10,500 cfs in Tumwater Canyon

I was playing around in Tumwater, minding my own business, when a crew of chargers came blasting through.


Sam Grafton, Ben Kinsella and Ben Marr completed top to bottom descents of Tumwater Canyon at 10,500 cfs. That's no joke.




I pulled the camera out while these guys ran Perfection of Whitewater and Last Exit.


Check it out.




10,500 cfs in Tumwater Canyon from daniel patrinellis on Vimeo.

Kayaking Tumwater Canyon in a Long Boat

I've been getting more and more into the Dagger Green Boat.

                                                  Photo by Sara Yoshimura

After a trip on the South Fork Salmon in Idaho last summer, I fell in love with this 11'9" stick of a boat.

                                Photo by Sara Yoshimura

March has been the month of Tumwater for me due to a busy work schedule and a distinct lack of Olympic Peninsula rainfall.

                                                                  Photo by Sara Yoshimura

She's just like a saucy model; skinny, tall and she can get obnoxious in large crowds. But I love her anyway. Level was on the way up, as there was a small rain on snow event on the pass. And by small I mean rain on a small amount of snow. I think that the last lap of the day was around 5300 cfs.

 Enjoy this quick edit. I just wanted to share the long boat love!


Tumwater Canyon in a Long Boat from daniel patrinellis on Vimeo.

Don't kayak in Leavenworth!!

The weather is amazing all the time.


There are attractive people everywhere.


There are more sausages and beers than an army of kayakers could drink.


...and last but not least; the kayaking is just too good to be true.


So, don't bother. It's definitly not worth the drive...



Kayaking in Leavenworth from daniel patrinellis on Vimeo.


Music: Wu Tang - Slow Blues

Jah Bisson runs POW at 9,000 cfs

Jeremy Bisson is a beast. A kind and super under-rated paddler; Jeremy really doesn't mind letting it all hang out sometimes.


After a couple great laps from the Dam to the Red Bridge on Tumwater Canyon, Jeremy decided to fire up POW.


Needless to say; I offered to shoot and "set safety"...







Paddler: Jeremy Bisson
Music: Willy Moon - Railroad Track

Jah Amigos - Aerial footage of Tumwater Canyon at 10,000 cfs

A couple weeks back I was able to introduce Jeremy Bisson and Jonathan Ehlinger to the guys over at AerialMediaWorks in Chelan WA.

AerialMediaWorks


Tumwater Canyon was in the 10,000 cfs range and that means a lot of the river becomes a little too stressful for the average weekend warrior.


However; when Tumwater is that high, it means that the middle section of the river just gets better and better. The Dam Rapid and the three following rapids (the Three Amigos) get better and better the higher it gets.



Whats as my buddies get super sick on the Amigos Section of Tumwater Canyon.




Jah Amigos . Tumwater canyon - 10,500cfs from AerialMediaWorks on Vimeo.

Sam Grafton runs POW at 6500 cfs

Sam Grafton is a bit of a Boss around these parts

This Spring has been off to a slow start in the PNW. Tumwater hasn't hit Nuclear levels yet but it has been hanging arounf the 5-7,000 cfs range for a couple of weeks.







I was in the area, shaking off the cobwebs and got a call from Sam. He wanted to do a quick Tumwater lap before heading back over the pass. I agreed to the Dam rapid and the Amigos, but decided that Chaos and POW were a bit above my current paygrade.


Sam laughed at me.

Sam boated down to POW while I ran shuttle and grabbed my camera. Sam's mom also stopped by to say hello.

In true Sam form; after I gave him a little bit of grief about not having a beautiful line, he ran it two more times for me so I could shoot photos and some video.

Water levels are rising; keep your eyes out for some good media coming out of Leavenworth in the near future.