Thailand-Part 2... Mae Sa Upper, Middle and escorted out from the lower!!!

- Nice rice field heading to Doi Intanon National Park - Photo Toni George

-Temple on a hill - Amazing - Photo Toni George

After a fun park and huck session on Si Dit we were ready for more! With the drops in Si Satchinlai National Park Un-Runnable we decided to high tail it to Doi Intanon National Park to what I thought would be a sure thing... Turned out that there had been no rain in the area and we were looking at a half dry river bed.

- Mae Pan with not enough water- Photo Josh Neilson

With high hopes for the next stop we headed for Mae Pan Waterfall but that too was very low. Even though it is a low volume waterfall and creek run it would have made for a very hard hit at this flow so we opted for some sight seeing and headed toward Chiang Mai. On the way we decided to head up to Mae Wang and find the waterfall run in 2006 by Steve Fisher and Ben Brown resulting in Ben's broken back. When we finally got to it we found it was kinda high and looked soooooo good! There is no visible sign of a rick in there but we were not going to go totally against ben's word and run it. Instead we decided to do a bit of underwater recon and did some bamboo probing, and came to the conclusion that in fact that yes there is a rock shelf in there that we could hit with the bamboo 50% of the times we jumped in. This was reason enough for us to head back to the car and go eat fried rice. This drop is super sick and at raging flow would be runnable without going near the shelf. It is about 1 or more Meters under the water on the left half of the drop.

- Josh, Bamboo probe in hand - Photo Toni George

So from there we enjoyed our fried rice and woke the next morning to head into the Mae Sa River. One of my favorites from the last trip. To avoid park fees we decided to run the upper first and see where we got to. The flow was good and we were set for some good kayaking finally. We made our way into the jungle to the first drop where some dudes waved us down and warned us of the Nam Tok (waterfall) just down stream. I gave them the broken Thai/english version of its ok and we were going to run it anyway. They excitedly moved aside and watched as we dropped in.

- Tyler on the first boof of the day - Photo Josh Neilson

- Tyler on one of the mini gorges - Photo Toni George

A bit further on we got to the one that pinned Will last time and with a bit of probing decided its not worth it! Not much further in we got to the best section... The first is a double boof drop right next to some huts which leads into a 6foot boof into a bouncy slide into the big slide at the bottom. One by one we ran each part and it was great. This section could even have more water to make the slides a bit nicer but good at this flow too.

- One of the funnest drops only 20 mins from down town Chiang Mai - Photo Toni George

Drop 2 clean boof - Photo Toni George

- Entering the middle slides - Photo Tyler Fox

-Tyler in the middle slide - Photo Toni George

- Toni, right after getting her paddle caught in a Bamboo tree - Photo Tyler Fox

- Toni on the bottom slide - Photo Josh Neilson

- Tyler getting his slide on - Photo Toni George

After these drops the river mellows as it makes its way through Mae Sa Elephant Camp and then drops into the middle and lower sections. Last time we ran the lower but the middle was still un run.

- Big Elephant casually washing on the side of the river - Photo Josh Neilson

- Me on the first part of the Middle run - Photo Tyler Fox

- Tyler on the middle slide - Photo Toni George

- Toni running a crack drop - Boof into the undercut is the line almost - Photo Tyler Fox

- Tyler dropping in too - Photo Toni George

- Me on the first runnable drop in the lower section - Photo Toni George

- Lou on the line - Photo Toni George

- Me from Below - Photo Tyler Fox

The next morning we headed in with a good amount of daylight and found some goods in the middle section. It was much longer than i expected with some portages in there too. We just made it into the lower section and ran 2 of the drops until we made it to number 7.

- Slightly dark shot as Toni sneakily shoots us getting caught by park rangers - Photo Toni George

Right below this was a ranger post and the ranger on duty swiftly rounded us up and told us to walk back to the top.... Not possible sorry its a jungle up there... He then made some phone calls and then told us he was escorting us to the gate where we would have to pay a fine and leave. We picked up our boats and followed him all the while plotting a plan to escape. At the gate we kept walking and they yelled and followed us. On the main road we flagged down a car and jumped on the back to our car. The dude waited for us and we just loaded out boats and drove off. I hope we dont get stopped at the boarder and taken to jail!!!!

All up a good mission and good to see whats in the middle there.. If you go in there be prepared to get shut down or made to pay a fee.

Next up was a high water run on the Mae Taeng. EPIC... Coming soon

Thailand 2010 Part 1 - Success level rising

So it all began in Bangkok when we arrived at 9pm and by 11pm they could still not track down my paddles that were once attached to the kayak and were now missing!!! Finally they told me they would hopefully locate them in the morning and send them the following night to our accommodation!!! From here things pretty much stayed on this level of dissapointment with Tylers gear not turning up and then getting shut down on some of Thailands best waterfalls due to the fact 'its too dangerous'....

- Looking at one we are not aloud to run - Photo Lou Urwin

Im going to leave it there and not go into these stories too much as we have a plan to do a stealth mission through the jungle later in the trip to run these drops and will show you them then!!!

- Where to go next... -Photo Lou Urwin

After all the stress of not kayaking we really needed to kayak so when we found Than Tip waterfall, even though it was not epic, we were keen to get wet at least. Our Kayaking efforts were quickly overshadowed by local kids wearing jeans not only jumping off the rocks into the water but climbing massive trees till the overhung the gorge then dropping in from there...

- Tyler Fox Boofing into Than Tip Waterfall gorge - Photo Toni George

- Josh Neilson on Than Tip - A nice start to the trip - Photo Tyler Fox

After Than Tip Waterfall we headed north for more and more rivers and drops with no water in them. We planned for the rainy season but the rain was not doing its part. That was Until we made it to Si Dit Waterfall. With the threat of getting shut down on yet another waterfall we stealthly unloaded the kayaks and ran them to the waters edge and got in. Lou and Toni went and set up cameras and Tyler and I waited for the go sign. Si Dit was a very un-natural looking drop that looks like you are boofing off a concrete slab but its not. Its a Natural drop with a soft pool at the bottom. Again although there was not heaps of water flowing off it was still a great way to kill the depression of not kayaking.

- Josh on Si Dit Nam Tok - Photo Toni George

- Lou Urwin Boofing Si Dit Nam Tok - Photo Josh Neilson

Josh at the Lip on round 3 - Photo Toni George

- Tyler Fox with Go Pro attached on round 2 - Photo Toni George

- Toni Georges turn, Si Dit, our first good drop- Photo Josh Neilson

One by one we ran the drop and got some sweet angles. After that it was back on the hunt. Next post will have more. Check back soon people...

The Thai Mission begins!!

- Coming soon....

And so it begins... the return to the Thai jungle in search of waterfalls. Ever since the 2007 Thai mission with Will Clark and Sam Ward I have wanted to return! With no real expectations going into the last trip I was overly amazed at the quality of white water that Thailand has to offer. After a few years to do other missions I have finally got the opportunity to return with a sweet crew to re run the rivers we found in 07 and also search out some new ones I have found on the internet over the years. First stop is Bangkok where the crew will re-group after traveling and then search out a sweet rig to drive us round the country then its off. I will leave it here and in the next wee whileposts will start to appear on here as the rivers are found, the waterfalls are paddled and the epics start to flow in! Keep an eye out here over the next month for what its like to practically circumnavigate Thailand in search of water!!!
Peace
Josh

Something about Icebergs, Oxygen and kayaking???

- The Crew minus Keith, Jo and Gringo - Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park

- Whats a good tourist attraction and a sunset without some jumping around??

Imagine walking through the desert for 1 and a half months without water and then finding a cooled water machine, or climbing mount Everest and loosing all your oxygen then finding a fresh tank at the very top, or how about being stranded on an iceberg floating in the ocean and coming across a tropical island paradise with sun, surf and a poolside bar.... How good would it feel.... Well I can relate to that pretty well!!! Altough there were no poolside bars, oxygen tanks or cooled water tanks in my story there was something better. After 1 and a half months of driving shuttle in the hot Cali summer sun with my shoulder strapped in a sling my time finally came! With just 2 weeks Left here I filled my pack with extra food, sleeping gear and all the cameras I could carry and hiked back into 'Flinstone camp' on the Upper Cherry Creek run. The team consisted of about 9 kiwis, one American and a dog. But all logistics and bush bashing aside I feel I have digressed from my moment of glory. While Rach, Jo and I set up camp in the trees the rest of the crew made their way 12 miles to the put in and then kayaked the 'Moon Slides' down to below Cherry bomb gorge where we were set up. I was still unsure about the state of my shoulder so chilled for the evening and waited till the next day to try it out.

- Roasting Marshmellows in the coolest camp ever - Photo Brad Lauder

Early the next day the anticipation was killing me as I hiked up and filmed the crew on their second run down the gorge. Once at the bottom I threw together a mix of peoples kayaking gear and started running the Jedi Slides and the perfect tea cup drops down to camp.

- Hiking back up to run laps - Paradise - Photo Rachel Tombleson

- The Line up at the top - Photo Rachel Tombelson

- Running the 'Tea Cups' down to camp - Photo Rachel Tombleson

- Getting familiar with the boof again - Photo Rachel Tombelson

After about 5 laps I was feeling good and knew that i needed to hike into the upper gorge and run 'Cherry Bomb'. After a bit of lunch and a steep hike I got in behind B and started sliding into the gorge. All was good and although cautious I felt like a child on christmas day or like the people in the situations earlier stated... Well not quite... This was just the entry to the gorge. I still had to find this much needed oxygen bottle at the top...
Sitting on the rock looking down 'Cherry Bomb Falls' I spotted it. It was in the form of a 45degree ramp with a perfect kicker at the bottom into a pool 3oish feet below. I promptly got back in my boat and boofed out of the eddy into the flow!!! I was back. My shoulder felt great, i was back on the water with my boys and I was running arguably one of the best gorges of whitewater in the world.

- 'The Oxygen at the top, the Island from the Iceberg, Kayaking after a season long injury - Photo Rachel Tombelson

- Follow the leader - back with the crew running the 'Jedi Slides' - Photo Rachel Tombelson

Thanks to all the people who have put up with me/ helped me with my injury/ partied with me/ kept me sane for the past month and a half, you guys have been great! To Nick and Harmony for letting me crash on the best couch in the world while I recovered, to (good) Jordie and Nige for not having much work so we could hang out and swim lots, the boys for putting up with my excessive party motivation, Rach and Gringo for sharing the terror of hiking in Cali with mountain lions and bears, but most of all thanks to the iceberg for not completly melting before I made it to the tropical island!!!
Cali is now over and I'm ready to go. Next week I will join Tyler Fox, Lou Urwin and Toni George for an month in Thailand searching for new rivers. Keep an eye out!
Cheers
Josh

GRACELAND

- The boys sitting contemplating

There are a few places in the world that are really scary but draw you in and make you want to paddle despite their MASSIVENESS!!! Graceland is one of them! Unfortunalty yet fortunatly I am injured so I was not able to experience its greatness in person this year but I did get to hike in and shoot some sick footage of the boys for the next movie!!! Here are a few shots from Graceland slide on West Cherry Creek! One of those places.... Ill be back for sure...

- Photo Stitch of the area - Photo Evan Garcia

- Side on of the slide of Grace - Photo Evan Garcia

- My Hiking friend and mountain lion hunter, Gringo - Photo Evan Garcia

professional shuttle driver and river hiker!

Still on the injured list these days but to fill in my time I have taken to a serious regime of Facebook, airport shuttles and hiking food and cameras into multi-day sierra runs. Although seriously depressing watching everyone running super stout drops while im behind the camera at least i can still get out there and enjoy some of these amazing places!! beats being in NZ in the cold thats for sure!
Here are a few shots from the Gopro camera from some driving and life on the road! Been on the video camera for the kayaking part so limited in the Photos there but expect some sick stuff in the next film!!
Enjoy
Josh

-Toni trying to fit inside her kayak- not possible

- Mum driving away from the sunset on 99 - Photo Josh Neilson

- After 5 miles hike, Graceland slide is in sight - Photo Josh Neilson

- Go Mum Go! photo Josh Neilson

- Brad smart bringing a mozzy net! These fullas are brutal - Photo Josh Neilson

- Samoa aka Jared Mitchel getting limber before day 2 of west cherry - Photo Josh Neilson

- Practicing his Waka ama - Photo Josh Neilson

- Driving the 99 and missing the turn off to 3 rivers!! whoops! Photo Josh Neilson

- B getting ready to hike down into the slide in the background! MASSIVE!!! -Photo Josh Neilson

- The Greek Adonnis getting his drive on cali style!! no Air con so its HOT!! - Photo Josh Neilson