Lizzy English

Homestake Creek Aint Notin' To... Mess With!

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:37:00 +0000

Apparently I'm not a "fast" kayaker, but good thing I brought my Shaolin Style cause that run is rugid and even a little raw. Oh BTW, my Wu-Tang member name is "Rizzy" given by fellow clan members in The Hood.

I finished 4th place and was so excited to see all my best kayaker buddies including Jonny Meyers who recently made the US Freestyle Team. Yeah Buddy!!

Great job to Nikki, Tanya, and Adriene, you ladies are Super Women!

Also a shout out to Will with LVM who successfully completed nearly every event at the Teva Games including a Half Marathon from Vail up to Vail Pass. Apparently he'd been training super hard and completed his longest run of 1 mile, once... in 6th grade. Check out Will's Games at LVM.

Happiness!

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:39:00 +0000

I've been spending some time dialing in the L-Dub lines. Far, far right on S Turn is like a slip-n-slide at 50 mph with a sideways flake in the middle. Back Ender makes for a nice plug which I try to take advantage of cause plugging is so super coooooo.

And then we have Spirit, yes we do. I also took advantage of hot sunny day with Maser holding safety and a nice healthy flow to boof the crap out of a dope 30 footer.

I boofed a bit harder than last time and my face bounced off the happy place on my spray skirt. I'm too short to reach the cock pit rim and too tall for implosure bar- Happy!

This was the scariest part- obviously. Thanks for the moral support Maser

Maybe one of the most beaufitul eddies in the world. Especially since you can only get there if you've got Spirit.

All photos credits go to Adam Craig with Super Dope Photography

Bring On the Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:32:00 +0000

I totally don't need a tarp for Middle Kings this year...

This is just one more reason why the 8.5 is so dope.

Spring Break 2009, Whoooooo!

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 05:01:00 +0000

Packing all my most prized posessions before rushing to school for a Transportation Midterm, driving to Oregon until midnight, breaking my boat and my face... Was is all worth it?

Hell yes! Everyone else thought so too as they helped me celebrate Spring Break 2009. Thanks peeps, for all your support.

Um, shouldn't you be riding a bike or something? Noooooo... cause you're celebrating Spring Break 2009! Thanks Adam, for the Oregon tour.

Cute. Tyler and Lizzy reunite. Thanks for the beta on that taller drop buddy ;) wink.

Ladies of the L Dub-ness. Love you Glittermeyer.

Finally I got to run Oregon's famous L Dub and loved every bit of it! Thanks to Adam and Tyler I made my way down each rapid safely.

Brian showing me the way from up top.

A little cloudy but here's the evidence, and yes I stomped it down.

This, however, I stomped my face onto my knee hence the black eye.

"Owe, my face. That was bigger than I thought."

Give it up for some Montana blood! Robby McMann- shhhhhhredding.

Sometimes I try to pretend like I can ski as well as I kayak... so I skied this following Robby.

Adam and Robby skied this because they are rad and I ran the snowmobile shuttle at 75 mph.

Pillows. I'm so happy! Except my face hurts.

Here's Joshy clearing the middle pillow cause that's how he rolls.

Knight on shining horse power. Does anyone else think that's hot or is it just me?

And So Begins the 2009 Cali Seaon

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:44:00 +0000

Due to a recent 6+ foot dump in the Sierras, the 2009 Cali season will proceed as scheduled. Smiles from everyone!!

Thank God because I don't live here in Reno NV for nothin! Right Katie?

I'm declaring last Friday the start of my Cali season. It began with a phone call to crowd favorite Billy Jones asking him if I should skip school to drive over the hill and paddle the "49 to Bridgeport" section of the South Yuba. His response, as anyone could guess, was "Lizzy you should go and feed your inner river child. It will revive your soul."

Billy was right. Nevada City was true to its standard 60 degrees and sunny as South Yuba was flowing at primo, off the couch, happiness level of 1000 cfs. I pulled up to the 49 bridge and hopped out to look over the edge at my old friend. Memories of my first class 5 river from 4 years ago tickled my belly with delight.

Its funny. No matter how many scary rivers with nasty rapids I've paddled- "Eat the Meat" always scares me! What is with that? I used to be so freakin scared of that rapid and "Corner Pocket" that I must have trained my brain to go into survival mode every time I come around that very corner at the top of those two rapids. Good stuff.
It was good to see half of the Sacremento class 5 contigent get surfed in "Corner Pocket". We were all happy for a little excitement without any carnage.
South Yuba is a magical place, California is the shit, and I hope you all get it together and come visit this year. Happy Creekin!

Thanks Billy- I'm revived and pounding out some serious library time for the last week before spring break. I'm hoping spring break 2009 will allow me my first ever L-Dub. We shall see.

Middle Kings, Kicked Off Bishop Pass

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:47:00 +0000

"Yeah, what are they going to do? Kick us off the pass? Ha ha!"

And that’s exactly what Ranger K Waterfall did. Two hundred vertical feet from the top of Bishop Pass we were turned around and given the boot. We all wanted to cry.

The evening prior, JJ and I had arrived at the Ranger Station at 5:02 just in time to see the Open sign flip to Closed. I peered in the window and watched a forest green colored “pear shape” waddle away. It seemed that the government hadn’t reissued new uniforms in the last ten years which coincidently hadn’t been very kind to this derriere.

I threw my hands in the air as if to say we tried our best. We’re not going to need a permit anyways. JJ and Taylor’s group didn’t have one last year. We’ll be fine.

We spent the rest of the evening rationing our food for a six day mission. I highly recommend the Pad Thai Mountain House- to die for! I packed for seven days in hopes of a lay day at Tehipite.

With a pretty sizable hike into Upper Cherry 2 weeks earlier I had a pretty good idea of the necessary adjustments needed to make the Middle Kings hike a success. The next morning I fastened up my Asics 2110’s which proved as great footwear for the next week aside from a few portages in the Bottom Nine. I duct taped pads to my hip bones, collar bones and mid spinal region. I wore a trucker hat with a mosquito net ready and a long-sleeved polypro which tripled as mosquito protection, sun block, and a coolant when dipped into streams along the way. My Salamander back pack was key in supporting my boat properly on my back for the entire hike. I’ve tried and witnessed people’s “systems” and for me it’s not worth messing around. The Salamander pack works! Another important matter is where to put one’s paddle. I’m not a fan of attaching the paddle to the boat in case one “turtle shells” and lands on the paddle shattering it. I had it tied in front of me to help with balance and resting my arms. Thankfully I had a new AT2 Super Light and my paddle was nearly weightless. Although, I was carrying the oh-so-essential whitewater running barge Nomad 8.5, and the whole “weight concern” became null.

For me the Middle Kings hike was much more pleasurable then Upper Cherry. I learned about my feet and my bony body parts on UCC and transferred that knowledge to a bigger and better experience. Bishop Pass felt more like hiking through my homeland, Glacier Park, then the typical dry California domes. The lakes, green grass, wild flowers, snow patches, and bare jagged peaks kept me occupied…

That is until K Waterfall roared at us to “Stop hiking! Stop! You must stop!” He charged up the switchbacks in hot pursuit. For a moment I entertained the idea of running for the summit. The Tortoise and the Hare, guns, and the circling helicopter above stopped me.

K Waterfall was pretty cool, just a little disappointed in our team for trying to “Raw Dawg” the mission. Even though he made us hike back down 5 miles and 2000 vertical feet, he made sure the station remained open for us and allowed us to keep our boats and gear at the pass. So, back down the pass we went and made it just in time for happy hour at the local pub recommended by Waterfall. (I tried to get him to admit he was packing heat the whole time but it is unlawful for the rangers to reveal any information pertaining to the contents of their packs. I’m pretty sure he had a gun though.)

8:30 am we were back at the trailhead, permit in hand, with high hopes of catching up with JJ who’d avoided our misfortune. We made it to the top of Bishop Pass, again. Happy to see my gear intact without nibble holes, I assumed the position and we were off. The Middle Kings hike was so stunning I’m actually looking forward to doing it again next year. We made it to the river with plenty of daylight to greet JJ, take baths, and recap our stories thus far.

The next 5 days of whitewater kept getting better and harder every day and Team Raw Dawg rose to the occasion. No Big Bad Beaver for us but we ran most of what had been run plus a little more including the complete top to bottom of Raw Dawg Gorge.

Lizzy in Squeeze Play (WP)

Rock Jumble below Squeeze play (WP)

If you want to know how to stick Raw Dawg Falls next year, ask Taylor (Dave Mourier)

I, on the other hand, fell off a little sideways- but still had a blast!

Check out more pics at...
http://www.willypell.blogspot.com/
http://www.guttersoftheearth.blogspot.com/
http://kineticinstasis.blogspot.com/
... because I don't have a camera ;)

(WP)= Willy Pell photo credit

Lochsa

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:29:00 +0000

Time for some good ol' RV camping- class 3 running- beer drinking- WT fun!
This may look like a scary Lesbian and a teenager with downsyndrome. But its just my brother and sister dressed in their WT outfits. Makin me proud!

My nephew/boy friend is a real hunk. Love you Ry-Ry.

The Mamba was perfect for the high water pipe line surf. Thanks Dagger ;)

The papa bear Jon T shredding in his Ultrafuge... UltraFun ;

Some may ask why I'm so tough. This man right here is responsible. 6'1" 200 lbs of TUFF. My big bro hasn't kayaked in 11 years and he made it all the way down the Lochsa and surfed pipeline with out flipping. AND he saved poeple from the flipped raft.

Xan-man in the big Mamba

My beautiful family.

I grew up going to the Lochsa so any chance I get to visit is truly a gift. It's such a beautiful place and Montanans are the best peeps in the World... even if I did miss Dinky Creek.

Fantasy

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:04:00 +0000

What can I say? No hike, coninuous for 2.5 days, never drops below 4500 feet= NO OAK

More water is better. I am certain of this fact. Fantasy has a big bed and likes being full!

Here's me about to get the beat down against the wall in Tay's Hole. 4 for 4 of us got a recirc! At higher water you can boof center.

A leisure day one brought us to camp below one of my favorites, the Slot-to-Boof. At higher water the slot cleans up and covers the spine rock that now splits the channel.

This slide means victory for me! 2 years prior I swam out of the shallow hole that starts this long stretch of rapids and never made it to the slide ;( But this year was redemption ;)

Ev Gar killing it like always with his super suave style. I never got the 'Mushroom Boof' because I hit the Mushroom Tip and surfed straight back down the green, turned to a side surf and slipped right into the crack in the lower part of the picture- pretty hilarious for the lookers on.

Grant Korgan, firin up the big mama. This is the one pic I took, he took all the rest displayed- Thanks Korg!

A bunch of happy tired kids with all their fantasies fulfilled

California is SO in right now

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:12:00 +0000

All Cali photos are by Jono Ramsay, except the fat guys on Royal. I took those.

Lizzy's Royal Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:27:00 +0000

Here's my Royal Gorge team

While loading our gear in the boats in the morning, I decided to bail. It was too cold and I'm a wuss- so it was an easy decision for me. I don't have pride.

At the Soda Springs exit Chris, Chris, Evan and Jonno decided to bail. So I turned to Cory and Justin and told them they were going to put on. End of story. But in order to make a sound decision Cory had to take a growler and Justin had to stand outside barefoot to test the temp. Cory bought some lighter fluid and they decided to go for it.

We drove back up to Soda Springs trying to call the other car, but no one had their phones on. We left messages... you can imagine what we said.

Dropping down to the put in we turned on some music, the temp got a little warmer. I slammed on the breaks, pulled the car over and got out. "Screw it, I'm putting on too."

Some times you just got to nut up.

Mmmmm, delicious. Work it!

Rufless

Evan looks like a Christmas Tree ornament. Cute :>

Here's me doing something rad.

All I knew was that Rattle Snake was around the corner and was not sure how far. After this boof the walls close in narrower and narrower and make a sharp left hand turn into the unknown. Turns out its just a big pool. I was still scared.

Low water Rattle Snake. Burly.

What's not depicted in this photo was Evan's shreaking minutes before. He nearly stepped on a Rattle Snake... ironic? symbolic? Really funny!

Not sure what's going on in this photo.

Cory's givin' her deep!

High Water Kimshew

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Ummm, I don't have any pics but I promise I ran it! The first day we a nice big group of 8 peeps. We started with a "healthy" flow but Nocetti, the best leader in the world, felt confident that we could still enjoy our day. We portaged LJ's because it looked terrifying and the last poor over hole that is usually backed up by a rock was actually spewing onto the rock. Yikes.
The next rapids were fun and padded out, the log that is usually sneeked under on the left made an excellent boof right off the center. Sweet! I guess.
A few hole surfs later we made it to Kimshew falls. Half the group ran it, half very regrettably portaged and swore to NEVER portage it again. By the way, the second drop of that gorge is one of the coolest drops ever. The next "S" turn drop hit me by surprise, b-slapped my ass and I took a few hits to the head and knuckles. Still an amazing set of drops though!
We made it to Tripler and I looked up at the previous drop that is typically a defined boof onto a bouncy slide. "Is this, like, a medium-ish flow?"
"No. High" replied Nocetti.
One by one we portaged Triple, which was more like one pounding rapid. That's when the water color started changing and the first log floated past. Only until I ran Kimshew at lower water did I understand the "Triple" part.
Frenchie's gorge was rather intimidating. Ligare and Zawaki ran the first two drops to scout the rest of the Gorge. Then I ran down to help route through and Ligare followed shouting beta. The exit drop almost flipped me a little and struggled to catch the last eddy... only to look up and see Ligare hammering his strokes at the top of Frenchie's, slowly fading in backwards.
"Come on buddy, paddle, paddle, you got it!"
Nope.
He turned and charged.
I jumped out of my boat and charged up around the cliff band, envisioning Ligare floating upside down.
The first thing I saw was an empty boat... perfectly placed on the rocks on the shore and Ligare was climbing up the rocks nonchalantly with his modest smile.
"How did it feel?"
He just shrugged his shoulders "Fine."
Ligare is a good kayaker.
The 8 person Frenchie portage took a while and the brown river continued to rise. Aside from a few more mandatory portages, I was surprised at how well the river bed held the water. We rode out the wave trains to the final boof. The "rock" that is supposed to have water pooring over half of it, was its own meaty little poor over. The 8 person, 8 hour epic was tiring but still super fun. Kimshew is a must see, 2 thumbs way up!

South Branch, First day after finals!

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:18:00 +0000

The day after my finals at UNR I packed up my kayaking gear, party clothes, sleeping bag, a large set of balls (or ovaries?) and headed to Coloma to meet up with my Cali family. Schoooooool's out for the summa! We headed, first, to South Branch and here is what we found...

Here's Grant and I procrastinating the arduous hike out a top the collective 1000 foot cascade.

Wow, that's a lot of people on such a small creek! Only JP ran the Nishiski.

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:51:00 +0000

Southy's "Fitty"

"My people... I. Have. Returned."Patt performing the "Jedi Plug"

Kiwi Josh launched with full seperation. Sick.

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:31:00 +0000

The best rapid on South Branch. You can see the guys sitting in the eddy above... they have no idea what's coming... totally blind horizon line- Weee!

The 20 footer right above Nishiki falls is super intimidating. You definitely want your boof, but the challenge is to avoid the gut-jarring rib-cracking auto boof. Don't fear the plug, its your friend!
EG Monkey Elbows, cleanin the auto

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:15:00 +0000

My buddy Korg, routin the "split falls".

Justin Patt, Nishiki!

India is Huge!

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:38:00 +0000

Delhi felt like I was walking through a carnival situated in a landfill, located downwind from a coal factory, with an exhaust pipe strapped to my nose. Oh, and all the animals had escaped from their pens… After fighting a bad bout of giardia for over a month I’m finally back in commission and jump starting my brain. I, however, do not judge India entirely by my Delhi experience.

India’s grandeur can only be appreciated in its complete enormity, unabridged. Everything is huge. Capturing India in one picture is impossible. Snapshots of one rapid neglect the Himalayas. Similarly, taking a photo of one mountain peak ignores the giant Brahmaputra winding around its base.

The true Indian experience is immersing oneself amidst the enormity. The pictures of the rapids that we were paddling serve no justice to their true nature. Nor do they account for the giant peaks in front of and behind or the frail foot bridges connecting them from hundreds of feet above the river. Flying past Mt Everest and staring at her eye to eye made me realize that I do NOT understand how epic of a climb that is.

My experiences in Central and South America were much easier to portray to the minutest detail of one flower or firefly. The collection of these pretty little details created a complete feeling and understanding of the Sarapaqui Gorge or the put-in of the Rio Buey.

My point is I can’t take you to India through story and picture. It is unlike any place in the Americas. India makes you small. It’s no wonder Buddhism flourishes there. It’s impossible not to be humbled when waves are twenty feet overhead and no other kayakers are within a helpful distance. You can’t feel hubristic when the first person to drop into a rapid disappears and reappears smaller each wave finishing as a tiny insignificant dot. The eddies were too far away to catch unless we planned well in advance. So we were committed to rapids from a quarter mile upstream. Sometimes the anticipation was nerve racking. Waiting for the horizon to develop and the line to reveal itself took minutes. Sometimes I would have to blink and refocus my eyes as my depth perception would skew. Seriously. The horizon lines were so big the perfectly flat water at the top would throw me off.

I still laugh about one rapid on the Dibang. The anticipation of, yet another, gigantic crashing wave train was interrupted by a pack of monkeys on the river right side. We were so excited to see all the monkeys that we were trying to watch them climb up the bank but still avoid being eaten in any potential “river-wides”. My mind went monkeys, big holes, monkeys, big holes. The ordeal was a little frantic but really funny.

The morning after the monkeys was Christmas Eve- my golden birthday. I laid on the sandy beach, our standard for camp sites, while my travel buddies showered me in handmade cards, chocolate, and a birthday cake. Turning 24 on the 24^th in India was momentous, but my mom made me promise to never miss Christmas again. That’s her birthday and she spoils us! She got a car, so who knows what I missed out on.

The mighty Brahmaputra was precisely what we’d been training for since the first rapid of the Lohit. Big Brahma Momma delivered. Wary at first of her offerings I soon overcame my need for control and relaxed, Namaste. Then I got sucked under in a whirl pool and rolled up with my dry top vacuum sealed to my arms, Amen.

Day after day the waves continued to blow us away, literally. I witnessed one of the most elite teams of expedition kayakers surrender to snot nosed giggles and some serious celebratory fist pumps, high fives, and hugs. It was beautiful.

Meeting up with the rafters-in-training added a whole new aspect. For some of these Indians and Nepalese, it was their first time in whitewater and they absolutely rose to the occasion. Roland and Flo did an excellent job heading the operation and ran a first raft descent of a pillow rapid with a death eddy on the outside corner. River passion and awareness is the first step to defending live rivers as “a dammed river is a dead river”. Fittingly, the best wave train was our last rapid. Katie, with me as her wing girl, forged the Himalaya sized waves. We looked back at our comrades hooting and howling their way to the final take out as the sky darkened on Team Last Descent. It’s sad to think how accurate that name may be.

Check out the progress of the Last Descent project at www.thelastdescent.com

Lizzy

Out of India

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Stookesberry) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:18:00 +0000

Lizzy in the mix on the Siang River Photo: Scott Ligare

Lizzy triple overhead on the Siang River Photo: Scott Ligare

Lizzy finishes the final bit of her engineering hiatus by joining Scott Ligare, Katie Scott, and the Last Descent project during a month long trip to Arunachal Pradesh, India and the massive Brahmaputra river system. Although apprehensive about facing the some of the worlds biggest water, Lizzy expertly navigated three of the regions principle water ways including the stout class V inner gorge of the Lohit River. As a testament to the skill of both Lizzy and Katie and to remoteness and difficulty of Arunachal's Rivers, the female pair became the first of their gender to boat in this one of a kind big water paradise. Please check out blog.thelastdescent.com to see why this magical place may not last much longer due to the impending hydroelectric developement of Both India and China. In addition to the blog, Katie and Scott will release a feature length documentary in the Spring of 2009 to spread the word about the world's greatest and most endangered rivers. As for the Brahmaputra, no one on the 2007/ 2008 trip will ever forget this still wild corner of Northeast India!

Lizzy and Katie always entertaining at Ooshies house in
Pasighat photo: Ben S

Lizzy digs in on her way through the formidable Lohit Gorge.
Photo: Scott Ligare

Lizzy, Erick Conklin, and Charlie Center meet up with a
friendly giant Photo: Ben S

Lizzy's Green

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Stookesberry) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:43:00 +0000

After a month of training in and around Asheville, NC Lizzy English shatters the previous female record at the illustrious Green River Race only to come up short by 2 seconds to Green Race veteran Robina Betz by 2 seconds. In addition to a fast time, Lizzy and her female competitors became the first group to race in the class of Iron Women that had them running the green not just once but twice testing the ladies skill and speed in two different length categories of kayaks.

The course which took Lizzy 5 minutes and 25 seconds is said to be the most technical and perilous in the world of extreme whitewater racing. A number of the other racers in this years race DNFed due to swims or big impacts. Luckily the safety at the race is also the most well staffed and full on on the kayak racing cirquit saving competitors from serious injury.

Check out this clip from Lizzy's short boat run through the meat of the Green River Narrows.

Enjoy!!

Lizzy in Training for Green Race

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Stookesberry) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:30:00 +0000

Lizzy's been making up for her west coast address by spending a month in Asheville to train for the illustrious Green Race. In running the Green nearly 20 times in the last month she has had her share of ups and downs, but she is just now peaking for the event with clean ultra fast lines. Stay tuned as the race countdown begins!

Lizzy in BC

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Stookesberry) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:36:00 +0000

Cystal clear water... plenty of gradient... thumbs up!!!

Bull Lake Mission

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:11:00 +0000

Holy crap, I thought we’d walked all the way to California! Granite domes were everywhere. On the second day of the hike my hips and collar bones were swollen, my feet were bleeding, and I was laying sprawled out on the trail next to a huge steamy bear growler. Who’d have thought… Wyoming.
Day one consisted of 12 hours of hiking over the first 11,200 foot pass (in which I came in second place.) We got to the top and I asked where do we go from here? Ben pointed over another mountain in the distance, “Oh sweet, that’s not that far!” I smiled.
Eric Seymour corrected me. “Yeah it is, that’s really f###ing far!” I think he was just mad that I beat him up the pass. My second place held pretty strong for the first day, and was shattered the second day. We had high hopes of being “almost there” as we camped for the first night. In the morning a group of old fifty to seventy year old fisher men informed us we were not “almost there”.
“I don’t mean to sound sexist or nothin’, but I’m amazed that a girl can do this. That boat has to weigh almost as much as she does.” Actually it’s 2/3 of my body weight. Luckily, these guys knew a way around the second pass, a short cut, and gave us a map of an old Shoshone hunting trail. Evidently the Shoshone had not been hunting in awhile; we lost the trail and ended up scaling cliff bands like turtles scaling a garden wall. This was the demise of my second place position, and I would remain in last place for the remainder of the trip.
Nine hours from first night’s camp, a few more blisters, a broken helmet from a nearly tragic “Turtle Shell” and we arrived at Dead Man’s Lake. (Apparently the first guy who attempted the hike didn’t make it.)
I would have been happy to camp there. But since the pressure to make it farther than the other guys was so immense, we geared up and started paddling towards the South Fork. We scraped our way down the tiny tributary, portaged a lot, and ran a few rapids. As eager as I was to run some good whitewater, I decided to walk the tight manky drop where Seymour stuffed his boat into a boat-sized crack. We camped there. Macaroni and oysters for dinner, and I was out.
Another morning of blue sky we launched day three, eager for the confluence. Less than a mile downstream our creek turned into a raging river just below a massive stunning waterfall. Game on. Immediately was the first gorge, still uncompleted, that Ben seal launched into the bottom two drops of. The remainder of the day was the classic bedrock drops flowing in and out of separate mini lakes- The Lake Section. This is where you’ll find the perfect twenty foot waterfall found on the cover of the new Colorado guide book. Seymour, Ben and Leif ran the perfect drop perfectly. I, on the other hand, missed my boof, almost hit the wall, rolled up against it and back paddled out. I started scouting the drops after that. We had lunch what turned out to be right above Hagen Daz, and I woke up with either a minor case of heat stroke or I was just tired. I didn’t run HD nor did I seal launch into the green water on the right side. Seymour did, and busted his eye brow open- way better than a busted back. From there were more huge granite walls, super clean class five rapids, and gorges with continuous whitewater. One gorge started with a heinous entrance that we put in just after and ran the rest of the gorge to our camp. We camped on a big slab of granite on river right and watched a bright orange sunset drop behind the enormous walls that towered over us.
Day four started out a little stressful in knowing we had a few mandatory class 6 portages. One portage being long and arduous carrying our boats over huge talus boulders, careful not to fall, but quickly to avoid falling behind as I often do. This took half the day and a great deal of energy. A few more class five rapids, Bull Lake, another portage, and then we arrived at the “mandatory class five+ above a 400 foot waterfall”. I excused myself and sat in the woods for a little meditation time before taking this one on. We scouted as much as we could but eddy-hopped until a gigantic horizon line where the world fell away just behind it. Everyone made the last eddy above the chunky twenty-terrace zig-zagging cascade that definitely totaled 400 feet. The best whitewater of the whole trip was the continuous class five just below this portage. We could finally blaze through miles of clean boulder gardens with swift boat scouting by Stookesberry and Seymour. This was a huge relief to have the 400 footer at our backs and sick whitewater all the way to camp. We caught Brooke Trout for dinner and I fell asleep on a 3 inch bed of pine needles before I could make my macaroni.
The next morning was a good one. I woke up to an incredible sunrise, well rested, and real hungry. I ate three packs of oatmeal flavored with dark chocolate chips and we suited up for the day. The river meandered through class four for a few miles then picked up to class 5 above the misnomer “Limestone Gorge” which is actually still granite according to Geologist Stookesberry. More meandering until we arrived at the last few slide drops of the run just before the head of the lake. A few boats were at the inlet so I was volunteered by the group to schmooze a ride from the old people eating fried chicken and potato salad. I didn’t get a ride, but I got some chicken!
Then for the grand finale we had the “nine mile paddle out”. We paddled for about two hours and the boys in front of me became smaller and smaller dots… way ahead. We’ve got to be almost there. Then the wonderful little buzzing behind me became louder and louder. Fortunate for me, the slowest person gets picked up first. (This is a tactic I picked up on the home run Ben & Jerry’s which also has a paddle out.) The boat rolled up and asked if I wanted a lift. I answered optimistically “I’m almost there; I think I can make it, thanks though.” They looked at me like I was crazy, so I held onto the boat while balancing in my kayak and climbed in. As we gunned it across the lake, I realized I was not almost there. Actually I was half way and probably two more hours out from finishing. I drank my beer and held it high as we passed Seymour, then Leif, and then Stookesberry who was 200 yards from the end. I finished in first place.

Lizzy's Rio Buey

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Stookesberry) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:52:00 +0000

Everday Badass!

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Stookesberry) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 02:56:00 +0000

Lizzy styles Vallecito at 2.2 on the Guage.

Photos By Ben Stookesberry

First Descents Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Lizzy English) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:40:00 +0000

I made it to Coram, MT promptly at 9am. Although haggard from 22 hours of travel and physically recovering from the Los Pinos female first descent, I was anxious to see what this whole cancer camp was about.
We started with a staff meeting and discussed safety matters such as possible seizures, compromised bone strength, and other fragilities attributed to chemotherapy and individual cancers. I started to question my qualifications as camp counselor, and anxiety only grew as the campers filed in. I was not sure how I was supposed to “counsel” someone who defeated cancer. I am just a kayaker.
Thinking back on the Los Pinos mission, I recalled how sorry I felt for myself. The seven mile hike up to 10,500 feet, blisters, lost toe nails, swollen hip and collar bones, and freezing cold sleepless nights. Then I felt silly comparing my pathetic self-inflicted struggles to the loss of limbs, hair, and adolescent experiences due to their cancers. I wondered how they’d treat me – a non cancer person. Admittedly, the camaraderie between the “survivors” was intimidating.
Throughout the rest of the day I realized they didn’t want to talk about disease, feelings, struggles; they just wanted to kayak. But first jump off the “Old Bridge”, bare skinned, into glacial fed Middle Fork of the Flathead.
I felt more and more welcome as I realized they wanted to be treated like young adults. They wanted to be made fun of, and they wanted to be roughed up on the river. We didn’t baby them and they loved every minute of it. These survivors could finally spend their energy on progressing into adulthood and not just surviving childhood.
Adults, they were not, but neither were any of the counselors. I guess that is why I felt so at home by the time the off color cancer jokes were flying through the air. When we were denied river access by a private landowner the campers replied, “D’ya tell ‘em we have cancer?” I almost choked on a cookie the first time I heard that one. Even better, our short bus was pulled over on the highway interrupting our “holla-back cheers”. As the bus driver hopped out, shouts from the back chased him, “Pull the “C” Card, pull the “C” card!” These guys are good! Then to confirm their brilliance they decided to gather all their unused meds and have a narcotic sale instead of using the typical fundraising tactic.
This camp was a little different from others, obviously. No trust falls were necessary; we did the “T- Rescue”. I saw the most incredible hang time while these campers floated upside down through class three rapids with their hands patiently feeling for a counselor to come barreling in for the rescue. I wouldn’t wait that long.
Through all the carnage and higher-than-expected water levels, the campers proved, again, that they were survivors. I told them I would have been crying a long time ago. Their cancers and physical challenges stand second in relevance to the conquering attitudes of this classy group. Each person made a lasting impression on me and each deserves recognition.

“Too Tall” gracefully flowing through uncertainty and risk
“Tractor” fearlessly dozing through obstacles with or without “Trailer”
“George” stunning smile with a ‘kiss this’ attitude
“Buttons” youngest of the group showing calm mature leadership
“Mateo” laughing at danger while stern squirting amidst chaos
“Napolean” aspiring physician who defies weakness by ignoring diagnosis
“Care Bear” feminine, confident sophistication when imperiled
“Sassy” optimistic extravert destined for success
“Presto” grinning while laid back (literally) in turbulence & in tranquility

I guess I was due for a little attitude adjustment. They reminded me to use my legs happily, because I have them. I was re-inspired to explore and expend my energy progressing in life, while I have that too.
My next female first descent expedition, Bull Lake in Wyoming, was the hardest thing I’d ever accomplished. The 20 mile two day hike with a loaded creek boat was brutal and painful. At one point, I rolled my ankle falling into a tree that entangled my boat and the mosquitoes came in for the kill. Yes, at that point I forgot about having “a good attitude”. The Bull Lake test was to take the hits, survive the portages and still remember to appreciate the glorious views and incredible whitewater of Wind River Wyoming. Surviving Bull Lake probably doesn’t feel as rewarding as conquering cancer (hard act to follow), but I will keep pushing.
Thank you, First Descents, for inviting me to participate.
Sincerely,
Lizzy (Chuckwagon) English