Kayaking can be hard on the body

[liveonearth]

I was going to quit running the East Fork Lewis after the last lap when my back hurt when I landed from Sunset falls and hurt even worse landing from Horseshoe Falls.  Those drops are about 12 feet and 25 feet tall respectively.  The trick is to not land flat, to reduce the compressive forces on your spine.  But both of those drops make you land flat, or at least, try to.  Anyway yesterday I had someone else run my 9R through sunset, that saved my back.  Then at Horseshoe we scouted and I ran the left line as planned even though the water was 1000cfs higher than I usually see.  The line is stragihtforward but uncontrolled: you drop into the sluice and the water buries you before you even plug into the white at the bottom, and then while you're under water some strong currents hit you and you get flipped end for end before even resurfacing.  I hit my left elbow on the boat while underwater, and the twisting of the boat wrenched the paddle in my hands, hurting my left wrist.  I resurfaced upside down and rolled up on my second try, mad, because I was in pain.  Funny how pain pisses me off.  This morning, the day after that adventure, I'm OK, but still kind of pissed/sad about the fact that my body can't take the beating anymore.  Whitewater kayaking is very much about this question: can you take the abuse and still roll up.  The better you get, the less abuse you take, but it's still hard on a body and I'm about to turn 60.