Ear to the ground:
"I had a dream I had really big boobs. I'm not sure if I liked it or not."
– Durango's answer to the "Real Housewives" of elsewhere
Talk about a combat roll
Erik Weihenmayer has been beat to the punch. Perhaps the best-known blind adventurer in the world, who has been featured in Outside magazine for being the first and only blind person to climb Mount Everest, had set his sights on being the first blind person to kayak the Grand Canyon.
But on Aug. 21, blind U.S. Navy veteran Lonnie Bedwell surprised the world by quietly completing the historic 226-mile, 16-day journey. Bedwell, who lost his eyesight in a hunting accident 16 years ago, was new to kayaking, with a mere 15 days of whitewater experience under his belt. He conquered the Grand with the help of Team River Runner, a kayaking organization designed to help wounded veterans.
Three of Bedwell's fellow military vets served as guides and safety boaters, using voice commands to guide Bedwell down the canyon, including some 50 miles of significant whitewater.
Bedwell told GrindTV Outdoor that he believes their common background in military training made the difference. “In the military they teach you that no matter how chaotic it gets, you have to stay calm. That way you can react to the chaos and it can become a controlled chaos. If you can’t stay calm it becomes chaotic chaos."
When encountering the thunderous roar prior to a rapid, Bedwell said he calmed himself with a little pep talk. "When I felt my heart rate was going up, I would just talk myself down and tell myself that I had been through worse."
During the entire run, Bedwell said his three guides never left his side. “Knowing how to roll and having them have confidence in me was comforting and calming – to know that they were there. I could hear them without radios and they could stick with me no matter how much I screwed up and they were just awesome to have.”
When Bedwell first announced his Grand Canyon goal, TRR executive director Joe Mornini shipped him a kayak and told him he couldn't be a part of the Grand Canyon team until he rolled 1,000 times. Bedwell rolled 1,500 times.
“This is simply unheard of,” Mornini told GrindTV. “He paddled with TRR and other volunteer guides a total of 15 days on whitewater before he went down the canyon. And he styled it … (along with) other veterans and volunteers, making it a healing trip as well – a support group that is beyond words in focus, devotion and healing empowerment.”
Sick day
Not everyone was fleeing for higher ground on the Front Range last week. As one would expect from the extreme outdoor mecca that Boulder fancies itself, several daredevils took to the area's swollen waterways for a jolt of adrenaline. The internet was abuzz with everything from frat boys in tubes floating the questionably murky but decidedly calmer waters of the Boulder bike path to gnarly dudes running Class V meat in Boulder Creek.
Creek boater Forrest Noble took on Boulder Creek's Elephant Buttress rapid on Sept. 12 while friends filmed the run from the relative safety of the nearby road. "Boulder Creek Flooding out perfect morning for a Sick Day. The creek is at 1,800cfs kayaking Elephant Buttress rapid," Noble quipped on his Youtube page.
In a brief moment of mercy from the river gods, Noble styled the run with one "bad-ass brace." Let's just hope he didn't swallow any of the manky water though, or his "sick days" may just be starting. To check it out go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkoVHzo1Jcs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUyaXxvZILGlYXhmB_Ad689Q