The bottom 9 has been called the hardest day of kayaking in the high sierra,and it is like the middle 4,but bigger drops,bigger holes,and bigger sieves.Some of the drops that still look runnable are just to crazy to fire up.The portages are not very long,but there are quite a few of them,and they require going over,around and sometimes under huge rattlesnake infested boulder piles.There are to many drops to try to remember them all,and the intensity of this section is undescribable.I reached my limit and went so far past it on this day that it changed my life forever.You really find out what you are made of,or what your team is made of, on this day.You work as a unit,yet sometimes are still so alone.After the scout of a particularly large rapid,Matt and Mason fired through the left ,avoiding a man-eating sieve mid stream,and made it look easy.As I seal launched in,I deflected off an unseen rock and was headed straight for the sieve.My only chance at survival was a pourover which I locked myself into a side surf in.My stern was in the sieve and my bow was in the pourover hole as I screamed for help.I soon realized that they could not hear me and I knew was on my own.I would like to thank Werner Paddles for making the strongest paddles out there because it saved me.I wedged my paddle into a crack in a boulder praying it wouldn't break,popped my skirt and stood up in my boat while still surfing the pourover,and pulled myself to freedom using the wedged paddle blade.I pulled my boat out of the sieve and proceeded to carry on downstream not mentioning my harrowing experience to the boys for fear that it would compromise group morale.These are the kind of things that happen in the bottom 9,and I knew talking about would only make it worse,So on we pushed.Camping soon had begun to come up in portage conversations,and if we were going to do the 9 in a day,I didn't know how.Soon,a distant view of what had to be the south fork confluence came into our view,and Wallace took over.Matthew Wallace carried the team through this section,boat scouting and blindly running class 5+ for miles knowing that if he went,we would follow.Without his determination and skill,I am sure we would have been in there another day,but his faith and sheer will carried us through to the confluence.
Anyone who has ever completed this run now has my respect,whether I like them or not.The middle Kings was the hardest 5 days of my life,yet also the greatest.No training can prepare you for the constant onslaught of stressful situations,and no one who hasn't been there can ever know what it is really about.It is a place to find out what you are really made of,not a place to go hucking and try to look cool.So if you are thinking about doing it,make sure it is for the right reasons,and be ready to be humbled,because at some point it will call your bluff.
Her are a few shitty photos from our trip,the good ones were taken by Matt,and the bad ones are mine,enjoy. CM
The bottom 9 has been called the hardest day of kayaking in the high sierra,and it is like the middle 4,but bigger drops,bigger holes,and bigger sieves.Some of the drops that still look runnable are just to crazy to fire up.The portages are not very long,but there are quite a few of them,and they require going over,around and sometimes under huge rattlesnake infested boulder piles.There are to many drops to try to remember them all,and the intensity of this section is undescribable.I reached my limit and went so far past it on this day that it changed my life forever.You really find out what you are made of,or what your team is made of, on this day.You work as a unit,yet sometimes are still so alone.After the scout of a particularly large rapid,Matt and Mason fired through the left ,avoiding a man-eating sieve mid stream,and made it look easy.As I seal launched in,I deflected off an unseen rock and was headed straight for the sieve.My only chance at survival was a pourover which I locked myself into a side surf in.My stern was in the sieve and my bow was in the pourover hole as I screamed for help.I soon realized that they could not hear me and I knew was on my own.I would like to thank Werner Paddles for making the strongest paddles out there because it saved me.I wedged my paddle into a crack in a boulder praying it wouldn't break,popped my skirt and stood up in my boat while still surfing the pourover,and pulled myself to freedom using the wedged paddle blade.I pulled my boat out of the sieve and proceeded to carry on downstream not mentioning my harrowing experience to the boys for fear that it would compromise group morale.These are the kind of things that happen in the bottom 9,and I knew talking about would only make it worse,So on we pushed.Camping soon had begun to come up in portage conversations,and if we were going to do the 9 in a day,I didn't know how.Soon,a distant view of what had to be the south fork confluence came into our view,and Wallace took over.Matthew Wallace carried the team through this section,boat scouting and blindly running class 5+ for miles knowing that if he went,we would follow.Without his determination and skill,I am sure we would have been in there another day,but his faith and sheer will carried us through to the confluence.
Anyone who has ever completed this run now has my respect,whether I like them or not.The middle Kings was the hardest 5 days of my life,yet also the greatest.No training can prepare you for the constant onslaught of stressful situations,and no one who hasn't been there can ever know what it is really about.It is a place to find out what you are really made of,not a place to go hucking and try to look cool.So if you are thinking about doing it,make sure it is for the right reasons,and be ready to be humbled,because at some point it will call your bluff.
Her are a few shitty photos from our trip,the good ones were taken by Matt,and the bad ones are mine,enjoy. CM
really got write ups man. we got some more good ones on the horizon bro!
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