Brandy Creek

Several weeks ago, under the delusion that there would be water flowing from the hills around Whiskeytown Lake, Dustin Stoenner, Orion Meredith, Leif Andersen (the Mullet), and myself made a trip up Brandy Creek. To our immense suprise, we found water, not much, but definitely liquid, flowing down some of the beautiful bedrock slides that Brandy has to offer. We put in at the confluence of Brandy and some other small side creek, right at the top of a small slide. Below this, we ran some manky boulder gardens that consisted of ricocheting from rock to rock, usually pinning or broaching in annoying places. Fortunately, the water was only ankle deep in most places, so the stress level was pretty much non-existant. More water than we had on this run is key, but even at our meager flows, we had a good time running the clean drops.

Orion Meredith living the dream.

Dustin Stoenner, lookin' good.

Myself on the same slide.

Below this lay more mank, with one small bedrock section, that at legitimate flows, would not even be recognizable as such, and then a fun section consisting of two 10-15 foot slides, followed by a 10 foot drop through a narrow slot. This section was probably the most fun, as you could run laps on it until you puke.

Triple-drop section.

Myself, rockin' the purple top in the crack.

Enjoying some of the "in-between" stuff.

One of these days, we'll make it back to Brandy, this time with more water, and go charge the upper drops in the gorge. Thanks goes out to Leif for all the great shots, and advice on kayak induced foot bunion care.