Keepin' it lowcal

Low elevation, low flow, but in the lowcality, I went and visual-ed Weber Creek, taking mental pictures of the put-in rocks, so I could relay the information to Ja-rad Noceti and determine if it was worth him and Thomas driving up from Sacto. I couldn't help but wonder why I'd been instructed to note the flow over a particular rock spline when there was a painted gauge on the bridge itself... but then, I was uninitiated to this trib of the South Fork American that flows right past my house, so I went along with it. The gauge is new and now we know- you need one for the run, if it's two, then "ya-hoo!" (if it's three let it be). Weber Creek Mayor Mark Devo cleared his schedule of meetings with the council and made the trek from two doors down to join us on the water.

Soc-em Dog, Barking Dog, Raw Dawg, now "Mad-Dog." River-running has given me many life-enhancing canine encounters.

Mark Devo, pleased as punch-bowl and making good on campaign promises.

Ja-rad Noceti stroking the "mini-Middle Kings-money rapid."

Thomas Moore on same, maybe I'll call it "spare change."

We scout rapids from the bottom up. Here you can see us ant-like at the bottom of this big rapid on a small creek. I ended up running it upright and alright, though the camera battery ran out first, the suspense being too much for it.

And California is BACK! It was so cold this past storm-cycle (of 9 days) that the precip fell as snow all the way down to like 1500 ft. This low-down run was one of just a few that co-operated this week. We'll just have to get the rest of the runs in the summertime!

All photos courtesy Jared Noceti except the one of him. Check his head-cam video @:
http://vimeo.com/3287854
related vids feature cool stuff like a bear encounter and successful log-pin rescue, both from the kick-ass Bullard's Bar run on the North Yuba.