Demshitz got some rain here in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Check out what we got after! The classic staple runs of the NE PA creeking scene. Wapwallopen and Raymonskill. Peep the vid.

http://demshitz.com/demshitz-wapwallopen-raymondskill/

In the spur of the moment trip, a few Southeast boys from Boone, NC headed up to the Moose River in Old Forge, NY.  The group consisted of Clay Lucas, Ben Lucas, Colin Hunt and myself (Ty Caldwell).  Leaving at 5Am, we arrived in Old Forge, NY 14 hours later.  Fired up to paddle we headed to the Moose the next morning, a NE classic.  Good times and good lines were had on and off the river for the weekend.

Big shout out to Mountainman Outdoor Supply Company for the hospitality and for such a great weekend.

Deciding to try to split up the drive on the way home we decided to drive to the Potomac over night.  Some sick drops are out in that area and I suggest everyone try to visit.  The overviews provide a large crowd that cheers with each boof.  Overall it was an awesome weekend and we still made it back in time for class on Monday.

Enjoy the photos and video.  Thanks for all the support and see you on the water.

Kindly,

Ty Caldwell

https://vimeo.com/51725762

(Photos for blog only. Copyright: Tommy Penick) http://tommypenickphoto.com/

Dave’s brother enjoying the popular “wheelie” line a Knife’s Edge

I have come to view the people that I paddle with as my extended family.  The Moose River Festival held near Old Forge New York every October is like a paddling holiday where the whole family gets together.  The simplicity of the weekend is what makes it feel a little more like Thanksgiving than Christmas.  Come to Old Forge, go kayaking, and hang- out with old friends.  It’s so simple and so important.

Dave dropping the classic “Agers Falls”

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So after leaving Pakistan in August I’ve spend the last two months in Ladakh and Uttarakhand, the two most common destinations for summer time kayakers on a trip to India. I was absolutely amazed to find out how much I disagreed with what information I’d come across before going, and how much more there is out here. So here is my account of the classic Indian areas for kayaking:

Ladakh:

The Tsarap Chu/Zanskar.
This was an interesting one, after meeting up with another group of AUCC boaters on an Indian paddling trip we headed straight to the ‘Grand Canyon of Asia.’ For a 6-8 day multiday with a nickname like that our expectations were high. It was pretty, and very remote for the first 3 days, but what the guides didn’t tell us is that there is a vast amount of flat water. I’m not sure how to explain what I made of the river without annoying the large numbers of people who’s minds were blown by the gorges, so I’ll leave it at that; a nice remote river with some fun rapids and nice scenery.

Another pretty but flat section of the Tsarap Chu

The Indus:
A good river, but we caught it at low-ish levels, no complaints, but unfortunately it wasn’t the beast we’d been expecting (especially after seeing the Indus looking like an absolute monster in Pakistan a few weeks before).

One of the bigger rapids on the lower Indus, at higher flows this is meant to have 20 foot waves in it!

The Shyok:
Blew my mind!!! After wasting too much time in Leh and slight dissapointment on the classic rivers of Ladakh it was amazing to be able to do this run. Whilst the Dras river, a popular hard run near the Pakistan border, has now been put out of bounds due to permit restrictions the Shyok has just been opened up to foriegn tourists. The LADs at Splash rafting in Leh told us about this gem, and according to them and a few others we were lucky enough to secure the second descent of it! It was like being back in Pakistan, huge, silty-brown, fast flowing and scary- a must visit for any group going to Ladakh.

The Shyok

Uttarakhand

After spending a while in Ladakh we headed over to Uttarakhand, where research we’d done hinted that there were a couple of good rivers, namely the Alaknandar and Ganges. Timing for this was perfect as the monsoon was near its end, so whilst the big rivers we’d heard of were completely insane all the small creeks were going. We met up with Shalabh Gahlaut, the bible of Indian river running, who’s now based himself on the banks of the Alaknandar and spent the next month going off on trips that he’d had penciled in but not had the chance to do due to water levels or having the right group. We got some sweet runs done, from tight low volume slidey stuff to bigger boulder garden pool drop runs. We even managed to find a 10ish meter waterfall that was going, and in higher levels would be the put on to an epic section. Going into Ladakh with high expectations made it a bit of a let down, but heading to Uttarakhand with no idea what we’d be doing was so epic, made even better by the fact that there was so much going, and so much left. I would absolutely go back and recomend it over Ladakh any day. Here are some of the shiney photos we took when we managed to stop ourselves during the awesome read and run sections, as well as the 10m drop of the Nayyar.

A tight creek 10 mins from Shalabh’s house

Shalabh eddy hopping the east Nayyar

The put on for the west Nayyar

Paddling under a 7,000m peak after a first descent of the Kail river

To top it all off levels started to drop on the Alaknandar by the time we were leaving and managed to have a nice change, leaving our creek boats at home and taking some of Shalabh’s old school play boats to the big waves on offer. After realising the playboating potential out here we quickly got on the phone to Pyranha who’ve now sorted Shalabh out with a brand new Jed. We had to leave in a hurry to catch the rains over in the east of India, but Shalabh has agreed to write up a little bit on the play waves of the Alaknandar and send over some photos of how he’s getting on. I cannot wait to see how he gets on with a modern boat!

So yeah, thats my take on north India. We’ve now headed east and are the first group of kayakers to set foot into the state of Meghalaya, the wettest place on earth. Research looks good and we’re starting boating tomorrow. I’m excited!!!!

My trip to British Columbia, Canada started back in Colorado talking to my firend Cruise who told me Matt Wilson and him are going up there. Sounded like the best crew I could imagine for that kind of a trip but I was going to Europe to organize Hiko Devils Extreme Race.  So I packed my kayak with gear and paddles and gave it to Tony and Cruise from Durango. Hoping to see my gear again at some point, ideally in Vancouver or close to borders to Canada. Then I called Matt to make sure I can join this trip. He was cool with it so I had to change my flight ticket because I was coming to US little too late. So I changed my return ticket to Vancouver  three days earlier than I thought.

Matt Wilson on Cheekamus river

Flight to North America was long and full of expectations. I just barely talked to guys before I took off so iwas hoping to see them at the airport. They were there even with another member Mike McKee I was there but my luggage bag didn’t show up. Some of my gear like sleeping bag, pfd, shoes etc were in there so we had a beer and waited for next airplane that brought my bag and we hit the road up north towards Squamish and Whistler. This area was our home for next five days to a week. We got on lower Cheekamus, Fear Canyon on Eelaho river, Ashlu Box (That run is prob my favorite creek secion in Canada) , mine section on Ashlu. Weather was still really warm and nice by then but in Stikine area was rainy, snowy, and really cold by then. We figured will start huge drive north and see. River started to spike up really fast though. We were expecting snow up high so it was weird it spiked so hard. We continued to Terace beautiful place in northern BC. Luckily we met some of the locals so we paddled great two rivers Williams and Hersch. I got a message from people that the gauge on Stikine has been misleading some trips before us. There is a lot of tributaries coming to river below actual Grand Canyon so we still had a chance to get on Stikine. Matt had to be back in Idaho on weekend for friends wedding. It was Monday and we still didn’t know if we were going. Water was on high side of good, our crew wasn’t motivated. Luckily we crossed our paths with French guy Jules Dominue who has done the river three times just before we got there. He said the level is perfect and is in to go down with us. For me it was sure thing then rest of a team had to think it through and put on the next day. 🙂

jakub in ashlu box

Put in for Stikine. Stoke is high

From first moments on this river or just around it I felt something more than special and more than respect inside of me. Also because week before our trip, Jeff West died on this river. First day starts off with paddle in, bunch of small class 3 rapids and then it starts to get steeper. Entrance is the first big rapid that definitely puts you back on your game. About two more rapids and we were at the crux of this run. Rapids pass or fail and then Watsons. Really big and technical rapids in the middle of nowhere. Once below Watsons, rapids get little easier and u can enjoy some bigwater Stikine class 4. First camp by Site Zed rapid is very amazing place, where people started to build a dam about 60 years ago without telling anybody and natives from Telegraph Creek (take out) came here and burnt everything down. Thank god. Second day on Stikine trip is a real treat. Portage and running huge bigwater drop on the bottom of Site Zed. Big water rapids continue on, canyon stays deep and beautiful. There is probably the biggest eddy lines I have ever seen on day 2. Sometimes it felt like we were paddling uphill. Highlights on day 2 are for sure rapids Wall1 and Garden of Gods. Amazing kayaking. Camp just about mile downstream from Garden of Gods with a big beach and camp under a cave is a great way to spend last night in this amazing place. Day three started normal with cold morning, coffee, hakysack session, breakfast and then we took off. Amazing and big rapids on day three for sure. My favorite was without doubt V-drive. After steep section we entered never ending beautiful faltwater canyon and after two plus hours  we got to the take out. Tired, stoked, hungry we were hoping to have a shuttle vehicle here… Nothing. One of us went to hitchhike to put in. The others got picked up about three hours later and all of us met at the put in again. Loop was completed, nobody got hurt, we just had big smiles on our faces even though we had to start driving back to U.S. for Matts friends wedding.Next day I ve read one of trip reports on Stikine and in end it said: “Nothing has changed but everything is different.”  That’s about all I have to say to explain my feelings after getting out of this river. It’s a great team work in there, challenging portages, cold valley but the whitewater and river trip quality is the best. I am coming back for sure. 🙂

Pics by Cruise Quenele more coming soon!

Have a great winter and safe lines

Welp, i’ve been sidelined with a chest injury.  Stinks, but it couldn’t have happened at a better time, as i’m now able to sit back, heal up and enjoy the end of summer!  Surgery went great and they where able to reconnect my pectoral muscle back together.  So on that note, here is an “Ode to Carnage”….video….enjoy!  Check out more at HuckinHugeFilms.com and click the photo to view the video.