| California 2008
In June and July I went on a photo
mission to California. Being quite late in the season and
with a little snow pack left rivers were a bit less in
abundance compared to previous trips, but whatever was
running was high class.
Timing of the trip was perfect for the Upper Cherry Creek.
This is one of California's High Sierra Classics. It
requires a 12 mile hike to the put-in which sucked a bit in
the extreme heat and with only little shade walking through
a burned out forest. We were a team of 5 including mates
Toby Robertson, Ben Brown and 2 locals, Rush Sturges and
Charlie Center. The trail goes up to just over 3000m
altitude and with boat and gear on the back for 3 days it
wasn't really a walk in the park. What I also found out, no
matter how good your boat carry system is, there is no way
to make it not hurt on a 6 to 8 hour walk! In the end we all
used the super budget "noodle system" (a foam noodle for
swimming in combination with cam straps) since this offered
the most shoulder padding, in combination with Voltaren
pills...!
The first
day boating on Upper Cherry Creek is like being in a giant
"amusement park for paddlers", kind of like the Tuakopai
(Bay of Plenty) on steroids, with endless granite slides and
a few solid drops thrown in between. Half an hour before
camp is the infamous Cherry Bomb Gorge
running from The following pictures are taken on the Tuakopai Stream, Bay of Plenty,
during a trip in February 2004. This creek has been paddled only very few times, first
descent in January 2003. Due to its very small catchment you have to be there at the right
time, after extremely heavy rainfalls the perfect flow window lasts only for a few hours.
All photos © Greg Thomas.
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