Herm and Jon

Happy Herm

We needed some photos for a new boat review we put up on the NOC Paddling School Blog so we went up to Nantahala Falls and I tried to make the rapid look harder than it is. These are some photos that did not make it onto the blog but I thought should be posted somewhere. I love trying to capture the spirit of these two men; funny, insightful and inspiring. 

Mountain Biking at Tsali

The Tsali Recreational area is to mountain biking what Deer Valley is to skiing. Just give me the speed please. Deer Valley Ski Resort grooms just about everything on their mountain to a smooth fast carpet and the obstacle free trails at Tsali are much the same feel.  The technical challenge of riding at Tsali might be missing but the extreme fun of having trees whip by you in a blur of speed is well evident by the permagrin that is plastered on your face. That is what riding at Tsali is all about, go as hard and a fast as you dare on the miles and miles of groomed single track. That speed comes with risk however, if you screw up you know that scrubbing that speed off against a tree or on the trail is not going to be pleasant. One of our friends just reminded us of that just two days ago. 

While descending the longest downhill on the Right Loop, Bryan did not negotiate one of the jumps too well, touched down on his front wheel and flew fifteen feet onto his head and back. His helmet was crushed in on one side and his back was badly bruised but had movement in all his extremities and is currently just a little worse for wear. The thrill would not be there if there were no consequences, even on the groomed trails of Tsali.

My pictures on iStockphoto

Three of my photos have been accepted for sale at iStockphoto.com. Quite a milestone for me, not that I am going to make a bunch on money on these photos, I only get 20% of the sale and being that you can buy a small one for $1, that does not amount to much. However it does help my portfolio, iStockphoto.com is owned by Getty Images, the largest purveyor of stock imagery in the US. Maybe I will be notice by some photography scout out there.   And if these files become hot, some similar files I looked at have been down loaded 200-300 times. That does add up. So hopefully these pictures will end up in some calendar or card. Click on the links bellow to check out the photos on iStockphoto, if you like them give them some stars. 

Lizard Face (zoom in on the eye for fun-very sharp)

Searching Iguana

Red bird in a tree

Gizoogle your website

If you have not seen this already check it out, pretty funny stuff.

I translated my nephews blogspot with gizoogle, check it out:

nagchouli.blogspot.com( Translated)

www.gizoogle.com
when you enter a website you have to use the http:// before the www, try it.

The Cheoah River

I finally got to paddle with some old friends on Sunday. The Cheoah River offers up the perfect amount of challenge for me at the this moment in time. While my shoulder is not perfect it felt good enough for the challenges the Cheoah presents. Not life threatening but not a river you can go to sleep on either. The picture above really says it all about the Cheaoh, the hardest rapids are roadside, easily scout-able or portaged. That is Melanie boofing the Big Un while her husband is running the harder middle line. Click on the picture for a larger view, pretty awesome rapid.

It was just a gorgeous day to be paddling on a river with good company. The fellow by the yellow boat is Tom, cant remember his last name, sorry mate and single blader is a long time friend who came for a rare visit. It is always good to be reminded that it is not what you paddle but who you are paddling with that really matters. This was all good company for sure. Tom is from Wales and is just full of tall tales that just make your belly ache. He is a teacher in a high school, much like my beloved brother in law but every other weekend he goes to Asheville where he is a road side entertainer. He said he makes more money making balloon animals in a day than he does teaching Americas children. He was just hilarious and apparently quite an adventurer. As I was trying out the new Pyranha Everest, which is named after the first decent Everest Creek, Nepal in 1976. Tom told me the story of his party of kayakers that was bored and decided to make the third decent of Everest Creek in the early eighties. It was great to paddle with him and here is his awesome boof over the Big Un.