Spokane River Kayaking: Friday Flood Stage

OK, this is a sequence. I went kayaking on the flood staged Spokane river yesterday. It was scary! It was great fun! I felt alive and crazy about life.

All expert kayakers like myself know you need to do what we call "scouting" out the route before you EVER put the kayak in what we call "water."

The top pic shows the main route, see that blue bridge in the background? That's where I put "in."  The next pic shows the dangerous waterfall over the Avista dam. This was the scariest and most treacherous part of the route. One mistake and you'd be crushed or pinned against the rocks with eleventy billion gallons of angry cold greenish snowmelt river water smashing down upon you. I nailed it! It was so exciting.

The next pic is the "take out" point and we're not talking cheeseburgers and fries!

Finally,here I am hittin a waterfall. You can see it in the first pic on river left under the bridge.

All in all, a most excellent river adventure. I can hardly believe I pulled it off!

Comments

[riggs]

Wow, people do this in kayaks now? Hell, Cliff and I used to smoke a bunch of weed and use my rubber raft to do this run. I would paddle really hard and Cliff would lake half zombie-like in the back and drag a leg in the water to steer us. Just before we hit the falls, Cliff and I would start chanting "Time we left(this world today!)" The clouds would suddenly turn pure white and the Lords of Hawkwind would turn their gaze to us, Lord Calvert himself smiling a huge grin and shooting a brightly hued ray of energy from his ocular dexter. The ray always caught us just in time, and we were levitated across the falls in a sublime mist and set gently on the shore of Peaceful Valley. Cliff would wake up and holler "Mfiing ing goollinwah", which meant that he was really short of speech ability whilst in an altered state but implied, "Let's do it again!" And we did.

I highly recommend this enjoyable and peaceful run to any family visiting the peaceful city of Spokane.

[raymondpert]

I got to this post via HBO. The HBO post isn't there anymore.

Did it get pulled under the don't try this at home rule?

Was the post seen as a danger to children or teenagers who might try navigating the dangerous waters of the Spokane River?

What's the deal?

[raymondpert]

I remembered your account being out front at HBO. Now I figured out it's a comment.

All is well. I was wrong.

Have a great weekend. Hope it's with your boys.

[glynis]

oh bob. you're so full o' crap. :) i mean, 'damnnnn, bob! you the man!' that looks like way treacherous!

[Poetivity]

You can "hardly" believe it....I can't believe it at all!

I am mortally offended that I was not there at the "take out" point...sipping a double mocha and rolling my eyes when you hit the rocks at the bottom....I mean, I am ALWAYS there when you do this stupid stuff!

[toadman]

I was just at this very spot today with my parents. They're in from Bush-Country Texas, and had to see the big-ole-liberal-northwest river in flood.

[Pixie]

Toadman, did they get to see Bob kayaking???

Please say yes!

[toadman]

Pixie, sadly, no. Although my dad did gripe at a guy who hit his mirror with his car door in the Safeway parking lot...I'm sure he would have thought the same about Bob, as he thought about that guy...careless reprobate. My dad bases alot of what he thinks about people on how they look.. and though Bob looks like a Norse God to us.. well, my dad might have a different opinion.. HA!

[Pixie]

*ear to ear*

Hi Toadman.

[benJAMMIN]

That sir... is fucking crazy.

[D Huygens]

Sometimes it's hard to tell fact from fiction in the TUBOB travelogues, but as anyone who has been to Spokane and seen the falls in springtime knows, this post should not be filed using the dewey decimal system.

[toadman]

Sometimes it's hard to tell fact from fiction in the TUBOB travelogues..

Are you telling me that Bob may not have been a member of the Swedish Special Forces? Tell me it isn't so!!