by Christina Russell
May 24, 2008 - Last weekend, Peak UK hit the Clackamas River Festival in Estacada , Oregon. It was the 25th anniversary of the event and it sure didn’t disappoint!
We headed up to the fest right after Microbiology class on Friday and found a sweet campsite up along Fish Creek. Did you know about the sweet pull-outs up there? May I recommend those for a couple nights of camping?
They’re SWEET! Anyways, enough said about camping…. we made some spaghetti and crashed early (we were going to be busy on Saturday).
Saturday morning, we signed up for two events: The Kayak Mass Start race and the Big Air Ramp. The Mass start was crazy with everyone flying through a big sticky hole at once. Thankfully no one got hurt and there were no swims! Check out this shot from Keel Brightman…master photog guy 
Following the Mass Start, Josh and I headed downstream for a run on the Upper Clack. It was at a record high of 11,500 cfs…it normally sits at 2,000! Waves were huge and the whirlpools came up everywhere. Did I mention the water is moving ridiculously fast? yeah….more on that later.
We got back from our run just in time to practice with a few runs down the Big Air Ramp. Here it is…. It was about thirty five feet high and STEEP. Thankfully the landing was pretty soft if you did it right because of the high river levels.
The event started at 3 pm and there were about 25 competitors…4 of which were women. We each had two rides…with the biggest jump determining whether or not you would make the top ten. Josh made it to finals with a solid air screw and an almost double barrel roll. I also made it to finals with a clean air screw. The top ten then had one ride to get the biggest trick out of the bunch. Josh and I both did well- finishing in the top five! WOO HOO Team Peak UK!
*Before I go on, I would like to say how happy and amazed I am with the Peak UK drydeck. I’ve been using it for about a month and it still beads up like the day I got it! I wore a thin layer under the top during the event and even with severe impacts, my thermal layer was totally dry when I removed the drydeck. It keeps water out of my boat and off my thermal layers! Thanks Peak UK! *
To say that the ramp inflicted pain was a bit of an understatement…we both soon realized that laughing was difficult our stomachs were so twisted! My head felt like it had been wacked pretty good, as did Josh’s…thank goodness for Vitamin I!
The ramp was followed by an evening of festivities: BBQ, outdoor film fest, live music, beer on tap and good spaghetti! We decided to cook on our own….at a sweet roadside “pull-out.”
Ryan Scott premiered his Northwest Video Scrapbook VI at the BBQ…AWESOME movie! Everyone worked hard on putting it together and it showed! congrats Ryan!
Sunday:
Josh and I got up early to go creeking…unfortunately, we were unable to rally others to go because the festivities the night before were proving to be a setback lol. Oh well. We stayed to watch the boatercross and cheer on our buddies 
(Above) Ryan Scott testing out the race course
Photo: Christina Russell
(Above) The final heat in boatercross
Photo: Christina Russell
(Above) Austin Rathman taking a creekboat off the big air ramp…last time before it got taken down….that one hurt!
Photo: Christina Russell
All in all, the Clack Fest was a GREAT event, the best year yet! Most of the paddling community in Oregon showed up to support the competition. Thanks to all the volunteers that made things go so well! It wouldn’t have been possible without you!
Happy Paddling,
Christina Russell and Josh Mckeown
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