If you live and Portland and haven't picked up a copy of this month's Willamette Week (free news weekly, online here: http://www.wweek.com/portland/index.php), this issue is likely to get snapped up. They've named it the 420 Issue and it is all about the businesses and culture ( Read more... )

I am just home. The man who died was in his early 60's. He has three children. We were on the Farmlands section of the White Salmon. I am not accustomed to feeling completely useless but there I was unable to save a life. Many of us there unable to save a life, only 6 feet from shore. We were still trying to get his body free from the log ( Read more... )

OK, maybe that's a little exaggerated, but basically any drug causes a dopamine surge that changes your brain such that the rewards of normal life don't seem good enough anymore. This study actually found that pot smokers have a bigger nucleus accumbens (the brain area associated with pleasure, reward, and reinforcement learning). They say that ( Read more... )

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The rain began the night we got home from our Grand Canyon adventure, and I've been getting out every weekend day. We got on the Sandy Gorge at something just shy of 3000 cfs, and again at 1200 or so, the North Fork Washougal which usually doesn't run in October, Opal Creek at something like 900cfs, and the Tilton at a lovely 1300 cfs.

( notes by river )

Here's a friend's photos from Saturday on the Lower Wind. The flow was 112cfs Saturday, 109 Sunday, on the gauge up top ( Read more... )

Water's creeping down toward low here in Oregon. I'd only ever run the Breitenbush at 1,100 and 1,200cfs, so this run was at approximately 1/3 the flow I'd seen. It was fine. It got a little scrapy in the second half, but overall channelized well. The trip was a LCCC trip so Mark shot some video, here it is:

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Last night we ran the Lower Wind at ( Read more... )

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(I'm in the sparkly red helmet and antique yellow boat, with yellow blades on my paddle.)
( notes )

The autistic fellow was on the river with us again. He wasn't really paddling with us; he paddles alone. He looks to be in his 40-50's, with a salt and pepper beard and a long brown ducky. He scouts where he likes, talks to no one, and then runs the rapids, generally with good style. He runs his own shuttle. We look out for him when he's ( Read more... )

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The helicopter footage is gorgeous, especially the ways the trees glimmer when the camera zooms back out, and the views of Mount Hood. This is the legendary favorite local class V run. I haven't been there yet. The word is that there is quite a bit of new wood washed into the Green Truss, and in bad places, so perhaps this is where my boating ( Read more... )