The squirt boat experience - Liev Mitchell

On Sunday morning several of us headed to to go to the squirt boat eddy at the top of McCoys and oh boy getting into those squirt boats HURTS. Once I was in the water I was up to about my chest in water floating in the boat. It took quite a while to actually figure out how to get under but once I figured out how to go deep the exploring could begin. Spinning under the surface in what feels like no gravity is quite like flying and the green tint fading to black as you go deeper only adds to the experience. Looking up you can see the sun shinning through the whirlpools. You also have a lot of control, if you want to come up you can put the boat on edge and rocket to the surface, pop up and paddle up the eddy for another ride. Squirt boating is definitely one of the coolest forms of kayaking because you can explore unseen parts of the rivers and currents and gain another perspective on whitewater.

Joes Got a Point-Jake Elder

Hello my name is jake. I am officially signing off as a session 3 Keener. This will be my last summer here, and I can honestly say for all the complaining I did about Joes ever reaching tyranny, over my 3 summers here it has truly made me a far better human being. It has taught me lessons such as humility, working together as a team, and empathy. It feel it has matured me beyond my years and I a better person because of it. It might have taken me 3 sessions across 4 years to really realize this but if I look back to how it has sculpted to me into responsible and thoughtful, and respectful young adult.

Would I want to come back? Carson Jacobs

Carson Jacobs- blog 

Keeners is a great program along with everyone in it. Looking forward, would I want to come to keeners again? Definitely, one thing that I would do differently would not be staying for the full 3 weeks. I think this time was ok because I needed to stay for 3 weeks to better my skills. Next time I would only want to be here for a week or two. 

Why you should stop shrugging - Ethan Frangenberg

If you’ve been following kayaking at all in the last six months, you will have probably heard of the emergence of a new hand symbol and word known as the shrig. The shrig hand symbol is formed by making an ‘L’ with your finger and thumb, then flipping it upside down and saying shrig. The meaning of shrig is essentially the same as saying ‘stout’ or ‘brown,’ which hints at its redundancy. Not only do you have to remember ‘brown’ and ‘stout,’ but you also have to stuff your brain with the exact same word in a different form. It’s like knowing French fries as both fries and chips. Just forget one (preferably ‘chips’). More so, hopping on the bandwagon of something that came out of the Columbia River Gorge does not bring out your utter coolness. It just makes you a sheep. However, if you constantly say ‘brown’ and ‘stout,’ it shows that you are a highly respectable gweech who should be regarded as one of the highest ranking individuals on the planet.