Every year about this time, small teams of hard-charging kayakers—aka “creekers”—converge on dam-controlled rivers to ride the fall releases. And ride them they do, negotiating steep drops that would have been thought unrunnable even twenty years ago. It’s not my cup of tea, to be honest. I don’t run what I wouldn’t be happy to swim. But that doesn’t mean I can’t watch from the sidelines. The creekers put on a good show, too. Here’s a for-instance:

And here’s how he ended up:

It was a performance worth a second glance:

Clearly, this sort of thing isn’t for paddlers who like to stay dry:

They’re often lost to sight for many seconds. There are two boaters in this picture. Can you find the second?

Now here’s another paddler poised just above a 20-foot drop:

Over he goes!

While a buddy stands watch at the bottom of the drop, just in case.

Meanwhile, the show goes on…

And another creeker makes a happy landing:

It’s not a sport for the timid—or the foolhardy. You won’t find any bareheaded paddlers here. The rocks are harder than even the hardest head, after all. And a face guard isn’t a bad idea, either:

No boater can go head to head with these walls without at least a little protection!

Nose clips make sense, too:

As do elbow and forearm guards…

After all, creeking can be a risky business…

But who said going with the flow was always easy?

 
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