Back In the Hood.
I know I’m a little belated with this post but I figured its better late then never plus it lets the dust settle after my trip out west and the launch of my Crowd funding campaign https://www.darkhorsepros.com/campaigns/132
This will be fourth time back in the Gorge and what a trip it was. If you don’t know where Hood River is its a small action sports filled town 45 minutes east of Portland along the Colombia Gorge River which marks the boarder of Oregon and its neighbor to the north Washington.
All your adrenaline, coffee, and wine fix will be met here along side their vast variety of landscapes. Snowboarding in the morning, Mountain biking mid day, stop for a quick dark roast, and finish the day off with a 9m session and brew all with a back drop that will make your mother go, “Wow… Look at that backdrop."
I embarked on this adventure to meet up with a close friend Mr. Zach Wilson and the opportunity to take advantage of his insane camera skills to once again get on screen with Two Brothers films and their Epic RED camera.
The First few days I wasn’t able to score much because of lost luggage resulting in lack of neoprene and my harness. Once my luggage arrived Zach and I were able to score a small evening session, even though I wasn’t riding my best, with the scenic background and HD slowmo our shots looked like money and it was one session for the books.
The Original plan was to shoot the whole week in the evenings and slowly chip away at this video. A forecast quickly turned for the worse and before I know it I was pack up in a RV heading to the coast for the first time in my life with an old friend from Naples who I haven't had the pleasure of seeing in over 6 years. Fritz basically watch me from the start and was always one of the most supportive kiter buddies around. I was even on a small apparel company he started years back.
This turn for the worse eventually became the best part of my whole trip. After all day of packing, driving, pit-stopping, and driving some more we finally managed make it to Newport beach for a dreamy orange sunset session. The water was cold, the wind was strong, and I didn’t go past the break without the image of Mick Fanning on my frontal lobe.
Being that Hood River was 103 degrees and windless for the next 3 days it seemed like the whole coast was filled to the brim with Campers leaving us with very little options to sleep. We ended up stumbling along this random rest stop 10 miles down the road right along the beach which we had the pleasure of calling ours. We were never bother once not even when we had a roaring fire along the beach. It was epic, it was the beach, we called it ours, and it was the best parking lot I ever slept in.
Unfortunately Zach wasn’t able to come, but I still managed to shoot some video with my gopro and Fritz took the honor of shooting from shore to cover the gaps. This left me one day to make up lost ground and finish the video up with Zach before I left.
The wind was gusty but made it happen with some flat water passes, nose presses and a toeside backside 5 for good measures. It may not have been my best riding but with Zach’s killer skills the video is going to turn out probably better then I would image. (he’s good like that)
So now its time, 3 a.m. wake up to be in Portland by 4-4:30. I was passed like a baton from one friend to the next finally rallying to my departure gate to only then fall asleep at my gate, past boarding call at 5:30 a.m. which left me stranded in Portland's very tiny airport for the next 18 hours until the next flight to Houston which was the Redeye at 12 midnight…. Super.
Either way it was well worth the mayhem and to which I can honestly say I can’t wait to be back there again even if it involved lost baggage/ 24hr layover.
Thank you to everyone who was a part of this trip, without everyone none of this would have happened :)