Immersion Research 2008

Last week, I got an email concerning some potential illegal activity on this class V (although rarely runnable) tributary of Indian Creek. Indian Creek is a major Youghiogheny River trib and very fun class III(IV) creek-ish run. Indian Creek also happens to run through my backyard, so I take particular interest in protecting its watershed through the Mountain Watershed Association (www.mtwatershed.com).

The problem that was being reported was a potential dam blocking the flow, water being illegally diverted from the stream, or perhaps flow being lost into abandoned mine shafts. The major problem with watersheds in this area comes from abandoned mine drainage and all of the fun stuff that drains out of them, such as heavy metals and the acidic mine drainage. However, there is one other source of contamination: land owners along the creek. Not to judge anyone, but the abundance of mangy dogs, trash, dilapidated houses and no trespassing signs lets you know that you are entering a special place. For that reason, Ken, Hanna and I met at 6:00 AM and snuck into the creek bed.

Once safely in the creek, we negotiated the muddy rocks made particularly slippery by a passing thunderstorm and the estimated 10-15 CFS. Along the way, we passed a few sketchy places, but none rivaled the “Bridge to Nowhere”, followed by a really cool looking, but very scary hunting cabin, complete with lots of targets on which the occupants practiced. We were all hoping to not become targets as well.

We ended up not finding any sort of illegal activity, which is sort of bittersweet, as environmentally we were pleased, but the detectives in us wanted to discover something. We did realize that there were pockets of acid mine drainage and aluminum deposits on the creek, but we did enjoy the beauty of the hollow. The 99% humidity and morning fog made the hike that much more enchanting.

However, we then realized that we had to get back out, and we opted to take the recently decommissioned township road back up to Hawkins Hollow, perhaps the sketchiest part of Fayette County (Fayettenam to the locals). Ken was wise enough to bring along a “dog stick” that he had found in the creek. It was basically a gnarly, rusted pipe, and as we reached the crux move, or the gauntlet of falling down trailers, rusted out trucks and nasty dogs, we were surrounded by no fewer than 6 dogs. It was settling to know that we had the “dog stick”, but we managed to keep our heads down and not draw the ire of the dogs or their owners.

I encourage everyone to get involved in their local watershed, as well as AW. Most watersheds have local advocacy organizations.

For more on Rasler Whitewater, click here http://gotboof.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html

We arrived at Salt Lake at about 8:30 last night, and after well-needed full night sleep, we woke up and were busy setting up the booth by 9 this morning.

Our new booth was a delight to put up-kudos to Jess for a great design. With our old booth it would take two full days to set up, but this year we were basically done by 4:00 this afternoon. With an extra day, we’re now considering paddling a local creek tomorrow.

Below are some pics from the set-up. We’d also like to thank Mike McKee, Tim Kennedy, Dalan Adams and Kim Sismour for the help.

After about 30 hours of driving, we stopped in Edwards, CO to pick up Tim Kennedy, who reps IR, as well as Oakley sunglasses and a few other companies. We also stopped at Glenwood Canyon Kayak and said hey Brian and Nick, and dropped off a new dry top for Tommy Hilleke, who lives nearby.

We are on the last drum of biodiesel, but we are only about 6 hours away from SLC, I think we will be able to make the whole trip without one drop of petro diesel. Pictured below is Tim helping us fill the truck in front of his house, and Brian in front of Glenwood Canyon Kayak.

It’s 4:00 pm on the first day of the drive to Salt Lake City, and we stopped at truck stop- to pump our homemade fuel into the truck. This pic shows Harmon cranking away. “it comes down to two things”, says Harmon, “biceps and triceps, and I have tons of both”. 10 minutes and 30 gallons later, we were on our way.

About 4 years ago- long before it was the cool thing to do- Jess Whittemore and I got the idea to make biodiesel and to sell our gasoline-powered vehicles and replace them with ones that run on diesel. We actually got the idea from Philip Curry from Astral (props). Anyway-  unlike most hare brained schemes, we actually pursued this one with some diligence, and now, with gas at 4 bucks a gallon, our work is truly paying off. Jess and I both supply both of our family’s cars with biodesel during the warm months (biodesel is tough to manage in the cold), and we heat our houses with it during the winter. Of course, the IR vehicle- a Dodge Cummins diesel- runs on it too.

As we were planning our drive out west for the OR show, we realized that we would need to bring our own fuel, or at least some of it. So last week, I collected about 225 gallons of grease from my usual pick-up spots, and made some fuel. My plan- to make about 180 gallons of biodiesel, put it drums and carry it with us. I am figuring on using about 330 gallons of fuel, so this will provide us with about 50% of the fuel we will need. To keep biofuel in the tank the entire time, I plan on mixing it 50/50 with diesel the whole way out and back.

While I could (and should) make a whole post about how we make biodiesel, this is not the time. But I do have some quick shots of Jess and I filling the drums and rolling them into the back of the truck:

Its that time of year again- the summer Outdoor Retailer show. For those of you not familiar with the cycle of the “Outdoor” industry, there is a separate calendar for the people who buy, sell and make outdoor gear, and the OR summer show, which occurs every August in Salt Lake City, is New Year’s day- or perhaps more accurately a tribal, 4 day celebration that serves as a ritual to please the gods of consumerism for the upcoming year.

Starting this Monday, Manufacturers from almost every aspect of the outdoor biz- everyone from Patagonia to The North Face to Mountain Hardware to Thermarest to Teva to Liquidlogic and even to little ole’ IR- will begin to converge on the Salt Palace and begin the annual ritual of booth-building, partying (albeit on low-alcohol beer- a specialty in Utah), shmozing and for us easterners, dealing the general discomfort brought on by zero humidity, and the huge, crumbling boogers that come with the transition . By Friday AM, when the Salt Palace doors open to retailers from all over the world, there will be literally 100’s of booths set up in what could be described as a hyper air-conditioned Land of Oz for gear freaks.

For the next four days, retailers will have a chance to look at the 2009 products of all of the manufacturers they might be interested in carrying in their store, and start to formulate a purchasing plan. Immediately following the show, retailers enter what’s called the “preseason ordering time”, during which the retailers can place an order with the manufacturer for next year’s goods, and receive a discount. The retailers don’t have to take the goods until the spring, or even later, they just need to tell the manufacturer what they need to give the manufacturer an idea of quantities, and time to make the stuff. The deadline for preseason orders for most manufacturers is around October.

There are actually two OR shows- a winter show and a summer show- and as such, the summer show is based around warm weather sports- hiking, fishing, camping, climbing, apparel and paddlesports. IR has been attending the show for almost 10 years, and over those years, we have been able to witness the ebb and flow of the summer outdoor economy as shown in the size and sheer opulance of the booths and the various other “collateral marketing” efforts. The companies and market segments flush with cash- Patagionia or Oakely sunglasses for instance- have enormous booths with costs that approach $100,000, and often throw open bar parties in rented-out clubs, featuring film premieres, VIP rooms, and the tanned and awkwardly dressed pro athletes that seem to gravitate to the show every year in search of another year-long all expenses paid vacation.

When we first started attending the show in the late 90’s paddlesports- particularly whitewater kayaking- was a sport who’s star was on the rise. We had the aforementioned parties, film premieres and athletes in spades. It was a wild and heady time when we all expected to be as big as snowboarding in 10 years, and many of us spent like it was a sure thing. Nowadays, however, things have seemed to cooled down quite a bit. After 7 years of almost zero growth, most kayaking companies have taken a distinctively more subdued marketing approach. In our case, this means that after we retired our 5 year-old booth last summer, instead of hiring a company to make a new booth for us (which could cost over 10 grand), we opted to make it ourselves, and drive it out. Starting with this post, I will post a somewhat regular update our progress west, and the show that follows.

First, though, Our booth:

This was designed and built by Jess Whittemore, who when addressed with the challenge of making a light weight booth that was strong enough to withstand the rigors of frantic set-up deadlines and repeated set-ups and tear-downs, decided to make it out of Kevlar and Carbon. To make sure it all fit together (and that we would know how to re-assemble it) we put the whole thing together in the second floor of the factory.

On sunday, we will break this down, pack it into a box trailer, and Roger, Jon Harmon and I will start the drive out west.