I hope everyone here knows what a special place Richland Creek is to all paddlers.
Sometimes we catch it in the spring bloom when everything is just right. On May 9th I got the chance to catch a very special run.
Meet Hunter Hobbs
He's 9. I'm jealous.
Hunter's dad Nick got him one of the Jackson Sidekick boats after Hunter had spent time in the smallest Jackson kayak. Jackson has done a marvelous job of creating good boats for little paddlers who can start at an earlier age and ultimately get to another level of paddling I will never be able to achieve. Hunter is slightly undersized for the boat right now but he should be able to paddle it for two or maybe three more years.
It was neat to watch dad and son gather above the meatier drops. Nick would give Hunter beta just like any other good guide. He'd say okay this one has some boogie water and a couple of boulders and then you drop left and eddy left or what ever... they repeated this routine together most of the day. At points it was sort of hard to tell which one is the bigger kid.
Hunter styled Richland Falls nicely. He eddied out, looked back and said, "I wanna run that one again!"
.Mike Echols and I boated ahead when we could on the bigger drops. I was a little worried about how he would deal with Cindy's Hole. Several paddlers went ahead and so the diagonal line was clearly shown and Nick and Hunter bobbed in the eddy above. Hunter took the classic hole avoidance line gave a seasoned stroke at the lip and the boat did the rest, thank you very much.
Mike took video and I hope that Nick will be able to post it somewhere online. I'm anxious to watch Hunter's fabulous boof at Upper Screw Up. I've tried for years to nail the boof at Upper Screw Up. Hunter nailed it his first time. At Lower Screw Up, dad decided it was time to bank scout. The decision to run or not would be based on several factors.
Door number two at Lower Screw Up had more water and made the best sense. Nearly everyone ran that line and Hunter got the benefit of watching several others. They gave the thumbs up signal and the rest of us staged up cameras and boaters just below. Hunter got a little tweaked in the green water slab but dropped onto the back deck, braced and stayed upright.
He strolled into the eddy just below the top part of the drop, bright eyes and smiling. Everyone else looked at each other and shrugged. Inside my head I think again, man if only I'd started paddling at 9.
At Maytag we were all planning to run the boof line. Most did, Hunter was slightly off line and missed the full on big air boof but cleaned the drop nonetheless.
Now I don’t want to give the impression they went out got a kids boat and went straight to Richland. I think Nick has showed everyone a model process for how to bring a kid along into paddling. Nick paddled hard for quite a few years and then when Hunter was old enough to swim; Nick started taking him on casual river trips, using rafts, and canoes to introduce Hunter to the rivers we love. He taught him how to read and understand water; probably the most important skill to learn. As a parent paddler he didn’t force his interest on Hunter, instead he let Hunter decide on his own and now Hunter has had a banner year where we had water and could get out often on weekends enough to grow his skills and learn even more.
Let me also add major props to mom! She was letting her two men out for a weekend of paddling on Mother’s Day weekend no less. Now that is major understanding.
I asked Hunter, “How many girlfriends he had?” and he said, “Just one.” I suspect in the years to come he may end up with one true love that will stay with him forever; the rivers, creeks and being out on them.
At the end of the shuttle ride back at the putin we all parted ways. Nick was in a bit of a hurry. It was 3 o’clock and he told Hunter, “If we hurry a little bit we can run over a huck off Falling Water Falls a few times.”
What a special day!
way to go Hunter!!!!!!!!
, so we can see the action.
on Wednesday and made runs on Spirits, Jack, and Sugar ALL IN THE SAME DAY. What a week! I think we will have some video on tonight. Here are some pics of our huckfest at Falling Water. I think my computer guy should have some good video of Hunter tonight.
! Root 
