Thursday afternoon and the website was ready to go.  After 6 weeks of traveling, shooting, editing and planning, I was finally ready to relax. There was an impromptu BBQ at my friend’s house in South Lake Tahoe on a beautiful spring afternoon and I was set. Then he asked, “hey Trevor, what are you doing tomorrow?”  And for the first time in a month and a half I actually didn’t know.  That was a good thing, because a few hours later my brother (Christian, along for 5 weeks this summer) and I were driving to San Francisco to help my friend with a fun shoot involving some amazing people.

A stop in Placerville, CA for some In-N-Out burgers put my van a few parking spaces shy of a whitewater film crew’s Land Rover.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to hunt them down, so I pulled out my computer and emailed them, burger and fries in hand.

Moving forward, we made it to Livermore, CA around midnight, took a nap and woke for a 4 a.m. start.  The day went well and everyone seemed to be really excited about all of the images being produced.

As we broke down the day over some Thai food, my phone rang and behold, it was one of the members of the film crew that I had emailed.  We discussed our locations, plans and thoughts, and before finishing my meal, we were ready to start driving back to the mountains for a morning meeting involving some kayakers hucking themselves off of a 50-foot dam.

The next day went exactly as planned and I hid in some bushes as two kayakers snuck up to the dam and went for it.  The great part was catching them launch off of a 15-foot ramp at the bottom.  It was the first time I have seen, or even heard of, a kayaker actually getting float time in the air.

Afterwards we headed up to a known, but hidden gem called the South Silver.  Hiking and scouting yielded an amazing creek with unreal gradient, but too much water for any sane kayaker to try.  Tired of scouting and driving, we jumped on the Kyburz section of the South Fork of the American river and had a great time.  It was a great end to a very unexpected day.

Taking a rest day on Sunday, we helped a friend move and I made plans with some other paddling buddies to meet up on the Lovers Leap section of the SF of the American on Monday.  It was a good reunion with a burley section of river and lots of water to juice things up.  Looking back on it, there wasa bit too much water for me.

I knew it would be a tough day, but there was no way to know how tough.  The guidebook mentioned one portage, but had no description of any of the rapids.  That usually means one thing -- that there are too many big rapids to name and that there is no way to keep track of them all in order to describe them.  And that was the case.

I was breathing hard after the first rapid, and they just kept coming.  There was almost no respite from monster holes, fallen trees and blind drops with 50-yard split-decision handsignals for guidance.  We all handled it well (my two professional buddies much better than me) until I hadjust taken too much.  I was getting tired and before I knew it, the river found my weakness.  I got tossed at the top of an impressive set of drops and never recovered.  My paddle was ripped from my hands and I pulled the cord, ejecting from my kayak only to feel more vulnerable.  I had a few seconds to decide how to swim the rest of the rapid and went for it.  Luckily my intuition was right and I was able to make it to a safe eddy without any more drama.  And likewise, my two buddies saved the day and were able to collect my boat and paddle in the middle of the chaos.  Thanks guys.

The rest of the run went pretty well and I ended up walking out of the last ½ mile because there were too many hazards for me to feel comfortable, especially after being shaken by one swim already.

In the end, it was a good day.  I challenged myself, but kept the big picture in mind and took myself out of the equation when there was too much risk for myself and the others involved.

By choosing to participate in these types of sports and situations, you have to ask yourself, “at what cost am I willing to pursue my endeavors?”  Put that simply, the answer is always clear.

Thanks again Bryan and Andrew.