Fresh New Start.

1st line of business:

Check Colorado Kayak Supply's blog at http://www.cksblog.com/ for some awesome pictures. I was awarded first place in a photo competition for my shot of Becky Jarman on Whiteline on the Upper Narrows of the Cache the Poudre River, and three 1st place runner ups for my shot of D.C.'s own Nathan Sass boofing Pummel in his Green Boat, my shot of traveling to the putin on the Upper North Fork of the Poudre, and my shot of Liz Fincher on Bald River Falls, TN. Regina Nicolardi won the Lifestyle Photo section with her shot of the crew at Tohiken! Congrats!!! Here are the winning photos:

Women's 1st Place Action Shot of Becky Jarman- Whiteline- Poudre Narrows: Mike Konschnik

1st Place Lifestyle Shot- Tohiken-Photo: Regina Nicolardi
#1 Runner-Up Men's Action Shot- Nathan Sass- Great Falls, MD- Photo: Mike Konschnik

#1 Runner-Up Lifestyle Shot- Driving to the NF of the Poudre-Shot:Mike Konschnik

Liz Fincher: Bald River Falls, Tellico Plains, TN- Photo: Mike Konschnik

A brief recap:
DDP's Joe Potoczak, Molly Rogan, Jackie Harhart, Robert Murphy, and Cliff Mallioux loaded up the creekboats this past Summer and made it out to Colorado to stay with Liz Fincher and I for runoff. Lot's of classic creeks were run, and Lot's of progress was made all around. As always Mr. Joe Potoczak stepped up to the plate and helped all of us safely navigate some of the best class V runs in Colorado. I was having a few down weeks when the kids visited... so my confidence was shot... but thankfully I still was able to get on a handful of awesome runs with my best friends. A great plus to the trip was meeting the Georgia boys; Clay Lucas, Greg Watson, and Mason Robinson. These guys are kick ass boaters, and have become great friends of ours. Thankfully Liz and I were able to catch up with them a bunch on our Southeastern Exploits. Here are a few shots from the visit:

(Me) Mike Konschnik on the North Fork of the Poudre- Photo: Brent Wilkins

Robert Murphy- NF of the Poudre


My summer started off a little slow on the boating scene in Colorado, but by July, I was in the Southeast working towards my goal of running the class V classic The Green River Narrows outside of Saluda, North Carolina. Things went as planned, and Gabe Latini was kind enough to by my guide through classic class V rapids ranging from cascades like Chief and Zwicks to big slides like Powerslide and Rapid Transit. My first run down I chose to portage the big three (Gorilla, Sunshine, and took the sneak on Go Left), but to date the Green is still the highest quality section of whitewater I have EVER paddled.

While in the Southeast, Liz Fincher made some great progress as well. She ran her first waterfall 20+ foot waterfall (Bald River Falls), and she got to work on her boof lapping Baby Falls on the Tellico River outside of Tellico Plains, Tennesse. She's come a long way since last year. I'm looking forward to watching her kick some ass in the Spring!

After the Southeast, we traveled to my hometown, Silver Spring, Maryland, for the Potomac Whitewater Festival. Again, I was having a rough week and didn't get to run the falls, but I was able to photograph Joe, Cliff, and friends fire up multiple lines on the falls. After the race we all had a great time celebrating at Old Angler's Inn. Nothing like eating a $30 hot dog and hamburger at 5 star restaurant! The kegs of PBR were delicious as well. Here are a few shots from Great Falls of the Potomac:

Joe Potoczak- Great Falls Race 2009- Photo: Mike Konschnik


Cliff Mallioux- Great Falls Race 2009- Photo: Mike Konschnik


Joe Potozcak- Great Falls- MD Lines 3.4 Feet. Photo: Mike Konschnik

Thanks for reading.

Your Dirty Friends with the DDP,

Mike and Liz

And P.S. we promise to keep in touch more!

Pre-Season Warmups

Just got back from a good trip on the Numbers with Chris and Mark.  Here are a few shots depicting our recent pre-season boating shenanigans.

See you soon,

-Mike

 

to seattle, the rest of the trip in a nutshell

day 1- Durango, Co - Page, Az

i left Durango later than i should have, but wtf. there was a little bit of wind, sun all the way. I got to the 4 corners tourist trap and got off the bike to give everything a looksy. All was good, but i drove off leaving my cell piece on the back rack, made it to Page by dark. I was able to find a sweet spot to crash in the bucket of an old front-end loader. Nobody bothered me, and that's always a good thing.

Day 2 - Page, Az - Jean, Nv

The morning was awesome, the weather great. I had about an hour and a half on the road before getting to Zion. Zion, my friends, on a motorcycle is fucking awesome. There was another hour in between Zion and St. George. At St. George I entered a complete shit show. There was about 5 hours of driving thought crazy winds with lots of semis. Every 20mi or so I had to pull over and curse a bit after nearly getting blown off the road, or into traffic, or wobbles, or just plain being scared. Vegas was a sweet respite from the wind only to find out my rig was eating spark plugs. After the day was said and done I found myself in Jean, Nv in a $30 a night room, in a shit casino. There, I found out I had been driving all day through wind advisories. In the casino I made it a point to do the things one does in casinos, drink excessively, and smoke cigs where ever I damn well pleased(yeah elevator)

Day 3 - Jean, Nv - Mojave, Ca
I started my day with the ritual coffee and gas up. My valves were sounding noisy, so I decided to have a little yard sale in the gas station parking lot. I got done with my valves and got back on the highway to find what else, more fucking wind, and all damn day. I did manage to get off the highway in Barstow, Ca. Remember Barstow? Fear and Loathing? Anyone? In any case, its a shithole, but home to the last stretch of old Rt66. there i stopped in at a motorcycle shop and talked to service about my plug issues. Lean mix. Just had to adjust the carb from colorado elevation. Crisis averted. Then there was more wind, and then Mojave, Ca. They've got a huge wind farm and an even bigger freight yard. They also have 25 dollar hotel rooms that mysteriously have pubes 7 feet up on the bathroom walls

Day 4 - Mojave, Ca - Morro Bay, Ca

For starters, if you ever need directions in Mojave, Ca, fuck it. Don't ask anyone. Seems nobody knows where they are. Its a small place, and it took me close to an hour to get outta there. 50 miles later things started to change. More topography, things got green, and more than just sagebrush. Somehow I managed to pick up a 30mi stretch of dirt road that dropped me out in a bit of wine country. From there, it was an hour to the coast. There I nearly ran outta gas and had to have another gas station yard sale to get the rig started. At Morro Bay state park i tried to crash a campsite, but no one was having it. After further exploring I found a power line road cut that served the purpose. 'wrenched on the bike some more, then fell asleep.

Living the Hybrid Life.

Liz and I are working on a video documentary project based around Climate Change awareness and action here in Fort Collins. More specifically we're focusing on individuals who are taking both large and small steps to help combat the climate crisis. We are in the very infantile planning and filming stages, but we have one trailer ready for you to check out! Hope you enjoy it! We'll have at least two more trailers released before the final film is due out in the early Fall!

Fort Collins: Combating Climate Change- TRAILER #1 from Dirty Dozen Productions (DDP) on Vimeo.

Also, check out another very cool blog. The Offical KEEN Blog. DDP, and trailer number 1 were featured on April 16th!

From a very wet and very snowy april morning,
Mike Konschnik
Powered by KEEN
www.KEENfootwear.com

Spring

I have the feeling in my bones that Spring has arrived here in Fort Collins. Last week we were blessed with 8 inches of snow. This provided the spark of moisture that was needed to kick off Spring in the plant world. Liz and I are excited to start planting our garden, as our seeds are already sprouting in the cosy window corner of our kitchen. The plant world is going through changes and transformations by the same powerful force that seems to revitalize us all as individuals in the Spring time. I have had many personal joys as well as challenges coming into this Spring, but I look towards the mountains and its rivers to empower my mind, body, and soul. These powerful elements have a special place in my life and have the power to both heal and strengthen me as an individual.  Let us all treat this time of the year as a new beginning... a true New Year. Explore the deepest canyons, climb the tallest peaks, uncover the past, look forward to the future, and remember to remain grateful for all that life has given and has in store for us.  Through the beauty and grandeur of nature all obstacles can be overcome.

-Mike
KEENFootwear.com

en route to seattle again

So i got myself a motorcycle for Christmas, got laid off for new years , and it all goes from there. There was no work to be found in Durango, so i drove to Denver, just after valentines day. There i found some temp work, sold my road bike and my car and hitchhiked back to Durango. As all this was going down, my only though was "I'm not getting rid of that god damn bike". i acquired work in Seattle with no set date, did some last minute wrenching and took off. At this point, I'm down to my tele skis, a mtn bike, two packs(1 gear, 1 clothes), and a 1978 yamaha xt500. I'll be posting as i go.

A Weekend Return to Boating in the South

I had not been on the water since Gauley fest in September but when we got some rain this past week boating was on my mind. It honestly had not been in the forefront lately, as my focus has shifted primarily to climbing, but with the rocks all wet and slimy and the water levels rising, what's a man to do?

So I return to my old ways and hawked every gauge I was interested in every 10 minutes from Wednesday until Saturday morning and made a call for Saturday's trip. I would take a friend from Blacksburg who I had taught to roll in an open boat about 6 months ago down the Maury river. He had been practicing a lot at the local playspot and would be ready for the Maury's class III rapids and maybe for the two IV's. It was a good run, the water at a good medium/low flow so it wasn't too pushy and it was warm enough to not suck despite my old, leaky drytop. Phil cruised both class IV rapids with ease, and I got to experience some real whitewater in my brand new-to-me Dancer. I have become very interested of late in running moderate whitewater in a long boat and it was everything I hoped it'd be. I really had to focus on technique and did not have to paddle much on flatwater!

I know I know, show me a picture. Here is Corner Rapid, one of the Class IV drops on the run. Its a fun little drop with a pretty tight line next to a shallow and kind of nasty looking hole.


Sunday morning I woke up and drove to meet a couple people and decide where we would paddle. Turned out our destination was the Watauga River near Boone, NC, a long sought after run for me. I was not all that sure I was ready for it since I haven't been in my boat all that much, but I figured if I wasn't paddling all that well I could walk Hydro and Stateline Falls, the two class V drops the Watauga has to offer.

By the time we got to Hydro it was clear that I had not forgotten how to paddle so I fired it up. I ended up a little too eager and boofed a bit too early at the last, beefy hole on the drop and did a back flip out of it, but did no surfing. Stateline Falls creapt up sneakily, just as I was warned it would, but we spotted it and got out to scout. It is a really cool rapid with a long lead up and then the main drop where you have to drive right to avoid the half of the waterfall that slams into a partially submerged rock ledge. If you hit the line right it is a super clean drop. It was insanely fun. Pictures below.Peeling out!Driving right!

Anyway, I wanted to keep it brief, so that's all for me. I highly recommend the Watauga, it is full of technical, fun Class IV drops that will keep you on your toes and it's two class V drops will make your day a bit more exciting. It is definitely one of the best runs I have ever been on.

Cheers!