I recently posted a video of me running my favorite rapid, Boxcar, on the North Fork of the French Broad here in Western North Carolina. The rapid consists of a short slide leading into a 15 ft drop that you boof into a beautiful little gorge. Here it is for you! Both my Creek Week students and folks online expressed surprise at how few strokes I took to run the rapid smoothly. Taking fewer strokes is one big difference between beginner/intermediate skills and intermediate/advanced skills, especially stepping it up to Class IV creeking. As you progress you learn that creating
How to Paddle Class IV with Fewer Strokes
May 9, 2018 | Written by: | Filed Under: Anna's Blog, Kayaking Tips
Things I Wish I Had Known Sooner: A Kayaking FAQ Part 1
February 10, 2018 | Written by: | Filed Under: Kayaking Tips
Take a moment to think back to when you first got into kayaking, when you were the new kid on the block. Are there “little” things that you know now that you barely need to think about but that were a source of frustration or puzzlement in the beginning? After spending a summer teaching new kayakers and fielding all sorts of questions, I got inspired to put together a short list of things I wish I had known earlier in my kayaking experience. A FAQ for new kayakers, if you will. While this list is far from comprehensive, these are
Simple Reminders
January 18, 2018 | Written by: | Filed Under: Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips, Trip/Tour Reports
It’s Sunday morning in January in McCall, Idaho, and I’m kicking away at the snowbank alongside my yurt in an effort to excavate my creek boat from where it’s been wintering underneath. My hands are already frozen from attaching my kayak stackers to my roof rack in the bitter cold, and now my toes are freezing too. “Why did I agree to this?” I mutter to myself as I tug on the grab loop of my Mamba while continuing to kick out a big enough opening to wrangle it through. In flurry of ice shards, she finally breaks free and
How to Build Emotional Resilience on the Water
November 9, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Anna's Blog, Health and Wellness, Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips
According to the dictionary, resilience is defined as, ‘the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.’ A second definition is: ‘the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape.’ When you experience a difficult, disappointing or scary situation on the water how quickly do you recover? Are you able to let it roll off your back and feel empowered to paddle on? No matter your answer, know that you can increase your resilience with practice. In the past, when I performed poorly in a competition or got trashed on a river and swam out of my kayak I
Why You Should Take an International Paddling Trip
October 16, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips, Trip/Tour Reports
A really smart woman once told me I didn’t need a drysuit when I could just boat where it’s warm enough not to wear one. Inspired by this approach to winter boating, I booked my first international kayaking trip to Mexico and have been traveling ever since. Although it’s not quite drysuit season yet and the warm weather has me wondering if I’m ever going to need my drysuit again, fall is always a time when I start dreaming about my next big adventure, preferably to a more tropical location. You don’t have to be an expert boater to enjoy
The River, my Old Friend
October 13, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips
Mind Body Paddle recently re-posted the very first blog post I wrote at Anna’s request—the story of how I became a kayak instructor, written before I actually started instructing. Written before I ever knew that I would end up working for Girls at Play/Mind Body Paddle. I was in high school, writing about this dream I had of guiding people down the river. I was signed up to teach kayaking on the Wolf River in Wisconsin that upcoming summer, despite my status as a novice boater. I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that I was
The Risk of Playing it Safe
October 11, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Anna's Blog, Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips, SUP Tips
When I struggle with a line it’s usually because I’m trying to play it too safe. In this photo it’s obvious that I’m struggling with my angle. That’s because I used too much right angle attempting to avoid the hole and rock at the bottom. Had I relaxed and kept my boat angle a little more downstream I would not be struggling physically and mentally. I witness this in myself and also in my kayak students. In our attempt to avoid an obstacle or intimidating feature we end up in a more dangerous place. We also often end up in
Honesty is the Best Policy
July 20, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips, Uncategorized
“Guys, I think I’m done.” “What!?” We’d barely paddled a mile yet. I sighed. I looked around, up at the cloudless blue Idaho sky, down at the matching blue Salmon River, upstream towards the rapid I’d just swam. It hadn’t been a bad swim. Not pleasant, but not terribly damaging or dangerous. “I’m fine. I just don’t want to mess up again,” I said, biting my lip. Joe turned to face me from where he was perched in the rocks, emptying my boat. “Angela, you have some of the best lines of all of us. You just so happened to
Minding Mindless Beauty
June 22, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips, Uncategorized
Hometown River This river is my home because I know all of its secrets. It needs my heart, and not my brain. It knows which of my fears remain. This river is my home because I wrote all of its secrets. This river is my home because it’s in me. It’s my white bones, and my blue eyes, my muddy hair, my cells revived. This river is my home because it’s in me. This river is my home because it made me. It taught me how to take and give, it showed me how to die and live.
Learning to Open My Eyes
June 14, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips
Canyon Creek Lewis. 3.2 miles of glorious, scenic, pool drop whitewater, the site of the Northwest Creeking Competition, mentioned on American Whitewater as: “…one of the best sections in the country for a creeking race.” A year ago it was the upper limits of what I felt comfortable running and moving back to the Pacific Northwest, I knew I was at least better prepared to tackle it. So I made a project. Run it until I got comfortable. My 4th time down ~650cfs I got stuck in a pocket near the bottom of the right wall of the largest drop
