Slave flood!

Yes, the Slave might be one of the largest rivers in the world, but this week, the flows almost doubled. On Monday, it was too low for Rollercoaster, which is a low water feature. On Tuesday, it was too high for Rollercoaster, and maybe high enough for the Sweet Spot, which is a high water feature. By Wendsday, is was too high even for the Sweet Spot. We have no idea what to paddle. We made a couple expeditions out to different spots, but mostly we've been surfing the waves out in the middle of the playground channel, which are good for once. We're all waiting eagerly for the levels to drop from "flood" to "high" so that we can hit Sweet Spot and the Forgotten. In the meantime, enjoy some random photos from the spots that we've investigated.

Photo by John Blyth. Full album

First we went to Rollercoaster, since we couldn't believe that it would be too high just one day after being too low. The only moves that we could do there were downriver moves, like this kickflip.

Photo by John Rathwell. Full album

This was actually before the flood started, but I figured that I wouldn't have any other chance to post it.

Photo by John Rathwell. Full album

So, this one doesn't have much to do with kayaking, but it looks kind of weird, so pow.

Photo by John Blyth. Full album

This panam is on the Forgotten waves, which was sort of washed out, but you could still do moves on it every now and then. This was one of the two or maybe three moves that I did there all day.

Photo by John Blyth. Full album

This is the second Forgotten wave. This pistol flip isn't as silly as it looks, honest.

Photo by Leif Anderson. Full album

I think this photo of John was at the Playground. Looks pretty good.

Photo by Leif. Full album

Here's John surfing the Number One wave, in the playground channel. It was hard to get good photos of this wave.

Photo by Leif. Full album

Here's the Number One wave again, as it steepens up.

Photo by Leif. Full album

This is a little wave that we found on the far side of the Rapids of the Drowned. It was pretty flushy, but on any other river, it would be the best wave around.

Photo by John Blyth. Full album

Here's me on that same wave. I know that I'm just frontsurfing, but it took me about four tries to get out there, so I wanted proof that I made it.

The water levels should start dropping soon, and they'll probably go straight back from too high to too low. Maybe we'll be surfing Rock'em Sock'em soon. In the meantime, check out the map of the rapids that we started last year, or check John Rathwell's blog for a video which features me briefly.