“The water is touching the Chain Tree” ... or “Its over the Tree Island” ... To some these phrases don’t mean anything, but to others these words are so powerful they send a chill down your back and can make a grown man cry, similar to a cold hand grabbing your manhood, after the initial shock wears off its pure, uncontrollable excitement! Still not sure what I am talking about? Picture this ... Its a beautiful Monday afternoon and I am spending it basking in the sun, hanging with friends enjoying the low water (2 on the gauge), surfing Corner Wave! It had seemed as if the low summer levels had finally settled in, which made it all the more annoying when I showed up at McCoys the next morning to find everything flushed, I hate 5 to 6 on the gauge. Thankfully, by that afternoon, after hearing how much the river had rose I was surfing Waikiki at a pretty sweet 10.5 on the gauge. So with the water rising 8 ft on the gauge within one day and only 4 more feet to go till ........ BUSSY !!! you could say we were a little excited. Myself and Dave, met at the Lorne the next mourning, “Bussy Watch” was on. Unfortunately, the water had leveled out over the night and hadn’t moved. We went back to Dave’s house, outfitted boats, ate some french fries from Smokies and chilled for a bit, letting the water rise. Returning later that day and seeing the water at the exact same spot, felt like being dumped just before your prom, so close yet so far away. It was a hard thought out decision, but we decided to give up for then and run the river. After setting shuttle and stopping in at Annie’s for some sugar candies, we returned back to the Lorne to put in and found what we had been looking for, the water had risen a couple feet and was just under the “Green Light” level. Another 30 mins later the water started lapping up on the Chain Tree and had covered the land bridge between the Tree Island !!! A few key phone calls later we had stellar group of lads to throw down with. Point of the story ... the water rose 13 feet in 2 days and now we were surfing the most beautiful wave ever, a.k.a Bussy. Not only were we surfing this magnificent wave but we were doing it skin to win, yup, were talking bath water. On top of that the average daytime temperature was probably 30 degrees. And the icing on the cake came when the hoards didn’t, thats right somehow this little miracle had gone unnoticed by a large majority of paddlers, as most days at any given time there were never more then a dozen people out, and that usually included a rope person and 3 or so people taking photos and video. In all we had 10 glorious days of Christmas in June! Enjoy a quick glimpse into our heaven. Tyler Fox Photos: Tyler Fox, Lou Urwin and Dave Nieuwenhuis
10 Days in June
Bottoms Up Kayaking < SLIDESHOW