Just got back from a skate mission in southern Oregon. Our plan was go up the coast, camp on the beach, skate all along the way and then eventually make our way to K-Falls… a mecca in the south of the beaver state. Klamath Falls is easily the best city-built skatepark I have ever been to.(Granted, I have yet to get up to some of the other epic Oregon parks like Lincoln City, Newberg, West Linn, and Reedsport.) Coming from Arizona where every single park is pretty much a Site-Design creation with the same old same old, Klamath Falls came as a revelation. First of all, the place is HUGE. An enormous piece of property with tons of concrete. There is a gigantor, downhill 300 foot snake run thing that leads into the«big wall» or «deep wall» as the little kids were calling it. This wall is like 12 feet high and super wide. I got speed wobbles when i bombed the hill into the thing. SUPERFUN. There is also a fun as hell tombstone near the top. Then you got FOUR different bowl to choose from: * peanut bowl– a tiny little figure eight deal with no coping, just a sharp lip. carve around it, catch grinds and laugh. this thing is fun. i’m building one in my backyard ASAP. * pacman bowl– i argued that it looked like a pacman ghost, but i could be wrong. anyhow, the most skated bowl in the park has an 8 foot deep end that leads into a 4 foot shallow end filled with tight little pockets. hit every pocket during your run and grind that pool coping and forget your troubles. * square bowl– really rectangular with rounded corners. another fun bowl that seems very much like an empty hotel pool. very well built and that pool coping is totally shreddable. prolly 8 feet deep end that is slightly more steep than the pacman. * amoeba bowl– WOW! what the fuck is this? this totally unique bowl has no flat bottom anywhere and is deep with one corner being an oververt clamshell. also features a crazy left-handed roll-in that i wouldn’t even try. dropping in only for this pussy. this was the hardest bowl to skate and of course, the most rewarding. it took me pretty much all day to figure it out and scratch grinders in. i wanna go back just for this thing. like everywhere else, fully pool coping equipped. there is also a great perimeter snake run– all along the outside of the place is a little snake run with pump bumps, tight banks, and little blast spots. totally fun to just cruise around to begin your run into the monster bowl. then you got a few little areas for the babies with pipe coping and tiny little deals for them. there is also a street-esque section on one side that has some pretty fun banks, quarter pipe and such. the negatives? HOTASHELL summers with no shade in sight(we rock beach umbrellas in our trunks at all times in AZ, so we were straight pimping.) you gotta pay a dollar to get in? what? what is this about? a dollar? whatever… and also sign your name on a clipboard with your age so the huge fat guy in the shack can yell at you if you are a teenager. other than that. there are no negatives. this place is a dream. we skated all day despite the heat and sun and loved every second of it. i came back with a sprained thumb and a super gnarly bruise on the back of my leg, but those only remind me of the good times. i almost wish i would have broken an arm or something so i could have even better memories for longer. well, fuck that. no way. p. s. oh yeah, you gotta sport a helmet, but nothing else. p. p. s. get rad. every skater needs klamath falls road trips.
