What does kayaking and keg's of PBR have in common? A three day weekend at the Lochsa with 20 boaters, Chainsaws, Shotguns, surfin', and boofin' in the beatiful backyard of Idaho's epic boating scene, that's what. We set on a mission to the Lochsa area a little weiry, the weather was cold and drizzly in Bozeman, and the Lochsa was low. We were clinging on to the hope of the weather channel actually being correct. The forcast called for weather in the 70's, and a warming trend throughout the weekend. We decided to give it a whirl, and eventually conjured up a crew of 16 boaters from Bozeman to rally up there Friday morning. The afternoon was spent surfing the dozens of catch on the fly waves that the Lochsa has to offer at low flows. I truely love that feeling of good old fashion surfing with a huge grin on my face. I felt like the Lochsa isn't about trying to prove who can do the best freestyle manuevers, it's all about good times with friends, sunshine beaming down on us, and one of the most beaufiful roadside runs anywhere.
Saturday was a day full of adventure! a group of 6 paddlers went over to the S. Fork of the Clearwater for a day of great IV-V river running. We started the morning with a flat tire on one of the Subies, and eventually got it fixed in the town of Kooskia ID. While we were waiting we decided to entertain our selves at was by far the most interesting attraction of this small podunk town in the middle of nowhere, We went Garage Saleing! We ended up with a few goofy hat's, some old Johnny Cash Records, and a semi flat volleyball. We quickly got extreme with our volleyball, and made ourselves a court in the middle of a gas station parking lot, it was a good time, Oh yeah! The Clearwater was great, we finally put-in at around 3pm, and ran ten miles of classic bump and grind river running. Ben sacked up and made Coyote Falls look like class III, which in fact is a chunky piece of v+ that started up the run just right. The rest of the run was perfect read and run action that didn't really let up for the whole 10 miles. Their were two scouts on the run, which were solid V's, but were very forgiving at these flows. The level was great, it opened up new lines, and a boched line wouldn't really get you in trouble. When the day was done we had one swimmer, and a crew full of satistied paddlers, Whoa, I love that run. Super stoked to know that it's still a riot even at lower flows.
Saturday night was spent back at the Lochsa with a keg of beer, and 20 stoked paddlers ready to get down! The whole group quickly became very silly, and before we knew it 4am rolled around, and the keg was finally emptied. The next morning we woke up slowly, sipped coffee, surfed pipeline, and soaked in Jerry Johnson Hot Springs before we made our journey back to the real world. What a way to spend Easter!
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