Monthly Archives: March 2009

Trip Reports

Upper Wind River – March 29, 2009

Leave a comment

While running shuttle, we ran into another group at the take-out. Zach of River Hardware, Will, and Michael B agreed to do a second run with us which was great.

The Upper Wind starts off pretty mellow until Initiation, a long class IV. Initiation goes right into Rams Horn, a short drop with a big hole at the bottom. For the next few bends there are numerous class III and IV moves and a rapid called “Balls to the Wall” which, on this day, was a center line with little consequence other than getting stuck.

Here are some photos, all courtesy of Zach Collier, owner of River Hardware:

Balls-to-the-Wall

ballswall

climax

Getting-through-Rams-Horn

ramshorn

Trip Reports

Illinois River – March 8, 2009

Leave a comment

gauge

It was a 9:00 to 5:00 day. Except we weren’t at work, there was plentiful beer consumption, and we were on the beautiful Illinois. Launched at 9 AM and took out at 5 PM. We pushed a little in the morning and relaxed in the afternoon to enjoy the canyon.

Stopped at Pine Flat to water the trees, a quick stop at South Bend to determine that, yes, it was snowing and then on to Prelude and Green Wall. We must have done something right because the snow/sleet/rain stuff stopped and the sun broke free long enough to get to the bottom of Green Wall and have a lunch atop a rock with a great view of the beautiful rapid.

after

before

big_1

big_2

big_3