Pikey and the Super Hero hit the Raquette in the US of A

I teamed up with Irish Dave, Foxy and Keener Sam to go paddle our unscratched boats on the Raquette a classic class 4/5 run.

Only a 5hour drive from the Ottawa Valley, we put on what would be the biggest slide I’ve laid eyes on. Colton Falls, this is the first rapid you run and the biggest for the day. Foxy ran first to then jump out and take pictures. We all had great lines, the boof being a sick feeling, and the slide is steep and fast.

We kept heading down river to conquer some more fine rapids, coming up to Horseshoe Ledge in the Narrows. A little lead into a nice little boof.

Followed by some hardcore scouting to check my favourite Rapid The Tub,we had to cross a section of river to scout the two tiered drop with a small pool in between. This rapid certainly had some fun line run on it. 

With good line runs we headed down to the last big rapid, Island Falls we ran the right side known as Particle accelerator, A technical and fast lead in to a 10ft drop

The first run took us about 3hrs, we then hiked back to the put-in where me Foxy and Keener fired up the run one more time in less than 25mins while Dave happily became our shuttle bunny.

We quickly grabbed a $5 large Pizza each  and 48 cans of Keystone Ice(I stayed with Water) for the road as we set off back for the valley.

Man all I can say it was a awesome trip with cool people, some sick drops, styling boofs, fast rapids and beautiful weather.

Pikey

Chutes de Plaisance

A 2 day trip ends up being a one days paddling adventure due to a hair appointment, (Lou’s hair looked good though,) but a well needed day chilling in Ottawa was needed for most after the wild antics of the night before. Once Lou turned up we went hunting for water and after a failed mission on one section of a river, which we ended portaging upstream to find the white stuff. So we went to the well know chutes de Plaisance to run this beautiful drop.

We paid our $4 to look at the drop which is a big tourist feature, with the guy working behind the desk laughing at the though of us even thinking of running it,

Well after an hour of scouting and getting cold from standing in our wet gear, me, Lou and Foxy jumped in our boats to scout from the top. I’ve never run many drops, specially a shallow rocky drop like this, Foxy was helping me understand about picking lines. With the line looking good to go, it was a matter of building up the courage and confidence to pull off the sketchy entrance.

The 40ft drop lands into a pool where we then run a 15ft drop followed by what we thought was going to be an easy run off. Foxy left the eddy at the top first and I counted down a minute, blew my whistle and eddied out, I got stuck on the rock at the lip of the drop which came in handy as I lined my boat up and started falling, I was boofing into the eddy to meet Foxy before I could even think of how fun it was, A quick congrates and down the rest of the drops I go, after the 2^nd drop I eased up for about 10seconds before I realised the easy run off wasn’t so easy, it was 3 6ft to 8ft poor-overs all with good holes at the bottom, I cleaned my way through and the next minute I see Foxy going into the last hole sideways and getting worked, he then pops his deck and I enjoy having the chance to save the poor guy.

We found his paddle stuck under a rock by an eddy so everything ended with big smiles, I cant explain the feeling I was getting when looking back up to the top from the bottom, this had to be one of the most breath taking views I had seen, and to know I just ran it made it even better. Foxy has been a big part of me pushing my limits. I’m constantly gaining more and more confidence. Nailing lines like this fall is a rush because it’s the entrance that counts. get it wrong and I’d dropped 20ft onto rocks on the left or smashed my face on a overhanging rock on the left. It comes down to thinking about the consequences verse the joys, this fall was well worth the consequences, specially as nothing went bad this time.
check pictures out in my photos

Pikey and the Super Hero hit the Raquette in the US of A

I teamed up with Irish Dave, Foxy and Keener Sam to go paddle our unscratched boats on the Raquette a classic class 4/5 run.

Only a 5hour drive from the Ottawa Valley, we put on what would be the biggest slide I’ve laid eyes on. Colton Falls, this is the first rapid you run and the biggest for the day. Foxy ran first to then jump out and take pictures. We all had great lines, the boof being a sick feeling, and the slide is steep and fast.

We kept heading down river to conquer some more fine rapids, coming up to Horseshoe Ledge in the Narrows. A little lead into a nice little boof.

Followed by some hardcore scouting to check my favourite Rapid The Tub,we had to cross a section of river to scout the two tiered drop with a small pool in between. This rapid certainly had some fun line run on it.

Me running The Tub and Irish Dave setting safety.

With good line runs we headed down to the last big rapid, Island Falls we ran the right side known as Particle accelerator, A technical and fast lead in to a 10ft drop

The first run took us about 3hrs, we then hiked back to the put-in where me Foxy and Keener fired up the run one more time in less than 25mins while Dave happily became our shuttle bunny.

We quickly grabbed a $5 large Pizza each  and 48 cans of Keystone Ice(I stayed with Water) for the road as we set off back for the valley.

Man all I can say it was a awesome trip with cool people, some sick drops, styling boofs, fast rapids and beautiful weather.

Pikey

For any info on American rivers and levels check out, www.americanhitewater.org

this weekend sure made the paddle out and back more interesting.