Scott Martin: November 2011

Keeping It Local, Bru!

>> Monday, November 28, 2011

This past weekend was Thanksgiving weekend in the states. A time to give thanks and spend with family and friends. What a great way to start the weekend off with a night of rain. After a long season of driving long hours to rivers it's nice to be home and paddle the local creeks and connect with local crews.

I met up with Kurt Smithgal for a session on Rock Run. The gauge (above) looked great and I was in high hopes of looking at the upper sections of the river, when we arrived to see the levels those hopes where swept away. A medium low level was still good enough.

Here are a few shots from Rock Run.

Kurt Walking to Yellow Dog Trail Put In, Rock Run

Kurt passing the "put in bridge"

Love it when I get to do another lap on Rock Run.

Shuttle for the second lap

One of the many fun little slides on Rock Run

The following day Phil Fisher, Rope, Geren Brink and myself decided to paddle the Shrader River, no has been able to get to the put in since Hurrican Lee flooded the area. Knowing we would have a few strainers to navigate we decided to get on and see what the flood did to the river bed. The Shrader is a class 1-3 run. The damage from the flood is evident with major scars in the river bed, lots of trees have fallen across the river.

Phil Fisher paddling down a new channel

Rope getting back into his boat after a portage

Ahh, the Shrader.

Lunch Break

Rope running a great line on Lamoka Rapid

We finished the run and hung out for a bit discussing the new river features. I got a dose of motivation and climbed back into my wet gear to run Lamoka Rapid, four times. Knowing that the snow will arrive and kayking will end for me for a few months I couldn;t not get back on the water when the sun was setting. Geren offered to take photo's, Thanks!

Heading up.

Sublime!

Paddling down Lamoka

"You see that under there?"

The following day I headed to the Loyalsock for some park and play, the water now low, it was great to get out, work on some basic skills and enjoy the sun and warm weather. No photo's from that session.

3 Great New Tractors

>> Friday, November 18, 2011

Eric Adsit and Will Crimmins talk tractors

Northern PA Scout - The Start Of Spring 2012 Projects

>> Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Scout [ skout] : a person sent out to obtain information.

This past weekend Eric Adsit and I set out to scout my local area for some river running opportunities in the spring. Eric has found multiple first Descents and new sections of rivers in and around his home in the Adirondacks, one only an hour away from his house, which will become a classic run in the future.

With very little water in the area, we walked a couple creeks looking for potential drops and most importantly access points for descents in the spring.

Adding a person to a photo of a drop, brings the drop to scale, a very useful tool when scouting.

We bush wacked down Miners Run, a low volume, steep, manky class 5 run. We had heard that Jim Straka had run some of the drops close to 13 years ago. The beta we had, was that it was full of wood. Due to Hurricane Irene that is not the case now, but some boulders are situated in very precarious positions making for some very interesting looking drops. Thanks Irene!

Eric taking a break from walking and enjoying some bouldering

MIners Run Dropping

After my source to sea expedition with Planet River I have been inspired to look at the upper sections of rivers, above the sections, which are generally paddled.

Looking Up Stream - Rock Run, PA

I had the opportunity to take a few friends down Rock Run, my local creek, in the late summer. Everyone agreed the river was one of the most beautiful creeks around. This was the motivation to make the section we paddle longer. Eric and I walked for a couple hours upstream finding some tributaries, a few little gorges with what looks like the most technical drop on the section along with a spooky looking house. Success, this will make the run about a mile longer if you walk your boat a mile upstream.

Eric Taking A long Look

River Crossing

The Sun Finally Came Out For A Brief Minute

Tributary To Rock Run

The next river we scouted, well let’s just saw was the icing on the cake for the day… I’ll leave it at that for now…

When you look for it, it's funny what you find in your own back yard.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

It's that time of year again, I get extremely excited when the new trailer to the Banff Mountain Film Festival is released. It is great so see a large amount of shots from the whitewater world in this years trailer, enjoy !

Tyler Curtis Portrait

>> Thursday, November 10, 2011

Look Around

AW Winter Appeal - Photo Exposure

>> Tuesday, November 8, 2011

A photo from the Green River study in Vermont was used in the American Whitewater Winter Appeal 2011 pdf. Check out the pdf here.

"American Whitewater is asking all paddlers and river lovers to take 5 minutes and read our 2011 Winter Appeal (pdf). In it, we lay out some of biggest successes from the past year and all the hard work we've done on behalf of river lovers everywhere, members or not."