Murtaugh July 4th 07

This July 4th Frank Holden, Mark Gove, Mike Farral, Justin Dailey and I headed out to hit up the Murtaugh at 1500 cfs. It may not be the epic big water roller coaster told in the Idaho Lore but in my eyes its better. Tons of perfectly pool drop rapids with some great lines and some sweet play spots. The first rapid under the bridge, Knuckles, has a fun wave in it that I believe drops into a hole at lower levels called Troll Hole. This wave was nice but we were here for the sweet rapids so we took a few rides and headed down. The drops on this river are as pool drop as they come making it a nice introduction to harder whitewater for up and coming kayak bums. maybe 4 miles into the run, its hard to tell because of how slow the river is going, you come up and super quick wave/hole named Opium Hole. The water coming into the hole is super quick and the hole has a tendency to chunder you after a while of surfing.

Opium Hole's fast oncoming water and steep pile is great for wave moves like blunts

a local boater throwing down a left cartwheel

While at Opium Hole we ran into a group of about 15 Twin falls boaters. It really is quite the surprise seeing a group of 15 kayakers rolling in you in such a secluded spot.

The next rapid is a sweet one with a couple different lines. You can head straight down the center and punch the curler, as seen in the first picture, just don't get typewriterd into the nasty hole to the right. You can also head close to the left bank and drop through some sweet boogy water, as seen in the second picture. Ethan and I were also checking out a sweet line to the right of the pour over but decided to save it for another day.




After what seemed to be a couple more miles you come up to Misty. Misty has a great 4 foot boof flake on the right side a more creekboatish middle channel and a some gnarly funk to the left.

Try to get a good boof because the landing is shallow in places.

We made our way down to the legendary Pair-a-dice rapid. At higher water this is a HUGE 'DEATH' HOLE emphasizing on the DEATH part. but at this level the right channel dishes out a good 5 foot boof. The middle of the drop can get pretty meaty so if the flows get much any more above 1500 then the hole could become very low head damish. At this level it was just a nice plop.

Mike given 'er at pair-a-dice

Next up were the Big Three of the low water Murtaugh. Lets Make a Deal, Red Shank, and Duck Blind. Sorry no pictures the camera was screwing up. All of these drops are class 4+ at the least but tons of fun if the lines are made. The next two I ended up Portaging and then proceeded to watch two people just run straight threw both without a scout. Kinda made me feel like a nancy-boy. But whatever.


Photo credits. Just Dailey, Mark Gove and myself.

Kahuna Session, Wyo.

I met up with some a couple friends from Bozeman to do some sessions on Kahuna Wave this last week. This wave is always really weird and hard to stick moves in but its always a great time let alone. This wave is super narrow and the pile is ridiculously steep and not too sticky so it makes for short but interesting rides. Most of the time you are trying to make your way up to the top of the wave to set up for a move but you will usually end up getting kicked off. All in all it was a great time. The key players of the trip were Erik Johnson, Nate Garcia, Ethan, and the legendary old school ripper Jerry Johnson.

Back Stab on run number one day one

Ethan chillin' on kahuna