Where to start!? This winter has been really fabulous for me, in December I was invited on a 10 day self support kayak trip down the Grand, after returning from that I was able to plug into a 27 day trip that included rafts. The kayak only trip was wonderful, however making the miles each day can put a small damper on any hiking plans. For those that have not heard there is some very nice hikes down there, possibly more hiking than actual whitewater. Not that the whitewater doesn’t deliver.

Chris Baer takes a small break from rafting to enjoy Granite rapid in the kayak

This trip started out a little gnarly for me as I was in charge of watching our equipment at Lee’s Ferry while the rest of the crew picked up more gear and last minute items from the outfitter. In my 36 hour stint at Lee’s I was fortunate enough to meet a group from the East Coast whos launch date was the day prior. They all seemed nice enough, however in the morning they trickled over one by one doing a loop, walking by our pile of shit heading up to the bathroom then walking back to their camp on the road. I checked in with one of them and discovered while they were out at dinner, up the road a bit, a blue dry bag had disappeared. I informed them I had not seen anything weird, other than the 200 lifted chevy/ford trucks with rims putting in for fishing and hunting upstream, and had also not left my post. Maybe 45 minutes later the ranger came to check in with me about the theft, he had mentioned something about the bag containing underwear and a tent, then I noticed him eye balling our pile. He told me I could start organizing the pile for launch and that it would give the folks down stream some piece of mind about the bag. So I layed it all out the group downstream continued their loop of walking by the pile before heading to the bathroom only to walk back a different way lol. Whatever. Just to make things more fun and interesting the Coconino Sheriff also wanted to come check in on any “suspicious” activity at the put in. By this time I was a little frustrated and decided to make myself a little less approachable by playing loud music and starting to drink beer. So after 36 hours, checking in with every law enforcement agency in the area about the missing underwear, about 10 beers later and a little nap I awoke to find all my friends already there and rigging. YAY Good riddance Lee’s Ferry.

Some of the crew enjoy Matkatameba.

So after that the trip was similar to my others. Getting into the grove of the raft pace was a little difficult at first as kayaks are fast and zippy and rafts are slow like molasses. I would later come to really enjoy this pace as it allows one to open their eyes to the area a little wider. I saw more wild life on this trip than any other. Big Horn, Condors, a Lynx and a Gila Monster were the ones I will remember the most. I was floating down with Jed and Kelly when we saw some of our group pulled over looking at something. We were later informed that a Lynx had cornered a baby Big Horn and was possibly ready to eat. Naturally we pulled over and got the cameras out. The Lynx was almost impossible to spot blending in with its environment almost perfectly. It stayed perched above its meal licking its paws and occasionally looking up to see if we were still around. Eventually growing tired of waiting for us to leave the Lynx retreated off into the distance.

A Grand Canyon Lynx. Photo by Chris Baer and Austin Nickell

Out of these two trips I had the luck of running into another soul on a similar winter journey. I ran into the same dude twice, Paul Nicastro is his name and he is a bad ass. We both sized up our groups and decided that a party was in order. Our groups randomly crossed paths again at Lava rapid, after we all had successful runs we joined together on Tequila beach. As if this wasnt enough fun already we did a small stay over with them at their camp just downstream. WOW FUN TIMES! So the lucky pirates got to party then have a day of recovery and hiking as they stayed at the camp and our group continued on. A couple days later while we were having a lay over day the group of Pirates showed up again! and it was on! only for us to return the favor and layover/recovery camp while we watched them pack the rafts and continue on downstream.

Danny the pirate basks in the Lava

One of the best aspects of the elongated rafting style of the trip is the hiking potential. We got quite a few of the staples like Matkat, short stops at Deer Falls, Silver Grotto or Shinumo. This trip I got to visit a few new spots including Thunder River which is a tributary of Tapeats Creek, Olo Canyon which is a more technical but devistatingly beautiful slot canyon, and National were my new hikes. While quite a few people ventured up the canyon to the slots Jed, Kelly, Fish and Myself ventured quite a few miles up it basically being blown away by the beauty hiding behind each corner. Eventually leading up to a night hike up the Canyon with some waterproof garden lamps ending in a unique image of the National slots. The other more notable new hike was the Thunder River hike that is basically a grueling death march ending in a moonscape that grants a reward equal to every required step of the hike.

Jed and Austin hiked up to this slot more than once to get this shot.

At the bottom is a gallery with more images from the trip. The video I made is a little bit long but I made it for all the folks on the trip and didnt want to leave anything out (even if the shot was mediocre……. wait who am I kidding the whole video is mediocre Im a fucking amateur what do you expect)

enjoy

The The The Grand Canyon of The Colorado River from Austin Nickell on Vimeo.

In December of 2012 I was fortunate enough to be invited on a 10 day self support kayaking trip down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. What is self support? Some/most trips down the canyon include large sized inflatable rafts to carry their equipment for camping and all their good food, like real eggs and bacon. Self support kayaking does not include rafts and if you had bacon on day 10 I might question it and I never question bacon. Instead you jam everything you might “need” into your kayak, your buddies do the same, and you head on down the river. What is the difference between jelly and jam again?

One of the best parts of this river is its “Big Water” characteristics and feel. This is something generally different from the other whitewater attractions in the US. It has a big water feel while remaining pretty class IV. There is the occasional mile long undercut wall or the random sieve pile at the end of a rapid. Generally you would need a real stroke of luck to be in those hazards which makes me stave away from class V. Remember however you are still on a 10 day 200+ mile trip, given that something did happen.

camping at panchos

I have been referencing class IV or V but the Grand Canyon works on a completely different scale. The desert big water scale ranges from 1 to 10. On my first trip down with rafts in 2009 we scouted all class 7 and above. On this kayaking trip we did not scout any rapids, we did however have some really great verbal beta from Ted our friendly Grand Canyon guide. The trip was spectacular, we made around 30 miles per day, saw a handful of other groups and even got to lay over camp with one of them. Since it was difficult enough to carry the necessities we failed to bring enough alcohol on the trip. Thankfully we were able to acquire some along the way. THANKS FOLKS

jordan hermit

The trip went with out a hitch. The most epic almost bad moment was myself awakening by some abnormal sound. The sound was all of our gear floating in an eddy as the water had almost risen all the way to our sleeping bags. This was a stroke of luck that it did not turn into an epic as everything was retrieved The most epic positive moment would have to be catching a fish with my bare hands, it tasted great. I love the Grand Canyon it is a very beautiful, unique and exciting place.

Every time I go I am changed, I am excited to see what changes come next.

Wow 2012. This year seemingly flew by. I boated a little less this year than I have in the past 6 years. I most recently just returned from a 10 day kayak self support trip down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. This was a really great way for me to wrap up my year, spend some time with some cool people, and get some good self reflection in.

Northern Sierra Spring 2012 from Austin Nickell on Vimeo.

Over the past 6 years I have been confronted by the same situation numerous times over. This situation has worn many different masks but remains the same underneath. I have been finding myself frustrated with adding external pressures into something that I love, something that changed the directions of my life, and that thing is whitewater. When I first found the river I wanted to immerse myself as much as possible. Raft guiding in the states for as many months out of the year as I possibly could only to kayak most of my days off. 6 years of raft guiding culminated in managing a company down on the Kern, which inevitably ended up as my fast track to raft guide retirement and a slightly jaded sense on the river guiding world.

Gnarlfest 2012 from Huckin Huge on Vimeo.

I still felt compelled to pursue whitewater as a potential career, as there are many different ways to make that happen. I attempted to take a different approach by becoming a swift water rescue instructor. I worked very hard and trained on an infinitely long list of skills that would relate to life both on and off the river for me. Only to end up having this really not work out the way I had hoped. Leaving another slightly sour taste for whitewater.

1st Descent of Deadwood Creek from Huckin Huge on Vimeo.

During all of this over the past six years I started recording and sharing my side kayaking adventures resulting in a some contact with different companies and a couple smaller time sponsorships. I certainly enjoyed entertaining the idea of the professional kayaker… lol. Which led down a whole other road of some awesome support along with some real awkwardness. A lot of social awkwardness really. The strange scent of expectation started to creep its way into kayaking. Some class V egos really started to show their ugly selves, in my personal life and in the online world. Whether it was someone being super unfriendly to my face at a party or whether it be the higher profile paddlers elitest mentality being too cool to befriend anyone. I don’t want to be a fan of someone who thinks like that and I enjoyed being a friend far more than a fan.

South Branch of the Middle Feather, Class V *California Classic* from Austin Nickell on Vimeo.

I enjoy befriending anyone online to expand my contact with the world of whitewater. I love seeing who does what, what runs when, pictures of different folks’ adventures, and the learning experience of my own mistakes or others in order to maybe save someone from doing the same. I have been noticing more and more elitest/arrogant mentality, a lot of which started to make me question what different people are looking for out of whitewater myself included.

Jordan, Deer Creek, Grand Canyon

Whitewater steered my life into a completely new different and more exciting direction. It has led me to places I would have never imagined and introduced me to what I would consider some of the best friends I have ever had. So what’s my whitewater agenda? I want to keep it as PURE as possible for myself. I enjoy class 3 as much as I do class V! I want it to remain untainted and if that is my goal then I need to be a little more protective of my exposures. This is my agenda with kayaking. I don’t want to sell you anything, I don’t want you to donate so I can go on a trip I didn’t work to earn. I love sharing my trips with people and enjoying seeing others trips as well.

Jodan, Ted and Thomas approach Redwall Cavern while traveling through the Grand Canyon

Cheers

Austin Nickell on Deadwood Creek. Shot by Will Pruett

When winter came to a close in California there was a lot of talk about how dreary the snowpack looked. However, the Northern Sierras seem to get a good amount of precipitation through spring most years, and this year was no different. A couple solid storms rolled through bringing the snow pack up and a few of the day runs in.

Andrew Matthews and Austin Nickell on the first r2 descent of the Bear River Falls. photo by Sasha Coben

The South Yuba (I love the South Yuba), Bear, Upper Middle Cosumnes, Canyon Creek, Deer Creek above Wildwood, Deer Creek Overnighter called the Ponderosa run and North Fork American all came up to great runnable flows for the tail end of March and into April. A few hike and huck waterfalls have also come in. Feel free to check out the video below for a little look into this spring boating!

Cody Howard (of huckinhuge.com) captured this magic moment on Deer Creek.

1st Descent of Deadwood Creek from Huckin Huge on Vimeo.

Austin Nickell on the second drop of triple drop of Canyon Creek.(trib. of South Yuba) Photo - Benny Scheib

Austin runs Ishi Falls. Photo by Darin McQuoid of darinmcquoid.com

We took the quick hike to Bear Falls a couple times, once with kayaks, and another time with a raft. Andrew Mathews and I were the first to attempt the bottom drop in a raft, closely followed by Tyler Soule and friends a few days later. Both attempts ended with people on the outside of the raft The other waterfall we ventured to was Deadwood Creek falls. Good friends and incredibly talented paddlers Will Pruett and Cody Howard scouted this drop online, and then Will was able to scout in person. Cody Howard, Brandy Suppi, Will Pruett, Darin McQuoid, Sasha Coben, Timber, Jah and I all piled into the 4Runner and proceeded to drive down the snowy, narrow, 4W drive road.

Austin Nickell on Deadwood Creek Falls. Photo by Sasha Coben

Deadwood has really great series of runnable drops with the last one being over 50ft (though we are not sure the exact height). There are three drops above the big water fall, the first one being an ugly crack drop of about 8 feet in height. The second and third drops are connected, a 10 footer another 10 foot waterfall that has a rock in the landing. Darin McQuoid lead the charge getting the first descent on the top drops. We all stared at the large waterfall from the pool below, hiked around and examined the top and threw logs into the water to gauge direction of travel. The general consensus was that more water would be nice but it would definitely go. We sent an empty boat over the falls and it had a pretty good line. Confident in my ability and the line I had in my mind, I got in my boat. With a little coaching at the lip from Will, I was prepared. There is a 10-15 foot slide before the 50 foot plummet. I virtually replicated the empty boat’s line, proceeded to go over the bars, and upon impact was ripped from my kayak. This being the first attempted decent of the falls I am happy to have done it and excited to get back in there with more water.

The following are my recent video updates, I have been posting them else where, with little write-ups along side.  It has finally started to precipitate here in the Tahoe area. While its still raining at my house here on the Washington Ridge above the South Yuba it snowed at the resorts up a little higher. Letting us know, hopefully, that winter is finally upon us. With out precipitation the runs have all dwindled down, still reveling in the glory of our high water year last year, minimizing the options. Thankfully being here in California even with seemingly no water there is still some water. Most recently I have been venturing towards the Feather River drainage, with another quick trip to the Upper Klammath. The Feather drainage is home to many great runs, most of them seem to be pretty difficult and or consequential runs. This first video of Tobin at lower flows was shot with the GoPro Hero, Hero2 and a Canon 7d. There is a really noticeable difference in quality coming from the HD2. There is also a dramatic and noticeable difference in the run. While it becomes easier and slower one becomes very privy to all the openings in the rocks. Weird tunnels straight through rocks or every other pile acting like a sieve. GoPro really bumped the bar up a notch for competitors. This video contains two segments with the second part also being a stop on the Feather River. The Big Bend Dam is a fun Park and Huck 20-30 foot Dam slide. My first time there we had more water and it seemed quite a bit taller. This time was also very fun however quite a bit lower. The lower flow also makes it alot easier to paddle the boat back to the base of the Dam. Both times I would tie a rope to some re-bar at the top of the Dam in order to pull the boat and ourselves back up.

This next video was shot during the Summer of 2011 on the Kern River. It is mostly the Lower Kern and does include a little carnage. It was a great summer to be in California. I had been guiding on the Kern for the last 3 years and it ramped up snow pack each year I was there.  The Lower Kern is a premier commercial Class IV raft trip. I love the Kern River Tours family and hope to return every year for more fun to make videos and write about! The last little bit of this was shot on the Upper Kern River during a high water guide training trip. It shows two lines through the rapid, letting you see first hand how little margin there is for error when playing out on the river. Even on the “easier” runs.

This video is of my little brother Hayden Nickell. He is ridiculously talented on the Slackline. He recently came in 4th in the National competition. Slacklining is a crazy sport, requiring a mental game that I just do not have. I was scared out of my mind just helping him set up the damn thing.  Pulling on the end of a line that is pulling back at you over the edge of a cliff is not my idea of a good time. But he really enjoys it and I was really ecstatic to see him set one up and walk on it a couple times for us.  I hope you enjoy a quick glimpse of what its like to be my brother for a moment.

Scott Sady getting ready to be amongst it!

Jordan Golnik enjoying a beautiful day.

This post is dedicated to 3D images and videos I have created. If you enjoy them please share them! This film looks better in HD. You need 3D glasses to view this film properly! This was shot with the GoPro HD Hero 3D system.

A 3D image of a raft going over a waterfall!

Raft over a 20+ foot Dam in Northern California.

Get a free pair of 3D glasses here!
rainbowsymphony.com/free-3d-glasses.html

Special thanks to:

GoPro
Kokatat
ColoradoKayak
Aire
SashaCoben.com
WhiteWaterAssault.com

Go on a commercial class V adventure on the Kern River in 3D.

The personal first descent. Ones first journey down a run. This is where the saying of “you only get to run something blind once” comes from. It is such a cool feeling not knowing what is about to happen. What is around the next corner. I love the feeling of the unknown…… sometimes I have been getting alot of these kind of experiences lately. Being relatively new to the Northern California area it seems as though almost every time I go boating I get on a different river. My last two trips have been extra extra special. I will tell you of my latest trip first. I got my first experience with the San Joaquin River. It is so glorious down there. The run I did comes out of Mammoth Pools Resevoir. It is a granite wonderland. You can see the Crucible from the Devils Postpile section further up stream. It has every aspect of California that people have come to know and love. Big granite mazes, slides, boulders, sheer cliffs locking you in, and big long rapids. This little run has seem very few takers due to crazy long logistics, and uncooperative flows. This past month has been great as Ca Edison needed to do some work on the turbines releasing around 1000cfs. Which just so happens to be an optimal flow for this run. I hope you enjoy my video below, which is also currently featured on American Whitewater’s webpage for the run.

I also journeyed to the South Fork of the Feather River. This gem comes right out the Little Grass Valley Resevoir, is very cold, starts out with a 10 foot boof move only to venture into more difficult terrain in the first mile. Enjoy this video I made.

Please enjoy a few photos my friend Andrew Pernicano took during our couple trips down to the San Joaquin.

Austin Nickell and Jon Chin on the hike into the run. p. Andrew Pernicano

Preparing for the day ahead. p. Andrew Pernicano

Austin breaks through a class V rapid above another even bigger class V rapid. P. Andrew Pernicano

So far the Fall season in California has been incredible. I love this place so much, from the people who share this appreciation, to the great places we each seek out. I have been lucky to get on a could different runs so far this Fall. I started it out with a really great river fest. Feather River Fest 2011! There were lots of big name boaters there like Jason Craig, Darin McQuoid and Shon Bullock to name a few. With a great bang for your buck class V run like Tobin on the NF Feather even the most hardcore of boaters can find satisfaction. While it seemed as though everyone was on Tobin there were appx 500 people at this event! The NF Feather is a really special area. Right out of the Dam is Rock Creek a class III section of whitewater that even has a 6 foot boof to start practicing on. Unfortunately I was unable to get any video of this run as we scooted right though it. Below Rock Creek lies the infamous Tobin run. This run is great, the second your heart starts to pick up the pace lets off. Did I mention its like 2 miles long and road side the whole way? and last but certainly not least is Lobin. This is a great class IV run with really fun moves. However while it remains mostly class IV in nature it still served up heavy amounts of carnage with stories of people swimming out of sieves and lots of other good swim stories. Enjoy the video I put together below.

nf feather tobin eddy

With a summer such as this one every day encouraged a new story making it difficult to pick a place to begin. I jumped at every opportunity that came my way, with each endeavor being more personally monumental than the last. It started this spring, teaching swiftwater rescue in torrential down pours. The precipitation proved to be the precursor to record high water during the summer months. I kayaked the biggest and most difficult runs of my life, managed a commercial whitewater rafting outfit and in my spare time got down 9 personal first decents plus went on many other adventures. While there were many goods, such as canyoneering Dinkey Creek, the few bads such as dealing with the loss of two good friends plus my grandmother gave me a reality check regarding life and the sport of kayaking.

Willie Kern Slide, Photo Brandon Sweet

Flash back to April: Spring is winding down and the smell of high water is in the air. All over the Sierra Mountains are reports of record snowpack and waters on the rise. Sasha and I packed up the family- two dogs, a truck, the WhiteWaterAssault Vehicle and a trailer. We are heading to the Kern River for the third season and are excited for the new experiences and all the potential opportunity of the snowpack.

Austin Nickell on UpperBrush (photo-Darin McQuoid

My season really took off with “a bang,” ie: the Brush Creek Race. A few friends, who also happen to be fellow Kokatat Ambassadors/Team Members, came down to Kern River Festival for a boatload of fun including the race and the opportunity to run Upper Brush the day after the race. The tone was certainly set for the season.

Understanding the astronomical tone to the big summer, I took off in search of more water. I went on trips to the Upper and Lower South Fork Kaweah, Lower North Fork Kaweah, Middle Tule, East Fork Kaweah, South Fork of the Middle Tule (also known as the Nelson Branch of the Tule), as well as making it into Dinkey Creek, twice. I got on the Forks of the Kern, which was well over 4,000 CFS, making it a personal record-high. I threw relaxation to the wolves determined to take advantage of every bit of spare time I could rummage up while managing Kern River Tours.

I learned so much this season, it’s been incredible pushing myself to the limit of my abilities. Dinkey was in full force this year. A friend showed interest in going and we decided to go for it. The water was higher than expected and we made the poor decision of jumping the portage instead of rappelling. This decision cost me my equipment. There is now a lot of focus driven towards this particular portage because of my own carnage being in such close proximity to a fatality in the rapid just below.

Daniele Tira lost his life by being sucked into the rapid just below the portage, which has a tremendous amount of water flowing into a sieve. My partner and I hiked down to where his equipment eddied out and made plans for evacuation. We knew a helicopter was in the area looking for Daniele and we were hoping to make contact with it in the event it flew down the canyon again.

Around dusk another group of boaters showed up and after explaining our situation, they decided to camp with us for the evening offering up food, clothing and everything else they had. I will never forget their selflessness and am very grateful to them.

After a mildly uncomfortable night next to the fire we all woke up and devised a plan. We decided that the group would paddle out the rest of the way and contact the Sheriff helicopter to schedule a pickup. My new friends graciously escorted my partner out and I prepared to await help on my granite perch between two beautiful 20+ foot waterfalls – not the worst place to spend a few days, I suppose.

Just as they were packing up their boats we heard the buzzing of the helicopter looking for Daniele. Once we got the attention of the pilot, he swooped in low dropping a small canister with some yellow caution tape attached to it. Inside was a note that read if you have an emergency, everyone sit down. Once everyone was sitting, he flew away briefly and returned minutes later dropping his partner off on our granite slab camp. I explained myself to the man who was relieved to know there was no life-threatening emergency – having dealt with Daniele’s death the day prior.
The helicopter swooped back to pick me up. I had to leave everything minus the gear I was wearing, on a granite slab in the middle of nowhere. We flew down the entire canyon and arrived at Balch camp in less than 10 minutes. The aerial view allowed me to look at the very dense forest that we were surrounded by.

The pilot dropped me off one block from my take-out vehicle. I drove into Fresno in order to grab a bite to eat and some cold beer for the others at the take out. When I arrived back at the take-out I was surprised to find my friend Dylan Nichols with three other boaters. It was Felix, Sven and Lars Lammler. They put on that morning and were already at the take-out. They had passed our group and told me to expect them within the next couple hours. Dylan and the Lammlers took off quickly as they were only in California for a bit and they were ready to move on to set even more records throughout the west coast. I waited about an hour until the crew arrived from a long and demanding day on the water. I could not thank them enough for escorting my boating partner down the river or for their incredible selflessness the night before.

We parted ways as a busy weekend was in store at work. Looking back, I realize there are a lot of things I would do differently. I can now use this experience as a learning tool- even though it brings a small amount of embarrassment and humility. I now know the severe importance that is: go with larger groups, go with someone that knows the run, and take your time- if you’re hungry, eat; if you’re tired, rest. These things help maintain a positive mental capacity, assisting in the making of good choices. And as Geoff Calhoun put it while we were perched on our granite slab camp, always plan for the worst but hope for the best.

Dinkey Creek throw and go. With a backpack.

After such an event, I found it a little difficult to move forward. I vowed that I would hike in and retrieve my brightly colored, expensive litter from that beautiful granite slab in the middle of nowhere. About a month after the first trip, I put together a crew for a canyoneering/gear retrieval mission. I knew it was going to be a huge undertaking with the Manzanita being so thick. As it turned out, the Manzanita was so thick in spots we had to crawl on our hands and knees. Things got even more difficult as the poison oak filled the void that was our path.

The team rallied together and drove to the put in on a Monday evening. After getting turned around a few times trying to find Ross Crossing, we arrived at the put in around 4 AM on Tuesday. We power napped for two hours before busting out the hike to the creek. We made really good time, reaching, what in my mind, was the crux of the run before lunchtime. Starting at the Willie Kern drop and ending somewhere around the Good Morning Slide, one of the steepest and most gorged out areas of our trip, we had to climb creatively. We were jumping, rappelling when needed and were able to negotiate the area in good time.

At this point we were nearing my equipment. When we finally arrived I came to find I was missing one bag entirely, another bag was ripped open and only one remained intact. Regardless I was excited to be reunited with a lot of the things I thought I had lost. The excitement levels were lowered a bit when I picked up my newly weighted pack; this was going to be a long haul out. Dave Osada and myself decided to wait it out and finish our hike in the morning after stumbling over uneven ground, doing numerous creek crossings and being cliffed out in the dark. While the three others in our group were a ways ahead of us making it out in the daylight. We awoke in the morning to find that we were only ¼ mile from the take-out.

dinkey canyoneering night shot (photo- austin nickell)

I returned to the Kern River for one evening to pack up and drive straight to Nevada City where I met up with Sasha for a night before running off on another adventure: teaching a rescue course geared towards kayakers. The course was fantastic; I love teaching, and I always feel as though I end up learning just as much as the students do. This class was followed by three more days of technical rope rescue. We ran through rope systems including complex mechanical advantage, high-lines with midpoint drops, vertical extraction and haul techniques; I love working with ropes and learning as much as I can in that department of rescue. It is always a phenomenal experience to work beside firemen, sheriffs, military personnel and the many other folks dedicated to safety.

Teaching Kayak Rescue.

In light of recent experiences I have been pondering many questions. How do I help promote the education of rescue and safe boating? How can I personally impact the future of whitewater accidents? While my boating experiences have been the best times of my life, I hope that by sharing my story it makes people realize the seriousness of whitewater. Receiving the most safety education you can will only help yourself and others. It promotes smart decisions in critical moments. Teaching Swiftwater Rescue is my way of giving back. No one is invincible to the consequences of Class V whitewater. But being able to paddle Class V is equally humbling as it is rewarding and constantly reminds me to never take a minute’s time for granted. Allen Satcher and Daniele Tira, you will be missed and always remembered. We will continue to boat for the same reason you did, for the love of the water.

Please enjoy this video of my summer.

Dinkey Creek is a phenomenal place to be. It is a true taste of California with that classic High Sierra granite and beautiful waterfalls. Having attempted this canyon earlier in the season, with much higher water and less than optimal outcome, I was drawn to go back to give this canyon the respect it was demanding from me. I had ventured in there with around 400cfs on a kayaking trip and was disconnected from my equipment requiring a ride out in a helicopter, but more on that another time. On my second trip three out of us five finished in the evening of the second day, while Dave Osada and myself stretched it out an extra day so we didn’t have to hike into the night. I believe that three days is an excellent amount of time. This was an awesome trip and I would not trade this experience for anything in the world.

Dinkey Creek Backpacking Logistics.

Put In and Take Out information can be found here : Darin McQuoid’s River Directory and even more information on AmericanWhitewater!

Trip Length: Only 6 miles

Amount of time:  2-3 days depending on pack size and group effenciency

Flow: 70 cfs. When we went in we wanted to see it with some water, even though the water was really low it played a huge roll in our decision making. For a more straight forward trip I would wait for zero cfs.  Dinkey Creek Dreamflows Gauge

Backpacking Difficulty: I would say this is a very difficult backpacking trip, and a less difficult canyoneering trip. There are virtually no trails, so good route finding skills are a must. Each drop presented a unique puzzle requiring some creative route finding.

Overall Review: This trip is highly recommended to someone who has done everything else. Plan on getting covered head to toe in poison oak. River knowledge comes in very handy as there are countless crossings. There are fewer rappels than anticipated but a couple seemingly mandatory ones. We evaded quite a few rappels by throwing our packs down the cliff and jumping in after them. Please enjoy a few photos below from our trip, and be sure to check back as I am putting together a small video tour of the trip.

The Take-Out bridge. Photo - Austin Nickell

Austin Nickell rappels a waterfall in Dinkey Creek. Photo- Brandon Sweet

Brandon Sweet and James Boster swimming out below the sieve portage. Photo- Matt Ziock

A night shot at camp. Photo - Austin Nickell

Another night shot from camp on Dinkey Creek. Photo- Austin Nickell

A panorama of camp. Photo- Matt Ziock

Austin Nickell and Matt Ziock negotiate Dinkey Creek. Photo- Brandon Sweet

Paying our respects to Daniele Tira, an Italian kayaker and friend who died in this rapid 2011. Photo-Brandon Sweet.

After a rappel at Willie Kern's drop on Dinkey Creek. Photo- Brandon Sweet

This was a-typical on this trip. Thow the backpack and jump in after it! Photo- Brandon Sweet

I could not have been more excited to get on this run. I had been looking at it since I was able to get on the run lower a few weeks ago. Where this run ends there is a confluence and thus the different fork for an upper run. This run started out crazy with a 30foot waterfall just a quarter mile downstream.
This incredible falls has another difficult drop directly below it but had a really great line down the right. Hopefully with minimal reconnect at the bottom. One in our group took a good hit while the rest of us had relatively easier reconnects.

Austin Nickell Upper Tule, photo by Eric Giddens

Evan Moore on the Upper Tule, photo Eric Giddens

Evan Moore dropping into the crack drop, directly below the 30 footer. We were all surprised at how good the run stayed!

Austin Nickell Upper Tule, photo by Eric Giddens

Austin Nickell Upper Tule, photo by Eric Giddens

And it just stayed great!

Austin Nickell Upper Tule, photo by Eric Giddens

here is a video edit from the run!

So far this season I have had the opportunity to go to the South Fork of the Kaweah twice. Once with high hopes of running the upper and backing down after arriving with the water being a little to high for what I wanted that day. The group split in half, with 5 who went into the Upper stretch and I went with the 5 who went into the Lower. The Shatner Ranch run, thus titled because it flows directly through William Shatners property. He also happens to live on a class 4 rapid. I will post the video towards the bottom here. On my second trip up I was able to complete my goal of running the Upper South Fork Kaweah. What a great run it is and we really had a great crew that day. We met up with 3 Italians who had been on a tour of California and headed up river. The Hammer Crew was awesome, those guys had such great spirits and were a huge blessing to boat with.

South Fork Falls Spencer Josif, photo by Eric Giddens

This run is very challenging and I would imagine it is also very flow sensitive. There is hardly any beta online for this run, however I do know of quite a few other groups getting it this season. This run was very stacked and technical with an opportunity for a 20 foot waterfall.

Above Upper
Below Lower (Shatner Ranch Run)

The Tule river is one drainage over from the Kern. It lies right in between the Kern and Kaweah drainage’s and has really loving characteristics from both of its neighboring canyons. There were quite a few of us on this trip as well as two rafters. Andrew Pernicano was the only one to have run it prior but with different flows. There are tons of rapids, and horizon lines the whole entire way. We made good time portaging when necessary, scouting and having adequate safety. The rafters did very well, some of the run was pure comedy because the raft could hardly fit in the channel. We had minimal carnage and ran some awesome drops. There are definitely rattlesnakes abundant. There is some really random graffiti as this area has been frequented by people less appreciative of outdoor places in their natural state. It definitely makes me sad but being so close to roads, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, etc… there are just to many people. Regardless this canyon had such a raw natural beauty that I will be forever drawn back. I hope you enjoy a video I made about this trip. I really like this video and am happy to share it with you.

for more beta on the run please visit. AWetState.com

In attempts to continue pushing myself I have been exploring as much of my backyard as possible. Having the pleasure of living on the Kaweah river a couple year ago forever imprinted the beauty of the area into my mind. I have an unusual draw to this area and will find myself returning year after year. Even though I feel as though I have explored a few different forks of the Kaweah, I have not even begun to scratch the surface here. This is a great run with an opportunity for a 24′ waterfall Cherry Falls. I was pleased to get to run this stretch with Spencer Josif, Evan Moore and Johnny Chase. This is the local young guns crew from Kernville, Ca. Always a pleasure to run with them!

Evan Moore pulling through on one last stroke, Photo by Austin Nickell

Johnny Chase on Cherry Falls, Photo by Austin Nickell

Please enjoy a video edit I was able to put together of this run.

For more beta on the run please check out Daniel Brasuell’s writeup.

Upper Brush Creek, Class V

This year I was able to get into Upper Brush Creek. Quite a few friends were in town for the Kern River Festival. The day after the Brush Creek race was plans to get on Upper Brush Creek. There have been many years when Brush does not get above 1.5 on the bridge gauge. This year we had above 3.5 on the gauge for almost 2 months. I have heard that 3.5 is pretty optimal for this run, above 4 and it starts to become really hairy. There is alot of portaging, as well as intense eddy hopping between log portages. There was alot of work involved to get this run and I definitely enjoyed it thoroughly. For really good beta on the run please check out Daniel Brasuell’s write up on the run. Darin McQuoid also has a wonderful write up with alot more photo’s.

Mary and Jane, Photo by Darin McQuoid

I also made a video edit of the run if you have a couple moments please enjoy.

*Update – I was able to get on the Forks with Will Stubblefield, David Clark, Andrew Matthews and Knox Vansandt during the high water of 2011. The water was absolutely pumping that day. The gauge said around 4,000. Could not have asked for a better crew, as we were able to negotiate the run in record time. It took us about 4 hours with two portages, vortex and carsons. As well as one swim. We decided to run westwall a large/long class V rapid. I was leading towards the end of the rapid crossed over towards river right and dropped into a pour over sideways surfing out and then swimming. My boat floated away as I climbed up onto some rocks on river right, I decided to jump in and swim after my boat as the rapid was basically over. I was able to reconnect with my kayak shortly downstream. On my entry I cracked my shin on a rock splitting it open to the bone. Keeping a cool head I was able help keep downstream progress and we still finished in just 4 hours. Please enjoy the video edit I was able to make from that trip.

A beautiful place in which I hope to return. Many times.

Below: Vortex Rapid, Forks of the Kern, Class V, Close to 3,000cfs

Vortex Rapid, Class V, Austin Nickell swims James Puett at Vortex

Dumping James and Casey out of the raft again.

Four Mile Rapid, Forks of the Kern

Thanks to Ryan Copenhagen for the photos.

This was the first trip down the forks for the 2010 season. On my second trip down I had the thrill of flipping off of the Dice Rock located at the bottom of Westwall, aka Confusion. However, I was able to jump on to the rock as the raft was flipping and jump back on the raft avoiding the water. Dry Flip! This was not the case for a customer and fellow raft guide Brandon Sweet. They were retrieved quickly, and I continued down stream on the up side down raft till about 1/4 -1/2 mile above Carson Falls.

Tex and Dave Krog shred Carson Falls, Upper Kern, Class V

Austin Nickell Vortex Rapid, Forks of the Kern, Class V

The Kern River Festival has been running annually for 47 year now. It has many different races that include paddling self-made crafts down class II whitewater to dropping a series of waterfalls on Brush Creek. Brush Creek is one of my favorite runs for the fun factor. It has a lot of the characteristics of higher sierra runs but with less intense drops and fewer consequence. I was hoping to get a little more practice time in but working as the Manager of a rafting company makes it difficult to get away. Brush Creek hit 5 on the gauge the week before and I was able to get a couple practice laps down it, there is some footage of this trip at the end of the video below. This year was my first time competing in kayaking. It was a really good experience, and I will definitely be doing it again. One of the best parts of this weekend was that all my friends were there racing and being supporters.

Local paddling hero Rose Schermerhorn.

I went into the race feeling really confident about the giant slalom and a little more nervous about the down river race. With people like Eric Giddens charging out front it’s hard to keep up! The Giant Slalom part of the race was the best. The opportunity to run the steepest section while trying to go around gates, tap another gate with your paddle as you fall 12 feet down, do a quick roll, and then do another 10 foot slide and toss your paddle through the air. Oh yea, try not to swim after you toss your paddle because the landing is SQUIRLEY! I did how ever miss a gate on the Giant Slalom and was docked a few seconds taking me out of the running for top 3. But really everyone who went out paddled awesome and took home their winnings in the form of a good time. This year there were more girls competing than ever before, and they absolutely killed it. I think the loudest cheering was for Sage Donnelly, who was also selling hand made earrings in the parking lot between races to support her friend and fellow team mate Jason Craig.

Sage Donnelly getting her down river race on!

Darin McQuoid also made it down from the higher snow country for the race. We also took a day to explore the upper section of Brush Creek. It was really full on with a few large rapids, and a lot more heinous portaging, more to come on this later. All in all it was a great weekend and I was very fortunate to get to spend time with such great people. Next year at the race I am hoping for a couple things. I would like to see an r2 raft category, given the right flows. And if someone could please de-thrown the king of Brush Creek Eric Giddens before their new addition starts to pick up a paddle. Otherwise the winner’s circle will have the Giddens in it for many years to come, which isn’t a bad thing by any means. A huge thank you to both Eric and Rebecca for making this race possible. Put this down on your calendars for next year, cause its going to be the best one yet!

Being able to enjoy the river safely has always been a priority, but when working with a dynamic medium such as moving water, one can not always prevent accidents. My first introduction to Swiftwater Rescue was back in March of 2008. I took a two day class with Mike Mather, was completely hooked and was looking to increase my education in every way possible. Over the last few years, along with Swiftwater Rescue, I have worked as a commercial raft guide and have learned many more ways to create safe river experiences. I have found myself thinking though, that while my education and experience in river safety and rescue can benefit myself and others around me, what’s going to happen when I get into trouble? I’ve come to the conclusion that I teach because I not only want to educate myself with as much rescue knowledge as possible, I want everyone else around me to do so as well. It benefits the boating community as a whole when everyone is prepared and knowledgable to the best of their ability. Of course things inevitably go wrong but being prepared can make or break a situation.

Traverse Creek Falls

Kayaking has recently been shoved into the spotlight with athletes pushing the limits of the sport. Dropping very large waterfalls- up to 100 feet, is what is getting kayakers recognized. I leave judgement on what is within safe limits to each individual though. Two of kayaking’s biggest names recently experienced life changing accidents. My friend and fellow whitewater enthusiast Jason Craig was one of them. Because of the people he was with, their education, confidence and experience with whitewater and medical rescue he will live to walk and kayak another day. For more information on the Jason Craig recovery fund click here!

Being able to flip an upside down raft is important an important safety technique for any rafter

This winter California has experienced record setting amounts of precipitation. This past weekend I taught a class on the South Fork of the American River at flood stage water levels, we were swimming in over 6,000cfs. Whether I am boating or swimming in the river I trust no brand like I trust Kokatat to keep me dry and safe. The spring/summer season seems to be lining up as one of the biggest we have seen in years. This has most of the whitewater community feeling quite anxious to see what the spring run-off will bring. Now is the best time to educate yourself. There are more private boaters taking rescue classes than ever before. It is very exciting to see so many people interested in being safe on the water and wanting to know what to do when accidents arise.

Check out sierrarescue.com and swiftwaterrescue.com for more info

I highly recommend that everyone who frequents the river be educated in First Aid and Swiftwater Rescue techniques. Even if you have been boating for 20 plus years there are new safety techniques arising all the time. Also, if you don’t regularly practice these techniques they can be easily forgotten. When was the last time you practiced with throw bag coils? How many different ways can you think of un wrapping a boat, with out using mechanical advantage? How quickly could you setup a cinch to help out a pinned kayaker? I know that when I don’t use this knowledge frequently it slips out of my mind. By educating yourself you will have the ability to help out in a sticky situation, or a friend in need. Just like the flow of the river, ideas and concepts change all the time and the only way to learn these is to submerse yourself in knowledge. One of the most fun and interesting courses I have ever taken was a Wilderness First Responder course. I have used this information on multiple occasions and it’s great info for everyone to know, even non-boaters. Sierra Rescue/ Rescue 3 West offers classes for everyone from the rescue professional to the private whitewater enthusiast. Rescue 3 International is the leader in rescue certifications and is internationally recognized. It is even possible to obtain a Bachelors Degree in Rescue through the University of Central Lancashire. Check out Sierra Rescue’s website for more information on classes and their new website specifically tailored to rescue techniques and whitewater information, swiftwaterrescue.com. Educate yourself and the people around you to fully enjoy your whitewater adventures!

We were fortunate that Sasha Coben was available and willing to make the mile long trek though poison oak and at many points we were all just walking knee deep in the creek. Definitely one tough photographer. Please check out her blog post and many more photo’s here.

http://sashacoben.blogspot.com/2011/03/traverse-creek-falls.html

Traverse Creek Falls is a wonderful park and huck located just 15 minutes outside of Placerville, Ca. This was definitely a winter to be in Northern California. With record setting precipitation all of the more obscure runs have been in with force! I was lucky enough to get to run these falls with great flow making for a really soft landing. Everyone that came ran the falls multiple times. While there is a pool above and below the drop making it appear very clean there is a IV-V rapid just downstream that makes swimming more consequential. Please enjoy the video I made of our trip!

This is the Bear River Falls, from outside sources I have heard that its alias name is Banana Falls. Just outside of Auburn, California is this really great waterfall. I would say it seemed more like a little over 30 feet tall, but I do not know the actual height. I cropped together a little video to show you what it looked like up top, and what it took to run it. I did include some narrowly avoided carnage. I miss-calculated a few things and ended up dropping backwards. There was a moment when I chose to commit to running it fakey. It wasn’t plan A, but it wasn’t the end of the world. It ended up going a lot more smoothly than I was anticipating at the lip. The second time I got messed with a little more at the top, but came around to the lip on line and even took a piece of the boof.

Austin Nickell's second huck. Sasha Coben Photography

Photo by Darin McQuoid, Kayaker Austin Nickell

Photo by Darin McQuoid - Kayaker Austin Nickell

Bear River Falls, aka Banana Falls