Monday, December 31, 2012

New Year's Eve - Grand Canyon Launch Day Eve

I hope that everyone has had a good year, both on and off the water.
Have fun tonight.  Be safe.

Happy to say that I am with the Liquid Logic crew, getting prepared for tomorrow morning's inspection by NPS so we can get the green light to launch the 12 day trip through the Grand Canyon.

As a celebration of this trip, I have queued up the first 12 photogravures that were made from my last trip through the canyon.  They will show up, one per day, in order but not necessarily in coordination with the current trip (tough to predict exactly where we will be each day).  I hope you enjoy them.  The new(er) batch of photogravures will pop up over on the ARTandWATER blog.





titled "Campsite Quanta"

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Food for the Grand Canyon self-support trip.

After multiple emails, with different suggestions, I went to the internet to research what minimalist backpackers, whitewater kayaking multi-day trip folks, and the average 3 day weekend hiker used to make their menus on exciting adventures.
 Needless to say, I was totally confused.
 This forced me to stop everything and focus on three questions:
1. How do I normally eat when I'm focused on one long-term project?
2. What am I willing to eat for 12 days in a row?
3. How can I dress it up a bit so it's not totally boring?

I added a few things in the end, but the photos below are a great representation of how I answered those questions when packing for this 12 day Grand Canyon trip that launches on January 1, 2013 with the LiquidLogic crew.



3 packets of instant oatmeal for breakfast
(390 - 480 calories depending on flavor)





Lots of dried fruit and nuts
(17,000 calories total divided by 12 equals 1400 calories per day)
(352g protein total divided by 12 equals 23g protein per day)
(it's difficult to believe, but I double checked everything on the labels)





All the dried fruit and nuts (from the previous picture) mixed up in equal parts (mostly) for each day




1 big protein bar and 1 small balanced bar for each day
(each Big protein bar has 400 calories with 30g protein)
(each Small bar has 170 calories with 10g protein)




"Dinner" options
(I felt I needed some hot food, and some carbs mixed in with all this protein)
(The bags of dehydrated carrots, tomatoes, and celery mix in with all this stuff nicely)
(Each item pictured has 400 - 500 calories)
(the summer sausage and cheese each have about 25 g protein)




All the food fit inside 2 Watershed Ocoee drybags and 1 SeaToSummit 13Liter drybag, which fits very easily in the Remix XP10.
(While I was packing my boat, I stuffed the cracks between drybags with extra random food that was in sealed plastic bags.  It was mostly light stuff like vegetable soup mix and minute rice.)

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Attention Canadian Boaters and Artists....

http://www.banff.ca/index.aspx?NID=846

Banff is accepting applications for your work to be part of a public art project.

http://www.banffcragandcanyon.com/2012/10/18/a-call-to-artists-is-out-for-banffs-latest-public-art-pieces

Photography, painting, printmaking, whatever.....
If it involves Banff, and you are from the Great White North, then you are eligible to apply. 






Monday, October 15, 2012

Help the Farmington River

Support the Wild and Scenic designation for the Lower Farmington River (see attached document for details). This designation would be great for paddling on the Farmington and especially Tariffville gorge.

 American Whitewater supports the effort: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Article/view/articleid/31537/

 If you would, please comment in support of the designation (Alternative B), they're running out of time for comments, closing date is October 17th. You don't need to say much, offering your support is a big help! parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=261&projectID=35651&documentID=48466

Monday, October 08, 2012

How The Earth Was Made



has a segment that features the Grand Canyon and Wayne Ranney.




Wayne has a cool geology blog.
He is from Flagstaff, and is an avid hiker/explorer who knows the canyon well.

Check it out!

 http://earthly-musings.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 21, 2012

Grand Canyon Trip Jan 1, 2013

For the past few years, the Liquid Logic crew has organized a self-support trip through Marble and Grand Canyons in the winter. 

http://kayakcamping.amongstit.com/

http://www.astralbuoyancy.com/news/expedition/grand-canyon-first-time-reflections/

http://www.teamliquidlogic.com/self-support-grand-canyon

This year, I am on the trip list.  Deposit is in, and plans are made.   I am very excited to get back into The Canyon!!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/artandwater/grand-canyon-gravure?ref=card

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Support our USA C2 Olympic boat!!!

http://erichurd.me/

They have tshirts.......

Hurd Larimer C2 team going to the London Olympics 2012

or, if you just are feeling the Olympic spirit and want to donate a dollar or two....

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Living the life

http://youtu.be/32POS8sanY8

Nick Gottlieb having fun getting it done.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Wild Fire Tees



The wild fires in Colorado have taken their toll on the state's resources, cost property and lives.
These creative people have come together to raise money to help with the fire fighting and recovery effort.  

Go to the website and check it out!

New designs are constantly being added.
You get cool tshirts and the good feeling that you are helping.



Wednesday, July 11, 2012

If you like these prints...

12 photogravures of the Grand Canyon

12 cyanotypes of the Grand Canyon

... then you only have 16 days left to make your claim,
which will help make sure the project continues to completion,
and you can receive either one of the originals,
or one of the archival digital reprints,
in the Grand Canyon Gravure project.
The choice is yours.

Click this link to sign up:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1064313302/grand-canyon-gravure?ref=card

Monday, July 09, 2012

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Dam removal

Rumor has it that the T'ville dam removal starts tomorrow.
I'm excited to see what rapids lie beneath the pond.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Tshirts and Art


It's all or nothing.
If the goal is not reached, the project does not get finished!
A "pledge" means that you are not charged for this right now.  It will only happen when the goal is reached at the end of the month.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1064313302/grand-canyon-gravure?ref=card

$25 or more and you get an ARTandWATER cotton tshirt.
(Stickers too?  Sure, why not.  Everyone likes stickers)


When the project is funded, you will receive a private message so we can discuss tshirt size, design, and color.




http://youtu.be/GSiUtzT5Kz4

Friday, June 29, 2012

Grand Canyon Gravure project



http://kck.st/LwzeJr
The goal is to collect the materials to get this project finished.
It is at it's half way point and I want to keep the momentum going!
Thanks to people who have let me borrow equipment this summer,
allowed me to find work space,
and encouraged me to keep going I think that the finish line is in sight.

Watch the video.

Click the links.

Share share share to anyone who might be interested!

(there are some really good deals for those who choose to be a part of finishing this project)




Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Remains Of A River (trailer)

Remains of a River Trailer from NRS Films on Vimeo.

This film is being shown in episodes on Vimeo. It is about a journey on the Colorado River from source to sea. Well, ALMOST to the sea, since the Colorado River does not reach the sea as the demands for water are high enough that it dries up before it can get to the sea.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Hawaii bans plastic bags

according to this article from  Surfrider Foundation
http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/hawaii-becomes-the-first-state-in-the-u.s.-to-ban-plastic-bags

 Plastics degrade at an incredibly slow rate in landfills, but even slower in the ocean so the accumulation is greater.  Here is a conservative explanation by NOAA.
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/plastic.html

A big topic of conversation these days is the "garbage patch" in the mid-Pacific gyre.
Again, here is a link to NOAA for a less reactionary explanation. 
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html
NOAA is a government organization staffed by scientists, thus tend to not make hyperbolic statements.

Whether you think that giant piles of plastic garbage are rapidly killing off marine life, which in turn is having a negative impact on the food chain to which we are directly linked, or if you think that a little garbage is floating in the ocean, doesn't it make sense to pay attention to how many plastic bags you are using?

I am constantly amazed that the default mode for cashiers is to put everything in a bag.  If I carry two small items from the shelf to the cash register, then why do they need to go in a bag?  It's a waste. 


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Westbrook River Park

http://184.154.226.19/~westbro7/

Southern Maine project in which the idea is to do more than put in a boring old fish ladder.


The fish ladder is great as it will allow upstream fish passage.  But, with the growing popularity of whitewater boating over the past couple of generations, several boaters have taken their love for playing with fast-moving water to school, earned engineering degrees, and become whitewater park designers.   These whitewater parks create structures which more closely mimic a natural river than the old-style fish ladders.  These improved fish ladder / whitewater parks have become very attractive to towns interested in renewing interest in forgotten river corridors, often resulting in great quality of life improvements for that town.

Whitewater park designers carefully consider the positive impact such restoration projects have on fish habitat.
http://www.boaterparks.com/Web%20fish%20report.pdf

Here is an example of Recreational Engineering and Planning's proposal in Michigan.
http://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/systems_planning/Environment/hrimp/Documents/AnnArbor_final_conceptdesign.pdf

A project in CA is gaining ground because of the balanced plan that addresses the concerns of boaters, fishermen, environmentalists, and the general population of the town.
http://www.kernvilleriversidepark.com/PlanStreambed.htm

The Tulsa whitewater park project
http://tulsawhitewaterpark.com/faq/

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Wiki/stewardship:whitewater_parks

Monday, May 21, 2012

Vote for this image and be awesome



This is the link to the contest.  Enjoy the images.  Vote for mine if you find yourself compelled to help.
http://www.photocircle.org/contests/6/


All proceeds of this contest go to benefit The Freshwater Trust.




Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Colorado River a major economic attraction

"Among the study’s key findings, river-related recreation in the six-state region:
  • Supports 234,000 jobs across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming
  • Produces $26 billion in economic output
  • Generates $17.0 billion in retail sales
  • Out performs regional farming revenues by 14.6% on average
  • Contributes $3.2 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue annually
  • Provides enough state and local tax revenues to fund over 29,000 teacher positions
  • Creates $10.4 billion in annual earnings, salaries, and wages" 


source:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Article/view/articleid/31374/

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Navigation, not just for fish

This is an effort to raise awareness of a simple concept:
If a fish ladder must be installed
Then why not one that acts more like a natural river?
It looks better.
It creates recreational opportunities in the local community.
It is safer.
Whitewater park engineers are the ones who know how to do this.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/a-passageway-for-fish-why-not-for-kayakers__2012-05-01.html

Repost the above link to your Facebook, Google+, or any forums in which you participate.  Local people are trying to make the plans for an ugly concrete fish ladder into something more sensible.  This will benefit ww boaters.  This will benefit fish.  This will benefit the local community far beyond boaters and fishermen.

Here is a link to a study re: fish stream habitat and ww parks.  You'll see the careful attention that ww park engineers give fish habitat,  and how much better ww features are vs. typical concrete steps.
http://www.boaterparks.com/Web%20fish%20report.pdf

Sunday, April 29, 2012

2012 N.E.W. Triple Crown Championships

("Tville Triple Crown")



This is an unedited batch of photos. I rushed to post them online for those who were anxious to see images from the weekend. I will color correct and crop over the next few weeks. When finished, I'll replace the photos in this gallery with their corrected images.

Full results are up on the event's website
http://www.tvilletriplecrown.com/tvilletriplecrown.com/Results_2012.html

Saturday morning started a little chilly, but the competitors warmed up with 5 minute races in wildwater boats. By the time second runs of slalom came around the sun had warmed up the Tville Gorge, and the rest of the weekend saw perfect mid-Spring weather for boating. Several spectators commented that the new parking shuttle setup made getting to the event much easier than the past three years.

If the slideshow is not working for your javascript settings, you can use this link to go directly to the gallery and see individual photos. http://artandwater.smugmug.com/Whitewater/2012-New-England-Whitewater/

Friday, April 27, 2012

Team USA needs some support

http://www2.teamusa.org/Home/USA%20Canoe%20Kayak/Case%20for%20Support.aspx

because our beautiful little ww sport does not have the same corporate support that other summer Olympic sports have. It is nice to be one of the last genuinely amateur sports out there, but the price that is paid for being so cool is lack of money. Pass the above link along to friends and family who know about your ww adventures and tell them that this is in the OLYMPICS this summer and that Team USA needs support; be it $5 or $500,000.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

N.E.W. Triple Crown Championships



http://www.tvilletriplecrown.com

This is the fourth year that freestyle, slalom, and wildwater boaters have competed against each other in all three disciplines for an overall prize of $1000 in both women's and men's divisions.

Sign up to compete, or go to the T'ville Gorge on the Farmington River in central Connecticut to watch the show!!!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Making a Two-Part breakapart paddle

Here is a link to a terrific article on making your own breakdown paddle out of an old paddle.

http://wheelsandwater.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-breakdown-paddle.html

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Thursday, January 05, 2012

WW Boater going to Belize to be more than just a tourist

Bryan Griesemer will join a team of health care professionals to help improve the quality of life in rural Belize.

Click this first link and read his plan. It's a good one.

http://sundogphilosophy.blogspot.com/2011/12/lets-join-forces-to-help-community-in.html?spref=fb

This next link is for those who are willing to support Bryan's efforts by donating to MedicForce (a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization, thus tax deductable). When you do decide to donate please be sure to include the name Bryan Griesemer in the memo section, so they know to let him know that his friends are helping (I believe the amount you donate is kept private, but letting Bryan know that you are helping only encourages him to continue doing good things like this in the future)

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jonathon-bryant/medicforcebelize4