Editor's note: I just recently found out about Jason's accident. For those of you that don't know, Jason (TDS) was in a bad car accident on 10/27, and is fighting hard to get better.
Hungus (AT 2007) has been posting a lot of updates at Whiteblaze.net. Here's a link to the forum thread with all the updates:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=42673
Keep Jason and his family in your prayers.
-rg
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
SPAM/VIRUS
Please do not click on the Comments for the latest picture post from PICS BUFFALO RIVER, AR. Some jerkoff put a virus there and like an idiot I approved the comment.
Again, if you click on COMMENTS and select the PLEASE SEE HERE, your pc might be at risk.
I will try to eliminate this comment but am not so sure how.
Thanks, Jason Bivin
Again, if you click on COMMENTS and select the PLEASE SEE HERE, your pc might be at risk.
I will try to eliminate this comment but am not so sure how.
Thanks, Jason Bivin
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Buffalo River, Arkansas weekender
Greetings Sports Fans! I'm backkkkkkkkkk.
The Buffalo River in Arkansas runs 135 miles, West to East and winds up dumping into the White River.
This weekend, my gal Kat-tostrophe, OKIE and Clint headed out for a 2-day adventure on the blue CL I-II Buffalo river with no expectations except to have a great time in the good ol outdoors. And that, my friends, we did!
No Bell Yellowstone Solo canoe this time. Kat and I shared an Old Town Discover, I believe. It was a rental and did the trick. We had her loaded down with gear, food and of course beer.
Kat and I drove from Tulsa, OK to a campground on the West end of the river- Steel Creek campground, near the convergence of Highways 74 and 43. We arrived around midnight and got a chance to shake the hell out of Okies tent. He and Clint woke up, we caught up over some beers and watched an amazing show of stars. The stars were out in groves. It was a nice night and it remained clear for stargazing. The campground was full with people dreaming of tomorrows canoe trip.
I picked up a newly designed MSR Hubba Hubba and we have used it on several occasions and I still love it.
The guy who owned the canoe rental place tried to talk us out of going given the high water levels and "scary CL IV's". He prodded for our level of experience and seemed to be satisfied with the 1000+ miles I have paddled and the fact that I guided canoe trips up in Minnesota's Boundary Waters. We loaded the canoes and set off on an adventure of a weekend.
By the way, there were plenty of CL II sets and a couple CL II-III's that made life interesting. Many of the folks we passed were off to the side bailing water or rolling their canoes, ridding them of that nasty water that fills your canoe once you get all caddywhampus and dump. We did not, however, ever dump or take on more than 10-20 gallons of water.
The water was a chalky greyish blue. It was clear and reminded me of the color of the lakes above 12,000 feet in California's High Sierras. It was beautiful and I have never paddled in anything so beautiful. I wouldn't drink the water, without purification like I would in Northern Maine or Northern Minnesota but it was beautiful and COLD nonetheless.
By the way, the Buffalo River is one of the fewest undammed rivers left in the lower 48 for its length. So its' water level is tied to the rainfall, or lack thereof.
The river was engorged by steep rock cliffs that must have exceeded 500 feet. They were tall and you strained your neck looking towards their tops hoping to catch glimpses of mountain goats. We never saw them. But a beaver did watch and swim around our campsite Saturday night. I told Kat we would see a beaver before the weekend was over.
We camped Saturday about halfway of our 20 mile itinerary, just past Kyles Landing. The campsite was primo and we found great tenting areas and had a wonderfully red sunset shining on the steep rock face that was opposite us. What a great nights sleep! For dinner we enjoyed steak- both filets and strips, with baked potatoes, beans and beer and chips and trail mix and beer. It was just what we needed after drinking beers all day. We finished the night out with a great, warm campfire and shared stories and generally enjoyed each others company.
The next morning we hit the water late, like around noon and spent the afternoon finishing up the paddle. Okie and Clint nearly lost it in one of those CL II-III's but kept it going enough until they could reach the banks of the river. Okie borrowed my cooking pot to bail out the water in his canoe. Those were fun pictures to take.
One of the spectacular features of this river are the plentiful, leveled and layered waterfalls that eventually dumped into the river. We stopped at many of them. We wished we could have stopped at all of them.
All in all, it was a great feeling to get back on the water. Even better to be on water that moves and has some choppiness to it. I am definitely going back to finish the entire river. In fact, Kat and I will do a 4-day weekend there around May 15-19. This means that I wont make AT Trail Days but will be there in Spirit.
Many of my friends are out on the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trails. Best of luck to all of them!
Happy Trails,
Totally Different Subject,
Jason Bivin
The Buffalo River in Arkansas runs 135 miles, West to East and winds up dumping into the White River.
This weekend, my gal Kat-tostrophe, OKIE and Clint headed out for a 2-day adventure on the blue CL I-II Buffalo river with no expectations except to have a great time in the good ol outdoors. And that, my friends, we did!
No Bell Yellowstone Solo canoe this time. Kat and I shared an Old Town Discover, I believe. It was a rental and did the trick. We had her loaded down with gear, food and of course beer.
Kat and I drove from Tulsa, OK to a campground on the West end of the river- Steel Creek campground, near the convergence of Highways 74 and 43. We arrived around midnight and got a chance to shake the hell out of Okies tent. He and Clint woke up, we caught up over some beers and watched an amazing show of stars. The stars were out in groves. It was a nice night and it remained clear for stargazing. The campground was full with people dreaming of tomorrows canoe trip.
I picked up a newly designed MSR Hubba Hubba and we have used it on several occasions and I still love it.
The guy who owned the canoe rental place tried to talk us out of going given the high water levels and "scary CL IV's". He prodded for our level of experience and seemed to be satisfied with the 1000+ miles I have paddled and the fact that I guided canoe trips up in Minnesota's Boundary Waters. We loaded the canoes and set off on an adventure of a weekend.
By the way, there were plenty of CL II sets and a couple CL II-III's that made life interesting. Many of the folks we passed were off to the side bailing water or rolling their canoes, ridding them of that nasty water that fills your canoe once you get all caddywhampus and dump. We did not, however, ever dump or take on more than 10-20 gallons of water.
The water was a chalky greyish blue. It was clear and reminded me of the color of the lakes above 12,000 feet in California's High Sierras. It was beautiful and I have never paddled in anything so beautiful. I wouldn't drink the water, without purification like I would in Northern Maine or Northern Minnesota but it was beautiful and COLD nonetheless.
By the way, the Buffalo River is one of the fewest undammed rivers left in the lower 48 for its length. So its' water level is tied to the rainfall, or lack thereof.
The river was engorged by steep rock cliffs that must have exceeded 500 feet. They were tall and you strained your neck looking towards their tops hoping to catch glimpses of mountain goats. We never saw them. But a beaver did watch and swim around our campsite Saturday night. I told Kat we would see a beaver before the weekend was over.
We camped Saturday about halfway of our 20 mile itinerary, just past Kyles Landing. The campsite was primo and we found great tenting areas and had a wonderfully red sunset shining on the steep rock face that was opposite us. What a great nights sleep! For dinner we enjoyed steak- both filets and strips, with baked potatoes, beans and beer and chips and trail mix and beer. It was just what we needed after drinking beers all day. We finished the night out with a great, warm campfire and shared stories and generally enjoyed each others company.
The next morning we hit the water late, like around noon and spent the afternoon finishing up the paddle. Okie and Clint nearly lost it in one of those CL II-III's but kept it going enough until they could reach the banks of the river. Okie borrowed my cooking pot to bail out the water in his canoe. Those were fun pictures to take.
One of the spectacular features of this river are the plentiful, leveled and layered waterfalls that eventually dumped into the river. We stopped at many of them. We wished we could have stopped at all of them.
All in all, it was a great feeling to get back on the water. Even better to be on water that moves and has some choppiness to it. I am definitely going back to finish the entire river. In fact, Kat and I will do a 4-day weekend there around May 15-19. This means that I wont make AT Trail Days but will be there in Spirit.
Many of my friends are out on the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trails. Best of luck to all of them!
Happy Trails,
Totally Different Subject,
Jason Bivin
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Follow up Questions to Canoeing.com
Greetings,
I hope that everyone is enjoying 2008! The year of 2007 was one of my best. Gosh, I got to spend 8 months hiking and canoeing. Folks, it doesn't get much better than that.
Charlie Mahler of Canoeing.com and Canoeing.com, as Rob mentioned earlier, has taken an interest in my 2007 hiking/ canoeing adventure. In addition to the story they wrote I recently took the time to answer several questions for them. My responses resulted in another set of follow-up questions that I will answer shortly. Once Canoeing.com posts to their website I will provide a heads up. However, you should not wait for my story to check them out! The following responses are a sampling of what you will soon be able to read at Canoeing.com:
1. Canoeing.com: What prompted this epic journey of yours?
Jason "TDS" Bivin: Charlie, Thank you for taking an interest in my story and the time to ask these questions. I was attempting a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail and while at The Sauffley’s, a hostel, I read about the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. This water trail was officially completed in the Spring of 2006, the same time I was hiking the PCT. About this time a kid from Wisconsin was hiking around us and we spent some time talking about paddling. These talks got me thinking seriously about a future thru-paddle of the NFCT. It was Spring time in Portland, OR, some friends were starting AT, CDT and PCT thru- hikes, I was miserable with my job and a long term relationship I was in was ending. So I needed a change. After some consideration I began a preliminary plan to do both the AT and NFCT in one season, hoping to be the first to complete both. I had to do it or I would have been crazy. I announced my decision and began planning. Once I sat at the rock atop Springer Mountain, GA, the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail, I never thought I would fail. It was on!
2. Canoeing.com: Now that it's completed, what do you think will be the enduring impact of it for you?
Jason "TDS" Bivin: Well, Charlie, first I would say that it is not yet completed. Not totally 100% completed. I was not able to paddle some 160 miles of the 740 mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail. I did complete the 2174 mile Appalachian Trail but there is still some work to complete. My plan is to wrap up the NFCT miles next Spring. I did set out to be the First to thru- paddle the NFCT and thru-hike the AT in one season. I fell short of this accomplishment due to low water conditions on much of the NFCT and time but still accomplished a great deal personally and 2700+ hiking and canoeing miles in eight and a half months.
What will endure time will be the lessons I learned along the paddle, the experiences and the people. Some pretty amazing things take place in the wilderness and I had the privilege of seeing some of them this year. At a campsite in New Hampshire a black bear watched me eat dinner from just several feet of where I sat by campfire, while paddling down the Allegash River a bald eagle snatched a meal from the water just in front of my canoe, bull moose enjoying breakfast close enough that it might be considered we had breakfast together. What I learned about long distance paddling was brand new. I experienced white water river paddling, big open lake paddling and bog paddling for the first time along the NFCT in 2007. No matter where I landed, there were always great people in close proximity. Many folks helped along the trail, many friends and family helped from abroad. All of these people make the experience both possible and memorable.
...Best of luck in 2008 and THANK YOU to everyone that helped make my 2007 AT/NFCT experience premium!
Regards and Happy Trails,
Jason "Totally Different Subject" Bivin
I hope that everyone is enjoying 2008! The year of 2007 was one of my best. Gosh, I got to spend 8 months hiking and canoeing. Folks, it doesn't get much better than that.
Charlie Mahler of Canoeing.com and Canoeing.com, as Rob mentioned earlier, has taken an interest in my 2007 hiking/ canoeing adventure. In addition to the story they wrote I recently took the time to answer several questions for them. My responses resulted in another set of follow-up questions that I will answer shortly. Once Canoeing.com posts to their website I will provide a heads up. However, you should not wait for my story to check them out! The following responses are a sampling of what you will soon be able to read at Canoeing.com:
1. Canoeing.com: What prompted this epic journey of yours?
Jason "TDS" Bivin: Charlie, Thank you for taking an interest in my story and the time to ask these questions. I was attempting a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail and while at The Sauffley’s, a hostel, I read about the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. This water trail was officially completed in the Spring of 2006, the same time I was hiking the PCT. About this time a kid from Wisconsin was hiking around us and we spent some time talking about paddling. These talks got me thinking seriously about a future thru-paddle of the NFCT. It was Spring time in Portland, OR, some friends were starting AT, CDT and PCT thru- hikes, I was miserable with my job and a long term relationship I was in was ending. So I needed a change. After some consideration I began a preliminary plan to do both the AT and NFCT in one season, hoping to be the first to complete both. I had to do it or I would have been crazy. I announced my decision and began planning. Once I sat at the rock atop Springer Mountain, GA, the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail, I never thought I would fail. It was on!
2. Canoeing.com: Now that it's completed, what do you think will be the enduring impact of it for you?
Jason "TDS" Bivin: Well, Charlie, first I would say that it is not yet completed. Not totally 100% completed. I was not able to paddle some 160 miles of the 740 mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail. I did complete the 2174 mile Appalachian Trail but there is still some work to complete. My plan is to wrap up the NFCT miles next Spring. I did set out to be the First to thru- paddle the NFCT and thru-hike the AT in one season. I fell short of this accomplishment due to low water conditions on much of the NFCT and time but still accomplished a great deal personally and 2700+ hiking and canoeing miles in eight and a half months.
What will endure time will be the lessons I learned along the paddle, the experiences and the people. Some pretty amazing things take place in the wilderness and I had the privilege of seeing some of them this year. At a campsite in New Hampshire a black bear watched me eat dinner from just several feet of where I sat by campfire, while paddling down the Allegash River a bald eagle snatched a meal from the water just in front of my canoe, bull moose enjoying breakfast close enough that it might be considered we had breakfast together. What I learned about long distance paddling was brand new. I experienced white water river paddling, big open lake paddling and bog paddling for the first time along the NFCT in 2007. No matter where I landed, there were always great people in close proximity. Many folks helped along the trail, many friends and family helped from abroad. All of these people make the experience both possible and memorable.
...Best of luck in 2008 and THANK YOU to everyone that helped make my 2007 AT/NFCT experience premium!
Regards and Happy Trails,
Jason "Totally Different Subject" Bivin
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