A Moment Of Clarity, Disguised As Total Insanity

I’d like to call this: “A moment of clarity, disguised as total insanity. Better known as real life.”

“PADDLE OR DIE BITCHES!!!” –Moose

First, a brief rundown of events over these summer months leading to West Virginia’s Wild and Wonderful Gauley Season:

Back in February/March, Jesse and I had made it to Oaxaca, Mexico. We took refuge at our sanctuary in Chacahua, an amazing beach-lagoon-wildlife refuge. Then travelled farther south to Puerto Escondido, one of the greatest surf hubs on the face of the planet. No, we didn’t take up surfing, but we did join up with some incredible people forming our own little carnival troupe of Monkey Wankers! Chandra, Fede, and Sam – drummers, fire dancers, acrobats – Alejandro, Catelyn, and Jo – guitarists, singers, dancers & DJ – and then Jesse and I – guitarist, drummers, DJ – joined forces as the Jah Music Sound System. We would play live music, then drum and throw fire, then DJ the rest of the night away at bars, on the beach, wherever we could. We all lived together, pooled our money together, bought food and travelled together. It was a blast!! It was intensely sad the days leading up to Jesse’s and my return to the states. But something crazy happened the day before we were supposed to leave…

Jesse and I decided that we would go off on our own adventures, but we would return home first to take care of what we left behind so suddenly all those months before. But the day before we were going to head to northern Oaxaca, to meet up with Leo, whom we were suppose to travel to Oroville with, we heard that Leo had to leave early! He was gone! Ah crap! So with our plans shot down, we had to decide what to do, and quick. Well, I think that it was fate playing a huge role in our lives, because it brought our friends Autumn and Mike all the way down to us from 5,000 miles away in Sebastapol, CA, allowing me a ride to Oaxaca city, to the airport and home, and allowed for Jesse to stay in Mexico with the Monkey Wankers, where he really wanted to be.

So Jesse remains with most of the original Wankers in Mexico, soon to return to Oroville for the winter. He’s been playing gigs and having many adventures of which maybe one day I’ll be able to get him to write down. He did travel home for his sister Annie’s wedding, then quickly returned to Mexico. Back in Mexico, they were able to record some of their music, so I hope to get some of that and possibly post in online for ya’ll to hear one day soon!

My own return to Oroville is a very different story. Upon arrival, I found my very good friend and sister Debbie recovering from cancer. She was doing great. She had started her battle a month before I left for Mexico, and was done with all the business when I got back. So as I couch surfed with her and India, and Debbie’s brother Ted and wife Jennifer, I worked odd jobs, took refuge at Woodleaf Farm with Carl, and spent most of my free time with Debbie. After a few weeks, her health started to decline, and more and more hospital visits spelled it out. We lost Debbie on June 6th. She was at home, surrounded by all of her family and closest friends. It was the greatest honor of my life to be able to read a letter from her wife of 13 years, India, to Debbie at her memorial service.

While all of this was going on, before Debbie passed, I had met up with a friend of mine, Eric, who suggested Guide School. He was a river guide himself some years back, and I was in the perfect position to do so. Homeless, jobless, partnerless, looking for adventure…so in May I went through ten days of the most intense adventure I had yet known. Even biking to Mexico wasn’t this crazy. Eight rivers in ten days, mostly class four and five. I had really never even been rafting, and here I was, second day out, jumping into a class four rapid, “Chamberlain Falls” – a drop of ten feet into a thirty foot hole. “Ball up” they kept telling me. “Ball up.” I’ll never forget those words. Well, I lived through that, so I kept going at it.

A few more days into it, I find myself at the Cal Salmon river. (This page has great photos of the rapids here) Butt-crack of dawn, 50 degrees outside, snow melt water, and a morning of swim drills gone bad for Charlie, it started out as an intense day, but that was only the beginning. There we were, scouting the rapid known as Cascade, and Roger asks me what line I would take. Looking at this monster white water, standing on the class five side, looking across to the class six side, I respond with “I’d ghostboat that shit!” Thinking there was no way I would actually raft through that madness, I wanted to throw the boat down empty, hike down and catch it at the bottom. Of course Roger’s response: “NO WAY!! We’re running this shit!” I’m surprised I didn’t throw up right then and there. Although, after the nasty swim drill incident an hour before, I figured whatever happens now wouldn’t be any worse. **snickering right now**

So we jump back in the rafts, and run Cascade. Only as it turns out, I end up running it under the boat. We make it through the minor top ledge drop, cruise through the short bit of pool, and blast over the second big drop. The boat tacos, and launches me right out the damn raft! Now, in situations like this, the human body actually releases chemicals and the brain takes on this alternative persona allowing for you to take on twice as much information in the same amount of time, in essence, slowing everything down. So I actually had time to think about that was going on, and kept my cool. I felt the bottom of the boat hitting my head from above, and realized that I was in the safest place I could be, in plan B terms anyway. So I rode it out, all the way down, missing the huge rock at the bottom and everything. Then they pulled me back in the raft. Gnarley!!! I’ll also post photos of my ride down Tunnel Chute on the Middle Fork American. Moose and Pete were brave enough to let me guide, and boy did I dork that move! I hit the one rock at the top I needed to completely avoid, which sent the boat spinning all the way down the Chute, throwing both Pete and Moose out for a bloody and painful swim.

OK, so throughout the rest of the summer, I went between camping in Coloma with Wilderness Adventures, training on the American River, camping in Big Flat training on the Trinity River, running the Creature Craft on Burnt Ranch Gorge, and spending time with India in Oroville. The creator of the Creature Craft, Darren, came down from Colorado, and I got to make a couple runs with him through the Gorge. There are photos of our first run out, through a rapid called “Lips.” We barrel-rolled twice in the drop!!! I got worked. It was hilarious! I came out laughing my ass off, but with a bit of a headache from the turbo-nasal-aenima I got. Darren is coming out with 10 more crafts to Gauley Fest here in West Virginia in a couple weeks. I can’t wait to run that thing on the Gauley! AAAaaahhhhh!!!!

So how I came to be here in West By God: At guide school, we had four instructors, one of which was “Moose.” Moose is a Swiftwater Rescue Technician. He was an EMT, driving ambulance for years, then went into search and rescue, specifically swiftwater. He taught us how to survive in white water. He helped me out time and again in guide school, rescuing my ass from a number of hazards. After guide school he travelled back home to WV. We kept in touch, and as we were losing Debbie, he spent hours with me on the phone and email talking me through the madness. At one point, we made a pact with each other that if anything crazy were to happen to us in the world, we could call on one another for support. When Debbie did pass, I had told him I wished he were there with me, and wouldn’t you know it. Three days later he was on a plane back to California. He helped India and I out tremendously in the few days leading up to Debbie’s memorial, as we were swamped with making arrangements. He helped me keep my sanity. I couldn’t thank him enough. So he decided to stay around in California and work for a while. We decided to partner up, pooling our money, planning to get back to WV for Gauley Season, then possibly travel for the winter months together.

We got back to WV August 1st. The day we landed, Moose went to work on the New River, and I started training with him there. Just as I was about to get checked out to work, I got strep throat, and was down for a while. Then Gauley Season started this last Friday, the 5th. We’ve been working, training and playing everyday there. The Gauley runs through October, so we’ve only got a few weeks. Check out this video of the Gauley, and you can witness some of the madness. Anyone want to go rafting?? Now is the time!!! Take a look on youtube.com, search for “Gauley River” and watch the videos. Entertainment will be had by all…

There are so many more stories, but I’ll leave it here for now. Please share some of your stories with me! I hope you’ve all had some excellent adventures over this summer. And a special THANKS! to everyone who’s helped me out since my return to the states. Too many of you to name, but you know I love you!!! Until next time………..