I must confess that it has really grown on me over the years. It is a perfect icon in a region where there are more bigfoot sightings than anywhere on the planet and where people really do try scrape things together to make something new.
A giant pile of metal in downtown Happy Camp is really nothing to take note of. There are abandoned buildings, small engine repair shops, a laundry mat/shower facility and other endeavors where junk can really blend in. However, in the late 90's we watched this pile of metal grow and start to morph into something. We never saw anyone working on it, but it was our favorite game as guides those summers to guess what it was going to become. (Yes, I said summers, as it took years to complete). A few of the first guesses included a metal raft, a giant pizza cooker, and a gold dredge. While we were all praying for a pizza cooker, it soon started to take on a humanoid shape and we were convinced it was just going to be some robot. Eventually, it was erected downtown as a giant bigfoot and the metal hair shavings grew week to week.
I must confess that it has really grown on me over the years. It is a perfect icon in a region where there are more bigfoot sightings than anywhere on the planet and where people really do try scrape things together to make something new.
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Rivers are often an avenue to get to places otherwise inaccessible. Many who float the Grand Canyon of the Colorado (myself included) feel the highlight is exploring the innumerable side canyons. While the Klamath may not have quite the fame or grandeur of the Colorado, it does have one of the most beautiful side hikes on the planet. I have had the good fortune to hike up Ukonom Creek well over a hundred times and it never gets old. Crystal Clear water, incredibly diverse flora and, of course, a spectacular twin falls at the end. Below are some pics from this past week. Mark your calendars for September 3-12! This course is ideal for the river guide, youth pastor, hunter, fisherman or any other adventurer. The Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course is designed to provide you with the tools to make critical medical and evacuation decisions in remote locations. Classroom lectures and demonstrations are combined with realistic scenarios where mock patients will challenge you to integrate your learning. Learning takes place both in our covered classroom and in outdoor settings regardless of weather conditions. Come prepared for wet, muddy, cold or hot environments. However, the weather in this area is typically spectacular in early September. (80's and sunny) Prerequisites: No previous first aid training is required. You must be 16 years old to attend this course. Certification: Participants are required to pass both written and practical examinations to obtain WFR and CPR certification. Successful course completion earns you a WMI Adult & Child CPR certification and a WMI Wilderness First Responder certification. EMTs will earn a Wilderness EMT certification. All certifications are current for two years. College Credit: 3-4 semester credits are available from WMI-affiliated colleges and universities. More info... Contact us for pricing, more info and to reserve your spot! (Max of 20 participants). We're really doing it. Thirteen years and 11 kids (between us) since we last raced, the team is heading down tomorrow for the US Rafting championships on the Salmon. We really have no idea how competitive we will be, but we have put in some serious training and weight loss. Getting four guys with careers and kids into the same raft has proved almost impossible, but our wives have showed incredible patience and I have the privilege of racing with three of my best friends. Todd, Scott, John and I all grew up guiding for Adventure Whitewater and were fortunate enough to win 4 national titles in the late 90's. Salmon River here we come!! Most of you who come up to the river have met Shasta. She may have eaten your frisbee, played fetch at the swimming hole (despite barely being able to swim), eaten your leftovers or, most likely, tried to snuggle into your sleeping bag. I was EXTREMELY skeptical of getting a boxer nine years ago. Rumor was they hated water and couldn't swim...not exactly a glowing endorsement for a river dog. However, I lost a cribbage championship to my wife for dog picking rights and a boxer it was. It feels cliche writing how perfect she was with my young daughters or how she loved the river so much that when we said the word 'river' she would run laps around the house tearing up the hardwoods. She also became the best fishing dog I could imagine as she provided companionship and never scared the fish by jumping in. We lost Shasta to cancer this past fall. I took her down to Paradise Point two days before we had to say goodbye and got to watch her eyes light up one last time. So, I'm not a skeptic anymore. Boxers are great. We welcomed the next river dog into our family a couple months ago and my girls named her Roxie. (I lobbied for several more river oriented options but was badly outnumbered). Roxie is training hard to be river ready this summer. She has already chewed up one frisbee and REALLY likes to snuggle. She has big paws to fill. Its hard to imagine the Klamath River as anything else than 70+ degree water and 90 degree air temps while rafting through the dry canyon in summer. However, the Klamy changes dramatically with the seasons. Spring brings snowmelt and the chance to see the Klamath as a raging torrent as well as kayak and raft all of the beautiful tributaries (Clear Creek, Salmon). Fall brings the salmon and colors to the river. The trees this year were more orange and yellow than I can remember. Lately though, I have been falling in love with winter on the river. It does snow a few times a year around Happy Camp and we had a good snow storm in early December that piled up over a foot at Paradise Point. No one rafts. The river is the domain of elk, otters, steelhead and a few fishermen who go after them. This past week I drove for 60miles along the river and saw exactly zero people on the water. The river is an emerald green and a balmy 38 degrees. Floating down in drift boat almost felt like exploring it for the first time. Here are a few pics. Happy New Years! While Rattlesnake, Jr. High Destroyer and Dragons tooth, don't quite crack into the company of the elite rapids in the world, the Klamath River is where a crew of Adventure Whitewater guides trained for the Rafting World Championships in the late 90's and early 2000's. Guides from AWW won the U.S. Championships in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000! Each of those years 2-5 AWW guides represented the USA in the World Rafting Championships which were held in in Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, South Africa and Zambia respectively. Well, the USA rafting championships are coming to the State of Jefferson May 2-4 of 2014!!! Apparently, they will be held on the Salmon River, which comes into the Klamath River about 19 miles downriver from Paradise Point (we offer trips there in May and early June). I feel like Christmas came early!! The event will likely include a slalom race down class IV rapids with gates (picture kayaking in the olympics) and a downriver race through class IV and V with a mass start. With the blessings (and belly laughs) of our wives, four of the old crew are putting a team back together. We will attempt to collectively lose over 100lbs and the effects of 11 total children to be competative...we will need a Christmas miracle. If you have been around Adventure Whitewater, you've probably seen Kelly Clinton driving around in his beige painted, Ford Fiesta modified, smashed up, toad on the hood truck. Kelly is our beloved caretaker and his stories, wisdom and friendship have graced us for the past 13 years at Paradise Point. If you have never seen the following documentary on Kelly, IT IS A MUST WATCH. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbLn_Kmyv3w If you would like to send Kelly a Christmas Card this year he would love it (He may pretend not to, but he hangs them all up in his cabin) Kelly Clinton PO BOX 420 Happy Camp CA 96039 A little parting wisdom from Kelly: "You can clutter your life up with so much stuff that you can't move. People don't need as much as they think they do. It's a human thing." Judy's Klamath Story “The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life. It bubbles up in pools and eddies to remind you who you are.” This quote is attached to a photograph that hangs on the wall in my office, a photo of my husband and me floating down the Klamath River in our yellow Sotar , with our kids paddling in an IK behind us. It’s a picture I treasure and stare at often. I love the Klamath. I love the way it sounds. I love the way it smells. I love the way it feels when I bathe in it at the end of a long hot day. I love the memories it holds. I can not separate who I am today from that river. It was the place that molded me, that opened my heart to truly know there is a God. The Klamath River runs like blood through my veins. It was the first river I ever rafted. I was 15 years old. Our youth pastor convinced an old college buddy, who lived near the Klamath, to take our church youth group down the river for a five day trip. With my brother, and twenty something other high schoolers from LA, we made the 15 hour drive up to the Klamath River. We piled into a bunch of rafts, some patched and barely holding air, with unseasoned raft guides and we experienced a river, and our lives were never ever the same. Our youth group came up again the next summer. That ragtag group of guides and some newer rafts officially became a company, Adventure Whitewater. I asked the owner, Gene, after my second summer trip if I could come guide for him when I finished high school. That would be several years away, seemed like forever. But he said, “Sure!” I don’t think he realized how serious I was....after I graduated I went up to work for him and I spent the next couple summers living the dream. What could be a better summer job? Living in the great outdoors for months, no need for clothing (a couple bathing suits, shorts, and a pair of tevas do the trick!), a sleeping bag and pad were my home and I got to do it all with my best friend and others who became dear friends. Every week was an adventure. Though the river became more familiar, the groups that came were new and our river “tales” fell on fresh ears. We got good at the storytelling, so good that sometimes we even started believing them. My dad always encouraged me to keep a journal, and I am glad I listened to him. Reading them now takes me right back. My favorite chapter in my river novel is the one where the Klamath gave me my soulmate, Joey. Some say their knight in shining armor showed up on a white horse. Mine showed up on a red achilles raft, with tan skin, blue eyes, and the warmest smile my heart has ever known. The next two summers were spent working the river together, 24/7. Sometimes when we didn’t have a trip, we babysat our boss’s 3 boys, cutest darned kids you ever did see. What a perfect place to get to know someone. What you see is what you get... no makeup, no cute clothes, sometimes no deodorant. We got to see the best and worst in each other, physically and emotionally. I remember stealing away at night, after the campers were turning in, and we were done with our responsibilities. We would lay our sleeping bags out next to each other’s, stare up at the stars and talk about all kinds of things we dreamed of, the song of the river accompanying those dreams. After two years of dating, my knight asked if I would marry him and the plans for our future unfolded. We talked of having children and taking them rafting, raising them to love and appreciate rivers and nature and what God has to teach us through them. I would imagine little tan blond haired kids playing on the river’s edge in the sand, riding the rapids in their life jackets, and tucking them into their bags under the stars at night. Several years later, that dream came true. We brought Michael (4) and Katie (2) to our “heaven on earth”, the Klamath River. We made our base camp at Cottage Grove, which is now owned by Adventure Whitewater and called Paradise Point. The rafting below Cottage Grove was class II, so a good place to start the little ones. Katie was our little “go getter”, willing to try anything. She climbed immediately into the raft with her dad as she clutched to her dollie. Michael, on the other hand, was quite hesitant and informed us he was not planning on getting in the raft. We told him he needed to get in or he would have to stay on the beach alone for the rest of the day while we rafted without him. Of course, that would have been one of those promises that parents make every now and again that we knew we couldn’t keep. But Michael didn’t know that. He jumped into the raft and, after the first small rapid around the bend, he was taken by the Klamath. Both kids were.... just as I had been as a teenager. For the rest of our summers raising the kids we brought them up to the Klamath, slowly introducing them to the bigger rapids, cliff jumping and the amazing hike to Ukonom Falls. Our dear friends with their two boys also joined us year after year. There is no vacation that can compare with a week on the river, especially these days when we are now so “connected” ALL THE TIME to technology. On the river it’s you and your family, and God, the water, the sun, the wildlife, the wind, and yes...sometimes the rain, but no other THING to distract us from appreciating the fullness of God’s creation. I wouldn’t trade one day we spent on the river with Katie and Michael for anything else, EVER! And the beat goes on..... Michael and Katie now guide for Adventure Whitewater, the same company Joey and I guided for 27 years ago. And remember my boss’s kids, “the cutest darned kids you ever did see”? Well, they are our kids’ bosses now. And our kids are making their own memories, with their own special friends, on the very first river they paddled. And yes, the Klamath River runs like blood through their veins too. - Judy Tomkiewicz (AWW Guide in the 1980's) It is officially the off-season at Adventure Whitewater, so why not start a blog. Ok, I'm actually pretty excited about it as I daydream about the warm Klamath waters, Clear Creek, Ukonom, the Salmon, and other Jefferson locations year round. My brother recently gave me a wall sized map of the State of Jefferson and I literally stared at it for 20 minutes last night (my wife just shook her head as she walked by). There are so many experiences and moments on the river every year...it should be fun to catalogue a few. To help in the process, I'm certainly open to guest bloggers and many of the river guides have expressed interest. (Really hoping for some wisdom from Kelly C. as well!) Forward Paddle!!!! |
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