Sam took this great photo of me surfing on the Deschutes River.  I really love freestyle kayaking, especially on the big waves of the Deschutes, and I’m looking forward to our kayaking and rafting trips coming up in June, July and August.  Big waves, warm sun and good food- that’s what Deschutes River trips are to me.   Check out our website for more info. -Dave

Dave Hoffman kayak surfing on the Deschutes River.

This is a photo of my good friend and kayaking buddy Josh just below Thrasher on Canyon Creek, WA.  What I like some much about this photo is the swirling water, dark and deep, yet white and aerated.  This is the kind of special, unique thing you get to see when you are whitewater kayaking.  In the isolated river gorge near Portland you can really feel how special these wilderness areas are.  Unfortunately, clear-cut logging caused a large landslide above where this photo was taken.  Now the gorge is filled with literally thousands of trees.  It is still possible to get down the river but much more dangerous and harder work.  Still, Canyon Creek remains one of my favorite places to kayak.  If you’d like to get started whitewater kayaking, give me a call at the Northwest River Guides office (503.772.1122) or check out our website. I hope to paddle with you soon. -Dave

Could the water be any cooler looking?

Come take whitewater kayaking classes with Northwest River Guides.  NRG provides the best instruction in the Portland, Oregon area with top-notch instructors.  Our kayak lessons are small with lots of one-one time and you will learn faster than anywhere else.  In the spring and winter classes are taught on the Sandy River; in the summer and fall we move to the Clackamas River.  Call 503.772.1122 to make a reservation or if you have any questions.

NRG Students having fun on the Clackamas River.

Winter is a great time to learn to kayak with Northwest River Guides.  This time of year our classes are small and usually have student instructor ratios of 2-1. Northwest River Guides is the premier kayak school in the Portland, OR area and nationally-known for its instructional methods.  Our next available class is Monday, February 9, from 8-9:30pm.  Call Dave at 503.772.1122  to register for a class.

Northwest River Guides Instructor Mike Northrop assists a student learning to Eskimo roll his whitewater kayak.

Mike Gottlieb, one of my fellow instructors here at Northwest River Guides, and I had a great 4 days of kayaking this past weekend.  With river raging do to rainfall and warm water melting snow, we had the opportunity to get out on some classic sections of river around Portland, OR and do a little classic high-water paddling.

Here is what we got into:

Thursday – High-water playboting on the Upper Clackamas River.  With Luke Spencer and Mike Northrop(another NRG Instructor) we put-in at fly creek and paddled a raging section from there down to Bob’s Hole.  We had about 8,000 cfs with hugh standing waves and some serious holes but plenty of room to manuever.

Friday – Hagen Gorge on the NF Washougal River.  This was Mike’s first run of the classic Portland-area creek.  While a shorter section of river, this run packs a good punch with 4 stout drops.  Mike was just getting back into the swing of things with a 3 month lay-off due to a broken ankle.  We had a lot of water in the run, 7,000 cfs on the Washougal.  Hagen was higher than I had ever run it before – and I’ve run it quite high.  All the drops went and it was great run.

Saturday – WF of the Hood to the Marina.  Mike and I had one of the best days of paddling in a long while.  We paddled 17 miles of the Hood River in just 3.25 hours!  With a healthy flow (6 ft) and a ride to the put-in (Thanks ORT!) we enjoyed many, many miles of great class 3-4 rapids.  Just a wonderful day of boat-scouting, dodging holes and catching waves on the fly.

Sunday – Mike and I taught the river class for the  January Advanced Whitewater Seminar.  Class was awesome and I could not imagine having more fun on the river.  More about this class later.

Happy Paddling, Dave

Mike on Sunset Falls, EF Lewis

Last night I taught the flatwater skills session/pool class for our Advanced Whitewater Seminar.  This class has been my favorite to teach through the winter.  It is designed for intermediate and and advanced whitewater kayakers who are looking to make a significant improvement in their skills and technical paddling ability.  Chris, Linda and David are so much fun to teach and paddle with.  They are super enthusiastic, excited about learning, determined and always asking me difficult questions.  Just teaching this class has helped me improve my own paddling quite significantly.  Last night we worked on bracing, the Hand-of-God Rescue and some advanced paddling strokes- the C-Stroke, Gliding Draw, the Cross-bow Draw and the Reverse Compound Stroke.  On Saturday we have our scheduled river trip for January.  I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

The Seminar Classes (Intermediate, Advanced and Creeking) are the best thing we do for experienced kayakers looking to step their game up to the next level.  Students participate in a progression of classes, 2 per month, and build solid time with their instructor.  This provides incredbile opportunity for advancement by developing skills over time, rather than trying to compress learning.    Check these classes out, they are a blast!

-Dave

Below are a few photos from a Swiftwater Rescue Workshop that Northwest River Guides conducted for the Oregon Whitewater Association in April of 2008.  This was one of the more enjoyable classes that I taught all spring, bringing together a diverse group of rafters, IKers and kayakers for some fun, safety and learning.  In the workshop Northwest River Guides teaches the fundamentals of rope rescue, mechanical advantage(such as the z-drag), whitewater swimming skills and basic rescue organization.  Northwest River Guides teaches on minimalist approach to swiftwater rescue, focusing on techniques and strategies that are ideal for recreational kayakers, canoeists and rafters.  We will be teaching several swfitwater rescue workshops in the spring of 2008, including a class in the Portland area during April 25-26.  Sign up now to reserve your spot in one Northwest River Guides’ most popular courses.  Call 503.777.1122 to register.

Freewheel at Little Brother from Dave Hoffman on Vimeo.

During this winter deluge, I was thinking about how nice it is during the summer to go down to the Willamette River with Northwest River Guides and eNRG Kayaking for the skills socials.  Images of fall in the beautiful NW…  This is a shot of instructional guru Dave Hoffman with a student.

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