Annual Lower Lewis Huckfest

Every year as water levels on the Little White and White Salmon River begin to fade from their optimal flows whitewater connoisseurs of the Columbia River Gorge head North in search of water. This year after doing some paddling in British Columbia, Griff Griffith showed up at our house with slalom friends Liam Malakoff, Rogan Brown, Nic Borst, and Luke Palko-Schraa for some quality summer paddling in the Columbia River Gorge. While I was busy at work at the Kayak Shed, Griff showed the boys down the truss, where they got their first taste of the CRG's kick-ass whitewater. As soon as I got off work we rallied up to the Lewis River for a camp 'n huck mission. We camped out at the Lower Lewis Campground, and the next morning awoke ready to huck. As everyone hauled their boats to the put-in I set up safety in case anyone ended up in the river left cave or behind the vail. Griff, a highly experienced stoutmaster, was first to fire 'er off and dialed a clean plug before hitting the pool below. Rogan, Luke, and Liam had never before run a waterfall of this height, but they all made hucking this stout look easy and steezy. Nic, who is also a developing stouter, fired off this bad boy and did a sideways stomp to finish 'er off. I was last to give 'er, and coming off the lip a little hot landed a little bit over-vert. Here's how we favored.

Griff

Luke & his phatty boof-stomp

Rogan

Nic

Liam at the lip

My line from the paddler's perspective

Taking it all in

Mt. Adams (the lifeblood of The Lewis River, White Salmon, Little White, and many more)

The Crew in our Chop-Top Suby (this thing can mob)

Photos by Liam Malakoff

All in all I had great time getting to take these homies up to Lower Falls, one of my local favorites. Everyone held their own on this drop, and we were all so amped that afterwards we rallied up to the Cispus River for a quick lap before heading home. This will probably be the last of my PNW hucking for this season, but worry not. Soon I'll be in Mexico, the land of countless stouts, tan ladies and good times, and you can count on many more in-depth blog posts with pictures to blow you pants off.

See you South of the border

-Todd