McKenzie River Boat Festival 2014 (Part 1)

Wednesday Morning.

The season is again upon us when wooden boat nerds converge on the McKenzie River in Oregon to partake in ogling and rowing these beautiful craft. The drive for Lea and i started Wednesday morning in the sun along the Hood Canal. The weather did not hold, no sooner than we passed Skokomish the sky opened up and never stopped for the rest of the drive.

My spirit was lifted with the knowledge that  pouring rain was going to bring the waterlevel up. Cruising over the Colombia River and into Portland is always a milestone heading south.

Pulling into a very soggy McKenzie Bridge campground i was super stoked to get camp set up. No one likes sitting around in the rain.

I am a practicing Tarpologist. As a Tarpologist i worship well set up tarps, rainflys, awnings, and other rope or line supported shelters. Tarpology is a strange religion. I started practicing living with my friends Josh and Brian in West (or wet) by god Virginia. I feel like our tarp on this trip really lived up to the high standards we preached to our students back then.

As the sun was fading the river was rising, the roar of the camp stoves and the water made dinner a welcome relief. 

Thursday morning.

As you can see from the gauge when we arrived on the night of the 23rd the river was lowish and by the time the next picture was taken it was going up, quickly. Due to the still pouring rain and her work schedule Lea decided to sit out Thursday's boating fun. So the IRH and i putting on all by our lonesomes.

We ran from Frissell to Fin Rock on a cresting river that was hustling along. It was fantastic!

Eddys were sparse or poorly placed in the trees along the bank. It was keep er' in the middle and avoid the rocks and surprisingly big holes.

After finishing with the days boating Lea and i decided to check out some of the local hot springs.

This one was washed out by the high water making for a lukewarm pool that was not appetizing in pounding rain. Instead we headed to the pool at Belknap Lodge just down the road.

Following our soak it was time for another dinner serenaded by the rain. Never let damp weather make you give up good eats. (another tenant of Tarpology)

Friday Morning

dawned just as wet as Thursday. The weather liars did claim that there could be, would be, some sunshine, somewhere. Lea and i decided to get Flo out on the water and float from the Olalli Boat Ramp to Fin Rock. This would include some class three rapids between Olalli and Frissell. 

Flo looked great sitting on the ramp as we got our gear together for the run. The Plan was to put in and row down to McKenzie Bridge boat ramp where our friends Ben and Andrew would be waiting to join us in kayaks. So away we went.

The upper section is fantastic, busy but fantastic. Flo did great even though shes a little slower than i would like, or perhaps i'm a little slower than she would like. In any event we had a great run down to McKenzie Bridge save for a less than graceful line i had at Fish Ladder. I'll just say that there is a rock in the center about half way down with a little of my pride on it.

One  thing i love about the McKenzie is the color of the water. Even with this high water event the color is spectacular, steel gray to vibrant blue green.

After the fun on the upper river we joined up with the boys in kayaks and headed down to Fin Rock.

The sun even made an appearance although in ten minutes it was raining again, still good to know its there.

Once the rain really got going again the pictures stopped and Friday passed with another trip to the hot springs and dinner out.

Stay tuned for Part 2,
Cheers.

Epoxy Basics, book review.

OK Blogos here is another book review on a more technical subject.

Because the book is called Epoxy Basics i'm going to keep it basic. If you work with Epoxy buy this book. I don't care if you've been building spacecraft in Roswell and know everything there is to know about the subject, you will at least pick up one fun trick. Better still if you have only a little knowledge on the subject or none at all this will save a lot of swearing and sanding. One drawback, Russell uses West Systems exclusively. I'm sure this will bum out some guys and gals out there but don't despair! A bunch of the info in here will work for any Epoxy system.You can download it as an e-book or get the hard copy here at PT Watercraft.

I Just got back from the McKenzie River Wooden Boat Festival.... more on that later this week.
Cheers,

Guide Training 2

The second set of guide training days started off with Jordan and Brogan together in a stern rig. This was Jordan's first run on his own. After I got Brogan into my boat for instruction we put about 150 lbs of rocks up front in Jordan's boat to trim it out. Soon enough he will have paying customers for that!

The Sol Duc always serves up the scenery, its really a spectacular place.

It wasn't all float for Jordan, there are some places that require attention. Its really fun to see someones river reading skills develop. He styled all of the drops even if i didn't get hardly any of them on film.

Just around this corner at what i call The Gates we were greeted by a Bald Eagle watching us pass by. If i was a real photographer with some fancy camera i'm sure this would be a post card but as it so often is now just another fantastic memory of the river.

By mid afternoon we were taking out and heading for the Elwa.

The Elwa was a whole different beast than the Sol Duc. I am sorry to say that i don't have any pictures of the trip down due mainly to the fact that i was the sole oarsman in a boat of four on a rain swollen logjam fest that is the Elwa without the dams. Even with all the havoc we created by building the dams and then removing them it is still a magic place you must see to believe.

I also found this rock, if you have any idea what it is i would love to know.

Cheers.

Guide Training

I have been helping a friend out with his raft guide training for the season. It has been really fun, i've always shied away from pushing rubber. Its nothing personal i just have always liked the solitude that comes from running ones own boat, also there's something to be said for only being responsible for one's self. To be honest that's not a great attitude. Rafts are fun and a fantastic way to get people on the river. I've been having a blast, anyway.

During this time i also wrote an article for our local news paper. The shop i work in does a monthly blurb called Adventures. As it was my turn to write and i was doing guide training i wrote about that. Here is what came of it.

It’s cold outside and early. It takes more than I would like to admit to pull myself out from underneath the covers and get dressed. The fog uptown is heavy, blocking the pre-dawn light. The wind and rain last night convinced me to load the car in the dark. Otherwise, I would be colder and wetter than I care to be so early in the morning. 

I am repeating a ritual I have known all my life, bringing me friends and adventures over the years. It’s the ritual of river running. Like all good rituals there is challenge and mystery, ugliness and beauty, awe, self-discovery and fun. I'm particularly looking forward to today; I will be training a new raft guide for a friend of mine. It’s always a great joy to introduce someone to the world of rivers.

Turning onto highway 101, heading for Port Angeles, I can’t help but think how living on the Quimper Peninsula makes rivers seem so far away. The Olympic Mountains at the heart or our peninsula produce a huge variety of waterways. You can enjoy a leisurely family canoe trip in the glacial valleys of the Hoh or Quinault Rivers, a kayak trip into a dark waterfall-filled gorge along the Hood canal, or anything in between. Information on these rivers is sparse, the guidebook has been out of print for years, and on many of the more remote stretches, you’re not likely to see anyone else.

I'm thinking about these remote canyons while pulling into the parking lot west of Port Angeles where I'm greeted with all the trappings of guide training. Boats piled haphazardly waiting for their annual inspection. Trailers, paddles, oars and equipment are everywhere. I don't see anyone but by the looks of the raft tied down to the trailer, I'm expected. Soon enough the company van pulls up and out piles my friend and the guide-to-be.

With a couple of handshakes, introductory smiles and hugs, the trailer is securely hitched and we begin the windy drive to the Sol Duc River west of Lake Crescent. I can see the newbie sponging up river stories and river lies. I love the thought that by the end of the summer many of these stories and lies will come out of his mouth, as though he had actually been there. By then I suppose, he will have.

At the put-in I don my river garb, snug up my life jacket and climb up onto the trailer to push the raft into the water. One sound push and a simple rubber air bladder with a little bit of aluminum tubing becomes a spaceship, time machine, and dream machine all at once. I give my brief safety spiel, explain to the neophyte where to sit and take my place at the oars. A kingfisher cruises low over the emerald water as I take my first stroke and pull us into the current. The learning starts, the two of us are gone.

Being so close to the Strait of Juan de la Fuca and the Pacific Ocean makes the rivers easy to forget, but they are still there for all of us to explore.

It was fun to write. All the photos are from that day on the water.And just to show it made it into the paper here it is.

Page three ain't bad eh? Also i share the page with a lovely article about two stupid kids sticking up our local grocery store for one lousy bottle of cheep vodka. One wore a fencing mask the other a ski mask with a Port Townsend High School basket ball warm up jacket. Lets just say that i doubt these two were hard to catch.
Cheers boys hope the Popov was worth it.

The Cane

A week or so ago i had a family member ask me to make them a cane. They are a fan of steam bent canes but as i lack the equipment to manufacture a steam bent head i decided to laminate a cane head instead.

I started by drawing and cutting the head out of maple. I then laid out the joint to attach it to the cane body.

After some hand work i had the two fitted together nicely.

Next came turning the square shaft of the cane body to round. I used a spar gauge and spoke shave. Its not to bad except for layout once you've already started faceting the shaft.

After sixteen sides i switched to sand paper and smoothed the head of the cane into the now rounded cane body.

Once smooth and happy i began to shape the tip to accept the brass tip piece.

After the tip was fitted glue was applied to it as well as all the little places that needed filling.

Once this is all cured ill get some more pics up of final smoothing and varnish.
Cheers.