The last couple of months I have been towing around my sweet new $300 1959 camper trailer from race event to race event hitting the scene and getting back into shape.

I have been recovering from my back break at Abiqua falls about a year ago and a finial recent surgery in which to two rods and four bolts were removed from my spine. The recovery went well and I came out of the race tour back on top of my game and ready to charge. I won the Big Fork Whitewater Festival and Bear Creek Race, and placed second at the North Fork Championships.  I arrived back home to Montana just as the classics were dropping into perfect flows. Here are a few of them.

Bear Creek

30 minutes out my front door this has got to be one of the funest creeks in the West. It’s steep continuous slides punctuated by small eddys and log jams doesn’t give this one the friendliest characteristics but the pristine long bedrock slides make the log dodging and two mile hike in well worth the effort.

South Fork of Salmon

This epic multiday run starting near McCall Idaho is one that I have overlooked for years. This year I teamed up with Eric Boomer for one of the best river trips I have done in a long time. We just missed high water but we were still stoked to be heading into the wilderness for a few days of river time. My first reaction to the South Fork was how big it was, hardly a creek at all. Its big water is notorious at higher levels but even at the flow that we caught it at it offered amazingly fun class IV+ whitewater. We put in at the town of Yellowpine, an experience in itself, and paddled the North Fork for 15 miles down to the South Fork. The rapids were good and the consistent gradient had us at the confluence with the Secesh before we knew it. With the added volume of the Secesh, the South Fork becomes a proper river and continues to dish out beautiful whitewater all the way to the confluence with the Main Salmon, another Idaho wilderness classic.

Big Timber Creek

Big Timber Creek is one of the all time classics of Montana. Boasting over 800 feet per mile in some sections this creek is only runable because of how big and clean its character is. From top to bottom Big T is stacked with long granite slides and towering mountains on either side of the river. For any avid class five boater, this creek should be high on the priority list!

Graves Creek

One of the best creeks in Montana this only gets run by a few groups every year. This year I teamed up with my long time friend Jonny Meyers to go harvest some Montana goods that neither of us had paddled before this year.

Jonny and I dropping through Cali Slide into the crux of the run.

Graves Creek was pioneered by James Byrd a few years back. Like most montana creeks it takes, patience and a lot of hard work with a chain saw to clean things out. This run was littered with the sawed off remnants of logs James had cleared out years prior making all this possible.

Portaging with bear spray in hand. Graves is deep in Griz country!

Jonny dropping into the Stout Crack!

A scenic representation of how epic this creek is!

Last month I had the opportunity to travel to Mexico with my good friend Erik Boomer, Forge, and Camp 4 Collective. These are the types of trips I used to live for until I broke my back 18 months ago. Since then it's been a slow steady progression back into the realm of vertical waterfall running. Knowing first hand the style of rivers and waterfalls of Mexico I boarded the plane excited and nervous knowing that it was once again time to time to get my huck on.

The trip spanned 10 days and in that time we paddled more drops and waterfalls than I have been able to over the course of the last two years. It felt amazing to have worked back to the point where I once again can happily sit in my kayak above a monster waterfall with the feeling that I am in exactly the right place. Tim Kemple, one of best photographers I have ever had the honor of working with just posted this photo essay with some of the most epic kayaking shots I have ever seen.

Enjoy!!!

http://blog.kemplemedia.com/post/38717160464/my-week-with-tyler-bra...

My Fall paddling has been held close to home as I am preparing for a major expedition but what I found is that through my gallivanting around the world I have overlooked some gems lying right in my backyard. Here are a few of the rivers I was lucky enough to score hardly a stones throw out my backdoor.

Kooteni Falls is a natural play park for paddlers. The falls, which you can easily lap as many times as you want flows straight into Super Wave, one of the biggest best waves on the west coast. The river then continues on through a classic big water class four plus canyon.

The Elk River just North of the boarder in BC is another classic in the area. Boasting a clean 40 footer into a football field size pool and countless fun class five rapids and drops, this was one of my favorite new rivers I paddled this Fall.

CFS is action! I love seeing throw back boats styling lines. The CFS was my first ever creek boat and I was happy to see a good friend lacing lines all the way down the Elk in one.

This is one of the first drops you get to on the Elk. Watch out for the undercut cave on the left!

The next river we paddled up in BC was the Spillamachine River a couple hours North of the Elk. This is a picture of my good buddy Jonny Meyers lacing a line on the stoutest drop of the run.

The next drop that follows is happy ending. Here is a cool shot of myself getting just that on a cold BC day.

Of course another instant classic is the Box. Due to it remoteness, quality of whitewater, and stunning scenery this has become my favorite run relatively close to home.

With so many amazing rivers and places to paddle around the world it's easy to forget about what is hiding in your backyard. I am already looking forward to more exploring as soon as the rivers start to run again... Happy New Year!

The Raquette and Beaver Rivers release several times over the three-day period. The Raquette is short section of river with five major drops and a few other rapids sprinkled in between with a sharp riverbed. The Beaver is a section of whitewater deep in Adirondack Mountains of New York, the three sections of this river release very few times a year. There is a huge turnout year after year for this event, dubbed “Beaver Fest.”  Most of the Northeast boaters attend and we even drag some fast Southeast and Quebec boaters down!

Colton Falls, Raquette River, NY

The great turnout is in part due to the King of New York race series. A series of races that happen throughout the summer and fall. There are four races in the series, the Black race, Raquette, Beaver and Moose races. These all are scored through a points system and the overall champion is crowned “King of New York” Saturday night at the Mountain Man shop in Old Forge New York, on the banks of the Moose River. The Raquette and Beaver races take place back to back days, Saturday is the race in Colton, NY on the Raquette and Sunday, the Beaver race, on the Eagle Section.

This year anticipation and nerves were high coming into the weekend, with Beckwith in the lead with 100 points, if anyone wanted a chance they knew they would have to take some podium spots away from him. Facebook messages, texts and phone calls were going around all week about the speed that was traveling to the KONY races. Southern boaters like Jake Greenbaum and

Colby Cook- Raquette River Photo: Nick Gotlieb

Jared Seiler’s names were thrown around, the local favorites and past KONY champions such as Justin Beckwith, Geoff Calhoun and Matt Young’s names were in the mix as well. Although everyone’s social media feeds were filled with likes, shares and comments about local Dave Gardeners training video! https://vimeo.com/73263617

I traveled over with the Vermont crew Friday night, set up camp at the put-in and slept as best as you can with rain and screaming Quebecois that come in at 3 in the morning on a mini bus! The morning fog and drizzle didn’t let up much all day, but the day was still enjoyed! Showing up at the put in and seeing the number of racers was wild! What a great turnout we thought, when we got down to the start I realized how many long boats there were.

Billy Thibault amongst "Particle Accelerator" Photo" Nick Gotlieb

I lined up to run second behind Matt Young and put all I had into the race. Fast off the start, blowing my line in the first major rapid, Colton falls, but fast and clean through  everything else. It was hard to tell from the finish line, everyone thought they could have been a little faster except for Demshitz Jared Seiler, calling the win as he finished. The course proved to pack a punch, Jake Greenbaum opted for the rodeo line in the Tubs and Jesse Willensky had a little pin in the first drop. The results were close, but as he called, Jared took top of the podium, earning himself a rather fashionable fanny pack, Billy Thibault in second, myself (Ryan Mooney) in third and local nija Justin Beckwith and Marcos Gallegos tied for fourth.

The top 4 places at the Raquette    Below: Ryan Mooney- Moishier Spillway

Next up was the Ealge race, a different style of racing. It is short, narrow and technical. The race is 1:30-2:00 so there isn’t any margin for error. Favorite, Justin Beckwith claimed the first SUP descent of the Moishier section earlier that morning and many others were hiking running the infamous “Spillway” drop at the put in. After a practice lap on the Eagle, it was race time on this whitewater playground. Two runs, your fastest run counts. This race was close, there’s no other way to describe it. Little errors like drying up on a rock for a few seconds can cost you the race. Three major drops although dogging kayakers and avoiding shallow rocks seem to decide your race. After the racing was done and the water dropped, race organizer Kenny Unser and fellow racers tallied up the results. Sunday was the day of the Quebecois with Billy Tibault and Emerik Blanchet tied for the win. Jared Seiler second and local Dave Gardener third.

The standings are now very close within the top 3 spots. Jared Seiler, Billy Thibault and Justin Beckwith are all within a handful of points. The final race on the Bottom Moose will decide it all. Will anyone be able to take the race away from, legend and Moose river local Justin Beckwith??? We shall see!

The race series is the premier series of Whitewater kayak races in New England. This series is organized by mater mind Kenny Unser. He sure knows how to organize a race!  Don’t worry, he can paddle as well! Thank you to everyone who supported the race in anyway, Dagger Kayaks, Werner Paddles and NRS. Especially Dagger Kayaks, the main sponsor of the series!

Cheers,

Ryan Mooney

The Utah Whitewater Club did their unique part by making a deal with Corey that for every $100 they raised he would drink a bootie beer. So the night before we left for Switzerland Corey pounded 4 bootie beers. I will upload the video soon!

We left Monday morning for Switzerland. We flew from Charlotte to Baltimore to Philadelphia, where we serendipitously ran into Rush Sturges, fellow Dagger and U.S Freestyle Teammate. Even more surprising was that we all sat together on the flight to Zurich. After a grueling 7 hour flight, we landed in Zurich at 8am local time. This is where the real adventure begins. We arrived at the airport, gathered our bags, Rush's kayak and headed to the train station. This was an adventure in and of itself, it is rather difficult to move 4 bags and a kayak from point A to B.

Once at the train station Corey and I went on to the Guesthouse in Lerchenfeld while Rush went to the wave in Thun. We got lost once but it was worth it cause we got to see construction workers in neon orange short shorts with reflective stripes and no shirts. It reminded me of my beloved father-in-law.

Anyway, the Guesthouse is simply a dormitory. There is a cafeteria on the first floor and our room is on the second floor. We're sharing a room with Aussie, Tanya Faux, and fellow teammate, Elaine Campbell. Yesterday, we got in, dumped our bags and took off with other U.S. athletes to see Thun. The simplest way to get to Thun is to take bus, they run regular bus routes a block and a half from the Guesthouse.

In Thun, Corey got checked in but he couldn't do any paddling due to the lack of a boat and the lack of a wave. The Thun wave is controlled by a dam and it was non-existent yesterday, much to everyone's dismay. So instead of paddling we walked around Thun, it is an amazingly beautiful city! We were both a little disconcerted by the lack of english but we're adapting quickly, pictures are a universal language. The only problem is that sometimes you tend to misinterpret those pictures. Here is a for instance:

Last night we did some grocery shopping and Corey was thirsty so he bought an apple juice. He didn't pick it up where all the other drinks were located but I didn't really think much of it. When we got to the bus stop and were waiting for the bus Corey cracked open his apple juice and took a giant gulp. It was then that he realized it was NOT apple juice but in fact apple vinegar! He had this expression of utter horror and disgust on his face! He quickly turned around and spit it out and then threw away the bottle.

Corey and I had dinner at the Guesthouse then went out with the team to a Hooters a couple blocks away for food and drinks. The only people at the Hooters last night were us (the U.S. team) and the entire Swiss Army! It was interesting...to say the very least.

Today was the first day of training. Corey's boat arrived last night and after about 30 minutes of getting the boat correctly outfitted it was time for some whitewater kayak training. The wave is a very slow feature but it has a retentive spot in the middle, it is a very tricky wave to figure out but Corey is confident he will have it mastered in no time. Each team gets allotted time slots for practice; 1 hour per day. So a couple of the U.S. Team members are going to start adding an early morning training session at 4:30 am.

Time for more whitewater kayak training! Cheers!

I look forward to this every year. Paddlers go all out with their amazing costumes and it's so much fun to see a colorful line of kayaks, wigs and capes charging down the river.

Big thanks to the Herbeck's for organizing and to Drew Eastman for the video!

I am all about meeting new people to paddle with, but not so excited about putting on a Class IV-V waterfall run with a complete stranger. I could tell by the awkward silence that the rest of the group was also feeling hesitant, especially since we were all bundled up in drysuits and he was wearing board shorts, a torn up dry top, and some duct-taped tennies. FYI, the White Salmon River is freezing cold year-round, especially in mid-October, but Andy Maser spoke up and told the guy he was welcome to join us and that we would show him down the river.

Well here's a great lesson in not judging a paddler by his appearance! This guy, Drew Eastman, turned out to be an awesome boater and it was great to have him along on the trip. About halfway down the run I flipped over in Upper Zigzag, got pinned up against the wall, swam, and lost my paddle. Drew helped in the effort to recover my paddle and we all ended up having a great day on the river. I got his number at the takeout and throughout the next year he became one of my favorite people to paddle with. We did some memorable trips to the Clendenning River in British Columbia, the Feather Festival in California, and the Tieton in Washington. He eventually asked me out on a date but I was pretty nervous because I didn't want to screw up one of the coolest paddling relationships I'd ever had. Luckily, the first date was awesome and before I knew what hit me, I had a really fun boyfriend!

Then last summer we were paddling the Little White Salmon and we got out to take pictures of people running Spirit Falls. Drew knelt down to get his camera out of his dry box and when he turned around he was holding a ring, and he proposed right at the lip of Spirit! Well I was completely caught off guard, but of course I said “YES!” and all our friends were cheering from the pool below. It was definitely my favorite days on the Little White ever! So, I'm sure glad that Drew decided to join us that day on the Green Truss, and I've got to say, it's great to be with someone who understands that sometimes it's important to drop everything last minute because a river just came in and you have to go kayaking :)

At first I was questioning if the 8.6 would be too much boat for me (I'm 5'11", 140 lbs), but the edges offer a lot of control while zipping in and out of eddies. Even when the Mamba is fully loaded for a multi-day trip, it rides high on the water which makes it easier to handle than a smaller boat. I especially like how well the 8.6 resurfaces and soars out of a boof!

All the extra knee space makes this boat really comfortable for long days on the river, but my favorite part of the new design is all that extra volume in the stern. It makes the boat very stable, even in swirly, big water eddy lines. Packing for a long trip is so much easier with all the added space. I'm definitely looking forward to spending a lot of quality time with the Mamba this paddling season. I think it's going to be a great summer!

Great job Dagger!

Test run down Devil's Canyon of the Middle Feather, CA

 For this trip it was necessary for us to apply for visitor permits and travel far upstream near the border of Tibetan China. It is a remote region with a strong military presence and we passed by many base camps on our way to the put-in. As we drove further and further from Leh up the dusty road, I was again relieved to have such a great group to travel with. We were joined by a long lost paddling friend, Polly Green, and a local paddler named Biru.

Hindus consider all rivers in India to be sacred and with one look at the Upper Indus I could see why. The landscape was completely different from the Zanskar and resembled the red rock canyons of the Colorado River. The river was roadside for the most part. On our way to the put-in we were able to scout some rapids from the truck, but there were way too many to remember. The only thing we knew was that somewhere there was a surprise sticky hole that was responsible for a lot of swims.

This section of the Indus had continuous class IV to IV+ read and run rapids, my favorite kind of kayaking! From the moment we launched there was nonstop whitewater through a scenic canyon. We all jumped in line and were making good progress until we got to the legendary hole. It was sure a sneaky one and we didn't see it coming until a couple people had already taken some pretty good beat downs. Fortunately no one swam and everyone was okay physically, but mentally it presented some challenges for the group.

Jacob running a big boulder drop rapid on the Upper Indus

The next morning we continued downstream with Polly leading the charge, but Susan was gradually falling behind. The rest of us were somewhere in between, but as the day went on, the gap started getting bigger. There was talk of splitting up the group to make sure we could catch our ride at the takeout, but I fully supported taking time to scout/portage a few things and wait for everyone to catch up. The problem with being in the middle of nowhere India is that you don't really have the option of walking off the river alone if you're having a bad day. My peace of mind relied heavily on the “safety in numbers” rationale so I felt strongly that we should stick together and keep an eye on each other.

After some negotiation we were able to pull it together as a team and find patience as others were overcoming mental struggles. Eventually the rapids became smaller as we approached a smelly bridge that marked our takeout at the Upshi truck stop. We parked ourselves and our pile of kayaks at a roadside diner and waited for our ride, but the adventure continued when the shuttle vehicle never showed up. As evening set in, we had all given up hope of being rescued and jumped on a massive bus to Leh that coincidently had just enough room for the nine of us and our kayaks.

Upshi truck stop

Holy cow

On our last day in Leh I was not ready to leave and tried without luck to strategize a way to stay longer. That night Monica, Ty, Susan, and I hiked up to the Shanti Stupa overlooking the city and reflected back on the last couple weeks. The people, places, and rivers of Ladakh had made quite an impression on me. The simplicity, happiness, and raw beauty of that area is something I will never forget.  Jacob, Susan, Adam, and I said our goodbyes and headed to the airport early the next morning. I was sad to leave Ladakh but so grateful for the experience. It definitely gave me a new perspective on the world and what I value in life.

Shanti Stupa

For more information about kayaking rivers of the Ladakh region, check out The UK Rivers Guidebook at:

I got all my travel info from this book and I found it to be very helpful: