Back in the Day - Old Photos

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RandyJ
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Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by RandyJ » Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:18 am

Dug up some old pictures...now scanned...thought I'd share a few here. I'll start of with this pic from Canoe School. I think this was '85 or '86. Who can you pick out? The only two I know for sure are Frank Barton, first guy kneeling from the left, and Jon Johnson of Johnson Falls fame, who's standing just to Frank's right.

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I remember Frank was trying to do some fancy cooking with ceramic tiles that weekend, but they weren't the right kind of tiles. I was nearby when one of them exploded, sending hot ceramic shrapnel flying everywhere. Happy to still have my eyesight, Frank! :hammer:
Let there be rain!

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RandyJ
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by RandyJ » Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:46 pm

Okay, new day, more pics. 1982 - my first year of boating (started in open boat). Some of you may remember The Flood of December 1982. Huge rainfall across almost all of the state, with peak flood on Thursday, December 2. That day, the Buffalo went over the top of Highway 65, and the Arkansas would hit 375,000 cfs in Little Rock once the water ran out of the hills.

Joe Spitzmiller (probably about the first kayaker in Oklahoma) and I headed to Newton County for the weekend. We ran the Hailstone on Saturday, and on Sunday, hooked up with a couple of guys from Kansas City (Joel Reiz and another guy) to run Richland.

Boxley bridge on Highway 21 (12/4/82). What you can't tell from the picture is that about 20-30 feet of the approach on the north side of the bridge was totally gone.
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Spitzmiller running Knucklebuster, with Reiz and Other Guy watching....
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Me on Richland Falls...
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Couple of memorable things about the Richland run:
1) I was the last one to run Crack, and waited for the three kayaks to run before I dropped in. Just as my bow drops in, the Other Guy from KC is just rolling up in the bottom of the drop. He was okay - just a swim - but I'll never forget the look on his face!

2) Had a clean run that day until Maytag...planned to go right of the rock but the creek had another plan. Pinned bow and stern between shore and rock and got tacoed. To this day, I think that drop still pushes you farther left than it looks like it will.
Let there be rain!

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A Savage spanke
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by A Savage spanke » Sun Jan 03, 2010 6:13 pm

These are cool, keep them coming
It could be worse, it could stop raining
call to paddle 479.518.0017

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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by GutIt » Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:50 pm

Awesome shots, Randy!

It's kind of hard to say. Been a while and everybody has changed a lot, and I could be off here!

But I think the guy to the left of Jon in the blue PFD is Kevin Harris. The guy sitting in the yellow top looking to our right I think may be Rob Sanner. They were with Jon when he got caught in the Squeeze that fateful day.

I'll say this, though. To have a clean open boat run in your first year on Richland, and at that level and at that point in time, is no mean feat! At least Maytag is close to the end!

Very cool seeing that sweet vintage gear! I wonder what Mr. Spitzmiller was paddling? And is that a Norse paddle he has?
Keep Your Stick in the Water!
-Terry-

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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by RandyJ » Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:41 pm

Not sure if that's Rob and Kevin or not, but I know they both ended up moving to CO and running some crazy stuff out there. Ran into Rob at our "swim meet" in a big-water Rockwood Gorge (Animas) circa '95. Here's Wade Colwell climbing out with me after we flunked our "Entrance Exam" (first drop in the gorge).

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I think Spitzmiller was paddling a white Perception Quest or Mirage back then. Might be a Norse paddle. It had metal-wrapped blade tips riveted on.
Let there be rain!

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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by lilredrasta » Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:02 pm

Sorry about the shrapnel Randy--we finally perfected the "camping pizza on the grill" thing. A lot of familiar faces in that pic--I thing that is Robert Booth in the yellow paddle jacket, right center standing. Guy behind me is d*ck somebody--a name I should know but can't recall just now. I think that might be Bill Kennedy on the far right--probably still mad about the rocks we put in the bow of his Dancer on the Gauley. Will pass on some more names as they come to me. Would not have been 85 because I got that paddle to do the Canyon in Sept of 85. Thanks for the blast from the past!
Frank

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RandyJ
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by RandyJ » Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:19 pm

Frank, I noticed and remembered that "No Bozos" sticker on your paddle, too, so that pic must be from '86, then. And yeah, I think that must be Bill Kennedy on the end. FYI, he passed away several years ago.
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by JohnB » Mon Jan 04, 2010 6:14 pm

Frank is on top, then left to right, Franklin R. Bursk, "World's Greatest Jewish Kayaker From Earle, Arkansas", Paul Means and Debra Moseley.
Long Pool 1981
I've got a dresser full of old photos and slides.
Attachments
Frank's Take A Hike van 1981 001.jpg

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T Yamashita
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by T Yamashita » Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:31 pm

Great Pics!

Keep 'em coming! :clap: :clap: :clap:
:beer: ty

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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by RandyJ » Mon Jan 04, 2010 9:19 pm

Ahhh...more people posting...adding...good! Thanks, JohnB. I'm sure your photo collection and stories would dwarf mine and I hope you'll post a bunch more. Since you've joined in here, I gotta' pull out a couple of stories.

Back to '82, first year I was boating. By fall, I'd paddled a bunch of OC-1 miles, including a good clinic at NOC in the summer, and thought I was ready to tackle the Ocoee. Started asking around if anyone was headed east for a fall trip and was introduced to Mike Beard. Headed east with Beard, Kenny "HD-1" Holmes, and a couple of other guys in October. We did the Nanty and Hiwassee, then drove to the Ocoee and pulled into Thunder Rock to camp. Couple of hours after dark...campground is quiet...then NOT. Was about to get my introduction to the "Doobie Brothers!"

Vehicle pulls into the campground and a couple of guys pile out and start telling a pretty animated story of their "visit" with the local authorities. What I remember of it, as told by the aforementioned Franklin Bursk, is they were driving along Hwy 64, winding along the river, when they were pulled over by a sheriff's deputy. Driver rolls down the window and asks what the problem is. Deputy says, "Boys, you was drivin' 60!" Not sure the laws of physics would allow anyone to drive 60 mph along that stretch of highway, and I think the Doobies tried to point that out to the deputy, but I believe they still had to pay a visit to the county jail and left soon after with lighter wallets. But there MIGHT have been more involved than speeding...just speculating...

Doobie Story #2...I am convinced that Bursk wore only one pair of tan cotton shorts for boating his entire adult life. They were WELL used (maybe they were white when they were new???) and, shall we say, conspicuously lacking in modesty in certain spots. I remember being at a put-in parking lot somewhere, getting my gear ready. Bursk asks a few people to crowd around him so he can change into those tan shorts...mumbles something to them to the effect of "don't look at me!" to which one of the females snorts, "Hell, Franklin, I've seen you more than I've seen my own husband!" :lol:

But the Doobies were STOUT boaters. I remember on one of my first kayak runs on the Ocoee, I was in an eddy at Tablesaw. The Doobies were working ALL of the eddies in the rapid. Then Bursk spins out of his eddy into a reverse stationary draw. So in basically one stroke, he does a back ferry across the drop, right past the Tablesaw, and whips into an eddy on the other side of the river. Then JohnB pretty much duplicated the move. I think it was right about then my chin hit my sprayskirt - dang! - didn't even know a boat/er could do something like that.

Good times...back in the day.
Let there be rain!

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RandyJ
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by RandyJ » Thu Jan 07, 2010 2:35 am

First time I ever went to the Cossatot, the Falls looked like this:

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May 13, 1984. Had started transitioning to kayak by then, but forgot the helmet at home that weekend so paddled open boat. I took out above the Falls that day, but remember seeing the Barton Bros. there with What's-His-Name Earls from Alabama. He was the guy whose paddling shop got torched (arson), as mentioned in one of William Nealy's books.

Speaking of the 'Tot and old photos, anyone out there have a copy of "The Hand" photo from Washing Machine they could scan and post? Cool photo - telephoto shot from below the Machine of an in-flight throw-rope, with a hand (only; no head or body) reaching out of the water for the rope. I have no idea who took the picture or who's in it - maybe one of the other "seasoned" boaters on the board can post the photo and/or fill in some info?
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by Steve S » Thu Jan 07, 2010 7:43 am

The "hand picture" is hanging on the wall at Ozark Outdoor Supply. I'll see if Jim Frank will loan it to me for scanning and posting on this thread.

The hand belonged to Scott Hunter who was paddling a square-stern aluminum canoe through The Falls. The rope was thrown by Stewart Noland, and the picture was taken by Gary Speed, who at the time was a photographer for the AR Gazette. He won a national prize for that photo.

Stewart made a perfect throw. The rope fell right into Scott's hand.
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by dthrasher » Thu Jan 07, 2010 11:26 am

WOW! Steve, your memory is excellent about the hand picture in the Washing Machine. I was standing right next to Gary when he took that picture. Brad Wimberly also has a copy of that picture in his store at Turner Bend.

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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by mgood » Thu Jan 07, 2010 11:31 am

These pictures rock. Please keep posting them.

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RandyJ
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Re: Back in the Day - Old Photos

Post by RandyJ » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:13 pm

Steve S wrote:The "hand picture" is hanging on the wall at Ozark Outdoor Supply. I'll see if Jim Frank will loan it to me for scanning and posting on this thread.

The hand belonged to Scott Hunter who was paddling a square-stern aluminum canoe through The Falls. The rope was thrown by Stewart Noland, and the picture was taken by Gary Speed, who at the time was a photographer for the AR Gazette. He won a national prize for that photo.

Stewart made a perfect throw. The rope fell right into Scott's hand.
Cool! Had never heard the story. And yeah, every time I used to go to OOS, I'd stop in the stairway and stare at that picture. Would love to see it again.

Thanks, Steve!
Let there be rain!

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