Hey Folks:

I paddled with at least a few folks on this site back in '05 before I packed up to serve a three-year sentence on the East Coast while my wife finished up the post-grad education. I'm not sure I would have lasted that long in Boston without tapping into all of the great paddling back there, and meeting up with all of the great people in the Northeastern boating community. I put together a few videos of some rivers and creeks that I was especially fond of, and have posted the links below for anyone who's interested in taking a look at a bit of what that part of the world has to offer.

Having said that, I've been dreaming of returning to the PNW ever since we had to leave, and I've been looking forward to hitting up some of the old favorites with the old pals, as well as meeting some new faces out here. I'm camped out next to the Icicle for the next month, so anyone heading to the area to do some paddling, send me a head's up. Not sure where Tumwater fits on the personal acceptable river-class-to-skill-ratio for me yet since pretty much all of the harder stuff that I've run has been very low volume (250-500cfs), but I'll be spending some time scouting all of the drops (other than Exit) on foot and trying to answer that question for myself on a drop-by-drop basis pretty soon. I haven't made any decisions yet - but hopefully folks putting a trip together with openings for first timers will post the deets.  Even if  my scouting  mission  results in a no-go for me, I'd be happy to cruise along  to shoot some pics/vids.

Speaking of which, here's the  Vids (I added AW info below the vids for anyone interested. Sorry about the length, hopefully everyone has the scrolly thing on their mouse...)

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Maine:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2816940372977010310

(Sandy River - Small's Fall's Section, Enchanted and Salmon Streams): Main Drop on the Smalls Falls section of the Sandy has been Christened "Biggy Smalls," hence the soundtrack.

Caught a scary bow-pin on tape on this trip (about 8-9 minutes in, I think), which illustrates just how quickly things can go badly in our chosen past-time. The fellow who got pinned is a New Zealand expat who was (in my opinion), an absolute monster on the river, paddling a stretch of river well below his skill level, with great river sense - probably the strongest paddler I've ever been on a river with. Fairly sobering experience for me, even though it ended well.

*Enchanted Stream:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_3455_

*Salmon Stream:
(Looks like this one's not in AW yet, but it's another tributary of the Dead, very close to Enchanted Stream)

*Sandy River:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_4326_

New York (Beaver River)

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Eagle and Moshier Sections:

Moshier/Eagle:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7956486159340120738

Eagle:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-41503302513739403

Taylorville Section:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4856212843990916623

*Eagle Section:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_2614_

*Moshier Section:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_2613_

*Taylorville Section:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_2612_



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Massachusetts

Fall Creek:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5934725236496576273
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1226007223705974861

(Helmet Cam)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5244840309835524923

*Fall Creek
www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_3061_