Fun drop in San Marcos, Tx
Even though it is winter, I haven’t stopped boating. Northerrn Nevada ’s rivers are frozen over, but California rivers are only a few hours away and that’s where I have been going. Chamberlin Falls, a class 4 section of the North Fork of the American River, only runs a few months a year and I have been lucky enough to catch it about 4 times now. My favorite drop is Chamberlin Falls itself (http://www.awetstate.com/NAmericanC.html), Staircase and Bogus Thunder. It is only 5 miles long so we usually run it a few times. I also took a trip to Texas to the Olympic Outdoor Center (http://wwwkayakinstruction.org) located on the San Marcos River which is 72 degrees year round. Ben (1996 Olympian) and Michelle Kvanli (2009 women’s national slalom champ) coached me in slalom racing where I was able to win in my first slalom race of the year. I have a few more, but Junior Olympics here I come! If you want to learn to kayak, they have an excellent begginers to advanced program for both whitewater and slalom. I had even more fun because my friend Henry Hyde, another 9 y/o kayaker, was there, and I met Chelsea Bornemann, a 13 y/o slalom racer, so it was cool to be around other kids. A large group of kids from Colorado were also there for racing and training, and we did the Tube Chutes, a fun water slide next to a dam, and I ran Graduation Falls with Henry and Chelsea, a 15 ft water fall that was lots of fun. I can’t wait to paddle with Ben, Michelle, Henry and Chelsea again because they are such fun and good friends! After we got back from Texas, I was able to paddle with my friend Ria on the Coloma to Greenwood section of the South Fork of the American River. She is only 7 and becoming a great kayaker-she even did her first combat roll when we were on the river! It has been a great 2010 so far and I look forward to more-Peace, Sage
Sage on the Big Bend Dam!
Who needs Disneyland!
What happens in California after a few years of drought. The reservoirs get low and sections of rivers normally underwater become runnable again. This weekend we did the Big Bend Run on the North Fork of the Feather River. This section is normally under 35 feet of water but the reservoir is so low we were able to run about 6 miles of class 3/4 whitewater. It starts out with a short paddle to a 35 ft. dam that makes a big slide/drop into the river. At first I was very nervous, but I watched several people run it and I decided to try it. I followed my Dad to the wave above the drop and Mom follwed me. When I started to go over I felt like I was going to slam to the bottom, but the roostertail wave carried me gently to the slide portion and the pillowy waves at the bottom. I had so much fun that I paddled right over to the ropes hanging on the side of the dam and climbed back up to do it again and again. We had set up a pulley system for boats and everyone had to climb up a rope to get back up, but I was pulled up because I weighed less than some of the boats!
After several photo drops on the dam, we continued down the river for a lot of fun rapids. Box Car rapid was a riverwide hole that had a small rock slot that I was able to shoot through, while most of the other people had to drop into the hole and were flipped. After a short lunch break and a fun seal launch, we continued paddling through a few more class 4 gorge rapids into the lake where we were picked up by motor boats and shuttled 7 miles across the lake to our cars. I hope to do this again next week. Thanks Scott Sady for the great photos!
Riding the roostertail!
Peace,
Sage
Bow dancing!
What a busy month! After the American River Festival, we headed to Colorado to attend our friends Nathan Fey and Marin Peterson’ s wedding. Nathan is the Colo. American Whitewater rep. and Marin is a Predator Helmet rep. so of course we ended up on the water. After the wedding, 19 of the wedding guests drove to Utah to float the Westwater section of the Colorado River. It is a 17 mile class 3/4 float and we did it as an overnighter. The waves were big, the water cold and brown, the camp, cliffs, scenery, spectacular! My family was in our kayaks and the bride and groom were in our Dynamic Duo, and there were a few other kayaks and about 5 rafts, including our 14 foot raft Big Red, who was being paddled by the brides brother in law. LOTS OF FUN! After floating the river, we drove home, unpacked, repacked and drove to the Feather River Festival. I had a great time running the class 3 Rock Creek section and Class 4 Lobin as well as running the slalom course. The weekend highlight was the great party and fundraiser for American Whitewater that the Chico Paddleheads put on. They had 2 bands, hula hoops, fiber optic antennas and about 400 people. I was also able to have my friend Molly sleep over in the van. We both slept upstairs with my dogs Wyatt and Kenya-the 2 biggest ridgebacks, and had a blast-and slept well.
Now we are home, cleaning and repacking the van so we can go to Yosemite for a week where I’m going to climb Snake Dike, a 7 pitch 5.7 climb on Half Dome. Wish me luck!
Slalom
Sage in First Threat
It’s been another several busy weeks! It started with an American Whitewater scheduled release on the Pitt River in California where I love to run the class 4 Hero Slide right next to the 30 ft waterfall. It’s a blast! Then we headed over to Idaho for some fun with our friends the Voorhees family. We started out on the Gutter, the neighborhood play spot, and I competed in their local Hometown Throwdown, then it was up to Garden Valley where we camped out and ran the Staircase and Canyon sections of the South Fork of the Payette River. The highlight was watching 12 y/o Alec run the class 5 + Big Falls-and he stomped it! Dad also was able to do several runs on the upper North Fork of the Payette, another class 5 section, and he had a ball! We had to leave a few days early because my Grandmother had a heart attack, but she is OK now. Then next week was the American River Festival where I competed in the rodeo, slalom race and the duo down river race with my Dad. I was the only girl in Jrs. and competed against two boys, both over 15-I placed 3rd. Sunday was the slalom race where I competed against another teenage girl and the boy who won the rodeo. but this time I was first! Then Dad and I hopped into our Dynamic Duo and did the first inaugural Lars Holbeck Memorial Down River Race from Chili Bar to Trouble Maker. We were the only parent/child team so we were first, but we were only 1 minute behind the 3rd place adult team
Slalom race
Carls Kitchen, or Right of Right
This week was a VERY big week for me. It started on Wednesday on the American River where I filmed a kids action TV show pilot that will most likely be on Kids Discovery, Nickelodeon, or ABC. I was the kayaking kid and I taught the host kids how to wet water exit and even roll. Mom and Dad took them down C to G in Dynamic Duos and a few other kids in Sidekicks and Punk Rockers and we all had a blast! The next day Dad took each kid through Trouble Maker in the Duo, then they hopped in a raft while I was in my kayak and we all went down the gorge. We wrapped up filming late Friday evening and headed up to the Feather River for a scheduled American Whitewater release. My friend Lance recently had shoulder surgery and really wanted to paddle, so he and another friend named Mike borrowed the Dynamic Duo and took it down the Rock Creek class 3 section twice. They had a ball! Then I went down the Class 4 Lobin section with my Dad, Colin Kemp, Toby Ebens, and several other Reno boaters including Newt, Debbie, and Noah. It was my first time down this section and I was nervous, but after the first 4 rapids, I relaxed, smiled and really enjoyed it. My Sidekick was great at boofing and punching holes. This is one of my favorite class 4 rivers. Next week, the Pitt-another one of my favorites and also a scheduled AW release!
North Fork of the Feather
Sage in First Threat
After looking at it all year, this week I finally got up the nerve to surf First Threat on the South Fork of the American River. It is a large bouncy wave hole that is very intimidating, but with the encouragement of a lot of people (thanks Mike and Hilde!) I finally hopped in and had a great ride. It is very easy to catch, but once you are in it you can’t see up river so a look out has to tell you when a raft or kayak is coming. Now I am working on spinning in it without flipping or flushing so I can compete in the American River Festival Rodeo.
More surfing
Dad took his new custom green and black All-Star out for it’s maiden voyage today and he had a blast. He took it down Chili Bar on the American to test it on Maya and First Threat and had the fastest spins Iv’e ever seen. It was hard to wipe the grin from his face! We ran into Hilde and Mike at First Threat and Hilde was using Ruth Gordons new Star while Ruth is at worlds and Hilde was super excited about the response of the new boat and how quick it was. Eventually Mike was able to try it and he wouldn’t give it back to her! Both were excited about it’s speed and handling and how it was not as aggressive as they thought it would be-making playing on waves and holes even more fun. I was so inspired by their enthusiasm that I managed to get my first spins in Maya and finally surfed First Threat! I can’t wait to get a new orange/white Shooting Star some day. By the way-my dad recieved about 20 complements on how cool his new boat looked!
Fatty the rattler
Climbing at Phantom Spires
I had a perfect weekend! I spent Saturday kayaking Chili Bar on the American and had a blast surfing Maya, then on Sunday I spent the day climbing at Phantom Spires by Kyburz, Ca. I love this area because the hike in is short and the climbing is great. I climbed my favorite lie back and Mom and Dad played a lot on a 5.10b crack. We also had a lot of inter-action with a rattle snake that was sunning itself along our route. I named him fatty because he was the fattest snake I’ve ever seen!
Teaching River Saftey
Truckee River Safety Fair, 2009
We just wrapped up another successful safety fair sponsored by the Truckee River Foundation and I was lucky enough to help! We had about 120 kids from the ages of 4 to 14 show up to get a free helmet, pfd and water shoes and learn how to safely float through the rapids on a river. The most important thing I learned was to never dive head first into a river because you can not see the bottom, and always make sure someone has an eye on you. All the kids separated into age groups and I helped out with the little kids, which was mostly teaching the parents about water safety, and that most drownings happen in the presents of an adult. After each class, the kids received a free t-shirt and ice cream and then decorated their helmets at a station set up by the girl scouts. Some of the designs were super neat. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped!
Peace,
Sage Donnelly
Peace helmet
Debbie explaining proper swimming
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