Back on the Water!

So its been two months since the last post. So its time to get back on the ball. A week ago Wednesday i picked Raphael Thiebaut up from the airport in Charlotte. I went paddling with Raph in the French Alps earlier this summer so it was my turn to take him on a tour. The original plan was to take him right from the plane to the
Charlotte Whitewater park but his baggage was lost so we had to deal with that. But from that point on things have been full on and super fun.


Tuxedo Hydro Station will be running...

While we were driving home from the airport I called the Green and it said it was running till midnight which usually means the river will run the next morning but it may shut off at 7 am. So you have to get on the water early to make sure you have water. We were walking down the trail before daylight for Raph's first trip down the Green. Everyone had good lines and Raph fired up the Monkey on his first trip down the river.

The next stage of for trip was driving all the way up to the Moose River Fest. Just a short 14 hour van ride with a stop over at the Syracuse airport to pick up Raph's lost bags and we were paddling on the Black River on Friday. The Black is a really crazy paddling experience because you can actually show up a little before the release and sit in your boat and wait for the water to come and sweep you away over the first rapid, a long mellow slide and then over a 8-10 foot drop. Its one of the craziest ways I have ever started a paddling trip.


Standing on the falls before the release


Sandy running the falls with water


Local boy bagel running the "Poop Chute"

After the Black we headed up into the mountains for Moose Fest. Which I think ever paddler should experience atleast once. If you get to Slickers Pub in Old Forge N.Y. before 5 o'clock its cheap Spicey Shrimp during happy hour, and that is where most of the kayakers hang out anyway. Oh and don't forget to try the French Dip sandwich also. Friday night of Moose Fest has become a sort of pub crawl type event with different folks throwing parties at different bars. There was an interesting mix going on at Slickers it was the Confluence party with a Pirate Theme with lots of those kids paddle ball thingys being smacked around. Then over at the Tow Bar it was the Pyranha Pimp and HO theme. I didn't get to any of the other events so I missed out on them it was an fun evening. This crew knows how to have a good time.


Slickers Bar



Saturday started off awesome we had clear skies and decent temperatures until about noon. Unfortunately we waited for the race to start to go paddling because we wanted to see the mass start over Agers Falls. As soon as the race went by the clouds came in and a breeze from the North Pole came down the river and the temperature dropped I kid you not 10-15 degrees. When we got to my van it was 32 degrees. We paddled the river and went back to Old Forge, to get ready for the Festival.


Agers Falls


Freddie Racing the Pisgah


Pat dropping into Fowlersville


Knifes Edge


The Alpine Line of Crystal


Raph running Magilla


Pat on Magilla


The party happens inside a big community building so that we can get out of the weather. There is always a band and drinks and folks showing off their cool stuff. There was an awesome crowd I don't really know how many folks were there. We set up our booth and showed boats and premiered LVM number 20 that was cool We have sort of started a tradition up there of serving Apple Jack which is Hot Apple Cider and Jack Daniels folks lined up for it. I would guess that there were over 200 people for sure and it could have been closer to 300. Just as things were getting started it started to snow huge snow flakes and by the time it ended we had a few inches on the ground. So far I have been to the Moose Fest 3 times and every time it has snowed.


Snowing again at Moose Fest


Watching LVM 20


Chris and Chris, the organizers of Moose Fest

There are three great reasons to go to the Moose Fest. One the river is awesome. Two Chris and Chris do a great job of putting on the event, and Three I think the cold paddling weather brings the group together. The Black and Moose paddling community are an awesome group of folks that love hanging out, paddling, and partying together.

Here is a link to the Video I took on Sunday on the Moose.
Moose River Video, Click This!

All these awesome photos were taken by Raphael Thiebaut. Well except the shot of him. His website is: http://photoraph.kayakblogs.com

Take it easy out there and get on the water.
more adventures with Raph coming soon.
Shane