Waking up to quality whitewater is a why i thank my mother for giving me life.
There were 19 slides and waterfalls growing in size
and difficulty, each with a calm pool at the bottom. Standing on the brink of a drop you could see three drops above that had just been paddled and two hori- zon lines below to come. Four of these 19 drops we portaged. Light tree cover and no canyon walls made the portages quick and painless. Two of these could probably have been paddled if we were closer to help. Commenting on the few portages that we did, Fandrich said, “The portaging was the easiest I have ever done on a steep creek, or in B.C.” After all this came the legendary upper portions of the main Stein River with its big-volume slides.
T
hree days after we started, we were sitting in the resort hot tub at Kumsheen Rafting with big meals in our bellies and beers in hand, talking of our adven- ture, the Germans, and other rivers that we had heard of them doing. Maybe they had paddled everything around here, found the area to be so pristine and majestic that they just wanted to keep it secret. Maybe
Dave on one of the Stein's many slides.
all the stories we had heard would lead to more gems. Or maybe the Germans had never paddled the North Stein at all.
First descent or not is beside the point. Let it be just as adventurous on the tenth descent as on the first. That is why we kayak anyway. It isn’t about the rapids, how big the slides are, or how much portaging we do. It is all about the journey itself. The hardships, the friendships, the paddling, and the outcome, all in one.
What matters is that the money dilemma on the Stein has been removed. In it’s place is an alternate and incredible route. A route so breathtaking that pad- dlers who venture there might not only find granite and water, but something about themselves and the true meaning of paddling. I think the Germans would be proud.
David Norell produced the videos The Revolution and The Revolution 2: Broke, Hungry And Happy (
www.theRevolution.cc). Full coverage of the North Stein will appear in his next release tentatively titled The Revolution 3, due out in Spring 2004.
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