February 3, 2007

By Joel Kowalski

China so far has been the most unique experience of my life. I am still amazed that World Class Kayak Acadmey pulled of the logistical puzzle of bringing 20 people together to this amazing country. I'm still very excited they invited me along as a coach. The group is very solid, all great people. Our first destination after Lijiang was the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge. Easily the most visually overwhelming place I have ever been. Legend says that a tiger that was being chased by a hunter leaped accross the gorge at its narrowest point, roughly 150 feet wide, several thousand feet up. We didn't take the time to run any parts of this gorge but a lot of it looked epic. Also, alot of it looked like death. Driving downstream, we put-in at the end of the Tiger Leaping Gorge. From there began our 14 day river trip. The Yangtze flowed at roughly 12,000 cfs. We paddled it at it record low flow ever. Day 2: Scott Doherty and I climb to a nearby peak, my first summit ever. Day 3: We get the first surf ever on a great wave called Kim-Jong (because it's Ill) The rest of the days blur together. Some students told me the first half of the trip was a lot like the Grand Canyon the the second half the scenery resembled the Salmon. On one of the days we hiked out of the river up to a town called Baoshan. A very isolated town that is very old. Tomorrow morning we are leaving for the Mekong river to the west.

Live from China,

Joel