KCKA Novice WW Trip – April 9-10, 2005
By Chris Collins
At nearly the last minute, we confirmed the Mulberry would be perfect for training. Six of us were fortunate to go. Steve Denton and I carpooled with Steven Deyoe early Friday morning, from Wichita. We arrived early enough to learn how to avoid an adventure race that was happening the same weekend. We also parked and played at Hoop-n-Hollar late Friday. Alex Hadorn met Megan (sister) and Tom (dad) in Wellington.
They carpooled real early Saturday morning. We all met in Redding Campground on Saturday morning.
Due to the adventure race and a reported potential river hazard, we elected to put-in at High Bank and take-out at our Redding campsite. Sunday morning we launched at 8:00 AM from Redding, worked the river hard and took out at Turner Bend an hour and a half later. Once again, we were home before dark.
The water was perfect, running between 2.8 and 3.1 on the Turner Bend gage. The weather was as perfect as most could hope for and was closed to what I planned. I don’t think the nights dropped below 60F and the highs were in he low 80’s. That is perfect for most and a little warm for me. The water temperature was 58F. It rained after we left on Sunday.
Megan Haddorn (16) paddled the Arkansas near Salida, CO last summer, practiced her roll this winter at the Kayak Chapter pool session and was ready for this trip. Megan was a little apprehensive about the various rapids but negotiated them all with no swims or rolls. She caught many eddies, learned to peel-out and ferried like a pro. Good job Megan!
About 1/10 mile after the put-in, Alex Haddorn (21) swam Jump Start and decided not to swim again. He did his first four “combat rolls” on this trip. This young man took to kayaking like a fish takes to water. He had no prior river experience and his only training was a Kayak Chapter pool session in Manhattan. Good job Alex.
Steve Denton took Jim Johnson’s Red Cross class and then recently purchased a used whitewater boat. Steve is an experienced touring kayaker with only one trip to the Wichita spillway for a whitewater initiation and some one-on-one tutoring from Roger Norton.
On that initiation, he surfed, swam and rolled like he surly had more experience than he professed. On this novice trip, he learned to catch eddies, peal-out and ferry. This was his first whitewater river trip and I believe he is hooked. No swims and no rolls were needed. Good job Steve!
Steven Deyoe is turning into a rodeo boater. He did stern squirts and Eskimo rolls until he had no energy left to roll again.
Tom Haddorn did a really great job helping his offspring learn the basic moves.
Many thanks to the experienced boaters and the novices for making this trip another really fun and educational trip for all of us.
WichitaPaddler.com - Home Page
© 2005 Chris Collins, All Rights Reserved