SURGICAL STRIKE: (Noun) an attack, usually without prior warning,
intended only to deal with a specific target.
A few months back, when flows were low across the Pacific Northwest, and the summer flows of the Little White had faded along with the color in the leaves, I was searching for something to run, and willing to go a long way to get it. My buddy Chris Totten, who lives up in Seattle, happened to be on his way back from a fishing trip with his dad in Idaho and stopped in La Grande for a beer break. We got to chatting about what to boat, and remembered that there were releases on the Ashlu into the fall. So we made a plan to get on it the final weekend of scheduled releases, which happened to be the next weekend!
After doing a little bit on interneting, I found the website where you request flows for the Box, and was able to talk to representatives from the hydroelectric company who assured me that flows would be available, I just had to make the request. Check it out here: www.innergex.com/kayak/
So I made the request, finished up work on Friday afternoon, and hopped in the rig, and thus began the Surgical Strike. The next morning, Chris and I met up with Adrian Wigston, another friend from seattle, rearranged the gear, made sure we had our passports, and set off to Canada.
We went straight to the put-in for the box, got out of our car, and were immediately given beer and other goodies from some new Canadian friends that showed up a minute after us. They were just cruising about the woods having a good time, and wanted to make us feel welcome. Gotta love those Candians, aye!
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| Stoked to be at the Put-in! |
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| Amazing scenery and a super stout drop |
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| Sequence of Adrian and I dropping in |
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| One of so many perfect drops! |
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| One. |
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| And two. |
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| Totten on one of the final boofs. |
Signing off,
Matt
