Capturing the magic; routing V--
It's a balance, as it always has been. In the last few weeks I've been so focused on boating that I haven't had my brain in photo mode. So I'm rusty - that is an indisputable fact.
Throughout the day I kept thinking my metering mode was wrong, as most of my photo previews looked like they were clipping. I struggled with autofocus, and stumbled about the rocks trying to find my shot composition.
In any case, if I am allowed to make a few excuses, Saturday was a tough day to shoot. High noon, conflicting sun angles, and harsh glare off the water made for some questionable photos (shoulda used a polarizer!). While I did have a few shots in mind, most of my pre-visualized compositions didn't result in amazing photos. I guess that's just a testament to my brain being in kayak mode rather than photo composition mode.
It's funny, I actually lost a few minutes of sleep trying to think about my shot compositions, yet my favorite photos of the day were taken without much forethought. The common denominator in these winning shots has to be the sun angle - since I liked the shots taken directly into the sun the least. Well, lesson learned.
On a separate but slightly related note, I tried stuffing my camera into my Pelican case (an 1150), and highly disliked the experience compared to my Watershed. First off, it's very uncomfortable to have between your knees, and it tends to slide around, especially when rolling, or even just putting it down before getting into or out of your boat. Second, it is severely limited in space, and required to run my lens hood backwards in order for the camera to fit. And finally, it's just a pain to have to deal with a second dry bag in the stern for the rest of your kit. I'm definitely sticking with the Watershed from here on out. Again, lesson learned.
Wild Plum
Sunday - my favorite day to boat. Mentally warmed up from the day before, we put onto Wild Plum on the North Yuba. I didn't really know what to expect, other than that flows were a bit low (but still reportedly fun), and there are two crux gorges. We met in Downieville around 11am and slowly rolled to the takeout around 12pm. Shuttle was along Highway 49, and we stopped to road scout a few of the key spots. I would learn later that we were looking at Boss Moss and Highway rapid. Somehow we missed the scout of Ladies Canyon, the stoutest sequence of the run.
Immediately after putting on, the rapids started. At our flow (estimated somewhere between 600 and 700 cfs), it was reminiscent of 1,000 cfs on Upper Kyburz, but half a step harder due to the continuity. While the rapids weren't anything too difficult (IV+ might be a stretch), there were very few eddies to catch between rapids, and a swim would be quite the ordeal.
After what seemed like forever, we reached Highway rapid, and all decided to walk. The lead in looked manky, and the rapid itself pushed left into an undercut. Since the road was right there, the choice was easy.
Finishing up the trivial portage, we took a snack break and thought the day was over. Unbeknownst to us, we still had Ladies Canyon and Boss Moss remaining. We mistook Highway rapid for Ladies Canyon, leading to a false sense of security with the rest of the run.
I distinctly remember flowing downriver after seal launching, not really paying attention, at ease with the caliber of read and run encountered so far. Suddenly, the rest of my crew started to drop over a horizon line. As I inched closer, I spotted the bottom of a boat, accompanied by general chaos spread over two distinct drops in the river.
Boats pointing and moving in different directions clouded my periphery, with my attention rapt on a wide hole extending from river left to river center. As I stared down into the churning chaos, I boofed as hard as I could, and was violently typewritered into the left eddy above the second drop.
Odd, I remember thinking to myself. Wasn't Boss Moss was further downstream?
In the eddy (you could barely call it that), I was greeted by Wyatt, who told me he'd ferry to river right and boof. Wyatt is an extremely skilled boater; so as I watched him peel into the current, I was slightly concerned at the amount of perceived effort I was witnessing.
Oh well, there ain't nothing to it but to do it. Thankfully the ferry was a lot easier than it looked. I boofed the second drop and caught the right side of another big hole but was granted smooth passage.
As I peeled into the eddy with the rest of the group waiting, Cam raised his hand.
"I take full responsibility for routing us through that one."
I couldn’t help but laugh - what a good time.
We puzzled at what the hell we had just stumbled into - was that Ladies Canyon? The one that people sometimes portage? Could it have been Boss Moss, the rapid we scouted from the road? After all, we were standing several hundred feet above the river when we scouted... things sure did look different down here.
The IV+ Ladies runout was made miniscule in comparison to blindly routing in to Ladies. I giggled for a straight five minutes about how awesome that whole sequence was. If anything, it reinforced the fact that my progression is coming along slowly, and certainly that my instincts are building. I don't remember even thinking when I saw the first drop, but instead allowed my mind and body to work as one and figure it out.
The second gorge, Boss Moss, was likewise somewhat of a surprise, since we all sorta thought that we had just ran the Boss blindly. Thankfully this series of drops was more IV+, and far less intimidating. As we rolled out of that gorge, the miles started to slowly tick by. I emphasize the word slowly. Many times I checked my GPS only to be surprised at the mileage count growing and growing, yet we seemed to not be making much forward progress towards our ultimate endpoint of downtown Downieville.
Pulling in and taking out in downtown was a fun full circle moment - I'm often in the small Sierra town for mountain biking, when the parking lots are full and the bars likewise so. Instead this time, we were greeted by a lone pair of guys on the side of the river, enjoying the frigid river in the balmy 70 degree weather.
Unfortunately there wasn't much time for photos - 16 miles of continuous IV to IV+ really does take a toll. Though the entire group was thrilled at the quality of the day, we were surprised that it does not get run more often. So, Wild Plum (or North Yuba Kyburz, N'yburz): very high quality, highly recommend.
Now you're ready to route everything on 49! No beta needed!!