Royal Gorge, California

This summer was the best summer of my life. We started out having a nice long PNW spring/summer with plenty of flow up here in WA, and then we continued our stoke into the best place to kayak ever, California! We rolled into Tahoe late one night and packed our stuff for 3 days on the royal gorge. I had heard so much about cali overnighters so clearly I was real stoked. Immediately blown away by the incredible granite slabs and rolling hills of California, we met up with a huge crew of stout runners. The crew was myself, EG,Ben Brown,Rush Sturges, Benny Marr, Dan Simenc(skippy), Shannon Carrol, Katie Scott, Robby Hogg, and of course the notorious Seiler brothers.We put on with our boats packed up and bumped down a little bit of mank we shortly got to Heath springs gorge with 2 awesome waterfalls back to back, heath 1 and 2. All photos by Robby Hogg.




Heath one is a very cool 40 footer with a stout entrance that you can run if you want. Treats. All Day

Just after Heath 1, the Gorge turns a small corner, then heath 2 looms. Heath 2 is Another beautiful drop which lands in a badass gorge with a small exit. It has a cave on the left so running far right is the best choice. We fell off these waterfalls one by one! 12 people! It was a glorious huckfest!!!!



Ben Brown Droppin into Heath 2!



This is a big one to boof-stomp but hey.... when in rome.

After Exiting heath 2, there is a really cool gorge with tight walls and sick whitewater for a couple miles.



Cali Scenery.... It aint too bad.



Then you arrive at Camp at Rattlesnake falls.Camping on Cali overnighters is truly an awesome experience... Its warm, never really rains, and there are stars filling the sky.



The Camp, and most of the crew, Camp One at rattlesnake falls.



Cali Livin! No tents, no bullshit.

We awoke to the roar of the nearby rattlesnake falls. We then proceeded to devour the stout for breakfast.



Eg layin some serious late-evening treats here as fellow crew look on.



Myself droppin rattlesnake in the sunny california morning.

We continued downstream to one of the most infamous drops in all of the land, Scott's Drop.

This thing is a savage 40ish to 40ish footer that has some really serious consequences. 4 people in our group decided It looked good to go.



The Savage Beast.

Rush went first. He drove up on the curler and pulled a crazy sick boof off the top drop.



All there is left to say is... BOOM!

Then EG went.



Evan 2/3 way down Scott's.

Then Skippy proceeded to stick it, followed by the young baby bird... Ryan Lucas.



Baby Bird spreading his wings!!!!

Rush, Evan, Ryan, and Skippy all stuck this frothing stout, and continued to get the Royal Flush(or in other words running every major rapid in the royal gorge).



A nice lunch spot! BROWN!

We continued downstream on day 2 of stout running.

 



A sweet 20 ft split falls.

We arrived at the lip of the notorious Wabena falls sometime in the afternoon. This waterfall is a big boy for sure. Its about 65-70ft tall, with an entrance rapid and a funky flake on the lip. Luckily we had a huge group of Huckers... and 10 of us flew off it with varying success.



Up on the left you can see us all scouting it throughly.



Rush Droppin in!

After some good lines, and some bad ones we re-grouped and continued downstream. With 20 or so miles of class 4 left we camped out on our 2nd night on the river.



Camp night 2.

It became evident that mosquistos like young kiwi blood.



Baby Bird's back after an evening meal at camp.

Royal Gorge proved to be one of the most amazing rivers I have ever done. The scenery is awesome, the whitewater is absolutely incredible, and the crew was awesome!

Royal Gorge is the first edit in Bomb Flow episode 3! Check it out!