Yesterday, I found myself dropping-in to South Silver Creek with some friends from Reno, Nevada. Here is a little video I put together of what we found downstream.
South Silver from Robert Payne on Vimeo.
Video of Wild Plum, North Fork of the Yuba
Situated at the base of the Sierra Buttes and in close proximity to Sierra City, California, the Wild Plum section of the North Fork of the Yuba is a wonderfully consistent class IV run.
Roughly eleven miles in length, this section can actually be combined with Moss and Rosasco Canyons to make it even longer. However, I suspect that you will have your fill by the end of the day.
There are a plethora of fun rapids, all of which are very runnable, and if you are a solid boater your only primary concern should be several downed trees in the river. There are some significant holes, including the one at the bottom of the blown out dam, and obviously the run gets harder the higher the water level gets.
The way the North Fork of the Yuba drainage works, flows are actually highest in the afternoon. The Dreamflows’ gauge for Sierra City is off by 12 hours, and regardless, it is just an estimate. The day I ran it the flows were at the high end of their projection at around 650 cfs.
Hopefully this video provides a good depiction of the run. This time I went with a classic and often used song that I like nonetheless because it always reminds me to appreciate each day, especially on the river, that I have. One of these days I’ll get a camera with better stabilization. Until then, I’ll keep trying. Thanks to Kevin Drake for the photos. Where are we going next?
49 MEGAWATTS
Bryan Smith from The Range Life and Reel Water Production produced a fantastic video that focuses on the controversy surrounding the damming of the Ashlu in British Columbia. If you care at all about rivers, conservation, and the policies surrounding our public lands it is well worth watching.
Giant Gap, North Fork of the American Part 2
This past Sunday I made it down Giant Gap on the North Fork of the American for my second time this season. The flow was somewhat lower at around 850 cfs, but it is still a quality run even at that flow. The scenery alone is spectacular.
The video does includes a couple of scenes from my first trip, but I felt important to include them in order to give a more comprehensive picture of the entire run.
It is difficult to capture many sections of the roughly 14.5 miles simply because the canyon walls are quite steep, friends are often impatient about waiting while I set up, and I have a hard time stopping to film when I really just want to run the rapids. Despite a certain amount of diligence, there are still many other fun class IV rapids that are not featured in this video.
On another note, I still struggle with the public release of information regarding special places like Giant Gap. But my firm belief is that knowledge is power, and the more people that appreciate the beauty and remoteness of places like Giant Gap, the more chances we have to continue to protect and preserve places like them.
Patagonia
It has been almost ten years since I worked at Patagonia, but to this day I continue to take great interest in their business and environmental practices.
Recently, Patagonia’s Reno Service Center became the first private company in the nation to receive incentives for its recent Gold level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
According to the press release, “the company received real property tax abatements from the Nevada Commission on Economic Development of 50 percent over the next 10 years for the expansion of its distribution center.”
It is pretty darn cool that this is happening right here in Reno, Nevada.
This video does a great job of illustrating the measures Patagonia has taken to diminish their environmental impact as much as possible. Thanks David for pointing me to it!
tags: patagonia, leed, certification, reno, nevada, environmental, sustainability
Nevada Business Journal
The following is an article I wrote for the Nevada Business Journal:
Blogging for Business
Why should businesses care about blogs?
There has been a lot of talk about blogs lately. Politicians and businesses alike are entering the blogosphere at a surprising rate. Why? Currently, more than 57 million American adults read blogs.
For a long time blogs were simply thought of as conduits for personal expression by individuals who were not in the buying stage. There seemed to be no real application for business. This popular misconception turned out not to be true.
Blogs are in fact websites. They are hosted on a server, built on the same programming languages, and most importantly, indexed by major search engines like Google and Yahoo. The major difference is blogs give businesses a personal voice, and they can be built and launched for far less money than it takes to build a website.
The Power of Search
“Internet penetration has now reached 73% for all American adults,” according to Pew Internet, which is an authoritative source on the evolution of the Internet. This means there are millions of potential customers that are online every day looking for specific products and services that you offer.
Internet users search for products and services by entering specific terms or keywords into search engines. These keywords or terms produce immediate results that introduce users to many different companies vying for their business. But how do they find you?
Search Engine Optimization
Search engines place a significant amount of importance upon fresh, keyword-rich content, and the more relevant content a business puts online the better. Blogging software helps you publish this information easily and frequently.
Search engines also put a lot of value into linking. Companies will find online conversations that are based around what their company has to offer. One blogger links to another blogger because they find value in what they have to say. This continues the conversation until multiple bloggers and websites are linking back to original creator of that content. This helps push your website or blog to the top of the search engine results.
Differentiation & Demonstration of Expertise
Consider for a moment that a potential customer is shopping online for a particular product or service that you have to offer. They type in a specific keyword or phrase, and several competitors appear in the search results. They click through to one of the websites and begin to analyze their offerings in regards to price, benefits and presentation. They return to the search results to compare that initial experience against other competitors. After a few more clickthroughs, the potential customer has not found any distinguishing differences.
But then they find your company’s blog. Your blog demonstrates a personality with a voice and a willingness to share information to further empower their customers to make the right decision about what they want to buy. Instead of representing an impenetrable and impersonal corporation with no direct connection with its customers, you are seen as a personable and interactive company that wants to engage its’ customers.
Bringing Businesses and Customers Together
Blogs not only help with search engine optimization and differentiation from competitors, they also offer a way for companies to understand their customers better. Blogs are a chance to establish ongoing dialogues with customers and receive useful feedback that empowers a business to become better at what it provides.
Blogging is a time commitment, and it is not for everyone. But if you love to write, and you are passionate about what you do, then you will find that blogging is a powerful tool for attracting new business, creating loyal customers, and developing a deeper understanding of what can make your company even more successful.
Grilling and Chilling
It’s official. According to Blue Rhino, a company that sells propane tanks, Reno ranks No. 2 among U.S. cities as a great place to grill. It trails only Sacramento in a study based on summertime weather conditions.
In my opinion, Sacramento can’t hold a piping hot briquette to Reno’s wide open spaces, close proximity to Lake Tahoe and skiing, and ever evolving downtown scene complete with a whitewater park right smack dab in the middle.
So with that being said, what other reason do you need to pack up your Weber and move to Reno, Nevada? It’s time to crack a beer and throw some shrimp on the barbie.
Reno Bike Scene
They are everywhere!
It’s like something out of Better Off Dead – “I want my two dollars! I want my two dollars!” Except, they are not evil hell-bent newspaper boys that are out to get you. They are people that want to see Reno as more bike-friendly city with more bike racks, bike lanes, and greater awareness surrounding alternative means of transportation.
The Reno Bike Project and the Holland Project (website coming soon) are two organizations that are striving to make Reno a better place for bikers. Especially now that the weather has turned to longer days and warmer weather, you cannot go to downtown Reno without seeing several people either commuting, cruising, or tricking out on some type of bike.
This picture was taken outside of the Imperial Bar & Lounge the other night on Arlington and First. Imagine all the other parking spots they would have needed if they had driven cars.
Still Snowing
I don’t know if it is global warming, or simply the fact that the Tahoe region is one of the most climactically diverse areas in the United States. Either way, it is one of the major reasons why I moved here almost ten years ago. I mean, where else can you bike, kayak and ski almost year round?
I am not especially proud of this video, but I don’t know what else to do with it except post it up as a reminder of the last powder day of the season. What it does show is that there can be fun skiing in Lake Tahoe even in late April. It has been one of the weakest winters in quite some time, but at least it was kind enough to provide one more excuse to slap on the fat skis and make some powder turns.
My Mom: She’s a Cool Kat
My mom, Kat Hastie just recently returned from a 3 week trip to Africa where she explored more than a half-dozen national parks, as well as a side excursion to Zanzibar. She captured countless photographs, but I cherry picked just a few to show here.
I am most proud of her because she did it by herself. My stepfather was not particularly interested in going to Africa, but she did not let that stop her and went anyway. I know she is glad that she did.
She is racking up the miles. Recent trips also include, China, France, and Argentina. I wonder where she will go next? Maybe I can coerce her into coming to visit me in Reno with plans of shooting clays, attending the rodeo, and hiking around Lake Tahoe. That is exactly what we did the last time she was here, and she absolutely humiliated me on the trap shooting range. Any other guys out there who’s mother is a better shot than you?
While she certainly seems to have some photographic skills, her primary creative outlet is painting. You can check out some of her artwork if you are so inclined by visiting her website at http://kathastie.com/