JAHN: There'’s always some moment on the adventure stories that we do, always some point where I ask myself, "Why are we doing this?"

We get paid just the same to do, you know, a simple story in the city.

- How'’s it feel now, Todd?

- I don'’t know, Ed.

This... is a bit much.

But we'’re getting her done.

So for this story, we were headed to the innards of the Salmon River Gorge.

And the legend, of course, is that the only way in is by kayak.

But there was just no way that we were going to chase them in kayaks over these waterfalls, so we came up with this plan that we'’d send the kayakers in with these little small GoPro cameras.

GoPros.

Michael got you all set with GoPros?

The first place that you guys will probably see us is at the top of Frustration.

And you'’ll have your radio on.

Our plan was that we would hike down to the cliffs and try to get shots from above and from within, from inside this one point in the canyon that we knew that we could rappel into.

So just try and walk down there?

[ man grunts ] JAHN: So this is definitely one of our more adventurous Field Guide shoots.

There'’s not a one of us out here that'’s not a little jelly-legged considering where we are.

If you look, the slope kind of goes right down to the river.

There'’s no trails down to this place, so really this is the only way to get in here.

We have to wear PFDs here because we'’re playing really close to water.

We were lucky on this story because we had Sean O'’Connor help us rig ropes into the canyon itself.

Not a bad spot, huh, Todd?

And our hope was that we'’d get this money shot of the kayakers running over this huge falls called Frustration Falls.

And this would be like our big finale.

Hauling quite a bit down.

I would estimate it to be in the 90- to 100-pound range.

BENDIXEN: The drop was 120 feet.

Doing a drop of that sort just goes straight to your head.

You just focus on getting the gear down, getting yourself down safely.

Let'’s lock that.

I felt this tremendous pressure to get to the spot on time before they get there.

If I missed them doing that drop, I'’d miss everything.

O'’CONNOR: Okay, a heads up here just in case I kick some of the loose rock.

Oh, this is wild.

I remember about this time, I started to worry a bit because on the one hand, here we are going to these epic lengths to get Michael in place for these few shots.

And yet for the story itself, we were totally dependent on the kayakers and these, you know, small GoPro cameras that we gave them to get us the actual story.

And if they screwed that up, everything else we did would just be wasted time.

But we had no communication with the kayakers.

Right now what'’s involved in producing the story is a lot of waiting.

And had no idea that they were going through this whole drama with the swim and the rescue and everything else.

And as it turns out, they'’re dealing with all that, but they'’re also getting these amazingly intimate point-of-view shots from inside this gorge that nobody ever gets to see.

And the other disc from yesterday is where?

From where Todd and I were standing that day, it was kind of an odd story.

This whole kayak adventure was taking place completely out of our view.

[ men laughing and whooping ] MAN: White water!

And in fact from the cliff where we were standing, we couldn'’t even see where Michael and Sean were anymore.

BENDIXEN: So we'’re basically sitting in a waterfall...

Sticks are ready.

pinned down, we were freezing, moving was treacherous.

We were soaked to the bone.

So many people were depending on us.

We had to get that shot.

SONFLIETH: Michael had his own things to deal with down there where he was, but sitting on the side of the cliff on this probably 45-degree angle or something, and we were just waiting there for such a long time and it was really uncomfortable just sitting there.

If I'’m this cold up here, I just wonder what they'’re like down in that canyon.

SONFLIETH: You know, I was really worried about the guys.

They were -- the kayakers were taking a lot longer to get down to us than what was planned, and I didn'’t know if something had happened upstream where somebody got hurt or if there was some bad wreck or something up there, and I was really relieved when we finally saw them.

O'’CONNOR: Right on!

I got three paddlers in my sights.

Yeah!

BENDIXEN: So I see them coming into view, and we think they could be doing the drop any second, so I'’m wiping down the lens almost every few seconds, because we'’re just being pelted with water.

And we'’re just trying to anticipate when they'’re actually going to do the drop, because we can'’t miss that.

MAN: Whoo, yeah!

BENDIXEN: I didn'’t fully realize how beautiful it was until actually after we got back to OPB and we actually looked at the footage.

I'’m like, "Oh, was I really there?"

It was probably only like an hour of this crazy hustle of the kayakers running the falls, and then there'’s this last bit where the kayakers leap off this insane 80-foot cliff into the river at Final Falls.

MAN: Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo, yeah!

And there'’s this shot, like Michael'’s on the edge looking down, and it just puts a knot in your stomach.

BENDIXEN: There he goes.

Yeah!

And then, bam, they start moving down the river.

SONFLIETH: I'’ve been doing Oregon Field Guide shoots for long enough, and when we'’re in the edit room, that we need an ending shot.

So I just had to beat feet down the trail.

And at one point on the trail coming down, I could kind of hear them down on the river and I knew I was close.

And it worked out.

I got there just in the nick of time to get the guys coming by the camera for the ending shot.

BENDIXEN: So a shot that didn'’t even make it in the story is actually my favorite shot.

One of the kayakers looked back at the falls, and he'’s just soaking it all in.

I felt I could know what he was feeling, but I couldn'’t quite know it.

And I could never experience exactly what he was feeling.