-chattin about the day when two moose ran across the road causing us to run off the road almost hitting a car! Needless to say one of us had some baddd JUJU and it was catching up with us. Here are some random pics of the scenery

AAA Guy

Stuck in the poudre

This summer had started looking as if I wasnt gonna make it out to Cali, having just finished up with school and being finacially broke plans didn't work out as planned. But, thanks to the massive amount of snow pack this year westward bound went late into the season. I had gotten about 3 weeks of work in, enough to save up and head to colorado for almost two weeks. So we met up in Hartwell, Ga and left out about 8 pm After 10 or so hours of driving on interstate we arrived at St. Loie in time for the sunrise.

The View was breathe taking

Tho the drive wasnt too bad I would have to say Kansas was probably the most boring state ever and felt as if it would never end. Finally we arrived in Fort Collins about 9:30, 26 or so hours later at a pizza shop. From there we set our goals to Poudre Drainage and drove straight up the mountains in the dark, when we woke that mornin we were amazed how gorged up it was and all we could see was white caps!

We ate some breakfast, got packed up, and decided going upstream and takin a look at Joe Wright. We tried to scout but could only see one rapid, but go figure every river in Colorado is "One Rapid".

This one is called Carnito, it is the 1st rapid and probably one of the more commiting drops. After this drop it doesnt really let up until the confluence with Big South. Joe Wright is a must hit if your in the area for a short 3 mile run. We finished the run in just under a hour of eddy hoppin down. The only pics we got of the river was from the pull off at Carnito.

Andy droppin in first getting pushed right.

Me droppin in behind andy (top right)
The river constricts to about 4 feet wide after this drop

The last big one is called rocket launcher. We all decided to give it a go and resulted in one good beat down and a boat runnin Poudre Falls ; ).

After a day of mishaps (stolen boat and a knife pulled on us) we were down a boat. Thanks to the bupport on Mountainbuzz, JJ hooked us up with one of his welded jefe and saved our week!

The next day we heard the gate was open so we proceeded to the put in for Big South. Needless to say the road to the put in was breathe taking with snow still on the ground in some places, moose feeding in the valleys, and crystal clear creeks were in out of the road.

This is the meadow where a trib. to Big South Put in

After putting on we ran into Mike Pagel who was kind enough to show us down. After running a few shallow junk rapids we arrived at the confluence. The first rapid is called Starter Fluid with a fun S-turn Entrance with a perfect 10 footer exit.

Here is Pagel running the next rapid in line taco bobs. This one was a little more technical with a reverse sunshine line.

Fantasy Flight ....piton ....flip ....roll ....procceed down the river. After watchin several line I decided to walk. The Next rapid was called Bar Room Brawl which was a fun one beside I petoned on the wall on the right(no pics). Still stunned by the scenery Cool world snuck up on us, but managed to grap the last eddy. Heres a pic of Pagel making Cool World look easy.

After Cool comes a really fun one (kinda like a linville rapid) called Bonk. A fun drop that requires a very finess late boof. The next is meltdown a very serious rapid wich is a slide into a drop with a big hole that pushes into a huge sieve on river (left just out of the pic below)

After meltdown comes one of the most beautiful and fun gorge Ive been in called Primetime. This is a very long and intense gorge that is walled in. After this comes the Gorilla of the Midwest Double Trouble.

Me sayin F#@k it

Andy Firin it up

Heres Evan boofing over the beast

Probably the most intertaining thing I saw all day was the 1st decent of BigS in a raft and style it. The next mornin we were woke by loud music and people screamin. Turns out it was JJ and Kevin (the people who saved our trip) wantin a quick round on Big South. Still just as beautiful as the day before we slid back into that tributairy. We ended up flyin through the run in about 4 hours and finishing the day up fishing on Spencer Heights.

This is a new blog I started not to brag about anything Ive done but to show some of our journeys and the beautiful scenery with it. The name of the blog (koi) comes from the koi fish. A Japanese fish that symbolizes perserverance and is believed to swim until it reaches the final waterfall, where it vaults into the mists and becomes a dragon. Kind of like kayakers, we will always be insearch of a perfect waterfall.