riverlog

2 year hiatus? and Cascade footy

2011-08-23T12:01:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been 2 years I've left this thing sitting. Why for and how come? Well, there's you usual dose of laziness, combined with some apathy. I also haven't been creekin as much, as many of my good friends have moved on to other ventures. I've been focused on multiday boating primarily, and also getting back into rowing after a hiatus to explore the IK side of things.

But I think it is time to get things moving again, so I'll be digging out some photo galleries from the highlight trips from the past two seasons.

In the meantime, here's a little video from the Cascade:

Cascade River Whitewater from Brian Vogt on Vimeo.

Verde Wild & Scenic

2009-06-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

Allow me to first say these photos were taken by Nick Borelli, Shaun Riedinger, and Bill Tuthill as well as myself, and my poor file management has left me unable to properly assign each photo to its creator.

Dramatic storm lighting in the desert, Wild and Scenic Rio Verde

One of the joys of self support kayak trips is that you can visit places that aren't easily accessed in other ways. Sometimes that means a low water trip with a canyon to yourself after the high water crowds have left. Other times it means running streams that just aren't amenable to larger boats. The Rio Verde in Arizona is such a river -- difficult to plan for, rarely runnable, and mostly unspoiled.

Verde putin at Beasley Flats

Nick Borelli, Shaun Reidiner, and Bill Tuthill came together on short notice to put this trip together. We ran the Beasley Flats to Horseshoe Reservoir section, a total of 60 miles of river. To make things easy as possible, we flew into Phoenix then rented a car for the 90 minute drive north to the putin.

Putin advice on surviving a wild river

We had a moderate low flow of 200-odd CFS, which was generally plenty of water but is not a fast moving flow. Once shuttle had been arranged and boats were rigged, we set off to see a new canyon.

We quickly left signs of civilization behind. This upper section of 30 miles or so is the most remote and unsullied section of the Verde, with little road access or signs of habitation.

First named drop, Off the Wall. It is class II.

This first day of floating offers the biggest drops on the Verde: Pre-Falls and Verde Fallsas well as the mini gorge below the falls, the Foul Rift. We made the classic blunder into Pre-Falls, then stopped to scout Verde Falls proper. It could have used a little more flow, but Bill was willing to unrig to run it, and cleaned the ledge.

Looking back up at Pre-Falls after boat scouting it.

Bill scouts and runs Verde Falls with an empty boat.

Camp I below Verde Falls, above Palisades

We found a few other class II and III rapids on our way into camp above the Palisades. We camped at an acceptable but marginal beach, however, there is an excellent camp right at the base of the Palisades that I would recommend as a camp 1 selection.

Bill boat scouts Palisades

Shaun, running Palisades and happy to be boatin' again

Nice camp just below Palisades on river left

Day two was a short day again, as we intended to do some hiking to some cliff dwelling ruins located not far off the river. We had a bit of a route finding adventure in the oppressive heat, but found our quarry in the end.

Desert scenery along our hike

Three miles below Palisades is a blind, technical III drop called Punk Rock or sometimes Turkey Gobbler. The drop starts innocuously and features a simple lead in, but you must get left at the bottom and many tricky guard rocks make this difficult.

Nick the turkey is punked at Punk Rock. Gobble gobble!

I hate to call carnage out like that, but those are the only shots I have of one of the trickiest drops on this run. It would hardly be fair to deprive you, the dedicated beta junkie, from such critical photographs just because of someone's embarrassment at swimming class III, wouldn't you agree?

The nest few miles offered some fun with Bushman, Big Pink, and Black Rockrapids. We pulled in to an excellent camp river right below White Flash rapid.

The camp, fire, and main course at camp 2

Storm clouds over the Verde River

Day three was filled with class II and III rapids, great scenery, and a stop at the main landmark on this run, Verde Hot Springs. This is the site of an old resort, which has burned to ground and is now nothing but a hot springs nestled into the canyon wall. We found a few soakers in situ who had driven in, forded the river, and hiked to hot springs. Shortly below the hot springs is Child's Power Plant, also a river access point. Many car campers were enjoying the spot.

Cottonwoods on the Verde

Verde Hot Springs

Nick prepares to fight through a massive 200 cfs hole, Child's Play

Shaun is a bit more relaxed in this rare rapid that had plenty of water

Lunch stop at the confluence with EF Verde. Nick and Shaun filtering water in the distance

Fun class III on the Verde

Red Wall

About this time I hit the wall. Dehydration or perhaps a touch of flu, it's hard to say; but I was tired and had lost my voice. We made it camp and I crashed hard, while the crew fired up Pecos Pit BBQ without me.

Camp III in the morning light

Verde Canyon wall

Bullrushes often obscure the desired line. This is a very common site

Day 4 on the river was really an amazing day. We had entered the wilderness section of the run at Childs, and now we had scattered thundershowers which really put on a show -- all while leaving us unscathed by the weather.

Verde bedrock, lichen, and saguaro

Rain in the desert -- ephemeral, fleeting, and gorgeous

Approaching the wilderness boundary

We encountered a small group of paddlers who had launched at Child's. Two Alpaca rafts and an NRS MaverIK. Great to see folks out on a run like this. We boogied down to camp and chatted with them when they floated by.

This was an excellent camp, and we even went so far as to harvest, season, and grill some fresh prickly pear to go with our dinner.

River otter right in camp

Camp 4

Prickly pear -- it's what's for dinner!

Looking back at camp 4, which is against the upstream side of that red rock bluff

Our final day would take us past the river access at Sheep Bridge, then across Horseshoe Reservoir. We were glad to make it dry land after a 2 hour wind-fighting push across the reservoir.

The backside of the reservoir. Slack water, but still riparian zone

Looking back across the reservoir. The white ridge in the top right is the other side of the cliff in the photo above.

Idaho Road Trip IV: Deadwood

2009-01-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

The fabulous inner gorge of Idaho's Deadwood River.

Ah, the Deadwood. This run has been of interest to me for years, but it's a long way to go for one trip from Seattle. It was on the hit list for our road trip, but after a few interesting days, the commitment required to pull this run off was scarce as we settled into a relaxing vacation pace.

Our trip began with a visit to the ranger station in Lowman. We poured over maps and conferred with the rangers to detail a route that allows us to access the putin. The route takes us from the Payette drainage, up through the headwaters of the MF Salmon, and down below the Deadwood Reservoir.

We were lucky to meet up with David Chatham, Eric Klein, and Mark Yauney, who were also boating throughout Idaho at the time and wound up sharing our campground. Given the 2+ hour one way shuttle, any one-day plan for this trip would require heroic shuttle efforts. Taking a major hit to help the rest of the crew out, Bart and Mark volunteered to spend a day off the water, instead logging a brutal 5 hour shuttle that made this trip possible. Thanks a ton guys! David and Eric decided to join us for this harebrained attempt.

David also deserves props as he probed much of the day, which had to be a nerve wracking experience. He kept us moving quickly, and did an all around fantastic job.

Beta on the Deadwood suggested we were approaching at low flows of ~500 cfs. We figured this to be of benefit, given that none of us had ever been on the run before, and we faced 25 miles of IV paddling with some harder drops and unknown wood portages mixed in.

The crew rigging and cooking after a 7am departure and 2+ hour shuttle. How is this a vacation? [BV][SR]

Eric and I just launching.

We quickly reached our first wood portage in the first 5 minutes. A hike down the trail on river left would have given us warning of this strainer. While not a bad one, there were no eddies or places to land. An ominous reminder to our group to be on our toes for wood. We encountered perhaps 3 total portages before coming to our first significant IV rapid.

Our first portage. [SR]

The first IV. [BT]

The first real rapid we came to featured an innocuous entrance into a 4' broken ledge. Wood blocked the left line on the entrance, requiring a very tight ferry. The ledge itself offered few places for a clean line. David ran it cleanly, but the rest of us portaged out of general wood paranoia. This would end up being the only clean thing we'd portage all day.

This first ledge marked a change in the character of the river. We were in a great section of pool and drop rapids, and while there was some wood in play, but there were also clean lines. Most of the signature big drops were log choked and unrunnable, but a few were in great shape. All the rapids looked like clean, multi-move IV+ drops at this flow, and would have had great lines sans wood.

David probes the drop following the first ledge.

Eric, Nick, and Bill come through a great clean IV rapid in the upper canyon.

Eric boat scouting clean read and run on the Deadwood. [SR]

David probes a typical Deadwood drop - wood in play.

This was definitely the woodiest section of the run. We found rapid after rapid requiring portage, due only to wood.

David and Shaun portage deep in the heart of the Deadwood Canyon

An example of dead wood.

Despite the portaging, we were settling into a good rhythm. We knew we still had the toughest set of rapids to negotiate, but we were making good time, and communication and pace were flowing well. The rapids eased briefly and we entered a short but stunning beautiful inner gorge of towering cliffs and calm water.

For me, this is why I love boating. Here we were, floating a pristine inner canyon, that could barely be accessed in any other way. Roads or trails don't take you near here, the only egress is in your boat. The rapids and portages are but the price of admission to a place this wild and untouched.

Inner gorge scenery.

Gorgeous Gorge. [BT]

Somewhere in the heart of this section, we came around a calm corner and startled a feeding black bear sow and cub. The sow took off up the hillside, as did junior. But after the first 2 boats drifted on by, junior decided we weren't threatening and made his way back to the river bank and resumed tearing apart a carcass at water's edge. Not 20 minutes later, we startled a female elk with another young 'un and got to watch them scamper out of sight up a steep ravine.

Wild life enjoying happy hour at the Deadwood Bar & Grill. [SR]

How can you not want to float through this canyon? [SR]

The rapids began to pick up again and we were quickly coming into the last section of IV-V rapids. We had reason to believe the biggest rapid on the run was in this section, and that it was probably wood choked.

Another wood choked drop. False alarm as the big V, this is the last big rapid above the crux drop.

After another portage or two, we were working our way through a little class II entry move, when David, probing up front, suddenly make a sketchy exit into a tiny micro eddy. He signaled us to stop and portage down the left bank.

This was the crux drop, and had startled David with a hidden cat's cradle of logs blocking the runout of a ledge. We eventually ended up portaging down the right. The rapid featured a pair of ledges up top, before dropping you into a beefy channel against the left wall with some backed up holes at the bottom, complete with a woody final ledge guarding the exit and awaiting any swimmers washing out of the meat above.

The blind wood in the crux drop. [BT]

The runout of the big drop, below the wood, but above the exit ledge.

Below this portage, the Deadwood offered several miles of clean boogie. We enjoyed lots of continuous III-IV in a lovely canyon. There was no wood, no scouting, no portaging, no photos -- just laughter echoing off the canyon walls as we enjoyed miles of quality read 'n' run technical water.

Eventually the fun had to end. We came around a corner in the runout of a long III rapid and saw the road bridge and campground. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed a brief feeling of success at making it this far - 15 miles under our belts. The campground would make an excellent overnight camp for a group with more time to spend on this run.

Below the bridge, the Deadwood changes character somewhat. The road doesn't stay near the river for long, and the bedrock walls are replaced with dirt hillsides. It becomes easy to see why the road is in disrepair as the hillsides are full of active slide zones.

After a short mellow section, the lower Deadwood comes alive with several more miles of continuous III-IV. These boulder gardens are a bit more constricted than those in the canyon above, but in a wider riverbed. Almost all are clean, though the remnants of a massive logjam are visible part way down. Plenty of wood still present, but here the river is wide enough that most logs won't block the river. Everyone found this to be a fun and stress free section after the wood and portages of the upper canyon.

After the quality boulder gardens ease, we found ourselves on a lake. Yup, you know what that means: an old obstruction! We were in the remnants of a lake created by a huge logjam. The water had clearly been higher in the past as many trees near the water had been killed. Once we reached the outflow of the lake, we scouted as best as we could. It was clean as far as we could see, so David and I dropped out front to see what was around the corner.

Scouting the runout of the logjam lake. [SR]

David and I worked our way through some serious mank and blind wood. We came careening around a corner and I hit a lucky brace to avoid a swim just above more wood. We had found the blown log jam, and it hadn't gotten far.

David working through the wood choked braided channels below the blown out logjam.

Once we had the crew collected and around the worst of the wood, we were back on our way. We were close to the end of the run, and we continued to see the remnants of the log jam over the last mile or two. Suddenly we were floating next to the road, and we knew we'd pulled it off!

Back at the ranch. Where's the cold beer? [SR]

All in all this was a highlight of 2008 for me. A stellar wilderness run with a little bit of everything. It's a mixed bag, sure, and I don't think I'd want to be in there with 2x the water, but the Deadwood is a wild and challenging place to visit. I look forward to my next opportunity to see that wild inner gorge.

Thanks to Shaun [SR] and Bill [BT] for sharing pix!

Idaho Road Trip III: NF Boise

2008-07-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

After an aborted attempt on the MF Payette run, we headed out to explore the NF Boise. We found some great looking scenery, so we added a few roadside miles to the top of the run to lengthen our float.

The overall character of this run is class II-III is a nicely forested canyon. The standout features of the run though are the inner gorge. This section comes a few miles after the river leaves the road. A fantastic IV boulder garden is the longest and biggest drop on the run, and was full of great lines. We read and ran, and then stopped for a restful lunch in the heart of the gorge below the drop. We found some excellent possible camp spots for future trips.

The author, lending a helping hand with a grueling shuttle. [SR]

Typical canyon scenery. [SR]

Floating down the NF Boise, past twin tower rock formations.

Looking back up at the long boulder garden. [SR]

Myself, Shaun, and Nick taking lunch. [BT]

Our scenic lunch spot. [BV][BT][BT]

Approaching confluence and takeout. [BT]

The takeout to putin shuttle requires a decent rig, as the road is a little rough. Nothing too bad, but not Honda territory.

Thanks again to Shaun Riedinger and Bill Tuthill for photos. Theirs are noted with a [SR] or [BT] in photo captions.

Idaho Road Trip II: MF Payette

2008-06-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

After our warm up lap on the Cabarton run, we were excited about seeing something a little more creeky. We headed up to the MF Payette looking for a ledgy class IV run described in Idaho the Whitewater State. The drive up to the takeout had some roadside mank that was borderline runnable.

Roadside mank.

After reaching the takeout and finding a low but runnable level and a nice exit drop, we were stoked. We headed up the road, with an eye to scout.

Takeout drop -- looked great!

Steep trib of the MF Payette. Love all that bedrock!

Typical MF boogie. [SR]

Unfortunately, our road scout revealed nothing but log-choked drops. Although some had portage routes, no one knew the run and the group decided to run a mellower III run in the area.

Typical MF Payette: Great rapid, shut down with wood. [SR]

Shaun on our backup run. [BT]

Idaho Road Trip I

2008-06-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been over a year since my last post. Anyone still out there? It's been a crazy year, and probably the best year for self support overnighters I've ever had. But there's not been much on the creeky or visually special, so I haven't had much to post.

I do have a few things to share from a wonderful 2 week sojourn to Idaho this past summer. Nick, Shaun, and I drove out to meet Bart and Bill from CA for our first week of boating in the Payette drainage. After a long drive, we opted to stretch our legs on the Cabarton run on the NF. Sorry, no IK carnage from the real NF Payette for you ...

Bill and Shaun have graciously shared photos for these ID posts. I'll indicate their photos with a [BT] or [SR] credit in the captions.

Out of the car at last! [BT]

The Cabarton run is surprisingly scenic for its proximity to the road.

The author approaching Railroad drop. [BT]

Bart catches an eddy as Bill sweeps through Railroad. [SR]

The run is class I-II, with 2 rapids that are rated as IIIs. Railroad is the first of these stand out drops. The second is Howard's Plunge a nice little splashy takeout drop.

Shaun commits to Howard's Plunge.

Bart rides a huge brace.

This was the end of our NF boating. The rest of the run was too low (above Cabarton) or too high (the lower five). So we headed up to scout Staircase and spent the rest of the week base camped at Pine Flats on the SF Payette.

Special thanks to Shaun and Bill for sharing their photos.

Cooper River Photos

2007-07-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

This year the Cooper had a great season, and we were able to get in for several laps at a variety of flows. New friends, great canyon scenery, and endless clean boofs -- such a classic. Here're some of my favorite pics from the cooper this year.

Nick Borelli on the warm-up double ledge.

Mitch MacDougall boat scouts while Mike Hoover follows.

Scott Waidelich leads the way, Norm's Resort at ELF

Hangtime Hoover!

Joe goofin' off at low water

Nick ledge hoppin

Scott Waidelich, playboatin' the Cooper

Nick cleans a fun chute

Liam gets it done at S-Turn

Scott straightens out the line in S-Turn

James Amandus runs the right line at Shark's Tooth

Joe's about to get eaten for lunch in Shark's Tooth

Mitch MacDougall in Shark's Tooth

Hoover drops in to Wall of Voodoo

Kevin Naslund surfin below Wall of Voodoo

South Fork Silver Creek ELF

2007-06-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: This trip report courtesy of Bill Tuthill, who manages the excellent website California Creeks. Text by Bill Tuthill, photos by Chris Ford.

The South Fork of Silver Creek above Icehouse reservoir, between Placerville and Lake Tahoe, is a freak of nature. In 1.5 miles it drops almost 600 feet per mile, with one section (Teacups to Offramp) 800 fpm. Yet only one portage is mandatory, and almost all other rapids are commonly run at typical flows.

Having boated it last year, Brad Klaas led me down, luckily for me. Chris Ford hiked with camera. I had no experience with high-gradient waterfall runs, and did not know what was in store for me.

The trail to put-in was longer than I expected, perhaps 1/2 mile. It is possible to put in upstream nearer the dirt road, but then you have to negotiate some distance of irrigated boulder piles, which I've heard kayakers call "gorilla" boating, I suppose because long arms are required. The first rapid starting at put-in looked heinously steep, but Brad assured me it was nothing compared to what lay downstream.

Puttin' on wetsuit and elbow pads.

Brad ran it first, getting turned backwards and complaining of shallow water (hardshell kayakers had abandoned this run two weeks before).

Brad boats backwards nonchalantly.

I had been scared about Autobahn, which looks fast and furious in the pictures. The rock at bottom left was out of play due to low water, but an undercut rock on the left looked hard to avoid, shown on center right of this picture.

Brad at the top of Autobahn.

Brad had a good run, but was surprised to get launched in the air (for several yards!) by the submerged rock in this picture.

Low-water launch rock just underwater on the right.

I got pushed too far left above the undercut, but managed to straighten out in the shallow water and got launched at the bottom also.

Four Foot Boof (Single Drop) followed. My boat washed thru the mild undercut, but Brad's boat got stuck for a minute. Double Drop followed. The water was so shallow we had to portage the first drop. Just a little more water would have cured this.

Triple Slide followed almost immediately. Brad had a good run, but I got sideways in the second slide. This was when I realized it's better to straighten out using hands (not paddle) if the water is only one centimeter deep!

Just before my first swim of the day.

I was thankful for the elbow pads, because this is probably where I put a good-size scratch in the left one. Fortunately I climbed back in my boat before the third slide, actually a series of slides.

Triple Slide third half.

Although its first two drops looked runnable, Boof-Boof-Slide was a twisting one-foot-wide ribbon of foam against the bottom left wall, so we ghost boated it. The year before, Brad had made the same decision.

Boof-Boof-Slide needs more water to become runnable.

The Four Teacups followed; we really enjoyed them. This might be the heart of the run. They supposedly range between 8 and 16 feet in height, with two smaller falls separating the Third and Fourth Teacup. We met some inner tubers who had hiked over a mile uphill just to run the First, Third and Fourth Teacups. They wouldn't touch the second, which is known as the most difficult, though not the tallest.

First Teacup is straightforward.

Brad probably got too far right in the Second Teacup, and had an uncharacteristic swim.

Note that Second Teacup piles straight into the right wall.

Teacups 3.3 and 3.6 followed, relatively non-tall but with bigger hydraulics than appear in pictures. The Fourth Teacup is the tallest, although fortunately (because of its placement just above Skyscraper) not the most difficult.

Brad takes the best "deep" water line in Fourth Teacup.

Runout from Fourth Teacup comes perilously close to Skyscraper, a falls of about 45 feet in three stages.

Skyscraper, omigawd. I was not scared of it because I did not plan to run it. But Brad bamboozled me, electing to run the last 2/3 of Skyscraper by lowering his boat down to barely-wet bedrock in midstream. Now I was scared for him.

Brad ponders which route to take, falls or ramp.

Brad elects to take the falls.

He aced it! Brad was so excited after running Skyscraper that he neglected to eddy out above Offramp.

Brad from above, at the ski jump in Offramp.

Typical for me, I wimped out and ghost boated starting from the top of Skyscraper. After a perfect run, sunnyside up, my boat got stuck in an eddy along a sheer cliff on the right below the final waterfalls. Having to jump in and rescue it accounted for my second swim.

Above lead-in to Offramp after boat-rescue swim

Offramp, which old schoolers would have named Ski Jump, followed. In this one you go airborne, land like a Finnish ski jumper, then think you'll have your head pushed back into your spine by the undercut cliff below. Subsurface rocks slow you down just in time, fortunately for everyone's medical bills.

Award-winning photograph by Chris Ford.

The mandatory portage followed, hence the name Offramp. Everyone carries around this one, a steep junky rapid with several logs jammed into the rock-littered main falls.

Below there, Brad ran Nose Job, a falls of 12 feet into a narrow channel backed up by a rock, with exit left. He had swim #2, and scraped his shoulder. (Which should not count because few boaters run Nose Job, counting it as part of the portage.)

Ideal (but hopeless) entry into Nose Job.

I ghost boated this one on the left, where an undercut wall would likely have dented my helmet, but the boat was sufficiently low-profile to fit thru.

We enjoyed the series of moderate falls to a small pool above Plastic Surgery, where we eddied out to scout.

In the series of falls above Plastic Surgery.

Plastic Surgery scared me as much as Autobahn, but I had not understood perhaps the biggest problem: the force of hydraulics at the falls into its lead-in pool.

Note boat buckling even at ultralow flow.

Plastic Surgery is easier at higher flows, when a "sneak" route becomes available to the left of a midstream block-rock. But at ultralow flows this route might actually add risk.

Wondering whether the sneak is actually a sneak.

Instead we executed a rock push-off on the right, and put in a few paddle strokes leftward, which combined were enough to avoid the ugly-looking pothole on the right.

Avoiding the pothole, just by a whisker.

Next came Quadruple Bypass, a stacked-up series of four drops perhaps 5 to 8 feet high. It was a great way to end our paddling day.

Second drop in Quadruple Bypass.

We ran one more set of drops to make carrying out easier. The carry from there is about a quarter mile slightly downhill. Two weeks earlier at higher flow, we ran that section, and really enjoyed it. But at extra low flow, it seemed easier to carry.

This section of the South Silver is an awesome mind-blowing classic. I'll be back next year. I wonder how many other stretches like this haven't been discovered yet?

_____

Thanks very much to Bill Tuthill and Brad Klaas for this excellent post. --Ed.

Little North Fork of the Clearwater

2007-06-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Ryan Scott in the midst of Body Bag, day 3.

The Little North Fork of the Clearwater flows in a roundabout path south then west out of the wilds of Northern Idaho before reaching it's final resting place under the placid water of Dworshak Reservoir. This 30 mile run begins 30 miles south of Avery, ID, on a tiny mountain stream.

James Black of Spokane arranged this trip, overcoming significant shuttle challenges with the help of Steve Pugh and Andy Bright. The day before launch, Andy and Steve drove to the takeout and left a rig, a solid 6 hour ordeal. Jim rode in with us and got the rig back out, making this a painless trip -- thanks everyone!

Friday morning, we all met up and got underway. The drive in is a beautiful one. We were close to excellent Idaho staples Granite and Slate Creek, as well as seeing portions of the scenic St. Joe. After a brief encounter with a logging truck chasing a moose down the road, we arrived at the putin. The first several miles are gentle gravel bars nestled in subalpine forest, and with many wood portages following the brutal storms of the past winter.

Andy Bright, above a typical portage on the upper section.

We putin above Montana Creek, at the end of the road as the bridge had been
damaged by high water. All the portages were quick one log affairs, except one longer mess mentioned on the AW
description. Flow at the putin was no more than 100 cfs.

Ryan surfs his gear boat while James waits below.

Steve Pugh enjoying the solidifying river bed.

We reached camp just above Canyon Creek, and enjoyed a lovely bench up off the water in the trees. Steve went to work on his cracked Gradient, and we all looked forward to inflow in the coming miles.

We quickly reached Canyon Creek on day 2, and found a beautiful side canyon, easily large enough to be runnable. The Lil North Fork changed character pretty sharply here, as the river bed solidified, the trail began to climb away from the river, and the forested slopes became steeper and the forest older. The river makes a long straight line southwest here, and we found much more interesting water in this section, which was full of tributaries, class III riffles, and one of two more significant drops.

Fishin' hole on the LNF

James lands the first fish of the day. The secret? Worms!

James, Steve, and Andy were enjoying the diversions of a backcountry trout stream, while Ryan and I paddled ahead, making quick time through this beautiful canyon.

Ryan enjoys a drop in the lovely inner canyon, day 2.

We had only one portage day 2, which could have been ducked. Luckily, we stopped though, and encountered a magnificent bull elk. He wasn't too concered about us, and hung out for several minutes. I couldn't get the cameras without spooking him, but it was one of the best wildlife encounters I've been lucky enough to experience.

Bull Elk in retreat.

While the rest of the group was fishing, Ryan and I reached the lake at Body Bag, the crux drop on the LNFC. After a quick scout, we paddled back up to the island above the drop and napped until the boys showed up.

Body Bag from the air. Photo by James Black

Camp at slide island. Photo by James Black

Ryan awoke near dusk and decided to run a quick lap on the Bag before dinner, so Andy and I paddled down to gawk. Ryan had clean lines through the ledge holes and eddied out above the runout to get in one more lap in his light boat.

Looking at Body Bag from the top

Ryan bags it

The next morning the rest of portaged while Ryan dropped in again.

Lap 2 on the bag. Photos by James Black

The river dramatically changes character from Body Bag down. This lower several miles is very fun III-IV with loads of slots, boofs, holes, and logjams. We briefly scouted a few of the more congested drops, but everything was very clean and busy and fun. What a great section to end a trip!

Ryan below the Bag

Steve picks his way downstream

We arrived at the takeout all too soon, after many fun drops. Andy rallied us out of the canyon into the lovely metropolis of Clarkia, and even kept all the boats on the rig.

Lucky to have all the boats. Photo by James Black

We launched with flows at 3100, taking off with flows at 2700 on the North Fork Clearwater. This was actually a nice amount of water in the lower section. If there's lots of water at the top, be ready for some big water in the lower canyon.

Spring Photo Update: Top Tye, Icicle, Limp Wrist

2007-04-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a start and stop again spring as we wait for snowmelt to begin in earnest. We've managed to get a few good days in on the water so far this spring, with hopefully many more still to come. Here are a few pix from recent weeks' creekin':

Steve drops Deception Slide Top Tye [photo scott waidelich]

Chatham guns it, Box Drop Top Tye

Fish nails his boof, Box Drop Top Tye

Steve drops the ledge below Box Drop Top Tye

Fish solos Limbo Log, Icicle Creek

Fish on a Washington Park n Huck classic

Boulder River

2007-03-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Boulder River
March 29, 2007
First descent attempt
NF Stillaguamish 3500 cfs
Story and photographs by David Chatham

Mike scouting a big horizon line.

The run from below Boulder Falls to Highway 530 is listed on American Whitewater as class III based on a National Park Service study. There is also some commentary on the site that there could be a 50 foot corkscrew waterfall and a 30 foot possibly runnable waterfall on this section. I had first become interested in Boulder river after reading Manning and Spring’s 100 hikes in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area which described the river as being in an old growth forest with waterfalls. A friend of mine and I hiked in last year and scouted the section above Boulder Falls and determined that while very pretty, the section had too much wood to justify the hike in. Boulder Falls was also a class VI waterfall with substantial pin potential, and portaging around the falls would be quite difficult. Before we had gone in to scout, we had visited the forest service office in Darrington but they were not aware of any river information other than what could be seen from the trail.

Mike Novak called me up on the morning of our run and asked about what might be fun to boat that day for his 22nd birthday. We decided that it might be interesting to try a first descent attempt on the section below Boulder Falls based on the above information.

We drove to the trailhead for the Boulder river hike, parked the car and headed downhill to the river. The hike in was actually fairly easy. The start of the run consisted of maybe ½ mile of class II.

Mike enjoying the easy warm up section.

After this, we came to a drop that we both decided to portage as there were no clean lines to avoid a fairly burly looking hole in the center of the drop. We portaged on the left for this one.

Probable IV+ rapid.

Shortly after this, we came up to another drop which was fairly straightforward, though Mike elected to portage that one on the right because of some pin potential. Not long after this, we came to a longer class III+ to IV- rapid that we scouted on river left. We both had easy runs through this.

Mike running the most fun rapid of our trip.

After that, we had to portage around a small logjam on river left. Not too much further down the river, the walls started to canyon up and the river took a bend to the right obstructing the downstream view. We proceeded cautiously, and found that this led into a flat stretch of water. After this, the current picked up a little and led to our first horizon line. I motioned for Mike to eddy out on river right while I scouted the drop from river left. There was a narrow entrance into an approximate 20 foot waterfall which dropped into a pothole on river right about 6-8 feet down, then sprayed out to the left, with a re-circulating eddy on the left at the base of the falls.

Pothole Falls.

Another 50 feet or so downstream, the river disappeared under a 15 foot high logjam.

This was shot from roughly the same vantage point as the shot of the
pothole falls.

With high nearly vertical canyon walls, we had no choice but to hike out of the canyon and see if we could re-enter below this section. I had to paddle back upstream and ferry across the river to reach Mike on river right. We made the difficult ascent up a few hundred feet and then hiked along the top of the inner canyon and were able to find a nice viewpoint to see the far side of the logjam. The river dropped approximately 40 feet from directly underneath the logjam , went a short distance, and then plunged over a very nice looking 15 foot or so waterfall.

Looking back upstream at what we had portaged.

Mike then found a way for us to descend back down to the river. I joked with Mike that hopefully we wouldn’t paddle 50 yards and then have to hike out again. Well, it turned out to be about 75 yards. We eddied out on the right and scouted a class V entry, leading to a 12-15 foot drop, leading to a big horizon line that we could not get very close to. While I was taking photos, Mike worked his way along the river edge and onto a rock outcropping directly above the 12’-15’ drop. Even from there, he had no idea of what lay beyond the horizon line.

Class V entry with the waterfall horizon lines in the background.

Without knowing what we would be heading into, we were forced to make the decision to hike out of the canyon again. We initially tried to hike up from this point, but the walls were too steep to do this safely. We ended up ferrying across the river, hiking back along the left side of the river, and then ferrying back to where we had entered the river after our first portage. By this time, it was getting to be late afternoon and we decided that it would be safest to leave the boats and return for them later. We made it back to the car at dusk.

The next day after work, I hiked in to retrieve my boat and gear. While trying to find the route down to the river, I found myself downstream of the section that we hiked out from. However, the view of the falls was blocked by a very large rock, so I still don’t know what that horizon line led into. After getting back down to the river, I stashed Mike’s boat higher up, and grabbed some of his gear as well as all of my stuff. The hike out of the inner canyon was up a 25 degree or steeper slope with unstable footing and was about 200-250 vertical feet. The hike out was quite arduous, and I got off route and had to again abandon my boat to make it out before dark. A final trip to retrieve boats was uneventful. It was an interesting experience attempting a first descent, though the next time, I think we will probably approach it a little differently. While we made sure we didn’t proceed into anything from which we couldn’t extricate
ourselves if necessary, it certainly would have been easier if we had previously scouted as much of the river as possible form the canyon rim. Also, more people would have made for easier hauling of the boats up the steep slopes.

Hagen Gorge

2007-03-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hagen Gorge
EF Lewis ~1700 cfs
See also: Oregon Kayaking

Text and photographs by David Chatham

Mike Novak on Euphoria Falls

It was an interesting week of boating. Two days before this trip, Scott Waidelich and I (with several Catboaters) had run the Green river gorge at 5700 cfs, possibly the highest flow ever done in IK’s. Now we found ourselves running the Hagen gorge at probably the lowest flow ever done by anyone. The general consensus was that at least 2000 cfs was needed on the EF Lewis gauge to make a feasible run on Hagen. However, we had been wanting to run Hagen for quite some time, and figured we could probably make it down with a little less flow. When I had checked flows the night before, the EF gauge was at 1990 cfs. By morning, it had decreased to 1700 cfs, and at the end of the day after our run, read 1550 cfs. Anyway, we ended up finding a flow comparable to the running Copper Creek with about 800 cfs on the EF gauge. We would occasionally get stuck on shallow rocks in the in between stretches, but most of the drops had enough water to get down easily. My partner in crime for this run was Mike Novak doing his first run in nearly 4 months.

Mike dropping Hagen Daaz Falls

Mike running Euphoria Falls

Mike running into the log just below Euphoria Falls

Mike cleaning Teakettle Falls

We both portaged Double Falls as there was insufficient water to be able to run the normal left line for the first drop. There is also a log center right in the first drop that extends almost to the normal landing zone for the left line which might not be visible at higher flows.

With the low flow, we decided to take out at the bridge crossing the NW Fork of the Washougal. Certainly, more water would have been nice, but even with the low flow, we both enjoyed our experience on the Hagen Gorge.

Salt River Canyon

2007-03-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

The Salt River Canyon at Quartzite.

The rivers of the desert southwest have long interested me. Having hiked throughout the southwest growing up, I always found the dry washes leading into tight slot canyons the most magical of places in a complex and varied landscape. Those slot canyons have so far eluded us as boating trips, but when the chance came to mount a quick trip to the Salt, there was little choice but pack and go.

Nick Borelli and Shaun Riedinger were along on this trip, and as usual, a multiday trip with this crew was truly a vacation -- no BS, everything just comes together effortlessly and that makes all the difference on these kinds of trips.

We obtained a cancellation for early March, hoping the spike to 1000 cfs in February hinted at good early flows for the season. It didn't quite work out that way, and we launched with flows in the mid 300s -- minimum flow. Weather outlook was for warmer temps each day, and clear cold nights with a full moon by the second night.

After a 6am departure from Seattle, we were in the rental car and on our way to meet shuttle by 11 from Phoenix. We were on the water by 3 or so, tired but thrilled to be setting off on the first multiday personal first descent of the year -- always a great feeling.

The canyon from the road. Maytag Chute along the right bank.

We were beat from the long day and pulled over to camp on the left above Bump and Grind. We had a nice beach, lots of firewood, and a great wall to enjoy in the setting sun, and, later, by moonlight.

Moonrise over camp one.

This was a shakedown trip for us, as we were trying a whole new kitchen setup. I had the new firepan from Partner Steel -- a custom lightweight IK jobby, and Nick had a new grill setup that was rock solid and packed super small. This, coupled with the 18oz dry rub steaks in the new watershed cooler ... well, let us just say things were a thorough success.

The canyon by moonlight.

We were up late the next morning, hesitant to face the cold. After a leisurely breakfast around the fire, we set off to see what the Salt had to offer. Bump and Grind aptly named, but had a clean line. Maytag Chute was a great wave train. The Salt flows through a lovely inner gorge with 20 foot walls as it flows towards Cibeque Creek, and we were excited to see such scenery where the maps had suggested more open terrain. The canyon at Cibeque Creek was lovely, towering walls on the right, and a tempting side canyon at the creek itself.

Looking back up at the tail end of Exhibition and toward the Cibeque Creek confluence.

Exhibition had a tricky little entry, and we stopped below the rapid for lunch and enjoyed the views back upstream to the Cibeque canyon. We found the first saguaros in the canyon at Mescal Falls, a straightforward II+ at this low flow. The rest of the float down to camp across from Walnut Creek was uneventful. This may have been the best camp of the trip, with nice bedrock for cooking and a subtle pitter-patter from the falls across the river really added to the ambience.

Shaun in the top half of Mescal Falls.

View from camp across from Walnut Creek.

We were up the next morning in search of the cliff dwelling shortly downstream. We had a long day ahead, making up for our short first day, so we weren't able to hike, but we were surprised to be able to see the ruin from the river, it's crumbling walls testament to the long history of the region.

About here, we found ourselves buffeted by strong downstream winds, which continued unabated for the better part of the next two days. Very strange to have downstream winds in a desert canyon in the afternoon -- but we were glad to have the help. Rat Trap featured a ledge along a bedrock outcropping on the left. A strange folding hydraulic with a thin line on the right was the best option here.

Gradually the steep orange walls gave way to a more open canyon with rolling hills. A lovely light grey inner gorge was soon exposed, with sculpted and fluted walls and some fun technical rapids. We eddied out at the mouth of Canyon Creek for a brief walk up the side canyon.

Then came the Gleason Flats section, where we had to drag boats several times. A quick lunch stop and we were through, lining up to boat scout Eye of the Needle which was a straightforward chute at this flow. One more drop, Black Rock awaited us before camp, and we decided we'd scout this one, as Nick remembered it was supposed to get worse at low water. We pulled in on the right and hiked past the innocuous leadin to find a 6-foot vertical ledge with an undercut wall left, a backed up boulder pile and hole center, and a ridiculous folding reactionary on the right. A quick portage was made on the dewatered left channel. We continued through wonderful canyon terrain down to a camp just above Hess Canyon, where we had a nice bit of shelter from the wind, which was very welcome.

Sunday was our big mileage day -- we were running all the way down to Coon Creek to facilitate our takeout schedule. We quickly reached the Maze, which was boat scoutable III, but one can see how long the pushy runout would be at high water. At this flow, two distinct drops led into a long calm pool nested in a nice inner gorge.

Scouting at The Maze.

Nick and Shaun in the upper and lower sections of The Maze.

We floated down towards Quartzite and found the section of canyon above the drop quite excellent. A huge wall rises out of the water in the right, smooth and varicolored, this rock face was the most impressive canyon wall we'd yet seen on the run. We knew Quartzite was coming quickly, and while the maps had led us accurately thus far, no map was needed to recognize Quartzite. Visible from well upstream, a magnificent wall of rock si thrust into the sky with a narrow V carved by the river -- an amazing sight. We scouted left, then I ran down to the mouth of the creek on the left and climbed up the wall to get an angle for Nick and Shaun running the drop.

Nick runs Quartzite.

After a lovely pool isolated between two of the biggest rapids on the run, we were scouting Corkscrew, which at this flow was a fun left-to-right entrance into a big hole and reactionary coming off the right wall. Everyone had clean lines through what was the biggest clean drop of the run at this flow.

Scouting Corkscrew.

Shaun rides the reactionary.

We stopped for lunch at Cherry Creek, expecting to leave the canyon scenery behind as we entered Horseshoe Bend and Redmond Flats. While the land opened up through these sections, we found camp at Coon Creek to still afford great vistas and a nice side canyon setting.

Our final morning found us up and on the water around 8:30. We were surprised to find plenty of water, continued downstream winds, and an excellent final canyon that continued right to within sight of the road. Only a few miles above the takeout, we came across a few Javelina foraging along the right bank, a wonderful end to a great trip.

We were well ahead of schedule, so we hit happy hour in Tempe before heading to the airport. We touched down in Seattle at 11:00 and were in bed by midnight. Maybe I'll finish unpacking by the end of the weekend ...

Wynoochee Gorge

2006-11-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

Wynoochee Gorge

In the waning days of autumn, with rivers at their annual minimum flows and no good water in sight, Shaun and I turned to a little-known gem on the Olympic Peninsula. The Wynoochee is a dam-controlled river whose minimum fish flow is a boatable 200 cfs. There are over 30 miles of paddling available on the Wynoochee, but the best are two gorge sections in the first 15 miles below the dam. Access to the takeout is controlled by timber companies, but the gate is open during the late fall for hunting season.

The secret to this run is its overnight possibilities. Once in the lower gorge, at low water, there are loads of stellar bedrock benches just perfect for sacking out. We enjoyed perfect weather in a lovely and little-seen canyon, at the worst time of the water year -- quite a find!

Gary Korb, Obi-Wan of the OP.

Fall colour and gorgeous weather.

Waterfall in the first gorge.

Shaun enjoys the action.

A typical Peninsula tributary.

Floating leaves and decaying old-growth. The perfect setting for fall.

Launching at the dam, the Wynoochee flows through some lively II+ riffles in an open valley before entering a narrow bedrock gorge. The gorge is almost totally slackwater due to the fish structure at the mouth of the canyon. A quick portage of this structure is recommended.

The next several miles are open braided gravel bars, with lots of good camping benches. Eventually, the river takes a sweeping oxbow and enters the second gorge. This canyon is longer, deeper, and more constricted. The first drop, Landslide is quickly reached. At minimum flows, this is a portage due to pin problems, but at 500 cfs or so, a nice IV line opens up in the middle. Portage left over a steep saddle 30' off the water, or right along the boulders.

Landslide

This gorge is surprisingly pristine, given that the clearcuts extend to the very rim. But there is little evedince of logging from the canyon bottom, and the gorge itself is lovely and dotted with fun technical II and III riffles.

Shaun below a typical riffle.

The Wynoochee's claim to fame is the remnants of a train wreck from the filming of _Ring of Fire_. The rusted hulk of the wrecked train occupies the river bed as well as the left bank.

Shaun near the train.

Shaun enjoys another scenic waterfall.

PDX Film Festival 2006

2006-10-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

This year's PDXKayaker annual video event is a film festival. There should be lots of excellent clips, nearly 4 hours worth. For a schedule, see below.

Our entry features three clips:

Icicle Creek

Fish, Chronic Dave, Mike Hoover, and Mike Novak running Ricochet on Icicle Creek, shot by Novak and Fish.

Grand Canyon Elwha

David Chatham, Mitch MacDougall, Mike Hoover, Fish and I. I think everyone helped out on the cameras this day.

Playboatin' on the Top Tye

Novak and Chatham paddling and filming.

The NEXT ADVENTURE
PDXKayaker 2006 Film Festival Schedule:
(Please note times may change slightly)

Venue: Mt Tabor Theatre 10/13/2006 @ 7pm

7:00 p.m.
Norway 2006 Slideshow Brett Smith & Shane Horner 13:51
The party starts. Buy raffle tickets, and drink discounted cold PBRs.
7:15 p.m.
Testing the Water Ryan Morgan & Virgil Foster 13:17
This is the first film in the festival.
7:28 p.m.
Hydrophyllic Brian Castillo, Joe Kocherar, & Andy Lichtenheld 17:52
7:45 p.m.
Among Other Things Priestley Brothers 12:31
7:57 p.m.
Living the Dream Mike Long 14:30
8:11 p.m.
Rope Rescue Brian Sonnichsen 2:14
8:15 p.m.
Focused Barney Bonito 4:17
8:19 p.m.
Ricochet, GCE, Top Tye Brian Vogt 15:37
8:35 p.m.
Intermission 10:00
Continue to buy raffle tickets, drink cold beer, and vote on your
favorite movie
8:45 p.m.
Four Seasons on the Gauley Jason Rackley & Ryan Windsor 14:26
8:59 p.m.
Kayaking Argentina Jason Rackley 10:51
9:10 p.m.
PDX 06 Zack Horner 6:57
9:17 p.m.
Skwerley Waters Jim Busse 2:53
9:20 p.m.
Hot Session Theron Jourdan 16:27
9:36 p.m.
Cowyakers David Gridley 8:43
9:44 p.m.
Intermission 10:00
9:52 p.m.
No Eddy Flower Sandra Elvrud 8:12
10:00 p.m.
A kayaking Video Ryan Scott 10:51
10:11
Salween Dan West 18:30
10:30
Hells Kitchen Clear H20 Films 6:11
10:36
BMA Tate Huffman 4:25
10:41
EKE Barney Bonito & Craig Ernst 11:00
Raffle ticket sales end after this movie.
10:55
Raffle
Huge prizes, must be present to win.

Callaghan Creek, BC

2006-09-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Fish on Callaghan

Labor Day plans were slow in forming this year, but Jarred Jackman, Ryan Scott, Lana Young, Fish and I found ourselves in Squamish looking for the last of the BC summer creeking. Everyone had run Callaghan Saturday while I was stuck in border traffic but we were finally all in one place and looking forward to some BC canyons.

The plan was the Ashlu and it took some work but we made it in to the bridge. Committment Canyon was in and many were there, including TRL on a video mission that should yield some world-class footage. We scouted and hiked but ultimately decided to head for a Callaghan Creek run.

Below 50-50, Ashlu

Callaghan was low but definitely still in -- exactly how I like to see a creek for the first time. The run starts out with some technical warmup before dropping over an 8-foot ledge. My good friend Fish calmly caught an eddy and told me to work right. Now, Fish sometimes likes to watch me boat scout something he suspects I'd portage if given a chance, but I went for it. I was on a good line but stalled above the main ledge and went deep. My paddle was wrenched from my hands but I came through upright and in my boat. Jarred and Ryan followed and helped retreive my paddle. I got cameras out in time for Fish's payback ... err, run.

Fish cave swimming on Callaghan

Next up is a fifteen foot drop normally run left of center. Today the line was right but the drop was clean.

Lana and Ryan setting nice lines on the 15-footer

Callaghan's sculpted walls

After an interesting drop below the 15-footer we came quickly to the 25-footer, the signature drop on Callaghan. Everyone else had great lines, but I dropped my right edge and earned some downtime. Thanks to Lana for shooting stills and Ryan for shooting video of Fish and I running the drop.

Lana Jarred and Ryan clean the big drop

The author about to explore the subsurface hydrology conditions [LY]

Fish cleans the 25 footer [LY]

Below the 25-footer the character of the run changes. The ledges and bedrock are gone, but excellent technical boulder gardens come fast and furious. Fish's schadenfreude relented and he suggested some great lines as we made quick time downriver. This section of the run is stellar technical creeking -- lots of fun! Certainly could have used more water, but even at this level lines were plentiful and clean.

One of the last significant rapids (and recommended portage) is a boulder ledge against the left wall with a backed up riverwide ledge hole as the first move. Fish had boat-scouted it and swam the day before, but dropped right back in to clean it this time.

Fish cleans the portage

An afternoon well spent ...

SYOTR!

Grand Canyon of the Elwha

2006-08-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

Mitch in Goblin's Gate, Rica Canyon

"This run is so special it goes beyond words. The whitewater ... the canyons ... the wildlife ... the riverside camping ... it's the Elwha! It has canyons so beautiful yet dangerous that it gives you a sacred almost forbidden feeling. A group could find the river blocked by logs or rock and be forced to leave the river ... IF possible!!
--Gary Korb
A Paddler's Guide to the Olympic Peninsula

Thanks to everyone for helping out with cameras. I've tried to note Mike Hoovers photos [MH] as well as Mitch MacDougall's [MH]. I'll get some video posted one of these days ...

I still remember the first time I looked at the reports on the GCE at oregonkayaking. I lacked the right gear, a crew, and the paddling skills to visit myself, but I quietly vowed to visit ... someday. Well, someday was in August 2006!

After spending a quiet Friday night breaking straps, throwing out every extraneous piece of gear, and trying to figure out who to blame for having hike my gear in 8.5 miles, the trip was underway. We caught an early ferry, made a few brief stops in Port Angeles, and were at the Whiskey Bend trailhead by 10. Around 11 everyone had their packs together, including Hoover's 20-lb gear sack. Having a modicum of common sense, Hoover hoofed his boat in the previous weekend, making his pre-run hike as easy as possible.

Lillian River Rest Stop (MM)

We made good time on the trail and up the first hill before dropping down to Lillian River for a short rest break. Shortly after Lillian the trail takes the big climb, up and over the ridge near Nightmare. Mitch and Hoover were out of sight fast as we grovelled up the hill, eventually making camp a solid half-hour later than our two leaders. We had survived nonetheless! A relaxing fire, good dinner, and a well deserved night of rest were in order.

Camp along the Elwha

David has serious fun.

Sunday dawned a lovely, clear day. We got things put together fairly quickly, getting on the water by 8:30. At the putin, the Elwha looks to be a gentle stream flowing through a cobblestone-lined river bed of low gradient. Fun class III drops started emerging out of the bedrock in short order however, and we got down to business right away. After several fun warmup drops, we found ourselves in the pool above Eskimo Pie.

Warm up drop above the Grand Canyon (MM)

The canyon below the drop deserves the moniker "grand" -- everything about this gorge is amazing. The fluted bedrock walls tower out of the water in many places, often overhanging and trapping travelers to river level. The whole run is through virgin old-growth, and the sections of canyon not steeply walled are amazing rain forest scenes.

My attempt at Sam Drevo's great shot at Eskimo Pie

David above the SCARY eddy, Eskimo Pie

Nobody liked the look of the half-boat eddy at the lip, so we scouted from the left. Chatham opted out of the scout, choosing to follow Fish's hand signals despite safety not yet being set. Lining up for the meat of the first ledge, he dropped in, and rode a huge brace through a tailstand that ultimately ended in a flip. David took a long swim, spending several minutes in the hole getting recirced. He lost his paddle somewhere along the way, but kept a hand on his boat and had air the entire time. Our position above the ledge made a throwbag useless, so we were relieved when David found solid footing in a pocket to the left of the ledge hole. We quickly moved to river right, the rest of the group portaging. Scott got a line to David and he cleaned the rest of the drop using his own spare paddle.

David probes the Pie

Eskimo Pie, entrance to the Grand Canyon Elwha.

Eskimo Pie from below

Once the group had re-assembled, we headed down to the next drop, a left-right-left move through a hole studded boulder field. Two more swimmers in this drop further added to the sense of high consequences in this canyon. I was glad to get through the drop without swimming, but our progress quickly ground to a halt. Portaging the next rapid was the only option, as a cat's cradle of logs had collapsed into the rapid. From the highest of them, we could glimpse the leadin to Nightmare, the psychological crux of the Grand Canyon Elwha.

Ledge in the canyon below Eskimo Pie [MH]

Fish, Mitch, Hoover, and David

Peering into Nightmare. Sneak plugged with wood

Fish on the scouting logs [MM]

The normal route, a sneak along the left wall to avoid a heinous rock sieve on the right, was plugged with wood. Hoover told us not to worry, he'd hiked in and out of the canyon from this spot before, negotiating a steep and treacherous scree field to retrieve a friend's forgotten camera. We took one look at the slope and decided Nightmare would be runnable. Mitch went down to explore, and motioned us down. While the left entrance was indeed blocked, we were able to catch an eddy on the right below the first entry ledge, then ferry to river left to get back on the safe line past the sieve. Hoover and Fish dropped in, disappearing around the corner, until Fish attained up to an eddy where we could see him.

Mitch and I enjoyed our perch at the lip of Nightmare, a large rock on the right above the entrance that we had scrambled up to see into the rapid. It was an amazing experience to spend half an hour looking at an unscoutable unportageable drop -- this was one of the highlights of my day. At last David came down to join us and we got the rest of the crew through.

[MM]

Fish probes Nightmare. Sieve on right

David rounds the corner in Nightmare [MH]

It was now three hours into our day and we had negotiated roughly a mile of canyon. We had had four swimmers. We started to wonder if we had left ourselves enough time for the many remaining challenges.

The next section of water was very fun. I remember a fun ledge on the right, lots of III-IV technical boogie, and a fun snaking slot on the right that avoided a river wide rock pile. Great read and run that got us back in the flow and helped us make some time.

Fish opts for the wood choked slot

David and I come through on different lines [MH]

That's me. I love this canyon! [MH]

Somewhere in this section below Nightmare, David gave us the scare of the season. All of us piled into a large eddy above innocuous three foot ledge. Fish dropped in first, running right. His boat immediately pinned in a stern squirt and he dove for the bow to escape a swim. Hoover shrugged. "I'm going left," he said, before disappearing. Not hearing any hits or problems, I followed. After seeing the narrow slot on the left, I knew I wasn't going to make it, so I followed Fish's line, pinning just as he had. As I dove for my bow, David dropped in behind me, and before I could escape, his boat pinned too, but closer to the ledge, which quickly pulled David out of his boat. With his boat taking a beating, no one could see David. Fifteen seconds passed, perhaps twenty. It felt longer than the Nightmare scout. At last, David popped up -- on the other side of the slab rock in the middle of the river. It took some time to free his boat, and we moved quickly down to a sunny spot to regroup.

David swam under this slab

This spot reminded us all of the table-top slab sieve in Elbow Room -- definitely a place to be careful. David was shaken, but did a great job of keeping his head on straight and continuing down the river without losing confidence. I don't know if I could have handled such a swim as well as he did. His perseverance played a major part in our successful descent.

Grand Canyon Elwha above Lillian River

The next major landmark was the Lillian River, which drops out of an intimate and utterly terrifying mini-gorge. Yes it has been run, and no, you don't ever want to do it. Unscoutable, unportageable, log-chocked ledges and boulder gardens fill the lower section of the Lillian River.

Shortly below Lillian, Pebbles and Bam-Bam and Dagger raise the bar for the Grand Canyon's biggest drops. Pebbles and Bam-Bam is a fun sweeping bend through some big holes. Mitch and Fish had great lines here.

David sets safety, Pebbles and Bam-Bam

Fish cleans his line through Pebbles and Bam-Bam [MH]

Dagger was a behemoth of a drop! A manky sliding entry led into a quick-moving pool before plunging off a six-foot ledge. The right half of the tongue pounded into an undercut guillotine rock; the left dropped the boater into a gauntlet of holes. Only Fish was interested in this one, so David and I let him run out boats through -- my favorite kind of portage. Fish found a nice sneak entry boof slot right of center and positively styled the bottom ledge three times in a row.

[MH]
Fish helps portage Dagger

We stopped for lunch on the pebble beach below Dagger, the last good stopping place in the Grand Canyon, and a potential low-water camp. A short paddle brought us to the lip of Landslide. This drop is below the Grand Canyon and separates it from Geyser Valley. The whole river left hillside has exploded into river. As with most drops called Landslide, this one was chock full of mank -- piton rocks, sieves, syphons, undercuts, and tricky moves. Who loves drops like that? Why yes, of course -- Fish!

I went into instant portage mode to get around the drop and set up with the camera. Fish climbed high to scout from both sides before lining up to run both meaty ledges on the left. He dropped in, made it through the first hole, then got destroyed -- next thing we see is a yellow helmet and an empty boat hurtling towards a 9-foot ledge with shitty rock everywhere.

One of the shitty rocks, a large horn rock left of center, gave Fish just enough time to climb up and secure his boat. Paddle in hand, boat firmly under control, Fish prepared to run the last ledge. Re-righting the boat, he got his footing, then pushed the boat off the rock, leaping after it. Alas, the adrenaline won out and Fish overshot the boat, sliding right out the back to swim the final drop of Landslide. Now that had to hurt.

Landslide

Fish swimmin' with style, Landslide

Only the first drop in Geyser valley forced us to get creative with low water channel finding -- but everything else was just fine. We chatted with a couple of hikers warning us of "whirlpools" at Goblin's Gate as we floated leisurely through the open valley. Without warning, below a class III- riffle, the river takes an abrupt 90 degree turn to the right as 50-foot walls explode from the river. Welcome to Rica Canyon and Goblin's Gate.

Though Goblin's Gate is the name of the canyon entrance (so named because of the impish faces found in the walls immediately below the Gate) the name has also drifted down to label the first two drops in Rica Canyon. The first drop is a pair of six foot ledges, the first of which sends a third of it's flow into a narrow, scary chute on the left.

First drop of Goblin's Gate

We all portaged this one, lining up for the second drop, a ledge with a great sliding hole on the left. This was one of the most scenic sections of Rica Canyon, and rivaled the generally more austere and narrow Grand Canyon.

David drops in to the bottom of Goblin's Gate

Below this drop, we boat scouted something straightforward then arrived at Secret Chute, finding this too blocked with wood. Fish and Mitch opted for the next door to the left, which had a funky landing. The rest of us made a quick portage on the right.

Hoover scouts the Secret Chute

Fish runs left of Secret Chute

Mitch follows with a nice line

The rest of Rica was class IV and good to go. Some fun ledges, some tight slots, some big holes. I dropped into one curler with the wrong angle and fought to brace out. When I finally swam my boat to shore, I'd ripped the d-ring holding my right thighstrap out of the patch! Good thing we were almost done!

Mitch near the end of Rica Canyon

What a trip! Hoover, David, Fish, and Brian at take-out [MM]

Hoover and Mitch opted for the hike, carrying the boats out up the steep trail at the head of Lake Mills. Fish, David, and I set out for a three-mile battle against whitecaps and headwinds causing swells on the lake. The boys pulled up with rigs just as we reached the takeout, so it all worked out just right. Hoover had cold beers on ice waiting for us, and we sat down to watch the sun and wind play on the lake, left with indelible memories of some of the most pristine canyons in Washington. Korb is right -- the Elwha is a sacred and stunning scenic run, the crown jewel of Olympic Peninsula runs.

SYOTR!

Middle Fork Flathead, MT

2006-07-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

Putin, Middle Fork Flathead [SR]

Shaun Riedinger took most of the photos on this trip -- thanks for sharing Shaun!

The Middle Fork Flathead in northwestern Montana is a little-visited wilderness river. Dominated by commercial interests, this unpermitted run offers incredible wildlife, stunning alpine peaks, and excellent hiking.

Nick Borelli, Shaun Riedinger and I made this trip over the July 4 week. After a two-night stay at Wilderness Gateway and a low water Lochsa float, we rolled into Kalispell to sort out gear. With cocktails mixed, food prepped, and headaches from the impromptu firewoks we met our bush pilots for the flight into Schaefer Meadows. This is a half-hour flight from Kalispell over some incredible peaks and alpine lakes.

Airstrip at Schaeffer [SR]

After hoofing our gear down the trail and assembling the boats, we were off. We launched with perhaps 300 cfs. Across the valley, a view into the South Fork Flathead drainage showed ominous skies and incredible echoes of thunder that followed us for more than an hour on the water.

On the flight in, Shaun commented he had never seen moose. Within twenty minutes of launching we had a sighting as a curious moose watched us from the bank as we floated by. We had planned to camp in the neighborhood of Granite Creek, but we found a unique spot we couldn't resist. At a right bend, a bedrock island rose out of the water, terraced with flat areas and perfect tent sites, so we decdided we'd found our campsite. We spent a sunny afternoon swimming and exploring the surrounding area.

Bedrock camping with a view. [SR] [BV]

Camp visitor [SR]

The next morning, we had deer and another moose in camp. Once on the water, we moved downstream at a brisk pace. This is the upper canyon section, and wwe had a fun section of class II-III whitewater that gradually steepened into a boulder ledge along a headwall on the right.

Typical rapids in the first setion [SR]

This boulder ledge was the biggest drop in the upper run [SR]

We found Morrison Creek, and, incorrectly thinking we were at Granite Creek, starting looking for our next camp site, Castle Creek. It took a little time, but we sorted out our mistake. The mile of river preceeding Castle Creek is stunning. The river left bank is the backside of Trinity Mountain, and the hanging valleys were simply stunning grottos sculpted by ancient glaciers -- the scenic highlight of this river corridor. We passed a couple excellent campsites before reaching Granite Creek proper. We headed down to Castle and moved in.

Granite Creek drainage [SR]

Camped at Castle Creek [SR]

After a great evening in camp, we were up early and heading out for the hike to Castle Lake. It was a straightforward traipse through the woods to reach Castle Lake, which looked to be much fuller than in past years. A tall cascade fed the lake from one end, with reputed bear territory at that end of the valley. There was no outflow, however, leading us to wonder about about the drainage to Castle Creek.

Castle Lake[SR]

When we returned to camp, we found the Glacier guides ensconced. This was an unfortunate event and we had a commercial party of 12-14 in camp the rest of our stay at Castle Creek. The weather moved in fiercely that evening and we were glad to have the sheltered clearing near Castle Creek to avoid the worst of the wind and rain. There were some very close lightning strikes and scree slides on the opposite bank -- a great show.

The next morning we were up and on the water well before the Glacier party. Just below Castle Creek, we found 25-mile rapid, and the class III just kept coming. There were some mini gorges that prompted brief scouts, but everything was straightforward and clean. There were some huge boulders choking off the river that in high water would be utterly terrifying as the force of the river narrowed to boat-width chutes and right-angle turns. Wood deposited atop boulders 20 feet above the water stood testiment to high water years of the past.

This drop was in a canyon above the Spruce Park series [SR]

As we approached the Spruce Park area, the river flattened out and opened up. We were approaching the final and biggest canyon on the Flathead and were excited to see what it had in store for us. Once into the heart of the canyon, the rapids were straighforward, with three drops comprising the bulk of the whitewater in the canyon. Between drops, the river pooled gently in translucent pools between bedrock walls of reddish-purple and gray. Waterfalls tumbled from the towering canyon rim, and we floated quietly between the walls.

Canyon below Spruce Park [SR]

Below this canyon we found an acceptable campsite near Dirtyface Creek. We were only a mile or so from the road, so we enjoyed our final taste of wilderness as another evening rainstorm innundated us.

Waiting for rain, camp three [SR]

The river continued to alternate between class II and moving flatwater as we approached the road. Shortly below the river access where the road first meets the river, we came upon the Goat Lick. We had been out so long we had completely forgotten about this attraction.

First we saw a 25-foot wall along river left with nearly two dozen mountain goats along its many trails. We eddied out to watch for some time before finally drifting downriver. We shortly came upon an even more impressive sight as another dozen mountain goats worked impossiby steep and slick trails along a headwall. There were many kids on the wall, learning the basics as adults looked on nonchalantly. The awkward hopping and route-finding left us certain that one of the youngsters would soon tumble into the pool below the wall, but while there were a few slips, all kept their footing. It was an amzing sight.

Goat Lick, MT? [SR]

The last few miles passed quickly as we approached Essex. We had a quick takeout and made the drive up the Going to the Sun road in Glacier before heading west for Spokane.

Gone to the Sun

We had to stop and scout the drops on McDonald Creek on the way out.

McDonald Creek, Glacier

Mission Mountains

The Middle Fork Flathead is a unique and scenic trip -- it's well worth a visit. Pick your timing and water levels carefully and know your rights as a private boater.

Thanks for the pictures Shaun!
SYOTR

Park 'n' Huck: Box Canyon Creek and Limp Wrist Falls

2006-06-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

Fish raises the bar at the lip.

It's been a great spring run-off here in Washington, and we hadn't been able to get out for much of it at all. That all changed with a day of random action this past weekend.

Video: Box Canyon Creek and Limp Wrist

On the way home from the Cle Elum drainage, we pulled off near Lake Kachess to scout Box Canyon Creek. We expected the creek to be too low, but found enough water for a little park n huck. Fish took one look at Off-Ramp and went racing for the boat.

Fish scouts the technical entry to Off-Ramp on Box Canyon Creek.

His first lap was one of the most amazing things I've seen an IK do. Coming off the second of the two tiers of sliding bedrock, the boat started to roll. Scott landed on the bow, and pulled off a bow pirouette to stick the landing. Stoked on that move, he fired it up again, cleaning the line with style.

Yes, he landed it. No, I still don't believe it.

We explored a bit more and found a clean little double drop above Off-Ramp as well. Joe and Fish played on this one for awhile.

Joe runs the double drop.

Fish plays in the ledge hole.

Then we were back on the road, headed to beers and barbecue ... when we got the idea to pull over to scout Limp Wrist Falls, the worst-named drop in King County. For the story on this thrilling name, check Chris Joose's page. Erik Schertzl and crew also posted a great video clip of some laps on the falls earlier this winter.

The drop was low ... insanely low for something this big. Scott took one look and was back gearing up, soaking his third and final set of clothes for the day in his hurry to drop the falls.

Peak snowmelt in Washington?

2006-05-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

It's already gotten big here in Washington. The Wenatchee has been running at 20,000 cfs plus for the better part of a week, and the upper drainage creeks are really going off.

I was down with the flu over the weekend, but managed to bum a ride for an afternoon of roadside scouting along Hwy 2.

We stopped by Alpine Falls and the Park Section of the Top Tye, Eagle Falls on the SF Skykomish, the cruxes of Tumwater, and a brief jaunt up Icicle Creek.

The pictures really only capture the generalities of the day. For a more specific feel of the scale of these flows check the video:

Video: High water in Washington [34MB]

The Wall, Tumwater Canyon @ 20,000 cfs

Chaos Cascade, Tumwater

P.O.W., Tumwater

Exit, Tumwater

Below Exit

Below the hatchery, Icicle Creek, 4,500 cfs

I think this is The Plunge ... it just looks like The Hole

Crack in the Earth, Top Tye

There was actually water running down the old channel at this flow. the "crack" is visible at the top of this photo.

The hydraulic off the left wall at Monkey Cage. Couldn't get any wider.

Box Drop and Log Choke Falls, Top Tye

There ya go. Alpine Falls looked incredible, but I ran out of video for it and Monkey Cage. Be safe out there -- there's a whole new forest in our riverbeds.

SYOTR!

McCoy Creek

2006-05-07T23:58:00.000-07:00

Mark Yauney cleans McCoy's signature drop B.U.D. while the crew watches.

McCoy Creek is a tributary of Yellowjacket Creek in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest south of WA-12. This incredible creek is reminiscent of Copper Creek with lots of shallow II-III separating classic bedrock rapids featuring steep technical drops. But compared to Copper, "steep technical" is taken to a new level!

Hugh Boyd, David Chatham, Eric Klein, Mike Novak, Mark Yauney and I met to run McCoy on Sunday. Yauney first ran McCoy roughly 12 years ago in his IK, one of the earliest descents of this stunning creek. Our hopes for a sunny warm day were quickly doused by the incessant drizzle, but hey -- we're creekin here, right? How dry do you expect to be?

Other Beta:
American Whitewater
AW Journal
Oregon Kayaking
Liquid Kayak
UK Rivers Guidebook

Flow:
Cispus: 1790
Yellowjacket: ~500 virtual

Video: McCoy Creekin'

Special thanks to Mark Yauney for sharing his photos.

Out putin plans were derailed as we waited nearly an hour and a half over the course of the drive to meet up with everyone. Shuttle took longer than expected -- all of which meant we launched at nearly 1:30 with ambitions of spending time on video in this remarkable canyon.

The run began with a bang and a small ledge. Water level was low, but the big stuff was filled in nicely. After some nice warm up, we came to two straightforward portages, which look like they've been in place a long time. Both were portaged on the left.

Novak runs the putin drop. (MY)

The second portage would be a great drop beginning with a clean 4-foot ledge into an s-turn move before another ledge below the wood. (MY)

After this, we quickly found ourselves at the first big drop: a sliding ledge with a big pothole. The "high and left" line wasn't really in play, so David and Mike lined up and gutted the hydraulic. Nice clean runs by both. The rest of us made an easy portage on the right.

We knew we were coming up quickly on the crux section of the creek, and sure enough, the next horizon line was upon us fast: Tom's Slide offered a typical slick bedrock wall for scouting. A class IV entry ledge led immediately into the slide itself. I've run many 15-foot drops in my day -- if this was one, the rest were 8-footers. Everyone ran the line along the wall on the right, and nobody had any carnage. Clean, steep, and fun!

Chatham just ... sailed right out there!

The author on Tom's Slide. (MY)

Mark Yauney, McCoy veteran.

Eric Klein right on line on Tom's.

This is the first time I'd had the pleasure of boating with Hugh. He seemed game for all the camera work, diving right into running the camcorder then throwing an impromptu spin move on Tom's. Stylin!

The next drop was an amazing double drop with a technical s-turn entry. At the lip of the first ledge, a good portion of the flow went right over a large boulder into a churning trough against the wall that flushed under the boulder. The line was right down the gut -- boof with a little right angle and hang on tight for the bottom hole! David was the only IK to stay upright and in his boat. There were also some shoulder-endangering "vertical draw strokes" employed to claw out of the bottom hole. Good times!

Yauney, Hugh, Eric, and Novak waiting to see Chatham's entry move on McCoy.

Chatham styles the sticky ledge drop.

Yauney drops in.

Hugh lines up on the double drop.

Novak, the man with the bionic shoulder.

After a short time and more fun boogie, we arrived at B.U.D. (Backwards and Upside Down -- glad I wasn't that guy!) also called Chinook Falls. I don't know how to describe this rapid. From the scouting eddy, you hike a steep canyon wall past the entrance. The entrance is a chute into a big eddy on the right that leads into a tricky s-turn move with a horribly placed rock and odd hydraulics. I didn't hike much farther than this, as I knew what the rest looked like. Others kept going, eventually making it to the lip of the next two drops. The leadin s-turn led immediately into a 8-foot ledge with a big curler/rooster tail on the right. A big eddy on the left below the ledge offered recovery space to those in control, while the rooster tail fed directly over the final 20-foot big plunge into the pool below. This last drop was a nice slide on the right and a big double drop through a pothole on the left. So there it is -- one of the most fantastic rapids I've ever seen: clean, technical, steep, multi-tiered, and virtually unportageable.

Novak stepped up first, calmly moving into the eddy above the entrance. A few strokes later and he was sailing over the 8-foot ledge. He flipped and rolled up just in time to catch the eddy on the left. At this point, we still thought it might be possible to make the right line over the bottom drop. Mike gave it a huge effort and dropped into the pothole anyway.

I knew I was running the drop, but I wanted some safety on the second ledge. Hugh said he'd run down to the eddy and be ready. We dropped in to the committed eddy together, said some words of encouragement, and he dropped in. I watched Mark on the scouting trail for clues to his fate. Mark only winced once, so I figured Hugh was alive. Mark gave me some details, then ... it was time. I knew there was nothing between me and the drop but time, so I took a moment to compose myself. I'd never run anything this technical and vertical, and I really didn't want to flip on the 8-foot ledge as both Novak and Hugh had before me. I took the entry slow then charged left to clear the f-u rock. Got right where I wanted to be, but put me on the left wall more than I expected. As I approached the 8-footer, I knew I couldn't get the strokes I wanted, so I strong-armed the left wall to control my angle on the ledge and took one stroke at the lip. Next thing I knew, I was lined up on the pothole, got a couple good strokes into it, and then I was sitting at the bottom with Hugh grinning at me. One of the best lines I've ever hit, and a great feeling to run a rapid I've been looking at for a long time. Unfortunately, we had some camera problems and the boys missed my run.

Mark came next and styled the drop. He just grinned at the bottom, as if to say "What's the big deal?" IF you're even in an eddy with Mark, ask him about his first run over this drop.

Mark Yauney getter 'er done on B.U.D.

Eric came next and pulled off a great brace below the 8-footer that sent him off line for the final drop. He made it through the pothole and spilled at the base.

Eric Klein runs the meat of the pothole.

Chatham ran sweep and got pushed into the pocket eddy on the left just a few feet above the 8-footer. He peeled out and sailed down the right side over the rooster tail then charged the pothole, only to flip at the very bottom. I always say if you're going to swim ... do it at the bottom!

Duckie runs the gnar!

As we were waiting for David to hike back to his boat, Hugh looked up at us and yelled "It's 5:30!" -- we'd made something like 30% of our mileage and now had three hours of daylight left. Cameras were stowed and we went into attack mode.

The section below B.U.D. is very fun. There were at least three very clean 6-8 foot ledges before we reached the next drop: Coho Falls. This one has been called everything from 18 to 30 feet. It didn't look like 20 feet to me, so I'm gonna go with the 28 feet I've seen elsewhere. Novak thought it looked about as tall as Behemoth on the Upper Upper Cispus. Regardless, it was another big technical drop. Much of the water pasted into the wall on the left at the bottom, and most of the flow was working that way. A thin line ran against the right wall into a diagonal hole that kept you pushed right to avoid the left wall at the bottom. Yauney cleaned it up, and Novak did pretty well too. The rest of us swam with varying degrees of grace and Hugh broke a paddle to boot.

The author drops Coho Falls. (MY)

Hugh about to take a big hit. (MY)

Novak styles Coho. (MY)

The Coho Falls swim team: Chatham, Brian, Hugh, and Eric. (MY)

That was the end of our whitewater day. We spent a few minutes helping Hugh get his breakdown together, then started hunting for the portage trail for the big falls below. No one considered the ledge above the falls. By the time we attained the high ground on the portage, it was 6:45. We had no plan to get back to the river. At about 7:15 we made the call to start hiking up and out. We knew we were on the same side as our shuttle road and closest vehicle. We also knew hiking out of Yellowjacket would be tough going and with even less daylight and warmth by the time we returned to the river. We worked our way up perhaps 1000 vertical feet of an old clearcut before finding a logging spur road. We made this spur road with dusk settling in, but still plenty of light. Novak took my headlamp and Chatham to go find the car while the rest of us told stories in the moonlight. In an hour, we were packing boats, and by 10:30 we had shuttle run and were on our way home.

I don't think the exit from the gorge could have gone any better -- the logging road we found was the only spur road between us and the putin, and saved us at least another 500 vertical feet of groveling up the hill in the dark to the main shuttle road. It was tempting to keep moving down river, but I think the decision to hike out was the right one. Great teamwork and cooperation made it as painless as possible. Over the course of this trip, every person spent a little time manning the cameras. Everybody was too busy talking about how fun this creek was, even after the hike out. If that's not a testament to the quality of this creek, nothing will convince you.

So -- an epic day of spring creeking on a classic run full of signature drops. If you like technical, vertical, and committing -- don't miss McCoy Creek!

Thanks to everyone for helping with cameras, and to Mark Yauney for his great photos.

SYOTR!

The Illinois

2006-04-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

Illinois at Kirby 1800-1850 cfs

Beautiful and alluring Green Wall.

Story by David Chatham. Photographs by David Chatham and Don Matteson.

Pastor Dave Pauli and I began planning this trip about 3-4 weeks before the eventual date. He had one requirement which was that it couldn't take place on a weekend so that he could give his Sunday sermon. We discussed the need to have back-up plans given the Illinois's reputation for fickleness in regards to acceptable flows. As the day for the trip arrived, we were blessed to have phenomenal weather (65 degrees and clear skies), and optimal flows (1800 cfs). Was this just incredible luck or divine providence? I'm not sure, but I did ask Dave if he'd be willing to put in the good word for me for any future expedition trips that I would be on.

Anyway, the group consisted of Dave, Don Matteson, Denny Dahlgren and myself. The three of them would be taking a 14' raft with center oars, and I would be in my IK. I was also lucky in that they didn't mind carrying a little extra gear for me. We camped at the put in, and got to enjoy a meteor shower before going to sleep. After awakening, we found some impressive animal tracks only a few feet from our cots.

Carnivore tracks a few feet from our cots.

Before we put on, a small commercial group showed up for a planned four day expedition, but these were the last people we would see for the duration of our trip. We left the put in at Miami Flat at 10 AM. We ran several class III rapids, and a couple of big water class IV rapids before stopping for lunch. I got a couple of swims in for practice (sure), once for being a little lazy in my paddling, and once after getting pushed out of an eddy by the raft. The water color was a sea green to emerald color, with fantastic lighting for photography.

David smiling for the camera.

David in emerald paradise.

After lunch, we ran some more class III rapids before reaching Pine Flat. I ran the line on river right first without problem, and set up to take pictures of the raft for their run. The raft got stalled in the hole, and surfed briefly before making it through.

Dave Pauli and crew busting trough Pine Flat.

We ran multiple more class III rapids before setting up for camp at 3 PM not too far above Prelude Rapid.

The raft team in one of the multitude of the Illinois's class III's.

Snow atop the high peaks surrounding the Illinois.

Before reaching camp, it had gotten cloudy and a little chilly, but fortunately, it never did rain, and the clouds mostly cleared.

Don and Denny putting on the finishing touches for the tent site.

We cooked dinner, washed dishes, and then I went for a hike while the other guys relaxed. On my hike, I walked straight into some poison oak before I realized it, kept going and made it up to a ridge overlooking the river canyon before hiking back to the campsite.

View upriver from the ridge above our campsite.

We awoke the next day to another glorious day with completely clear skies, and put on at 9 AM. After a few minutes, we came to Prelude Rapid (Fawn Falls), and we all ran the straight forward line on the right.

The raft crew in Prelude Rapid.

Shortly after that, we arrived at Green Wall. The raft eddied out at the top, but I was able to paddle part way down and catch an eddy just above the big holes.

The huge holes in river center and river right at Green Wall.

We scouted for quite a while enjoying the scenery and discussing lines, and then I went first. I made the entrance holes just fine, but got a little lackadaisical thinking that the big waves at the bottom would be fairly easy, and got to go for a quick swim.

David's first run though Green Wall.

The raft followed my line exactly, with some pinball action, before entering into the main current and sailing through the rest of the rapid.

The raft taking the technical line through Green Wall.

A little irritated with myself for flipping, I hiked back up and ran again. For the second run, I entered farther left at the top, was able to paddle out earlier into the main channel, and paddled hard through the rest of the holes to join the raft.

David's second run of Green Wall.

We ran Little Green Wall, and then stopped for a quick lunch. We then had some class III's and another long class IV rapid.

Class IV rapid below Little Green Wall.

Another class IV rapid below Little Green Wall with several big holes.

Shortly after this, I ran Submarine Hole rapid boofing the pourover easily. The raft got a little turned just before the pourover, but straightened out in time, got stopped, the guys highsided, the raft did a 180 degree spin, and then they were able to back out. Unfortunately, they were too close behind me for me to be able to set up to take pictures of this. After Submarine Hole, the rapids got farther apart, though there were still some intermittent entertaining class III's.

The raft team punching another big hole.

Don, Denny and Dave smiling and waving for the camera.)

I did find a waterfall coming in from a side creek that I climbed up to run. There wasn't quite enough water to make it easy, and the drop turned out to be more of a seal launch, but was still fun.

David running a 13' waterfall (seal launch) from a side creek.

We passed through some beautiful canyons and got to watch some bald eagles chasing each other, and saw a few red tailed hawks in addition to the normal dippers, mergansers and vultures. We arrived at the takeout at about 2:30 PM and our vehicle was the only one there. Yet another amazing trip in the Pacific Northwest.

Little North Santiam: Lower Opal Creek

2006-04-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

840 cfs at Mehama

Crystal clear water and beautiful scenery give Opal Creek its fame.

Story by David Chatham. Photographs by David Chatham, Mark Yauney, and Eric Klein.

I met up with Mark Yauney and Eric Klein to run the Lower Opal Creek section of the Little North Santiam. This was a run that all of us had wanted to hit, but that none of us had been on before. We drove to the takeout and scouted Thor's Playroom, left a vehicle and headed to the put in. A forest service pass is required to park at the put in. About a half mile hike in led to a side road that ran a few hundred yards down to the river.

The early part of the run had several class III rapids.

Mark enjoying an early rapid on Lower Opal.

The first rapid requiring a look was Big Ugly, which we got out to scout on the left. At this flow, there appeared to be no way to miss the hole at the bottom left where much of the water was pushing into the left wall. From Jason Rackley's report, we knew that this wall was not undercut despite appearances. I ran first, hit my line perfectly, still got pushed into the left wall at the bottom, and tried diligently but unsuccessfully to hold the brace. Mark ran next, and pulled off an amazing high brace at the bottom to avoid a swim. Eric ran third and followed my example.

David checking out Big Ugly.

Mark demonstrating High Bracing 101.

Eric still trying to hold that brace.

After a little more class III, we eddied out on the right above the lead in to Big Fluffy. There is a fairly sticky hole at the bottom, and most folks decide to go for the seal launch instead of running the falls. We studied this a bit, and I decided to give it a go. There was a class III+ lead in and then a move back towards the right side of the falls, and I somehow barely got wet on my run.

David with a good line at Big Fluffy.

Mark and Eric opted for the seal launch.

Mark seal launching in below Big Fluffy.

After Big Fluffy, there were more III-III+ rapids before arriving at Thor's Playroom. We all opted for the Door One entry, though looking at it afterwards, Door Two might have been the more fun option. For the final drop, Mark ran first, and ended up getting squirreled by the current at the bottom and had a brief flip. He then set up to take pictures of my's and Eric's runs. I followed Mark's line for the camera with the same result.

Eric cleans Thor's Playroom.

David exiting Thor's Playroom.

Eric ended up boofing over the rock at the bottom instead of trying to stay in the main current, and had a successful line.

Eric with Thor's Hammer in the background.

The water level appeared to be in a medium low range, and we encountered no significant wood on the run. With crystal clear emerald water and fun rapids, the Little North Santiam is definitely a special place.

SF Sky: David runs Eagle Falls -- First IK Descent?

2006-04-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

Eagle Falls, SF Skykomish
3800cfs at Goldbar
April 9, 2006

This trip report written by David Chatham

Video: David runs Eagle Falls.

Eagle Falls was a long time in coming. I had seen the drop out of the corner of my eye while driving to Steven's Pass many times even before I started kayaking. It looks like a very scenic and pleasant drop from what you peek at over the guard rail while driving by at 60 mph. However, when hiking down to get a closer look, it is quite evident that this is a significant and consequential drop. A few months ago, when the Skykomish was running at 27,000 cfs at Goldbar, Eagle Falls seemed reminiscent of the videos of V Drive on the Grand Canyon of the Stikine. However, when we looked at Eagle yesterday with the Skykomish at 2800 cfs, Eagle looked relatively friendly. Today, with a 1000cfs more on the main Sky, the drop looked substantially harder.

After taking a while to scout, we decided to go run the Tye, and then come back for a possible run on Eagle afterwards. The group had a great time on the Tye, and then spent some time looking at Alpine Falls, before heading back for a probable run of Eagle Falls. Eagle looked much friendlier after having just spent time looking at Alpine. The foremost consideration for the run was to avoid a huge retentive looking hole in the center of the river below the first drop. Looking further at Eagle, it was certain that there was no way to boof the far left side of the second drop with an entry down the left side of the river. The line that Jeff Bowman had recently run starting on the left, angling back to the center with a drop over a 5 foot ledge, and hitting the bottom hole head on, seemed way too beefy today to really consider. This left the choice of running the right side as the preferred route. This line required hugging the right bank to line up to run directly over a 5 foot high haystack, and then hit the bottom hole on the right side, where it was much more forgiving. The nice thing about the right side from my perspective, was that as long as I didn't end up in the retentive hole in the center of the first drop, the rest of run was swim-able.

After doing a pre-run interview for the video, I went back to the car to get my PFD, and to top off my IK. I found Scott also getting suited up to do the run. It was nice to have company, and nice to know that everyone wasn't just having to wait for only my run. Scott and I headed back to the top of the falls, and discussed the line. He ran first, went over the haystack, and got pushed into the big eddy on river right above the second drop. He ended up coming out of the eddy sideways, and a little backwards, and flipped in the hole at the bottom, but was able to roll. I thought it was then my turn, but all of the cameras were still pointing downriver. Scott apparently flipped in an undercut eddy below the main section, swam, and got throw bagged. Still, it was great to see him make the meat of the run upright.

Scouting the entry move past the massive center ledge hole.

For my turn, I put in slightly farther up than Scott. I ended up hitting the same spot on the haystack, launching over, bracing below it, and getting pushed into the same eddy on river right. I then was having to lean hard to keep my left tube from getting sucked under, and came out of the eddy lined up fairly well for the final hole. I didn't have the momentum I might have liked, but cleared the hole. However, the next thing I knew, I was upside down and going for a swim. Apparently, I got flipped by the boil below the final hole. I ended up being under water for 8-10 seconds, but wasn't worried as I knew there was nothing below the falls to be too concerned about. Finally, I could see the water above me getting lighter and knew I would soon resurface. Once back on top, I got to swim one minor hole, before getting reunited with my boat a little ways downstream. I paddled to the side taking out next to some fisherman who barely acknowledged me. One of the guys setting safety (Mitch) had come down to congratulate me on the run, and I hiked back up to the road and exchanged high fives with Scott.

It was great to finally run Eagle Falls after having looked at it on at least five other occasions. Wish I hadn't flipped after making it through the bottom hole, but, that just leaves something to look forward to the next time (I hope).

This trip report written by David Chatham

SF Skykomish: Fish runs Eagle Falls

2006-04-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

Fish drops the entry on Eagle Falls

This trip report written by Scott Waidelich

Video: Fish runs Eagle Falls.

The morning started off with phone calls debating the drive to the Ohanapecosh river. After concluding that no one was up for it, we opted to stay local and drive to the Top Tye, our local backyard creek run. Mike Hoover and Mitch McDougall picked up David Chatham, and met Novak, Brian and I. As we drove up Hwy 2 we stopped at Eagle Falls to scout, as David has been wanting to claim a PFD on this one. He forwent the descent for the moment and we headed for the Tye put in. After a steller run on the Top Tye we packed up and headed back down Hwy 2 to scout Eagle Falls for the second time of the day. The group saw Davids motivation to run, so safety was discussed and camera angles sought. After another hour of hanging out and discussing marginal lines, I had a sudden urge to committ. For the first time that day I looked at this rapid with a sense of commitment. I promptley ran to the Xterra, got dressed again and ran down with my boat and sat above the maw. No one knew what I was thinking, I hadn't told anyone yet that I was gonna run it, I really hadn't even scouted it. But it was time to man up!!! I sat in my boat gave a whistle blow and slid off the rocks into the river. Peeling out I had two strokes then came to the first monster hole boof move, crap!!! It pushed me way too far to the right. I corrected angle only to hit the rock wall on river right, then I backed surfed the pillow and went into the biggest hole I'd been in all year, BACKWARDS!!! I was surfed back into the hole and pulled off a roll to stern squirt maneuver that today I still can't understand. I made it, I ran eagle falls and I stuck it!

Here are the photos of my run:

Fish mans the camera for David's run.

This trip report written by Scott Waidelich

Top Tye -- Monkey Cage Mayhem

2006-04-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

Mitch lines up on Monkey Cage.

David Chatham, Mike Hoover, Mitch Mcdougall, Mike Novak, and Scott Waidelich met up for a day of Sky drainage fun on Sunday. We headed first for Silver Creek, but decided the levels were just too low to hike for. Next came a scout of Eagle Falls on the South Fork Skykomish before we headed east for the Top Tye. Levels had risen overnight, and we were looking at a low level rather than the minimum level of the previous day.

Video: Monkey Cage and Top Tye

Due to the low water, we began our run at Monkey Cage, one of the signature Top Tye drops. Armed with two video cameras and the still camera, we were looking for footage. After setting safety and multiple camera angles for the drop, I hiked back to my boat to run one my favorite rapids.

Novak styles Monkey Cage.

Mitch runs the middle line.

Mike Hoover subs out on Monkey Cage.

David prefers the right line.

Fish rides a huge brace out the bottom of Monkey Cage.

Novak finds the angle.

The author glad not to take another beatdown.

After dropping over the lip, I became aware of just how thoroughly I had taken a beating the weekend before on the SF Skokomish, where I swam Bobbing for Butler while boat scouting. I quickly opted for the hike back to the car. Nobody else seemed interested in carrying the camera gear, so I hustled and hiked in near Log Choke Falls to shoot video of the boys running Box Drop. Nice lines! Thus, this trip report is Monkey Cage and little else.

After everyone made it down to the takeout, we spent some time scouting Alpine Falls, which lurks immediately below the takeout. After an innocuous III-IV leadin, Alpine drops over an entry ledge of 8 feet. The thinnest of lines leads to the left bedrock high-angle slide, while the majority of water finds its way right into a nasty channel full of headwalls, undercuts, and pinspots. This is a seriously consequential and challenging drop, and though the level looked good, no one was willing to step up for the committment of such a serious rapid.

The crew scouts Alpine Falls. L to R: Chatham, Novak, Fish, Mitch, and Hoover.

Alpine Falls from below.

But the day was far from over! Check back soon for more of our fantastic weekend adventure.

SF Skokomish

2006-04-02T22:42:00.000-07:00

Fish waits below Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

After Scott and David had an exhilarating run on the Crooked Saturday, they met us for some fun Sunday creeking on the South Fork Skokomish, a fantastic IV-V creek run that is one of the most scenic on the Olympic Peninsula. David Chatham, Mike Hoover, Mitch McDougall, Brian Vogt, and Scott Waidelich were along for this run. Novak wanted to join his, but five consecutive days celebrating his 21st birthday left him barely able to drive, let alone paddle.

Video: SF Skokomish [20 MB]

We had flows of 850 slightly rising, but Scott and David thought it felt like more water than their previous trip at 850, so who knows. I thought it was good medium flow, not pushy, but decently filled in. After a quick shuttle and hike down the old road, we were moving swiftly through the class II warmup, which was just long enough to loosen up without getting bored.

Then the Skok took a right hand turn and the walls rose up. We ran some fun boat-scoutable class III before arriving at Big Momma Jomba, the only significant drop in the short first canyon. This rapid had a squirrely hole center and a nice burly ledge hole at the bottom. Scott lined up first and had a great line through the first half of the drop.

Scott works his mojo in Big Momma Jomba

In quick succession, Mitch followed and he and David had the tidiest lines on this drop. Hoover cleaned it too, then it was my turn to hand off the cameras and drop in.

Mitch makes it look easy.

David has an ideal line -- upright and in his boat!

Hoover styles Big Momma Jomba.

I had a nice eddy all picked out along the right wall, and a vision of a nice left angle over the entry hole then a big carve back right for a perfect line on the ledge hole. I blew that line by the third stroke, failed to attain the eddy and bobbled through the entry hole. Made it through with no trouble, but had to opt for plan B on the left, which worked but was the wrong angle for the ledge hole ... with predictable results.

The author, about to check his drysuit integrity.

After more fun III-IV, the gorge opened briefly for a short calm stretch. We were quickly faced with the ominous unscoutable entrance to the second gorge. I followed David right, and had to claw my way out of a sticky hydraulic. Left was much friendlier and closer to the eddy to scout one of the most congested drops on the Skokomish.

Scott ponders his line in the second gorge.

The drop pictured above is the rapid below the entrance to the second gorge. A line exists on the right, which feeds into a backed-up hole with a nasty piton rock in the exit. Or you can run the chute above, which features at least three undercut boulders. David was the only to run this drop, and he styled it.

David drops in (video capture).

Hoover, eddy hopping on the Skok.

Next up is a fun IV drop run along the left wall. There were some squirrely currents here and some badly placed rocks above the second move.

Scott on the entry move.

Hoover fights for a roll above a nasty rock pile.

Mitch over the second drop.

Scott lines up for the third and final drop.

Everybody wound up getting thrown into the rocks above the second move here. Hoover took a swim, and his boat took off. Mitch collected him with a timely throwbag, but boat and paddle were off downstream. David and I put cameras away and went down to meet Mike while Fish and Mitch gave chase to the boat. David took Mike on as a passenger and the made all but the last hole of the solid IV boulder garden above High Steel Falls. Watching that run from 10 feet back was the highlight of my day -- nice lines guys!

We got everything picked up right under the bridge, everything back except for a throwbag and Hoover's Waterstick bentshaft paddle. Next up: High Steel Falls! Only David and Mitch opted to run this drop today.

High Steel Falls.

Mitch, visualizing his line.

David cleans the drop, making fools of all us doubters.

Mitch explores the right wall.

We now had two missing paddles, after Mitch's was wrenched from his hands below High Steel Falls. Both breakdowns now deployed, we headed downstream quickly hoping to find the paddles before the wood stuffed drop coming up quickly.

The next major drop is Bobbing for Butler, which has a burly seam ledge-hole entrance that tends to throw people left -- hard. After clawing out of that seam, I saw boaters piled in eddies river left and right, and I got complacent about which eddy I'd catch. I noticed Scott, sitting in the last reasonable eddy. He looked at me and shrugged, saying "Find the line, man. It all goes!" And then I was in it, running blind. After a monster ledge hole, I found myself being flung hard left into a horn rock above a steep ledge. I came up under my boat, where I was able to get a breath, before slamming hard into something with my hip. After getting back in my boat, my paddle washed right up to my boat, and Scott was coolly paddling 2 feet away from my boat. Thanks for giving chase bro!

David quickly joined us in the eddy below the drop while Mitch and Hoover set up the portage route. Since we'd missed any chance for camera work -- doh! -- David and I went on down to the portage to look for the missing paddles. No luck, but Fish soon joined us with David's spare paddle. Mitch had recovered his Powerhouse above Bobbing for Butler.

The portage wasn't too bad, a steep slope back down to the river then on downstream. The next two drops I really enjoyed. They were both good to go boat scoutable class III-IV drops, but neither was at all what I expected and that made them fun.

We bombed several more fun III-IV drops before pulling out to scout the mank-fest called Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I had planned to portage this anyway, and with my questionable right edge due to the hip, it was an easy call. Scott had planned to run, but his boat ghosted without him. Mitch hit him with a rope as he jumped into the runout to recover his boat. That just left David, who styled the drop with what is alarmingly becoming his customary aplomb.

David styles Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

There were a couple of fun class III drops before the canyon peeled back and we made quick work of the short 3.5 miles of class II before the takeout.

This is a great run. Not sure why we had so much carnage, but everyone handled it well and we all had a great time. I can't wait to get back and take my swim in High Steel Falls!.

For more photos of the Skok, check out Steve's great trip report featuring some excellent photos.

Crooked River Oregon

2006-04-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

Tom Yocum goes topsy-turvy, No Name Rapid.

"The best whitewater in Oregon."
-- Val Shaull

"One of the top five rivers I've ever boated."
-- Scott Waidelich

Trip report by David Chatham. Photos by David Chatham, Val Shaull, and Mark Yauney.

What a fantastic weekend. Word was going around that the Crooked might be in for the weekend, and flows during the preceding few days had been at 2025 cfs. Mark Yauney had previously told me that I should be ready to hit the Crooked with a few days notice and that we would likely have the opportunity this year given the high snow pack. The Crooked is a dam release river that rarely runs, and didn't run at all last year. A few days prior to our eventual trip, Val Shaull posted that things were looking good, and that he would arrange for access to the takeout, and would also arrange for shuttle drivers for the vehicles. Val also posted that no IKs should be on the run. Mark had also informed me that the river was quite big, and that he was going to be taking his cataraft. Now, Mark is one of the strongest IK'ers I know, and I generally trust his opinion, but I was undaunted by the negative thoughts and showed up with Scott Waidelich to make the run. We awoke at 5:30 AM to conversation outside our tent about a pool being taken concerning the number of expected swims the IK'er would have. A most auspicious start for the trip, but all in good humor. It was also time to head into Terrabonne for breakfast, and I joked with Scott that it was good to socialize with the people who might be chasing down our gear. To add to the excitement, the damkeepers had increased the flow that morning to 2454 cfs. The Paddling Oregon guidebook lists 1000 cfs as the optimal flow for this run (for kayaks).

After going to breakfast at the local restaurant in Terrabonne, which was overwhelmed by the sudden influx of a large number of boaters, we headed off to the put in and waited for the shuttle drivers to arrive. We ended up with a large and diverse group of paddlers. We had Scott and Bryon Scruggs in hardshell kayaks. In catarafts, there were Val, Mark, Eric Klein, Scott Harvey, Will Conley, Hans Chambers, Tom Yocum, Dave Hagmeier, Mike Moses, Bill Gibson, and Steve White. There was also one R-6 paddle team (the Oregon Rafting Team) in a 14' raft guided by Tim Brink with the crew members consisting of Tyson, Laura, Nightcrawler, Mark and Rose. And, finally, there was me in an IK. Mark Yauney had a conveniently placed dry box on his Cat, and was gracious enough to carry my camera for the run.

The weather for the day was a little strange. At different times, we had mostly clear skies, mostly cloudy skies, light rain, and, even had a few snow flakes.

The first couple of miles on the run were flatwater, and we pushed along with Val setting the pace. Finally, we came to a horizon line with some mist arising on the left side which was the start of a mile long rapid that some of the catboaters call Initiation.

Eric and David entering Smith Rocks.

After this, the river again flattens out, and enters Smith Rocks State Park. The scenery here was spectacular with the morning sun hitting the higher rocks, but with a lot of areas still in shadow. There were also a good many climbers either heading to or already on routes.

Smith Rocks State Park.

Group bonding on the Crooked.

A short distance after leaving the climbing area, we arrived at Rapid Number One. Mark, Eric and I were the last to arrive because we had stopped twice to take photos. We missed Mike Moses going for a one minute hole ride part way through the rapid. Mark informed me that the line was left of center, after which, he ran the rapid, and set up to take pictures of Eric and I. Eric ran next and did a huge tail stand, but didn't flip.

Eric tailstands through Number One while Scott and Bryon look on.

Then, I took my turn following Mark's suggested line, and went through some huge drops, and clipped the far left edge of the biggest hole in Number One. I got to the bottom upright, and was surprised to see all the other boaters gathered there, probably to witness my expected carnage.

David goes number one in Number One.

We arrived at Rapid Number Two after a few more minutes, and as far as I know, everyone ran the right side, and no one had any problems.

After Number Two, there were some interspersed rapids with big holes, and I did get a flip in the rapid just prior to Wap De Doodle much to my chagrin. Wap De Doodle had the most intimidating view downstream of any rapid on the entire run. There were huge holes, and about 3/4 of the way down, there was a spot where the water was launching about 7-8 feet up over what might be either a pourover or a haystack. Mark went before me and set up for pictures. I entered center left and thought I would head back to the right and miss the huge upswell. However, the river had a different idea and took me right there. I expected that I was about to be munched, but dropped into turbulent water and not the nasty hole that I was worried about. I let out a whoop of joy at the bottom of the rapid and waited for Scott and Bryon to make their runs.

David boat scouting Wap De Doodle.

Scott followed my line and mostly disappeared on the downstream side of the huge haystack, but also had a clean run. Bryon took a more conservative line and ran farther right missing the big feature, and also enjoyed his run.

Fish runs the maw of Wap De Doodle.

More pretty canyon scenery on the Crooked.

We paddled some more rapids and then saw people scouting on river right, and we knew that we must be at No Name Rapid. It is quite remarkable that the rapid with the worst reputation on the river doesn't have a name. Most of the catboats elected to take a saner cheat line on the far left, bypassing the hole.

Dave Hagmeier and Val Shaull take the smart line in No Name.

Bill Gibson sneaks the hole in No Name.

The paddle crew, however, went for the gusto and punched through the huge curler, passing through unscathed. Great job.

The Oregon raft team goin' for the glory.

Tom had a little indecision on his turn and ended up going into the hole with one tube going into the curling wave, and one tube going into the hole. The result was a spectacular endo flip.

Tom Yocum practices his pirouette in No Name.

Mark Yauney punching through the curler at No Name.

I looked at the hole and figured that since there wasn't much below No Name, and with the camera going, why not take the hero line as well. I ended up exactly where I wanted to be, just to the right of the huge curler and to the left of the worst part of the hole, thought I had made it (as had the people observing from shore), when my boat went beyond perpendicular, and I got to practice my self rescue technique.

Go big, or go home? GO HOME!!!

Everyone then had a quick bite to eat, and we got back on the water.

There were some more rapids, and the we arrived at Chinese Dam, where the remnants of a prior dam create one of the most technical drops on the river. The line here was to enter far right, then head towards the center, and finish on the left. One of the catboaters popped an oar on his run and had a flip near the bottom of the rapid. I believe everyone else did OK with there lines.

Fish and David below Chinese Dam.

There was one more big standout rapid (The Wave) below this which was entered on the right, but which had two pieces of wood sticking vertically our of the water necessitating leftward movement to avoid them. Everyone did fine here as well. After this, the rapids mellowed to class III, and there was time to take in the beautiful scenery. The were 100 foot high basalt columns on both sides of the river, and many springs were coming out of the left wall. There were also some places where there were low clearance tree branches that had to be avoided.

Scott Harvey basking in Crooked River bliss.

When we got to the takeout, our cars were waiting for us for the very steep drive (26 degree grade) to get out of the canyon.

In the end, I had two flips while going big, and there were two catboat flips. I'm not sure who the lucky individual was who picked the correct number of IK flips.

On the run, we saw a herd of wild sheep, hawks, a bald eagle, great blue herons, a river otter, mergansers, amazing canyon scenery, and spectacular rapids. This was one of my all time favorite runs as well. What's not to like about it, great scenery, huge but relatively safe rapids, and a day on the water with lots of friends and really good people.

Canyon Creek North

2006-03-12T22:05:00.000-08:00

Fish gets some hangtime on Canyon Creek

Sunday was another fun day on the water. We ran a couple minimum flow laps on Canyon Creek North in the Stilly drainage. Close to home, clean lines, good local pubs, and gorgeous weather made this a fun trip. Fish was along, as was Joe Sauve. Shaun came out for his first lap on this local classic. We stopped in a few new places for pics, so here are the highlights.

Fish on the entry ledge.

Shaun runs the entry for the first time.

Shaun leads over the second ledge.

Fish opts for the narrow right slot. We ran all three lines this run.

Fish gets launched by a hidden rock in the double drop.

Shaun boat scouts his way to success!

Shaun runs the weir-like ledge below the crux section.

Joe coming through the runout of the crux drop.

After this fun lap, we made mad bomb run -- no eddies, so scouting, just hit your line and keep moving. What a great run for a sprint!

Canyon Creek, Lewis Drainage

2006-03-11T21:39:00.000-08:00

Mike Novak drops Big Kahuna,

Canyon Creek south is a great friendly creek run. This run always reminds me a little bit of the Truss, having a great variety of drops, although lacking the deep canyon and sheer quantity of drops on the Truss. Winter 2006 brought some new wood to Canyon Creek, and we didn't know what to expect when we reached Swizzle Sticks. But off we went, with the EF Lewis at 900. On this trip we had paddlers David Chatham, Mike Hoover, Eric Klein, Mitch McDougall, and Mike Novak.

After some splashy warmup, we pulled into the eddy above Swizzle Sticks -- sure enough, a new log spanned from the right bank to just off the left wall. The normal right side line was not available, but a narrow line on the left looked possible. Most of us chose to portage, which was the usual amount of fun. David opted to try this left line however.

Novak didn't like the portage along the bank, so he put the new wood to good use.

David runs left under the new limbo log in Swizzle Sticks.

We knew there was one other new log, lurking somewhere below Terminator. After quickly verifying the Terminator itself was clean, we ran through. I love Terminator, mostly because I've managed to not swim it -- yet. This drop has a fun entry move into a big hole, then a hard charge left to ride a pillow off the wall to avoid the meat of a pounding ledge hole. Everyone had clean runs.

Next up is Bitch Slap -- also called 50/50. All I remember of this drop from our previous trip was big holes and big braces. Today, it was a nice clean entry ledge with some easy runout. This is where the second log in the run is lodged. A small rootball is hung up mid-river on the left, with the tree itself sitting at water level at this flow, and blocking the exit of the drop. We ran the ledge moving right, and stayed right to fight our way over the log. Good lines, and no issues with this wood. Portaging would be a serious challenge however.

Mike Hoover runs the entry ledge on Bitch Slap.

Mitch makes the move right to deal with the wood.

River-level portage.

Thrasher Prelude was a very different rapid than at higher flows as well. We ran off the center flake.

Chatham and Novak in Thrasher Prelude.

Thrasher itself is always a very entertaining drop. I utterly failed on my attempt last time. I was determined to find redemption, but based on how lines were going, I wasn't very optimistic.

Chatham and Klein make their lines on Thrasher.

The author, however, does not. Way to hold that brace, buddy!

The drop below Thrahser is actually one of my favorites. It's got a good technical lead in, a unique ledge, then some boogie to the bottom sticky ledge hole. Lots of folks like to run this right, but there was wood blocking that route. Several lines were run, I was happy with my far left line, and everyone styled the drop.

The entr'acte now out of the way, it was time to enter the Drop Zone! Big Kahuna is about the friendliest waterfall I know -- and there's something fun about hitting an eddy turn then a boof stroke and dropping 17 feet into a huge cauldron. Good times!

Mike Hoover styles Kahuna.

Eric Klein over Kahuna.

After some fun boogie boulder gardens, we arrived at Champagne and Hammering Spot. I ran first, to get set up for pictures. I was happy with my line over Champagne, which is a pretty forgiving ledge. Hammering Spot was trickier at this lower flow, with much of the water on the right line falling off to the left in to The Spot. I landed it though, and was promptly typewritered into the left wall. But still in my boat, at least.

Eric Klein fighting to stay high and right at Hammering Spot.

Unfortunately, my camera's memory card crashed on me working on this trip report. I lost all of the shots of the fantastic runs and interesting lines folks had over these drops. Guess we'll just have to go back again!

Canyon Creek North

2006-03-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Scouting Granite Falls on the SF Stilly after the run.

Canyon Creek is a great run -- 1.3 miles, but plenty of fun pool-drop action. David Chatham, Mike Novak, Joe Sauve and I opted for a relaxing day on the run, with low water of perhaps 300+ cfs.

The run starts with a bang at perhaps the cleanest drop on the run just below a short class II+ warm-up section.

Novak nails his boof on the entry ledge.

David cleans the second ledge.

Joe opts for the right side flake.

After a nice recovery pool, a fun drop offers a boof on the right or a slide on the left. Shortly after this drop, there's a fun tiny line center through a boulder-strewn drop. It is tempting to run this drop left against the wall -- be careful of the waiting rock directly in your line.

Joe nails the narrow center line.

David points out the lurking midstream boulder.

Next up is a manky headwall drop that cleans up quite a bit at higher flows. We had a bit of fun here today when a lost boat careened into the next drop. David dove in, sans paddle, and took a few hits wrangling the wayward boat into an eddy -- saving one member from a nasty hike or swim around the next drop. Eddy out left below this drop to scout the leadin to the crux canyon section, such as it is.

The author and Joe run the leadin to the crux double drop. The headwall drop is visible behind Joe.

At higher water, the left line may be preferrable, but at these flows, the right side run is cleanest. There is currently wood in the left slot.

Wood in the left slot.

Joe nails the entry.

The author runs the right ledge.

After a brief pool, Canyon Creek screams into a long boulder strewn section that starts off class V and eases after a time to continuous IV. There's a weir-like ledge center to wrap up this drop, so sneak right at high flows, and watch swimmers here.

David lines up on the class V entrance, with the double drop in the background.

A little mank at this flow.

David nails the center line ledge.

Novak eddies out in the IV runout.

After a long III leadin, a drop reminescent of Balls to the Wall Right on the Wind lead into a short pool and the final ledge.

Joe gets it done.

Chatham likes to boat. Or perhaps he's planning a new career in modeling ...

Joe says: "it takes balls to run Canyon Creek!"

Carbon River

2005-11-26T22:03:00.000-08:00

Slot canyon on the Carbon.

Text by David Chatham; photos by Mike Hoover.

After running the Carbon river a few weeks earlier, Dave Moroles and I couldn't wait to get back in to this beautiful canyon for another run. With the lack of rain and cold weather, water levels had been dropping, but a rainy day elevated the levels to about 500 cfs and we became very excited about doing the run again. After planning the trip and getting others on board, we awoke to find that the level had dropped to 372 cfs, at 3 AM, and appeared to be dropping fairly quickly. Our previous run at 535 cfs seemed to have been at an ideal level, but we decided to do the run even with the lower flow.

We were joined this time by Scott Waidelich, recent converter from IK to hardshell, Mike Harms, Mike Hoover from the Olympic peninsula, and by James Bagley, Jr., visiting from Corvalis, OR. Looking from the bridge near the put in, there appeared to be plenty of water in the river. While those of us electing to rappel in below Rick's Slide were getting suited up, Dave and James went to mark the way with ribbons to our rappel tree. After helping us, they took off to run Welcome, Lobster Claw and Rick's while we went for our adventure.

Fish is stoked to check out the Carbon.

This time, we didn't have to traverse across an unstable slope, and were able to directly descend to our rappel tree. We did set up a fixed line to descend on to get to the rappel tree, though this was probably not really necessary. The rappel from here is about 120' with the last 70' or so being free hanging (need a 50 meter rope). I had advised everyone that this was the most sketchy part of the day.

Fish rappels into the Carbon Canyon.

Mike Hoover, who didn't have much prior rappelling experience, said that the rappel "wasn't sketchy, it was scary".

Mike Harms rappelling past a horizontal log about 20' above ground level.

While others were rappelling, everyone placed themselves and their boats out of the way to avoid being hit by falling rocks.

While we were rappelling in, Dave and James showed up with elated tales of a "full on" IV+ - V fairly continuous run in the upper gorge. They had both been pushed against the right wall in Welcome, and Dave had mistakenly run center at Rick's. He hadn't flipped, and after going for a spin in the whirlpool there, was able to paddle out over a ~3' high eddy line.

Shortly after the put in, there is a III+ drop, and soon after, a submerged log that's easy to go over, just before arriving at the 14' waterfall. Everyone got out to scout the 14 footer. Looking at this drop, with no easy exit, and with an obvious cave behind the waterfall, made it an easy decision for everyone to portage.

Waterfall on the Carbon.

Below the waterfall, we had some fun drops, one of which led to some carnage. While Dave was being thrashed in a large hole, Mike Hoover came in and pushed him out, only to be caught himself. After taking a beating, he ended up swimming and his boat came out a minute or so later. Unfortunately, he lost his paddle, but we were well prepared with break downs.

Arriving at the Classic Canyon, James got set up to shoot video.

James and Mike Harms looking towards the Classic Canyon.

This section was the only place on the river where we really noticed a big change with the lower water level on this trip. Where we had found a fast moving descent with some hole bashing on our previous run, this time, I got slowed on some sub-surface rocks. This canyon is amazing. It pinches down to about 9 feet and has vertical walls approximately 100 feet high.

Stunning intimate canyon on the Carbon River.

After some easier water, the river starts dropping again. There is a rapid that has a rock with high pinning potential in the center, which however, we were able to bypass using a cheat route along the right bank. Just below this, there is a class V rapid.

Scouting on the Carbon.

I flipped above the eddy pool, righted the boat just prior to the main drop, and stuck the landing bear hugging my boat much to everyone's enjoyment.

David's mid-rapid recovery on the Carbon.

Scott, on his attempt, flipped and whacked his helmet on some rocks in the drop, and was briefly dazed, and remained dizzy for about 30 minutes. Dave and James both stuck their lines, and the two Mikes portaged.

Dave acing the rapid.

Below this, there are a few more IV-IV+ drops. Soon after, the rapids decrease to class I-II until the take out. The run took a little under 3 hours from put in to take out. This write up doesn't do the run full justice. There are many III+-IV+ rapids that I can't recall the exact locations of, and where we do not have pictures.

Text by David Chatham; photos by Mike Hoover.

Top Tye

2005-11-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

The author runs Box Drop on the Top Tye

The Top Tye is one of the classic creek runs in the Skykomish drainage, boasting everything from clean waterfalls to narrow chutes, blind ledges and steep boulder gardens. The run can begin at the upper putin off FR 67 or at the Deception Falls park off Hwy 2, or even at Box Drop. We opted for the Deception Falls putin for our run. Flows looked good for a first run (mine) with 5000 cfs in the Sky. I'd been excited to hit this creek for at least six months, but somehow, I'd missed every trip to the run and I couldn't wait to finally get on it!

Putting in at the Park means running Monkey Cage as your warmup. This fantastic waterfall is a short walk from the parking lot, and offers a fantastic auto-boof on the right into the pool below.

Fish boofs Monkey cage

The author on the autoboof flake

Shortly after Monkey Cage comes Crack in the Earth, one of the most unique rapids in the region. This stunning bedrock river feature deserves a careful scout and excellent safety, but is commonly run. We opted for a quick portage on the right, setting back up for the sticky ledge hole below the drop. This ledge has some legendary carnage stories to its credit, including some epic hole rides by members of our crew. Today, things were clean with Chatham nailing the boof on the left.

David rides a tailstand out of the sticky ledge below Crack in the Earth

Below this ledge, bouncy III keeps things moving as you approach Log Choke Falls. This class VI mess of bedrock slabs, old growth timber, and severe consequences can be scouted and portaged on the right. Log Choke leads directly into Box Drop, which is simply a fantastic rapid. A crisp eddy turn to charge river left will put you on the line here, dropping over the initial slide before that autoboof flake sends you airborne for the landing.

Fish styles Box Drop

Chatham makes it look easy

The author on Box Drop

Class IV boogie water below box drop culminates in an eight or nine foot ledge, Boof. I had my only swim of the day just above this ledge on some silly little rock, and missed seeing the line over this ledge while climbing back in my boat. I charged it far left, went over completely vertical, and was surprised to be in my boat. My elation quickly dissipated as I realized I wasn't going anywhere, and the side surfing began in earnest. Sculling brace, draw stroke ... nothing was working. I finally put my bow into the curtain and rode the bow stand out to clear the ledge. I was stoked to have pulled that off after just swimming.

We continued down through more fun III-IV boulder gardens until reaching Paranoia. The entrance looked like a go, but the swim would have been epic -- regardless of whether you made the entrance, the hole at the big ledge was huge. A swim there would leave only one chance to re-right before dropping over a long boulder-strewn drop waiting just downstream. We eyed the line for a moment, talked big, but promptly walked. A quick scout of the drop below Paranoia and we were back in our boats. David took a fantastic line that looked nonexistent: just right of a fan rock, goal-posting the fan rock and a huge pillow off the right wall. Fish and I opted for the ledge left of the fan rock, which was a fun move and a nice hole to punch.

David runs the drop below Paranoia

Fish below Paranoia

The next noticeable drop is Triple Drop, and Fish summed this one up: "This is everything a rapid should be!" Technical, steep, multi-move line -- it's a signature drop. We opted to enter left, and I was glad I took an extra moment scouting the second ledge. I hit the first ledge just where I wanted to be to counter the water pushing hard left at the lip of the second ledge. This set up the move on the third ledge, falling off it just left of the exposed shoulder and sliding right above the curler. Nothing feels better than picking the exact line you want and then being on that line. What a great drop! Fish had an interesting line as well, opting to swim the first ledge out of his boat. I think he just wanted to practice catching eddies without a boat, but maybe it was unintentional. He recovered above the second ledge and styled the rest of the drop.

Chatham in Triple Drop

Fish runs the s-turn route with additional style points

The author in Triple Drop

We bombed on down the rest of the run, with a bit of excitement at the next IV boulder garden, which offers some big holes on the left. David got stalled in a hole and had an insta-flip. How I avoided that fate I'll never know, as I was completely stopped in first of three big ledge holes at the bottom the rapid. I managed to claw my way out just in time to see David climbing back in his boat. The active blade: it's all you'll even need.

The last drop was clean and fun as well, with David showing an excellent entry move on the extreme right that set up the line perfectly.

Fish looks worried about that wall ...

This is a spectacular creek, with an incredible collection of rapids and scenery. If you haven't hit this run yet, make it a point to do so! Much of the run can be scouted from Hwy 2 and FR 67. See AW for details on shuttle logistics.

IK Crew in LVM #17

2005-11-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all the great camera work by the crew, we've got a 3 minute clip in the upcoming issue 17 of Lunch Video Magazine. Take a look at the clip here. Check LVM out at http://lunchmag.tv.

Callaghan Creek, BC

2005-10-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here're photos from Mike Hoover and a TR from Dr Dave:

On Saturday, October 22, 2005, Dave Moroles, Mike Hoover, Mike Novak, Mitch, and I [David Chatham] set off to run Callaghan Creek near Whistler, B.C. It was a pleasant day, and we estimated the flow at approximately 600-700 cfs with the nearest gauge reading on the Cheakamus at 48 cms (~1700 cfs). This correlated with a low medium flow for Callaghan. Before starting the run, we hiked down a trail to scout the two waterfalls on the run. The flow looked much bigger from the canyon rim than it had at the take out, but once on the river, the flow seemed to be what we expected.

Scouting Callaghan's big drops.

Scouting Callaghan's big drops.

Leadin to the 25' drop, Callaghan Creek.

Dave [Moroles] had done the run a few times before and therefore got to take the lead. Shortly after putting on, we pulled into a small eddy on river right to scout an ~8' ledge drop which looked similar to the main chute at Husum Falls, but without the boof flake. The hole looked somewhat retentive, and we all elected to portage. Dave had run it previously at higher water when they were able to bypass the hole on the right. Dave also mentioned that the left wall was reportedly nicely undercut.

After a few fun rapids, we eddied on the left above the first 15' waterfall. The waterfall had two channels, and we all ran the left side, which appeared much friendlier. Everyone aced this drop. We then entered perhaps the most fun section of the whole run, a long class IV boogie water rapid. We then eddied on the right above the 25' waterfall. Dave, Hoover and Novak all ran this cleanly, while I entered a little too much to the right and got munched at the base of the falls. Good fun. Mitch apparently endo'ed at the base, was upside down, and ended up going for a swim as well.

After this, we entered a beautiful canyon with upstream views of both waterfalls. There were many class IV boulder gardens, most of which were very clean and a lot of fun. There was one drop with a large submerged piton boulder with a line to the left, which we elected to portage.

The portage.

The rapid that we shot photos on turned out to be one of the trashier rapids on the run, but still gives an indication of the nature of the run:

Near the end of the run, we came to a 50 foot long sloping drop leading into a big hole. Dave ran first, and had a spectacular flip at the bottom. Hoover, Novak, and Mitch all had clean runs. My run was going well, until the boat buckled a little in the hole, and I almost held the brace.

Soon after this, we arrived at the bridge, which was our take out. This was a truly excellent day on the water, and we made it an even better day by completing a quick run on the nearby upper Cheakamus which was running at 2.75 on the foot gauge.

[Editor's note] Thanks to David Chatham for the trip report and Mike Hoover for the photos.

Middle Fork Nooksack Canyon

2005-10-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

Chatham hits a huge brace below Hawaii 5-0.

The Middle Fork Nooksak is one of the few creek runs east of Bellingham. We puton just below the diversion dam, skipping the upper section which looked too low. As we left town in the steady rain, talk turned to the flow, as we all knew the MF was very quick to respond to rain. The gauge was sitting in the mid 300s though, and didn't seem to be climbing, though we watched the gauge for several hours. Launching around noon, we expected a low water run through the canyon.

Forgive the image quality -- it was too dark to take stills and the camcorder is in the shop.

Video: MF Nooksak

This canyon really is stunning, reminiscent of the SF Stilly Trib Canyon Creek. It's about as long, and with about as many drops, though the drops are a bit cleaner. I felt the drops were easier than, but similar to, some drops on the Ohanepacosh.

Putting in below the dam, you get a nice splashy drop that is very straightforward. I swam it. Next up is Icebox Paradise, which we ran left. I swam this too. Looking forlornly at the bridge we had just passed under, I knew it was going to be one of those days. To top it off, I had a brief pin just above Hawaii 5-0. Hey, at least it wasn't the Ashlu.

We ran some fun clean drops below Icebox Paradise until we came to Hawaii 5-0. This technical drop has a manky entrance of badly placed rocks and offset holes pushing to the left, while 80% of the river is a sieve or pourover into a heinous pin spot -- you must get back right. Mike and I quickly made the portage, while David looked for a line through the entrance. He finally found one he liked, shortly before Mike and I froze to the cold bedrock.

Chatham runs the meat of Hawaii 5-0.

The drop below Hawaii 5-0 was another manky ledge drop with a boof center right. There was a tricky sneak far right which avoided the pins, but had its own issues.

Novak cleans the ledge.

And yes, David landed that huge brace. Nice!

We shortly came to Landslide, also knows as S-Turn. Can you guys please come up with some original rapid names? I mean, Landslide? S-Turn? Anyway, a quick look at this one and I was on the portage trail. I knew I didn't have the mental game going to hit the crux entrance and be online for the sieved out rock pile and surging room of doom eddy at the bottom.

Chatham and Novak running Blue Angel formation.

David nicely handles the pillow on the rock pile.

Below S-Turn, there is only one more major drop in the canyon: Super Boof. The middle slot almost went, but right was the line of choice. This clean, one move slide was a lot of fun, and it was a welcome change to be in my boat at the bottom of a drop.

After Super Boof, the canyon opens and the river mellows to class II+ rock gardens. After a half mile or so, you come to the final big drop: Cheesegrater (again with the original names. You were doing so well ... Icebox Paradise ... Hawaii 5-0 -- what happenend???).

Cheesegrater is a big boulder jumble where the river bends left with a bedrock wall on the right. Scout right. The easier portage route (ahem) is on the left. This drop features a class IV leadin to a 4-foot wide chute between the right wall and a huge boulder. Don't get pushed left into the surging eddy.

Chatham lines up for the slot in Cheesegrater.

Novak styles the drop.

From here to the takeout it's more class II+. We were surprised to arrive home and see the river spiking vertically to over 1600 cfs by 8:00pm. The spike started about the time we put on. Mike though, based on earlier runs, that S-Turn had roughly 600 cfs in it when we ran it. Be careful on this run -- it is very quick to respond to rain. 600 was by no means a pushy level, but I'm glad we didn't get caught too much higher.

Lower McCloud, CA

2005-10-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Fish enters Tuna Falls.

The Lower McCloud is 27-mile section of river that feeds the McCloud arm of Lake Shasta north of Redding. This is a great creeking training run or overnight shakedown trip. The rapids are technical and occasionally steep without being dangerous, continuous, or intimidating. We had flows of 370 cfs. The Seattle contingent (Nick Borelli. Mike Novak, and Scott Waidelich) met up with the California contingent of Bill Tuthill, Herb, and Shaun who is working in Cali. Bill also brought Chris, a friend of his along trying out some IKing after years of canoeing. For more on this run, visit Bill's California Creeking.

We opted to put in below the dam rather than at Ah-Di-Nah and it was a great call. This 2.5 mile addition to the normal 24 mile run included many great drops and the most consistent action on the river. It was still mostly III-IV with a IV+ or two. Everything could be portaged and scouted, and we took our time about it, enjoying the lush shady river corridor and blue water.

Most of the crew at putin: Novak, Herb, Nick, Fish, Shaun. (L to R)

Shaun in a warmup rapid.

The first big rapid was also the winner of the mank award. A decent line for hardshells on the left, but the IKs were forced to a wider tougher line on the right. Everyone who ran styled it though, so it's all good.

Novak finds the left side flake.

The author, practicing the oft-needed rock-hand brace.

Next up was a fun double ledge with a great line down the right. An easy portage available on the left if needed.

Chris goes big in his Innova.

Fish gets as left as left can be.

More fun class III then another distinct drop, this time with a narrow right side entry into a bedrock fence. It's always cool to run drops that are unlike anything you've seen before, even if it's only a feature or two. At the putin, Fish had warned of his concerns about safety on his first self-support trip in the hardshell. "Rescue the beer first -- boat second. I'll get myself to shore."

Bill works his way over the bedrock fence.

Fish works left after the entry. Unfortunately, the river gods were looking for a little cold Heineken ...

Shaun in a typical corner on the McCloud.

Nick is so money.

This first section of river featured three or four rapids with the same move -- enter right over a small ledge the get back right quickly for the runout. Here're a couple of those drops.

Bill nails his entry move.

Fish follows suit.

Shaun makes the left right move right into the pocket eddy.

Chris shows incredible swimming technique -- still in paddlin' position while his boat gets worked!

I think we passed Ah-Di-Nah somewhere in here. Lots of fishermen here -- and everywhere else along the river. Amazing how grouchy people can be in such a beautiful place.

Rule # 1: Don't give up on that brace!

Herb makes an entry move.

Sunny canyon scenery.

Camp was a nice level bench with loads of defoliated poison oak. I hear Fish has an itchy ... head. It had plenty of room, and to top it off, a huge black bear was crossing the river 100 yards below camp when we landed. I hid all the jerky near Shaun's boat ...

The morning of day 2 offered more III fun. McCloud Swim Club was a fun technical drop with a narrow route and several hundred yards of rock dodging before a fun double drop of six feet or so. The next big drop was Double Drop proper, a widely spaced drop of two four foot ledges.

Novak in the top of Double Drop.

Chris in Double Drop.

Fish movin' left.

Shaun in the second drop.

Nick opts for the right line.

Fish in a typical McCloud drop.

Next up was Tuna Falls a ten foot boulder bar with a nice pillow move into a big hole. The runout offered a little wood and a great decapitation rock on the right side ledge. Many chose to portage, but this was one of the cleanest big drops on the run -- good stuff for sure. To top it off, Novak took the chance to run his rapid in an IK.

Novak hits a huge brace in Shaun's boat.

The author, riding the pillow right.

More fun III then Valhalla -- aka The Reagan Years: enter center, keep moving right. This actually looked like the left line was good to go, but nobody wanted to follow my signals.

Bill lines up for the rock move.

Chris squares up for a rock hit.

Shaun remembered rule #1!

Below here the river lost gradient, but every time we thought we were done, we came up on another fun III boulder garden. The McCloud is a fun friendly trip -- good creeking intro or self-support intro. I'm sure we'll be back for the reliable fall flows in this beautiful canyon.

Clear Creek, CA

2005-10-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

Shaun on Clear Creek.

Clear Creek is a tiny little drainage near Whiskeytown, just out of Redding. For logistics on this run, visit Bill Tuthill's run description at California Creekin'. After a long drive to Castle Crags from Seattle, we were up early friday morning and looking forward to trading seat belts for life vests.

We spent a little time scouting the V+ drop mentioned in the above description. I thought it was more a V, but those who had made the run before say it has cleaned up a bit. It's not really a waterfall though. It's a steep shallow little mini gorge with about 5 drops. The fourth drop is the crux with a siphon on the left and wood blocking the right, leaving a center move with a perfectly placed piton rock. Good stuff. We planned to run the drop as a finale to the day, but the 8 miles ended up taking longer than we thought.

Shuttle set, we were on our way. At the putin, Clear Creek is a very narrow brook with dense foliage right down to the waterline. The river quickly entered a 30-foot deep canyon with lots of splashy II+. This typified the run -- long sections of flat or class II water with perhaps four class IV drops.

Soon after entering the canyon, we came upon a family of four of five bears.

Shaun enjoys a little late season sun in California.

Nick runs a typical riffle.

When seal launches go bad. Get right Mike! Right!

Nick in a more lively riffle.

Great canyon scenery.

We eventually got the first significant drop, a neat double ledge that had a manky entrance. Some opted to portage, but I always say "who needs a clean line to commit?" Novak and Fish ran the drop cleanly, Fish three times helping out those opting to portage. I dropped in too, promptly losing my thighstraps going over the first ledge -- sideways. Luckiest brace of the day to ride it out and get back on line. Good clean fun.

Novak finds the ramp.

Fish works the demo boat.

This canyon was fun -- it also had some class III!

Herb handles the III.

Fish checks out the manky ledge from below.

Air brace -- the new air guitar.

Fish enters another canyon section.

The run contained a couple of fun drops, but it was a long day of flatwater. This is not a run to make a trip for, but if you've got a lunch packed and a day to kill in the Redding area, it's a beautiful float trip through some scenic canyon sections.

ELF Boating: Little White Salmon

2005-08-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

David Chatham drops Sprit Falls.

We've done our fair share of ELF boating this year, but now we're takin' it to the next level. In fact, I think Ultra Low Flow more closely approximates the water level we saw on the LWS. Most of the crew had been down several weeks before at 2.7 feet, which is a pretty stout flow for IKs. We guessed this was more like 1.7. I was glad to see the river at low water for the first time down, and this was the perfect opportunity. Our crew: David Chatham, Eric Klein, Steve Munk, Mike Novak, Scott Waidelich, and myself.

We opted for the hike in below Boulder Sluice, and we found the river extremely boney down to Island Drop. It was more hand-walking the boats down the rocks than "paddling" but still lots of fun. Most of the group portaged Island, but Steve and Fish decided to drop in.

Video: Little White Salmon

Fish in the entry move of Island Drop.

Yeah, I blew the video. Here's a shot of Fish's recovery.

Steve in Island Drop.

The author, below Island.

Island Drop provided some good carnage, and we were laughing our way downstream. I found a new respect for the old guard of kayaking who ran this kind of stuff in fiberglass boats the length of our IKs. Trying to negotiate these boulder gardens without hitting rocks is daunting indeed.

The boulder gardens were a hoot. We found a trashed Werner carbon bent shaft, and a swim or two may have occurred, but things were moving right along. We were very excited to see the bedrock start to replace the boulders and looked forward to cleaner drops.

Fish lines up on Sacriledge.

Sacriledge was fun and clean, and we spent a little time exploring the undercut on the left for fun. Soon we were at Double Drop and I think we ran it every which way.

Steve drops over Double Drop backwards.

Novak below Double Drop.

One of the most impressive drops on the LWS was S-Turn. This drop must be pounding at high water. I understand the normal line is far left, but we opted for center to take the right chute below the drop. I had the line I wanted but got surfed a bit too far right and got to run the bottom ledge backwards. Always fun.

Steve at S-Turn.

Novak boofs as Chatham sets his line.

The author, trying to get back left.

Unsuccessful. Penalty? Backwards!

Fish re-enters his boat after manning the camera.

We found a great ender spot, as Chatham demonstrates.

My favorite drop on the run was Wishbone. What a hoot! I loved everything about it ... the leadin, the move off the left wall ... it was just plain fun.

Steve shows the way at Wishbone.

Eric follows suit.

Horseshoe went well, and we loved the canyon scenery. Stove Pipe was just too low, though Fish and Steve ran it previously, I understand. A quick seal launch and we were on our way -- nothing to do now but get ready for the big one.

Spirit Falls. It's probably the IK photo in Bennett's book -- a Thrillseeker, paddled by Jeff himself, over Spirit. Certainly it's one of the most famous falls in the Northwest, and justifiably so. We scouted briefly and then Fish dropped in, and pulled an amazing landing off. He was quickly followed by Eric, who had a great line but a swim. Chatham followed, and that Sotar rocker took it's toll. After serious downtime and a standing somersault under water, he came up grinning, paddle in hand. Novak ran next, up with a roll at the bottom. That left Steve and I, so we rotated the cameras. I went first, floating through the leadin staring at the edge of the world. I just over-rotated, resulting in my turn at a swim. Guess I gotta go back! Steve came last, and somehow came over the lip completely sideways. I've never seen anything like it ... we were getting ropes ready, but somehow, he pulled it off and stayed in his boat. Unbelievable.

Fish drops Spirit Falls.

Note the busted foot peg.

Eric Klein over Spirit.

David's turn.

"My boat's got rocker!"

The author, amazed to still be falling after at least half an hour in the air.

Novak shows his calm demeanour.

"Can I freewheel Spirit?" Steve landing this is the most amazing recovery I've ever seen.

A few of the group opted to run Chaos but most went left. We bombed through the bolder gardens down to Master Blaster, which served up some amazing swims. The move at the bottom at this flow was unexpectedly tough. I remember fighting through the right side entry, working left, only to realize the slot I need is now to my right, and my boat is sideways to the guard rock. I nearly wrapped, pulled off some weird combo of rock brace, hand brace, and hip twist to make the move and ride a tailstand out of the bottom. What a fantastic day!

Thanks to Steve for his excellent photos.

South Fork Salmon

2005-08-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

The South Fork Salmon Canyon.

Ah, low water. Rivers at home are nearly all dry, and little multiday boating is to be had anywhere near Seattle. What to do? Pack up and head for the South Fork Salmon. This run is accessed east of McCall (by way of a very scenic pass) and flows nearly 50 miles before reaching the Main Salmon at Mackay Bar.

Fish and I took five days for the run, and had excellent weather -- and the river to ourselves. After the usual snafus with last minute trips, we launched around noon and enjoyed the upper canyon sections and easy class III rock gardens. We had flows of 1.8 feet.

Video: Short clips from the South Fork.

Fish in the early canyon.

Before long, we found the orange jeep on the right bank, and knew we had reached Devil's Creek. This was a straightforward boulder garden at these flows. The top of the rapid offered a left or right line before a 20-foot ferry to the right to line up for the main drop.

The author in Devil's Creek.

We made camp shortly below the drop, at a nice sandy bench on the right. The next morning, more fun III-IV boulder gardens kept us busy.

Fish boat scouting below camp 1.

SFS Canyon scenary.

Before long, we came to Surprise Drop, which did not seem to contain a surprise at these flows, just a straightforward run down the center.

Surprise Drop.

Shortly below Surprise comes Elk Creek. This was a standout rapid in my opinion -- really a great move. There's a sneak far right against the wall, or a fun move left over a nice ledge.

Elk Creek Rapid from above.

Fish makes the move left.

The author lines up for the bottom ledge.

More great SFS scenary.

Below Elk Creek, we found more great rapids. My favorite was Greyhound, in which we found a very fun move left of center over a great ledge.

Here's Fish makin' the move in Greyhound.

This is a pretty typical boulder garden.

We were now getting down into the Porphyry Creek area. We found many fun class IV rapids in this section.

Fish, near Porphory Creek.

The author in a fun boulder bar drop.

After some great class III-IV drops, the canyon really gets rugged and you just know something big is coming. Get ready for Fall Creek!

This is the wall the indicates Fall Creek. The eyebrow formation Chris Dawkins' maps mentions is circled in white.

Fall Creek is a hell of a drop. The first of three drops offered a great chute along the right wall. The second drop offers a straightforward leadin to a meaty hole. I got my first gearboat swim in on this drop.

The second tier of Fall Creek.

Here's Fish pulling a big brace out the bottom of Fall Creek.

The final drop is a long congested boulder garden. It offers a tricky move riding a pillow to the left of the midstream boulder without getting surfed far left into an undercut. Unfotunately, our camera karma caught up with us at this point and I have no photos for you. I have some video, but can't get it out of the camera at the moment, but I'll update this post once I can get that resolved.

There you have it -- a wonderful week in a fantastic canyon.

Statlu/BC Chehalis

2005-07-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

After our run on the Bridge, we were sitting in camp on the lovely -- and flowing -- Nahatlatch. Slowly, though, the conversation turned to the BC Chehalis, a rain-fed rainy season run an hour north of the border. Sure it had been raining all of the past week. But would it have water? Were we ready to leave a rollicking III-IV run with campsite access for an unknown flow on a run nobody had seen?

Well, of course we were, particularly after the whiskey drinkers realized "breakfast" consisted of left over potato chips and vodka. That, or an hour round trip drive for food. So off we set, only to arrive at the Statlu Creek putin with minimal flows -- at best. But we opted to go for it, and we were richly rewarded with some 20 or more drops once we reached the Chehalis.

Joe boat scouts on Statlu Creek

The Statlu/Chehalis confluence. Statlu comes in from river right.

This is the drop on the Chehalis above the confluence. You can run this drop by opting for the hike-in rather than coming down Statlu.

The Chehalis had plenty of water, a nice healthy medium flow, with big holes, fun slots, and stunning canyon scenery. No rapid was easier than class III; no rapid was harder than class IV, and there was never more than a few hundred yards of pool before the next great drop. The last rapid? Within sight of the takeout.

All agreed our gamble had paid out far higher than anyone expected. The rapids on this run a re mostly straightforward boulder bars, with a few more technical lines and one or two steep, hole-filled headwall drops. Great play abounded, warm beaches were available, and the sun was out. What a great day on a great run.

The biggest rapid on the Chehalis is Landslide, a drop formed, of course, by a landslide. Easily scouted or portaged on the right, the drop offers a big hole on the left of a fun slot right of center.

Video: Landslide

Fish in the lush canyons.

Fish in one of many great playspots.

The Bridge River, BC

2005-07-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

The dramatic canyon scenery of the Bridge River, BC.

After last year's run of the 16 mile Bridge, we deemed it worthy of an annual repeat float. This year, we opted to go a month earlier. We were rewarded with double the flow, and the run was great fun. The majority of the is class III, but there are several great class IV drops and one easy V drop called Hard Hat. At least, the guidebooks claim it's V. It's more IV+, but you get the idea.

The run begins on the Yalokum, the free-flowing major trib of the dammed Bridge proper. The Yalokum offers some great continuous class III creeking from the put in bridge down to the confluence. The continuous water lasts another 1/4 mile, culminating ina fun easy class IV drop.

Joe boat scouts the Yalokum ledges.

After some fun drops, you'll arrive at the Coliseum. The main channel is a very steep boulder jumble. The rapid can be snuck by staying out to the right of the island, but you can scout from the island as well. We ran a fun class III+ route through the top half, then dropped through very narrow, undercut chutes in the IV+ bottom half. Good clean fun.

Below this rapid, you will see the most obvious evidence in the river corridor of the Jade mining history if the region.

You also shortly come to Jade Drop, an excellent class IV rapid that offers three routes through a river-wide boulder fence. An s-turn route on the left is the easiest option, and can be boat scouted from an eddy on the left. The right channel is most straighforward, but offers a tricky lateral wave at the worst possible angle. This year, there was enough water for us to run the excellent center slot, a sweet 4' boof. Watch out, when we saw this route at lower flow, it landed on a rock.

Video: Jade Drop

Joe cleans the middle route in Jade Drop

Below Jade, the Bridge offers lots of splashy class II and III. Somewhere in the next canyon section comes another of the Bridge's classic drops: Crane's Ledges. This was my first really class IV swim the year before, and I was excited to show this trivial little drop my improved brace.

Video: Crane's Ledges

Obviously things didn't work out my way. Guess we're going back next year!

From here down, the Bridge continues through intermittent canyons. There's lots of steep class III to keep things fun, and some longer flatter sections. When the rock walls start to reemerge and conglomerate boulders litter the riverbed, you'll know you're entering the sweet lower third of the run. Here, class III rapids build quickly to IV as you pull into the eddy above Hard Hat.

Nick cleans the left side of Hard Hat.

Joe powers through the top hole on the right side of Hard Had.

The author, working away from the right wall, Hard Hat.

Below Hard Hat, the Bridge continues with great pool-drop III-IV all the way down to the confluence with the Fraser. Though the run has its slow sections, this last finale is an excellent way to wind up the trip.

The confluence with the Fraser.

Jarbidge Bruneau Days 2-4

2005-07-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Bruneau Canyon.

I'm going to wrap up the rest of the trip into this post. We didn't shoot anything on the last day, from Miller Water down. I had hoped for some good Five Mile photos, but, well ... read on.

Shaun is ready to get on it!

We were up and on the water early on day two for the bulk of the whitewater. First up was Wally's Wallow, which had a fun technical entry into a small ledge hole before offering a clean but tricky left drop or a steep sharp corner on the right. We had a collection of entertaining runs here, with only Tony really styling the drop. I had to pull a seat-of-my-pants pivot, Herb got surfed, the raft really got surfed, Shaun pinned in the shallow rocks, and Nick ... well, it was a good thing we had a spare paddle. Take a look:

Video: Wally's Wallow.

Mike and Bill scout Wally's Wallow.

Herb gets a little surfin' in.

Tony drops in to Wally's Wallow.

Here comes Nick, opting for the left drop.

Shaun tries left, but winds up right. Upright and in his boat ... but pinned.

Looking down the right-to-left move in Wally's Wallow.

I'd hoped to get some shots of John's Jollies or the Maze, but on such a short trip, we couldn't stop long enough. The river below Wally's is a very fun collection of class III-IV. At this flow, there was plenty of room, a little wood in play, and many fun moves to make. We stopped briefly at The Maze thinking it might be the falls, but were quickly back in our boats. We ran quickly through the drops before pulling into the eddy above the falls.

And what a falls it is! The middle section, after a long, congested class IV entrance, features a tricky move left of a horn rock to set up for a move left around an undercut boulder. The right slot, a clean-looking ledge from above, splats onto a hellish boulder, and you really do not want to be right. Below this move, you've gotta get back right for more tight slots, undercut rocks, steep drops into big holes, and general class V mayhem.

Jarbidge Falls. Class VI? Not at this flow, but I'm portaging!

We took a lunch break in the shade just above the crux move in the falls. After this nice break, we were ready to make for the WF confluence and enjoy the upper canyons on the Bruneau. But first, we had to clear the final class IV section of Jarbidge Falls, which include a four-foot ledge, the steepest drop we'd seen. Bill and Mike dropped in first in the Puma, and got tossed left against the guard rock of the steep drop. A nice pivot and they were off around the corner. Herb and Tony quickly followed with nice lines.

Bill and Mike find the left guard rock below Jarbidge Falls.

Herb cleans the ledge.

Tony follows with a nice line.

Once the CA Crew was done, I hopped in my boat. It should be said that at this point Nick was seriously ill, and not in good shape. Rather than make the move above the ledge, he opted for the uber-low water left channel, which looked positively evil. I made my run with no problems and caught an eddy with Tony, laughing as we waited for Shaun's run.

The author lines up on the right side entrance as Nick opts for a fatal low water channel.

And here's where it all went to hell. Shaun took the right channel, but opted for the left rather than the right entrance. He couldn't quite make it back right at the lip, and hit the same guard rock the Puma did. Only this time, in the smaller boat, he wrapped instantly. Tony and I ferried to river right and started the quarter-mile scree climb to get to Shaun, who had managed to get from the boat to an adjacent rock. We quickly got a line on the boat, but it was clear we'd need the pin kit. Tony and I soon had a z-drag set up, and got out the spectra bag. Pulled on the bow, but were blocked by a rock. Pulled on the stern, couldn't move the boat. About this time Herb joined us, and the three of us finally managed to get Shaun's boat up off the rock and into the eddy on river right. We gave a rope back to Shaun, and after a daring leap, he was with his boat, safe on shore. Elapsed time: 2 hours.

Where was Nick during all this? Besides periodically disappearing behind the boulders, Nick was on river left with all his gear. He wasn't going anywhere though, as he had blown his right tube in that low water channel. An 8-inch tear, right on the hip. Once Shaun was stable, I took off to get the repair kit -- back in the boat, of course -- then hiked back up to Nick. Herb and Tony decided to go looking for the Puma, as it carried the only pump, while Shaun started drying gear below the drop. I sewed up the rip and had the boat patched in about 30 minutes. Another half hour for safety, then light pressure in the tube and we were off.

It took a true team effort and the right gear to overcome this disaster -- everyone kept their cool, worked together, and communicated effectively. I was proud to be part of a group so able to handle this kind of challenge.

Looking back up at the last drop of Jarbidge Falls. Or, as Nick christened it, "Jarbitch Falls."

We had hoped to camp somewhere between Cave Draw and Clover Creek, depending on time. After the midday fiasco, however, we had to make time to reach Cave Draw by dark. We set a quick pace and covered ground fast.

As we passed under the old jeep trail bridge near Indian Hot Springs, we heard the distinct sound of a motor. Just below, on river left, was a couple in a jeep wrangler, totally bogged down in the mud. Quite glad to see us, their faces fell when we said we'd be getting to town in three days. I hope they got out all right.

The entrance to the Bruneau canyon is truly one of the finest sections of canyon anywhere. It was sad to be rushing it through, and I don't have the shots I'd hoped to share. But I guess that means we just have to go back. The only major rapid in the upper section of the Bruneau is Kendall's Cave, which we recognized from above this time.

Dropping into Kendall's Cave.

Nick in Cave.

Everyone took the line under the wood. Brought back great memories of being under that log in my raft last year.

The late afternoon light was quickly turning to twilight, so the camera got put away and we hauled ass down to Cave Draw. We even ate dinner before dark ... almost. Everyone slept well, anyway. The next morning we were up early and agreed that Miller Water was the logical final camp spot, making for a 21 mile day. That meant we had enough time for a quick reconnoiter of Cave Draw. If you haven't been, I won't spoil the surprise.

I also took a moment to try something new. The waterproof case on my camera was giving me trouble; it didn't want to turn the camera on, making on-river shots difficult. I decided to rig the tripod in the boat itself and set the camera to shoot a picture every minute. This actually worked out great and I wish I'd kept it in place for Five Mile. The rest of the shots in this TR were taken from by this system.

A new photo technique ... the boat cam!

Herb and the crew enjoy the easy water in the heart of the Bruneau canyon.

A great corner above Clover Creek/EF Bruneau.

Do they all look the same? I just love these walls, so here's another one.

Early afternoon shadows in the canyon.

Herb and Shaun are looking forward to lunchtime.

We stopped for lunch at Clover Creek, and had an enjoyable seven mile float down to Miller Water. Not much hiking at this site, but it's a quick sprint to Boneyard in the morning. Five Mile is such a great section of water. Full of tight chutes, steep drops, boulder slaloms, and fun holes. It was a great way to wrap up our trip. Everyone had great runs, though there was a little slop making the left chute in Boneyard. Wild Burro was clean and fun as well. The sad thing about running this stretch so early (we were on the water a little before 7:30) is that the whole canyon is in shadow, so photos would be very challenging regardless.

When we arrived at the takeout, we found a note from our shuttle driver. The boys had had another flat on Nick's truck on the return shuttle. We now had our spare and Tony's spare on the truck with no other spares available. The note assured us that the tires would be fixed and waiting for us at Jumbo's. We were a little skeptical of such a thing on the 4th of July, but drove into town hoping for the best. No such luck, our man was out on the lake with cold beer, and wasn't interested in fixing the tires. It took a few hours, some strange logistics, lots of phone calls, and, of all places, a Wall-Mart in Mountain Home before we were back on the road.

I don't think I've ever been on a single trip where so much went wrong. That nobody was hurt, all but one paddle survived the trip, and group dynamics held up is a testament to everyone on the trip. Thanks for everything guys!

I can't wait to get back next year.

Jarbidge-Bruneau Day 1: Confluence to Cougar Creek

2005-07-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Towering walls in the upper canyon.

The fourth of July: a holiday on which we celebrate our independence. Nick, Shaun and I set out to the desolate desert of southern Idaho to do just that. Meeting up with a great group of California boaters -- Bill, Mike, Tony, and Herb -- we packed light and set off to explore the 70 miles of remote canyon of the Jarbidge-Bruneau river system. We put on with flows of 580 and took off with flows of 490 during a four day trip. We had five IKs and a Puma R2.

Thursday night was gear shakedown for the Washington crew at Bruneau Dunes State Park. A few final D-rings, gear distribution, and a little beer got us in the mood. When Shaun went down 40lbs of gear playing guts, Nick and I knew our trip was going to be great. We were up early, arranging shuttle and sorting out vehicles. At last we were off to the takeout, where we promptly had a flat tire on Nick's truck. Luckily, Tony's rig had a matching spare, so we took it just in case and were off to Murphy Hot Springs.

Confluence of East and West Forks Jarbidge: our putin.

At the putin we sorted a little redundant gear out of loads. We launched around noon. We didn't have to wait long for the canyon walls to rise up and the hoodoos to tower over us.

Herb, Nick, and Tony in the early canyon.

Herb and Tony watch the walls emerge from the hillside.

The CA Crew soaks up the sun.

Nick and Shaun below a typical drop on the first day.

The CA Crew again.

The first several hours of canyon contain mostly class II-III drops and swift corners. There was little wood in this upper stretch, and we made quick time as we soaked up the scenary. Needless to say, these photos do not do justice to the scenic majesty of this remote and pristine canyon.

Herb on a corner.

The CA Crew in the canyon.

Herb basks in the scenary.

Bill and Mike in the R2.

Shaun runs the gnar.

Shaun likes the run so far, I think.

Nick floats in the canyon.

One of many scenic trees in the canyon.

Eventually, the whitewater builds, first with the drop shown below. This section of the canyon is a bit tighter and more constricted, and leads quickly into Sevy Falls.

Nick in the first marked class IV drop. Easy at this flow, but a wicked corner at higher water.

Bill and Mike in the R2.

One of my favorite corners on the Jarbidge.

Nick and Shaun: committed.

Sevy Falls is really a short slide on river right, moving center above a boulder seive/fence. At these flows, the fan rock was a bit too exposed for our comfort, so the IKs portaged while the R2 crew decided to go for it.

Video: Bill and Mike R2 Sevy Falls

Bill and Mike drop into Sevy Falls. The wood was very much in play.

The crew comes through a typical III drop.

We reached camp in the late afternoon. We chose Cougar Creek, and it turned out to be one of the better-established camps on the Jarbidge. A short side hike up the shoulder gave us great views down canyon, but it was clear the hike to the arch would be a tortuous bushwhack through the late summer seeded grasses.

Looking up Cougar Creek from camp.

Downriver from the mouth of Cougar Creek.

Nick unpacks in the sheltering shade of the junipers, Cougar Creek camp.

We went to bed wondering what to expect in the morning, when we would face Wally's Wallow, John's Jollies, The Maze, and Jarbidge Falls. I, for one, couldn't wait.

Cooper Creekin'

2005-06-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

Mike Hoover gears up at the base of Cooper Falls.

The Cooper "River" is a great creek run in the Cle Elum drainage northeast of Ellensburg, WA. This short run packs an incredible array of ledges and slides into a spectacular granite gorge with some nice boulder gardens for variety. This run is available at minimal flow at times you'd never suspect -- in fact, a friend ran it for the first time New Year's Day 2005.

We had pretty low flows this weekend, but still found clean lines and classic moves in this canyon. There is a bit of wood, but we had no portages and Norm's Resort was clean.

The trip begins with a short hike down to the base of Cooper Falls. It's always fun to look for the line on this one. It's there, really. I'll point it out to you and setup video ...

Steve, approaching the first horizon line.

The run starts off with a very manageable first 100 feet. Then the first horizon line appears, a fun slide usually run right. There's also a piton rock right, so choose your line carefully.

David runs the first drop.

Shortly below this slide is a fun ledge, better run left.

David runs the second ledge.

Shaun above Norm's Resort.

This ledge leads quickly into Norm's Resort a signature Cooper drop. At these flows, the hole wasn't meaty, but you could see how thumping it could get with more volume. This is simply fantastic canyon scenery as well with steep walls and weathered trees.

Fish touring Norm's Resort.

It's just not a day on the water if David doesn't pin. Just below Norm's.

Now, I hate to tease David, but seriously ... how do you complete bury a boat in 100 cfs?

Shaun braces for his life in an early drop.

Below Norm's Resort there are some logs suspended over a class III boulder garden, which is your landmark for the most technical ledge drop on the Cooper. This ledge is best run right, 3 feet off the right wall.

Brian

Steve

David braces for his life on a classic Cooper ledge.

Shaun follows suit with a fantastic save.

This is where my memory gets a bit fuzzy, so these drops may be out of order. Here's my best guess at ordering the rest of the drops. There's just a great collection of ledges on this run. We ran three or four laps, so I've tried to get a shot of each of the major drops and keep them in order, but may not have succeeded.

This ledge is shallow on the right, run center but moving right to avoid the rock pile.

Fish ledge dropping.

Shaun loves ELF creekin!

This ledge ... well, I don't even remember it. Looks a lot more fun than what I'm doing right now though!

Steve cleans it up.

Shaun still loves ELF creekin.

The author runs another classic ledge

Shaun drops the same ledge.

Fish ledge hopping.

Somewhere in this lower section is a short flat stretch of beautiful canyon, with a tiny surf wave at low flow.

Fish attempts the standing side surf. Predictable results.

In this section, there's a fast straightforward drop that ends in a sticky hole. Look for a low angle slanting bedrock slab on the right, and punch the hole right. It get stickier the farther left you go.

Fish busts through the stickiest hole on the run.

Shaun braces through a tailstand on the same hole.

Just below this sticky hole, I seem to remember, comes Shark's Tooth, the signature boulder garden on this run. A technical entry on the right leads to a great s-turn move in a steep, congested boulder field, with drop ending in perhaps the narrowest canyon on the run.

Fish in Shark's Tooth.

Somewhere in here is a the biggest slide on the Cooper. This is best run left, but some more creative lines can be found to the right.

Fish, boat scouting on the Cooper.

Steve lines up for the slide.

David, committed to the gnar.

Shaun styles the slide.

When you see an L-shaped ledge, you know you're getting close to the end of the run. We found a line running right to left, but at higher water, far left may well work. This is the last ledge above Wall of Voodoo.

The author runs the final ledge.

Below this ledge comes Wall of Voodoo, another signature Cooper drop. Good eddies exist at the top, after some III boogie. Here, the river pours off a bedrock dome, offering a left side line into a backed up hole with some pin rocks, or a right side slide that takes you quickly towards an overhanding rock. We opted for right, but ... not everyone made the entry. Hilarity ensued.

First up: Shaun. Looking good in the entry, but pulled too far left.

Next comes David, with similar results.

I took my turn exploring the left line ...

... but made the line the next lap.

Fish doesn't know what the big deal is ... just go right, sucka!

We loved running laps on this gem. We took out below Wall of Voodoo to avoid some mank leading to the lower takeout. This made for fast shuttle and was less than 3 minutes from our river-side campsite. What more can you ask for?

Green Truss

2005-06-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

Fish celebrates after dropping Big Brother.

On Saturday, a motley crew assembled for a run on the Green Truss. Crew: Steve, David, Mark, Fish, Novak, Joe, and Sean.

Flows on the Husum gauge were at 1.88' Boney up top, but still a good flow.

Fish in one of the warm up drops.

We lost Sean early when he tweaked a shoulder rolling. We pulled out for a quick look at Bob's Falls before lining up for the drop.

Video: Bob's Falls

Mark Yauney nails the line at Bob's Falls.

The drop just below Bob's is a clean ledge. It's on of my favorite combinations on the run.

Steve gets a tailstand below Bob's.

Fish in the same ledge.

Ah, Big Brother. It's a benchmark for Northwest paddlers, no doubt about it. Thsi was a very friendly flow, and several opted to run the falls. Of the four IKs who attempted the drop, all four landed cleanly, and only one ended up in the cave.

Video: Big Brother

David, Fish, Steve, and Mark drop Big Brother. Mark and Scott showcase the rock brace technique.

Everyone had clean runs at Little Brother ... well, almost everyone.

Video: Little Brother

Steve works on his sidesurfing technique.

The drops below Little Brother went quickly, and we pulled out to look at Double Drop. Gotta say I like this one with a bit more water.

Video: Double Drop

David, Steve, Fish, and Mark in Double Drop.

I think the Truss has been well enough described elsewhere ... so I'll just give you the photos for the rest of the run. Everything went well, with minimal carnage in the Zig Zags. There were also some good lines set at BZ Falls, and everyone enjoyed a great day on this scenic and entertaining run.

Fish in Cheesegrater.

Video: Zig Zag Canyon

The author and David in Upper Zig Zag.

Fish in Lower Zig Zag.

Video: The Flume

Steve and Mark in The Flume.

Video: BZ Falls

Steve, Mark and Fish in BZ Falls.

Ohanapecosh

2005-06-04T23:44:00.000-07:00

The crew, enjoying pristine class V canyon.

I first scouted the Ohanapecosh at a low September flow, hiking the moss covered rock above the polished bedrock and boulders of the steep drops just upstream of the secret campground. It looked tough, and I wondered what might lie upstream. I've wondered every time I've made the drive on 123, a drive I'll take any time I can find an excuse.

Finally the time had come. David Chatham, Mike Hoover, Steve Munk, Mike Novak, Scott Waidelich, and Chris Wilson formed the group for my first run on this spectacular creek. Thanks to Chris Wilson, who graciously showed us the lines and led an all-around excellent trip.

At the putin, the usual collection of family campers watched us seal launch and paddle slowly into the canyon below the campround. A quick scout of the first horizon line showed a clean drop on the left, sliding across a bedrock flake into the pool below. This upper section contained one class II drop with a riverwide log at the bottom, and several shallow class II-III boulder gardens.

Video: Putin to Secret Campground (5 minutes; 30MB)

Putin beta, courtesy of the Park Service. Clear water means it's boat-scoutable, right?

David and Fish scout the first horizon line.

The first drop.

Chris Wilson shows the way.

Steve drops in on the Ohanapecosh.

Typical of the upper rapids. David and Fish free a pinned boat.

At the first big riverwide logjam, we pulled into an eddy on the right and got out to portage the first major drop. The pin factor bothered the IKs less than the narrow slot on the left, and a tricky entrace hydraulic.

The first big drop, typically portaged on the right.

Below the portage, an excellent double-drop boulder garden got the action started with a bang. Below this rapid, the boulder gardens come quickly, and in ever-different configurations.

Below the recommended portage, Fish and Steve show off synchronized kayaking.

David boofs the ledge Fish is running above.

Steve picks a line through a typical boulder garden.

Mike Hoover watches Mike Novak clean a drop.

Mike Novak enjoys the action.

David practices his brace.

"Paddle! PADDLE!!"

Steve in a clean drop.

Fish boofs above the chute on the right.

Below this pourover, the river pools on the left before being forced right into a chute against the right canyon wall. The drop seemed to mark a short section of narrow canyon, perhaps the tightest canyon on the Ohanapecosh.

Fish runs the headwall chute, one of the most distinctive drops in the upper section.

Fish soaks up the canyon scenary.

In the narrow canyon below the headwall drop there is one distinctive drop formed by a massive log wedged across the river. The resulting pourover can be run left-moving-right.

One of several drops on the Ohanapecosh formed by wood.

Chris Wilson runs the log drop.

Steve in the lush canyons of the Ohanapecosh.

The next significant drop is a great slide along river left, with a beautiful bedrock shelf forming the left bank. The slide marks your arrival at Secret Campground.

Video: Secret Campground section (7 minutes; 35MB)

Fish drops the slide.

The author in the slide.

The next drop is a boulder jumble we ran far left into an eddy, then moving back center, then left again into a large eddy.

Novak emulates David in the boulder jumble.

After a nice boof move on the right, the river drops through a tricky slot where most of the flow is backed up by a boulder fence. Several of us portaged this drop, but Steve, David, and Fish opted to run.

Steve lines up for his move.

David powers through a tricky hydraulic.

After a short section of shallow class II, the rapids quickly start up again.

Fish below a narrow, steep drop near Secret Campground.

Steve runs a fun ledge. The slide on the left is also good to go.

Fish strides the same drop.

After this clean ledge, you'll be leaving the secret campground. The rapids keep going, with the next drop being a tricky rail slide along a log. Run it right.

Steve cleans the log drop.

Below here, many fun class IV boulder gardens keep the pace moving.

David takes a break in a lovely part of the canyon.

The next major drop is a long three-tiered drop. The first drop is a rock-filled diagonal ledge with a tricky, narrow slot waiting just below. After this drop, the river pools briefly before dropping away again, this time with a fun pourover on the left and a great IV runout.

Fish cleans the entry ledge.

Novak gets ready to drop in as Chris watches from the scouting rock.

Steve hits the boof over the pourover.

Below this drop there are many fun boulder gardens and slots to keep you busy. After a half-hour, you'll see Summit Creek coming in from the left. This marks a class IV drop that leads into a riverwide ledge with an ugly pocket on the left. Run it off the flake 10 feet off the right bank. I like the flake to his right.

Video: Below Secret Campground (5 minutes; 24MB)

Fish boofs the ledge below Summit Creek.

This ledge means it's now time for Elbow Room. After a drop run along the right wall, work left into the eddy at the upstream end of a bedrock bench.

The lead-in to Elbow Room.

The table rock that forms the heinous sieve in Elbow Room.

The portage trail.

After the ordeal is over and you are below Elbow Room, you'll find a fun shallow angle bedrock slide. The next drop is the meaty lead-in to the big falls. Scout on the right.

The waterfall and leadin drop.

Now, everyone seems to have a story about somebody getting worked in that entry hole. Well, I didn't get worked, but it did eat me alive, dumping me for failing to stay far enough right. My boat dropped the falls upside down and I swam the left side of the drop. It was actually pretty friendly, I balled up, went deep, pushed off the bottom, and popped up on the other side of the boil. This is not recommended technique, however.

The author, too far left on the entrance drop.

The author, getting his swim on.

Fish shows a better line.

Below the falls, one major drop remains. This is signature the drop on the Ohane, featured so often in trip reports and guidebooks. After a tricky left or center entrance, a huge boulder forces you right, against the canyon wall. Just below, a nasty sieved-out mess suggests a strong move back left over a steep drop with a big hole. The bedrock wall is amazing here, and it's fun to look up at the wall and see exactly where all the rock in the riverbed came from.

David in the final big drop; Chris filming.

To wrap up a carnage filled day, David wraps a boat.

Below this drop, there are a few fun class III-IV boulder gardens. One has an obvious line against the right wall -- beware of wood in that channel. It will move with high water, but I think it's with us for the summer.

When you see the rope swing, then the Clear Fork Cowlitz, you've made it to La Wis Wis.

Selway Day 3: Wolf Creek to Selway Falls

2005-05-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

Wolf Creek bathed in morning light.

See also:
Selway, Day 1
Selway, Day 2
Selway, Day 3

Sunday morning, our last on the Selway. I hate takeout days. The abrupt change from peaceful river corridor to freeway traffic is always jarring and unpleasant. On this morning though, thoughts of work, cars, email, and all the trip reports I should have posted but haven't yet written were far from my mind. The roar of Wolf Creek had been with us all night, and after watching the moose swim it, I couldn't wait to charge the big waves myself.

Photos from the third day are available in the gallery.

We had again made it out of camp by 9 am, and as I paddled across the calm pool above Wolf Creek on my way to set up for pictures, I couldn't help but be amazed at the beauty of the Selway in morning light. How lucky we are to have made this trip. Once established at the lip of the drop, I signaled the crew to launch.

Hans shows the way at Wolf Creek.

Bill squares up for Wolf Creek.

Chuck in Wolf Creek.

Scott cleans Wolf Creek.

Below Wolf Creek, we enjoyed great canyon scenery as we floated towards Tee-Kem Falls. Tee-Kem Falls is the final class IV drop on the Selway, and is a straightforward, wave-filled rapid best run off the right wall at this flow (3 feet). We pulled over briefly for this drop, primarily to get set up for photos.

Chuck stays off the wall in Tee-Kem Falls.

Scott runs the gnar, Tee-Kem Falls.

Bill in Tee-Kem Falls.

Hans drops into Tee-Kem Falls.

Below Tee-Kem Falls the Selway continues to slowly loose steam. There were a couple of great class II drops to be run, such as Renshaw, and these drops had some of the best waves of the trip. I think Scott said it best, after one great wave train: "I haven't had this much fun on class II in years!"

The author in Renshaw.

In the above wave, I didn't hit it quite hard enough, and got quite a ride. The wave refused to let me through, and surfed me backwards back down into the trough. I'd come out of my upstream thighstrap, but managed to keep it together and get out the right side of the trough. This photo was take while back surfing the wave.

Scott gets his shuttle beer ready while cooling off below Renshaw.

We arrived at the Selway Falls takeout around 11:15, and got packed in just under an hour. A quick bath in the river made us all reflect on the courage of all those who ran this river before the drysuit era. We would carry our memories of this wild river canyon, its pristine pools and vibrant wildlife fondly, looking always for our next chance to return.

On the road at last, we stopped for the obligatory scout of Selway Falls. Scott and I thought the upper section looked like something right out of Tumwater Canyon on the Wenatchee, but we both agreed we'd never seen anything quite like that hole at the bottom right.

Selway Falls.

Scott points out the sneak route, Selway Falls.

Scott, Chuck, and the author above the big hole in Selway Falls.

Selway Day 2: Rattlesnake Bar to Wolf Creek

2005-05-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

Ladle at just over 3 feet at Paradise. [click for larger view - 5.6 MB jpeg]

Selway, Day 1
Selway, Day 2
Selway, Day 3

Saturday dawned to a cold drizzle and a few more inches of water for the Moose Juice section we were soon to face. As we ate breakfast and packed gear, conversations turned to the big drops ahead. Where would we scout? What were the general lines? How much of the rain had found its way into Moose Creek?

Photos from the second day are available in the gallery.

We got on the water around 9:00 without a hurried pace in camp, and shortly came to Ham after only two more false sightings. We ran left, with one right side run. It was a good warm-up for the juice, and neat to see the rapid in person. As I'm sure is quite common, I was left wondering just how low those pictures from Garren were!

We made short work of the numerous class II drops above Moose Creek. Moose itself had water, but wasn't big. It didn't look like 50% of the flow above the confluence to me, but it did change the feel of the river -- immediately. After a friendly chat with kayakers camped on river left below the bridge, we drifted down towards Double Drop. Hans was leading, and looked over his shoulder to tell me he normally didn't recognize the drop until he was in it. I responded by staying right.

After a few minutes of floating, Hans turned back toward me with his eyes wide-open, nodding vigorously: we had arrived. After passing the message on, I checked my thighstraps, prepared for a major swim, and committed to the rapid. The first wave was huge. I hit it hard with a little left angle, and it surfed me left just a little before I punched through it. The move had bought me enough room to clear the rapid, and I quickly caught an eddy to watch the rest of the runs.

Scott dropped in behind me, but the first wave surfed him right instead of left -- so hard, in fact, that he turned and pulled for the surging pocket eddy on the right, just above the monstrous hole against the right wall. Scott quickly assessed the situation, charged to the top of the eddy, and deftly let the current swing the heavy end of his boat past the hole, clipping the left side of it as he rode the remaining waves into the pool below.

Thrilled with this first taste of the juice, we quickly went in search of Ladle, which was to be our first scout. Due to poor lighting and intermittent rain, we didn't stop for pictures until Ladle. After a quick stop above Wa-Poots we arrived in the pool above Ladle and hit the scouting trail. At flows of just over three feet many routes were available. The right was the obvious line, but several diagonal routes were present, and in the IK, the move left looked like an interesting challenge. In the end, we all ended up running right.

Hans runs Ladle.

Chuck drops into Ladle.

Bill cleans his run in Ladle.

The author IKs Ladle.

Scott runs Ladle.

Below Ladle we quickly dropped through Little Niagara, Puzzle Creek, and No Slouch, boat-scouting all the way. Talking about these rapids later was pretty funny. "Which drop was Little Niagara?" I'd ask. Someone would answer with a description: "It had that big table rock in the center, and remnants of a high water logjam." All I could remember was a pool, then a wave, then exploding white piles that launched my kayak airborne as I frantically dodged holes 30 feet wide.

No Slouch came up so quickly that we barely had time to get our spacing together. I dropped in too close to Hans' cat and, worried about crowding him, I tried to slow down. This quickly led to the first huge wave -- for which I was backward. I managed a quick brace, a quicker pivot, and just had time to take a stroke before the next wave hit. I fought up the face only to be dumped at the top. Climbing back in quickly, I saw I was headed into a hole. I had time only to throw my weight downstream as hard as I could. I broke through the pile, but was dumped unceremoniously in the runout. Glad not to be getting worked in the hole, I looked up just in time to see Chuck enter the rapid.

No Slouch has a fairly straightforward line, moving right then left to avoid large hydraulics. Chuck figured why zig and zag when you can punch the hole? Well, the hole had its own plans, which including giving Chuck's drysuit a thorough rinsing. After he had regained his seat and cleaned the rest of the drop, we continued downriver looking for Miranda Jane, which provided a fun ride to round out the Moose Juice section. I took my third swim of the day in the boils below the final hole. Crossing the "eddy line" (also known as the "move of death") I was promptly leaning, bracing, and generally fighting to stay upright. Thinking I had achieved stability -- HA! -- I had just long enough to enjoy the huge tailstand I was riding before again being dumped out of my IK. I wasn't letting go of that boat till I was out of the boils, which were the most interesting swim of the trip, and provided the smallest hint of the power of the Selway canyon at higher water.

Thrilled to be on the Selway, and even more thrilled to have survived the Juice, we floated down past Tango Bar and camped just above Wolf Creek, completing over 20 miles of river in just over four hours of river time. One scout, a few minor swims, and to complete the best Saturday of the year, the rain clouds departed leaving us with a lightly cloudy but very warm afternoon to dry our gear and enjoy the views of Wolf Creek rapid.

Wolf Creek at just over 3 feet at Paradise. [click for larger view - 14.8 MB jpeg]

Scott and the author above Wolf Creek.

After lunch, we hiked up to the trail to watch two parties run the drop. One cat and several kayaks made the run, all running the right tongue charging left; the cat opted for the left side entrance, which was an easy run threading some medium sized holes. For some reason, several of these guys missed the great clean wave in the runout of the rapid.

A member of another party, floating through the canyon below Wolf Creek.

As were enjoying the evening in camp, we had a local show up on the opposite bank, obviously displeased to find us in the way. After walking up and down the beach, she at last decided to swim across -- just above Wolf Creek Rapids. She didn't make the ferry though, and was forced to swim the rapid. She made the same line the big boats were taking, kept her nose above water the whole time, and climbed out in the pool below, shaken but intact. It was quit a feat, and put the pressure squarely on us. If she could swim it, we had no excuses for a blown line!

Our moose friend joins the elite Selway Swim Club. Taken shortly before she dropped into the rapid.

We spent a great afternoon in a great camp, enjoyed a fire, and retired to our tents and to our dreams of tomorrow's canyon and its mysteries.

Selway Day 1: Paradise to Rattlesnake Bar

2005-05-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

Hans Chambers, floating the Selway canyon below Paradise.

Selway, Day 1
Selway, Day 2
Selway, Day 3

The Selway River. The name carries so much imagery -- a remote 1,239,840-acre wilderness teeming with wildlife, and yes, some of the most respected whitewater in our region. I'd grown up hearing the stories of Double Drop at five feet, Goat Creek and No Slouch swims, rafts lost in eddy fences, and factory d-rings blown trying to catch scouting eddies. I've always wanted a chance to see this river for myself. Thanks to Hans Chambers, Bill Gibson, Chuck Morgan, and Scott Waidelich, I got my chance.

Photos from the first day are available in the gallery.

Trapper Peak, at 10,157 feet, is the high point of the Bitterroot Mountains.

After the day-long drive to Darby, MT, I found myself sorting gear in a run-down half-star motel with cinder block walls and water that had only one temperature: scalding. The luxury suite at a five star hotel wouldn't have given me a better night's sleep -- all I could think about was the big water of the Selway, the ominous storm clouds on the horizon, and my suddenly tiny-looking IK. It had been months since I'd been on more than 1500 cfs, and never had I run something with the combined volume and gradient of the Selway. Was I crazy to try this in my IK? How many swims would I have? How many holes would be chewing me up and spitting me out? Sure, we knew from our shuttle driver Don that we had three feet on the gauge for the putin -- but what would we have when it mattered down at Moose Creek? It was a long night -- after years of yearning, I was on the eve of a Selway launch.

Selway area map.

3 feet exactly on the gauge. Thanks Don!

Paradise on the Selway.

Friday morning finally arrived, and we were off to Nez Perce pass, all 6,598 feet of it. There was some snow on the roads, but little on even the tallest visible peaks. By the time we arrived at Paradise -- and what a fitting name for the Selway launch -- the sun was shining and we rigged in short sleeves. We beat the other groups on the water, and enjoyed a lovely float through dense fir forest and splashy easy class I and II riffles.

What's around that corner?

Hans on the water.

The Selway drops gently below Paradise.

Scott working on his kit.

The canyon walls starts to break out.

Chuck enters Slalom Slide>.

A beautiful headwall marks Cougar Bluff rapid.

We stopped for lunch near an incredible rock wall. Some gear adjustments were made and we set off again, only moments ahead of the weather. We were soon facing pounding rain and even a little hail. When the lightning started, we pulled to shore. While we were discussing whether to continue downriver, lighting struck the rock outcropping atop the hill behind our bench. When thunder followed immediately, we quickly returned to our boats and the relative safety of the river, hoping to put some space between us and the storm.

The only rapid in this section that stood out was Goat Creek. Garren writes of imagining the rapid at high water, and indeed, Hans' stories of the holes and push of this first significant drop at high water had my attention. I think it may be the most constricted of the major drops on the Selway.

Bill enjoys the canyon.

Fish in the runout from Goat Creek.

We finally reached camp at Rattlesnake Bar, after a half hour of our favorite game "Is this Ham?" We got a nicely tarped kitchen established and enjoyed a quiet evening in the canyon, thoughts turning to the challenges soon to come. The hard rain slowly turned to intermittent drizzle which continued all night.

China Gorge of the Cle Elum

2005-05-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

The Cle Elum in China Gorge.

Sunday broke wide open with a warm, sunny morning after days of clouds. As I rolled north towards North Bend from Kanaskat Palmer State Park and the remnants of the party following the Green River Cleanup, fog obscured the Cascades until suddenly I was above the fog, and the sun shone the rest of the day.

Nick, Shaun, Bryon and I met in North Bend for breakfast before the drive out the Roslyn. We spent an hour or so hunting for S-Turn so we could see what we were dealing with wood-wise, but never found the drop from the road or side trails. Given the only guy who had done the run had bailed and we had a torn neck gasket on a drysuit, we opted to run just the China Gorge section of the Cle Elum. Although the run from Triple Drop to Salmon La Sac is commonly called 'China Gorge' China Gorge proper is the canyon below the Waptus Confluence and at the base of China Point to the north of the river.

Photos from the trip are available in gallery 1 and gallery 2.

Triple Drop on the Cle Elum.

We launched from the Davis Peak Trail and enjoyed some class III boogie water down to the Waptus Confluence. The hole was one of the biggest I have ever seen on this low a flow. Water was recircing back up from 15 feet below the hole. The right side sneak wasn't there so we rode a small flushing seam on the left for a clean run.

Shaun runs the drop above the Waptus confluence.

Nick sneaks far left to avoid a massive hole.

Shaun doesn't think the hole is that big. Why not run it sideways?

Below the Waptus confluence, the Cle Elum flows through a magnificent gorge. We found many enjoyable drops in the III-IV range. Everything was free of significant wood, and most everything can be boat scouted.

Shaun enjoys the canyon scenery.

The notable exception is 10-foot China Falls. Perhaps we were just seeing very low water, but the descriptions out there on AW, Rackley's site, and Cascade Classics do not do justice to this ledge. It's a broken ledge, with a furiously surging undercut on the left, below a nasty looking fold we couldn't see. The right side sneak was completely de-watered. The entrance to the ride side involved a class V move that had a 10% chance of success before dropping squarely onto a submerged rock throwing plumes of water 6 feet in the air. The decision to portage was unanimous and quickly made.

China Falls from the river right portage trail.

Below China Falls, we found more excellent III-IV pool drop actions. There were some bog holes, but the lines were friendly and eddies plentiful. The sun continued to highlight the excellent canyon walls and incredible water color in the deep pools between drops.

Shaun lines up on a typical drop.

Bryon, loving the sun.

Shaun leans into a brace.

Nick goes hole-bashing.

Nick in a typical drop.

There was one drop that might have been a true class IV drop. A couple big holes, some exposed fang rocks, and an undercut headwall make this a memorable drop with a fun line threading the rocks and holes.

Bryon lines up then makes the move in the biggest drop.

Shaun lines up and makes the move.

Nick in the same drop

Nick throws his weight around on a small ledge hole.

Shaun in the stunning canyon.

Shaun lines up for one of the last drops.

The final rapid above the takeout is a class III hole-bashing fest that ends in river-wide ledge hole. I'm really curious to see how this one changes with high water!

Nick and Shaun punch the ledge hole in the last big drop.

We all agreed this was a much better run than any given mile of river has any right to be and look forward to getting back in and adding the upper gorge to this run just as soon as we can.

After the takeout and shuttle, we opted to get a visual on the Cooper, so we headed up to Wall of Voodoo to take a look at flows.

Wall of Voodoo on the Cooper at a healthy flow.

The pool below Wall of Voodoo. What a lovely river.

Copper Creek

2005-04-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Another workday -- and another lap on Copper Creek. What can I say, it's a great run. We had 830 cfs on the EF Lewis, but Copper wasn't as low as I had feared. The crew for the day: David, Nick, Shaun, Steve and I. It was Shaun's first lap, and Nick's first attempt at the big drops on this run. Weather was nice, pace was mellow, and all had a great time -- even our carnage donors!

Photos are available in the gallery. (coming soon)

Video coming soon -- enjoy the pics!

David runs the seam in the 8-foot drop of Triple Delight.

Nick dissapears into the foam.

That's me, trying the line that worked last time. It works better when there is enough water to get over the ledge!

Low water -- the fold is the only line.

Steve runs the drop with customary aplomb.

The author lining up for the final 18-foot drop.

Nick lands the 18-foot drop. We ran this drop far left this time, which worked great and offered an amazing auto-boof move.

Steve in Piton.

Shaun in Piton.

David at the top of the Flume.

Steve melts through the top hole.

Nick drops in.

Steve cleans the 7-foot sliding ledge that opens Final Five Canyon.

Steve in the 7-foot punchbowl.

Steve lines up for the headwall deceleration test.

Steve drops the bottom two ledges in Final Five Canyon.

David plows into the headwall.

David completes his run of Final Five.

David runs Shaun's Lynx through Final Five.

The author boofs the opening ledge.

The author drops over the punchbowl falls.

The author drops in.

The author, bracing for dear life!

Nick lands the punchbowl.

Nick enters the headwall drop.

Nick finishes his personal first descent of Final Five.

ELF Boating: Fall in the Wall

2005-04-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Looking upriver from Island Drop

Our low water mis-adventures continue! This month's installment: Fall in the Wall on the upper South Fork Snoqualmie.

Steve Munk, Joe Sauve and I decided the time had finally come to hit Fall in the Wall. We'd talked about it many times, but road conditions, flows, and logistics had never worked out right. Now most of the regular crew was headed down south to Copper and Canyon Creeks, and we just couldn't bring ourselves to travel that far for the fourth time in ten days.

Photos are available in the Gallery.

When we reached the putin, there was a solid 8 inches of snow on the ground. Flow? Under 100 CFS. Probably closer to 50. Hard to say, cause I ain't never run something so low. Steve was pumped to hit Fall in the Wall itself, while Joe and I put in at Limbo Log.

Video: Fall in the Wall

Steve drops Fall in the Wall.

Video: Joe's seal launch

Joe runs left at Limbo Log. Note the pin spot on the right.

Shortly below Limbo Log came the first of many very narrow slots. Here, Joe gets up on two wheels to slide through.

Joe hits a narrow slot.

Next up, after a short entry ledge, comes the Fearsome Foursome. Why it isn't the Fearsome Fivesome I don't know, but I guess the first ledge isn't scary enough. Collectively, these five ledges are a hoot! There were no big hydraulics today, but there was enough water to scrape and slide down. We can't wait to see this one at higher water!

Video: Above Fearsome Foursome
Fearsome Foursome 1
Fearsome Foursome 2
Fearsome Foursome 3
Fearsome Foursome 4

Joe lines up on a slide, Fearsome Foursome.

Steve nails the final drop of the Fearsome Foursome.

The author in the final drop of the Fearsome Foursome.

Shortly below the Fearsome Foursome is a trashy little boulder garden that had us out of boats dragging over the shallows. We shortly arrived at Island Drop. This drop offers up to four routes. From river left to right, channel 1 had wood, 2 was clear, 3 had wood, and 4 needed more water.

Video: Island Drop

Below Island Drop come three fun drops: Fisherman's (a fun double drop), an unnamed drop in a sharp bend to the left, and the Green Room (a steep slide into a hole). All were clean and needed more water, but were plenty of fun.

Video: Fisherman's

Steve runs the bottom half of Fisherman's.

Video: Below Fisherman's

Video: Green Room

Steve lines up for the Green Room.

Joe prepares to check into the Green Room.

Shortly below the Green Room, Joe and I took out and headed downriver to setup for Steve's run at Rootball. There's some new wood overhanging the main drop, but at these flows there was no trouble.

Video: Rootball

Steve nails his line at Rootball.

We thought we were done for the day, but Steve was eyeing the next horizon line. "Looks like it goes," he said. So we setup. Unfortunately light was no good for stills, but here's some vid captures and the clip.

Video: The Big Slide [hi-res]

Steve nails the big slide below Rootball.

Copper Creek

2005-04-05T23:05:00.000-07:00

The author waiting for the go-signal, partway through Final Five Canyon.

Tuesday found us headed south -- again. This time Nick, Steve, and I were headed out to Copper Creek, a fantastic creek the joins the EF Lewis above Horseshoe Falls.

Photos are in the gallery and a second gallery.

On the way to the takeout, we encountered a photographer setting up on the falls on Yacolt Creek, visible where you take a right on Sunset Falls Rd. to get to the Copper Creek or Falls Run access points. We stopped to chat and found out the group was there to shoot an ad for Xerox -- but no one was running the falls. Instead, they had brand new -- still with tags! -- gear in the grass overlooking the falls. Steve quickly decided to run it, so we suited up and went back to tell the photographer.

Video: Steve on Yacolt Creek

Steve drops a 20-footer on Yacolt Creek.

After this little side adventure, we took off for the takeout. Steve and I had run Copper Creek late in 2004, so I took the lead after we scouted Certain Death. Flows were roughly 1120 on the EF Lewis gauge, about 10% higher than our previous trip. This really cleaned up the top section, and didn't make the big drops too pushy.

Nick hoots after successfully running the warm-up drop.

Steve works on his new move. Still needs a little work.

Steve in one of the early small drops.

We made good time on the class III drops until we approached the horizon line at Triple Delight. Steve ran first, following the same line I swam on our first lap. After watching his run, I decided to enter from an eddy on river right, moving hard left to try and catch the flake to the left of the crease, rather than go down the crease as we had previously done. There was a big boil that feeds right into the fold, but I was able make the move and stay left.

Video: Triple Delight

A sequence from Steve and my runs over the 2-foot and 8-foot ledges and Steve and Nick on the final 18-foot drop at Triple Delight.

Just below Triple Delight comes a fun ledge. Eddy on the right, and scout right and low-medium flows. Run down the right, or diagonally right-to-left.

The author runs the ledge drop below Triple Delight.

Steve and Nick run the ledge.

The next significant drop is a flume-like drop, with a large pool on the left above it and easy scouting on the left at these flows. It's straightforward, clean, and fun.

Nick and Steve clean the flume drop.

Below the flume drop comes more fun class III-IV drops, including some small ledges.

Steve lines up on a small drop.

Next up: Final Five Canyon. This rapid is unique, scenic, challenging, and damn fun.

We moved as quickly as possible here to minimize our time on the right bank, which is private property. Steve ran first, cleaning the first three drops, then Nick and I went below to get setup for his run on the lower drops. After Steve ran, I headed up for my boat and a run through one of my all-time favorite rapids.

Video: Final Five Canyon

Steve runs Final Five Canyon.

The author rides a tailstand through the second drop in Final Five Canyon.

The author cleans the final two drops in Final Five (vid caps).

Below Final Five Canyon Copper Creek joins the East Fork of the Lewis. We bombed down to Horseshoe falls in no time.

Video: Horseshoe Falls

Steve scouts the left line at Horseshoe Falls.

Good to go! Steve melts down the left side.

Nick drops Horseshoe.

The Raging

2005-03-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

David parks on rock while Nick surfs below Cheesegrater.

It's official. Daylight savings is the finest holiday of the year. No obligatory shopping, no hordes of traffic leaving town, and a whole new lease on after work boating. Nick, Shaun, David, Joe and I met for a quick lap on the Raging -- my second pre-daylight savings run after work this year. Each one is like a little gift from the river gods.

The Raging is a great little class III run at the flows we had -- roughly 350 cfs. The run loses a bit of punch and avoiding wood is a bit easier than at the higher flows of 700 we'd enjoyed Sunday.

To liven up the class II+ lower section, Nick and I played a little WWF boating, trying to push each other sideways into holes, rocks, the bank, and other treacherous river features. Nick quickly realized I was unbeatable, and hung back, fearing for his life.

Photos are available in the gallery.

David just below the putin.

Shaun tries out an old-style AIRE Lynx I.

Nick boat scouts the gnar.

David checks out a narrow channel.

David in the entry to Cheesegrater.

Nick runs the right channel, Cheesegrater.

Shaun follows the line.

Joe opts for the left side run at Cheesegrater.

Joe gets in some surfing in the lower section of Cheesegrater.

Joe makes the move around a new log in the big logjam below Cheesegrater.

Nick and Joe below the logjam.

David runs the gnar.

Joe, Nick, and Shaun playing after work.

Oh shit! Who brought their pin kit?

David runs the drop in the canyon.

Joe's turn in the canyon.

Shaun lines up for the canyon drop.

Nick runs the drop in the canyon.

Nick, Shaun, and Joe below the canyon.

ELF Boating on the Cooper

2005-03-26T22:07:00.000-08:00

Photos are available in the gallery.

Video: Cooper

Lower Sultan

2005-03-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

Steve in the midst of Last Nasty.

Saturday found us back on the familiar Sultan. I always say I'll never go back, and sure enough, I wind up back on this run. We had abominably low flows, but at least it was water. On the upside, it rained all day.

The run was uneventful -- a few portages at Last Nasty, a token amount of carnage, but all in all a clean fun lap on this short creek.

Photos are posted in the gallery (great pics of Nick hiking down to his lost AIRE Farce...).

Video: Last Nasty

Steve drops into Last Nasty.

David Chatham, Dave, and Mike Novak midway through Last Nasty.

Nick, somewhere on the Sultan.

Video: Headwall drop

Critical mass for carnage? Mike Novak cuts into an eddy while Steve, Nick, and Shaun line up for a drop.

Shaun finishes a drop while Nick enjoys the first rains of March.

David works on his rock moves.

Steve gets wet.

Nick cleans a drop.

White Salmon: Green Truss

2005-03-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

Steve boofs at Little Brother.

When we heard that Val Shaull and PDXKayakers were planning to raft the Truss, we knew we had to be on-hand to see it. After a fun Saturday on the Farmlands, we were up early and looking forward to another lap on Truss. We got to the bridge just in time to take advantage of Val's great boat lowering system. Our crew for the day: David Chatham, Eric Klein, Steve Munk, Mike Novak, and Mark Yauney.

David and Steve with a passel of boats.

I'd like to give a special thanks to Deek from Next Adventure and Ryan Scott for so generously sharing their video footage from the trip. Much of the video posted in this TR was shot by Deek, and I hope to add a clip or two from Ryan as well.

It was a busy day on the Truss. We were an hour or so behind Pete Giordano's crew (Truss '05 TR), and there were a lot of boats. Val was guiding an R3 in a 14 foot self-bailer while Dana was leading a 12' R2 boat. There were 5 IKs in our party, and at least a dozen hardshells out. I don't think I got to meet everyone, but everyone I met had a big smile and a great attitude.

This was my first lap on Truss, but I was the only virgin in our group. Needless to say the blood was pumping. David and Steve offered good lines to follow, and we lost little time dropping through the great entry drops on our way to Meatball.

Video: Above Meatball

Dana works out of a tough spot on the Truss.

Video: Meatball

Val's crew drops into Meatball.

Meatball is a great drop, with a fun sliding entrance into a moving pool that forces a quick choice left or right of the meatball itself. Most of us ran left and boofed hard into a beefy hole at the bottom of the five or six foot ledge.

Below the pool following Meatball, comes Bob's Falls. This is a great ten foot ledge that leads into two more fun pool-drop ledges above Big Brother. We opted to run this right, and I took off to go down and get set up at the big drop.

Video: Bob's Falls

Big Brother. This is one of the best-known waterfalls in Washington creeking. It's name-recognition is right up there with Spirit on the Little White, though it's a smaller drop. Steve and David had been talking big about this drop ever since their last trip. Would they really run it? While some were quickly portaging, Steve and David got busy scouting. Safety was quickly set for the cave on the right, and after watching several successful runs by veteran Truss boaters, David made the call.

Video: Big Brother

David Chatham drops off Big Brother.

Not to be outdone, Steve quickly followed suit, and Mike dropped in just behind Steve.

Steve Munk gets it done at Big Brother.

Just below Big Brother comes Little Brother, aka The Faucet. This 14-footer can be run on a sliding entry on the right or a clean boof on the left.

David nails the line at Little Brother.

Eric rides his brace at Little Brother.

After more great pool-drop fun, the crew approached Double Drop. Of the big three, this was the only one I was interested in running. As is usual, DD was dishing out impartial helpings of humble pie, but nobody had a serious beat-down.

Video: Double Drop

David drops into Double Drop.

Mark cleans up at Double Drop.

Dana's raft lines up at Double Drop.

Below Double Drop the Truss continues to dish out great fun drops, though with fewer ledges than the upper stretches. There is a short stretch where the difficulty eases a class, but there are still fun class II-III rapids to keep you moving. The canyon is truly stunning in this section, with towering walls. It was warm, sunny, and felt like 60 degrees. I couldn't think of a place I'd rather be, or a group of folks I'd rather be with.

All this peaceful floating ends abruptly as one reaches Zig Zag Canyon. The Zig Zags have seen several unpleasant beatdowns recently, so I was apprehensive. After successfully running Upper Zig Zag, I got out to take my first scout of Lower Zig Zag. The first ledge and Splat Rock looked every bit as bad as I expected, but not unrunnable. Mark gave some great coaching on the preferred line, and after watching him nail the line with aplomb, I felt ready. David, in the interest of keeping me from getting overconfident, promptly showed why Mark's line was the preferred route. I did have a swim at the very end, but I made the moves I needed to, so I was stoked.

Video: Upper Zig Zag and Lower Zig Zag

Below Zig Zag Canyon, there are more fun drops. Cheesegrater and The Flume are two of the named drops in this section, and both proved to be fun. There were many other fun hole-bashing drops to run, and several fun boulder gardens as well.

Somewhere in this section, Val's R3 crew decided to stop for lunch -- in the middle of a class IV drop. Their wrap was a complete one; all three paddlers were out on the rock, and the whole boat was underwater. This was a 14-footer no less! David, Steve, Mike and I bounced around the boat, and Steve was able to eddy out just below. David and I managed to catch the eddy below the next drop. I grabbed my pin kit and hiked up to a ledge above the river and went back up to the site. The first z-drag was nearly in place. Steve and I pulled, but we weren't getting anywhere.

Val indicated we should change tactics, and we rigged two z-drags downriver of the wrapped boat. Not quite sure how, but it did the trick. I think we had three different pin kits fully deployed to get this boat unstuck. Patience and good communication really made a difference in getting this done efficiently.

For a photo of the wrap, check out PDXKayaker.org's photo gallery or go right to the photo.

Steve, somewhere in the lower canyon.

Steve in Cheesegrater.

Steve, somewhere in the lower canyon.

Finally, we arrived at the pool above the lead-in to BZ Falls, the last big drop of the day. We spaced to catch the final eddies to scout, then Mark, Eric, David, and Steve dropped in.

Video: BZ Falls

Mark hits the perfect line in BZ Falls.

Eric lines up at BZ Falls.

What a great day! After the throw-n-go below BZ, we quickly reached the takeout. We'll be back for more Truss fun soon, that's for sure. Thanks again to Deek and Ryan for sharing footage, to Val for helping drop boats into the canyon, and to the PDX crew for a fun day on the water. SYOTR!

White Salmon: Farmlands

2005-03-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

Looking back up into the heart of the canyon below Lava Dam.

Back for another White Salmon weekend, the crew crashed near Husum and met up with Portland area boaters for a weekend of fun. The crew included Nick Borelli, David Chatham, Eric Klein, Steve Munk, Mike Novak, Shaun Riedinger, Scott Waidelich, Mark Yauney, and myself. After some back and forth on whether to split into two groups on not, we decided to stick together and hit the Farmlands run.

This run flows through a fantastic narrow gorge for much of the first half of the run. Many class III drops abound, with a few larger drops.

Photos from the day are in the Gallery.

Shaun and Mike in the canyon; Steve and Eric in the distance.

Video: Above Sidewinder

Mike drops in above Sidewinder.

Eric rides a brace above Sidewinder.

Video: Sidewinder

Mark melts through the meat in Sidewinder.

Fish hits his line. Sidewinder.

Video: Below Sidewinder

Nick left his brace in Jamaica, mon.

Below Sidewinder, the next significant drop is Doorbell. In light of having wrapped my boat in this drop on our last trip, I was interested in scouting. Nobody else seemed interested except Fish, so we set up for photos. Now, normally I hate to dwell too much on carnage to protect the fragile egos of the gentle folk with whom I boat, but this was just too amusing to keep to myself:

Video: Doorbell

Doorbell. So named for the perfect wrap rock in the bottom of the picture.

David, Mike, Steve, and finally, Mark ringing the doorbell. I guess nobody is home?

Fish gets it done right, running left ar Doorbell.

Nick in the ledge below Doorbell.

Next up are several fun steep drops leading into Little Lava. These drops are short, but a lot of fun.

Mark hits a sweet boof while David picks up the pieces.

Video: Little Lava

Eric hits his line at Little Lava.

Nick nails his boof. Little Lava.

Nick enters the canyon above Lava Dam.

Fish gives us some attitude.

Eric in the canyon.

Fish shows off his playboating skills.

Nestled in the heart of this intimate canyon is Lava Dam. This drop was pretty friendly at these flows, and we ran many laps on this great waterfall.

Video: Lava Dam

David boofs at Lava Dam.

The author drops Lava Dam.

Shaun hits his line.

Steve works out of the right side hydraulic at Lava Dam.

Fish, giving a shout out, mid-run.

Below Lava Dam are a few fun drops through the last part of the canyon. These drops eventually ease and the canyon opens up for a little over a mile.

Video: Below Lava Dam

Mark, Fish, and David below Lava Dam.

Shaun's unique off-side brace.

Video: The lower canyon

Shaun punches a hole near the end of the canyon.

Nick comes through clean, while Shaun lines up for the drop.

The last major drop on the run is Offramp, sometimes rated a V+. The line was pretty friendly today though, well ... for most of us.

Video: Offramp

Mark lines up in Offramp.

Fish carves the turn above the boof flake, Offramp.

Mike nails his boof.

Shaun drops stern-first into the fold in Offramp. No brace is gonna help in there!

Nick calls it "hot-dogging" but the rest of us call it a blown line. Offramp.

Nick redeems himself in the last big drop.

Shaun makes the final charge.

Fish braces through the final ledge drop above the takeout.

Tumwater Canyon

2005-02-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, David and I drove out to Index to meet Mike Novak on our way to Tumwater Canyon. We were running late, but Mike Horner was still waiting for us at the Hwy 2 bridge rafters use as a putin. He was geared up, dressed and ready to go. We decided to take the time to do a little road scouting, and to see if any of the Seattle kayak crew was waiting on Icicle Road. We scouted The Wall on the way down, and met Joe, Larry, and Dave in Leavenworth. On the drive back up, we scouted Chaos Cascade and Perfection of Whitewater. POW was the only drop short enough to be remembered, so it was clear we were wasting time. Mike decided he'd rather watch the carnage than contribute to it, so we loaded him up with cameras and decided to putin just above The Wall

All photo credit to Mike Horner. Photos are posted in the Gallery.

The Wall is a long drop. The line starts off right, center right, center ... and then I lose track. There are at least 7 more moves. Things were going pretty well until I got surfed left in a small hole. This was just enough to blow my line, and I dropped backwards into a small slot and pinned. After two or three minutes -- it felt like half an hour -- I managed to work free and stay in boat. I caught an eddy, portaged a rock outcropping I couldn't get around, and finished the drop.

Video: The Wall

The author hole-bashing in The Wall.

Playing follow-the-leader, somewhere in The Wall.

The author, pinned in The Wall.

Post-pin in the lower drop of The Wall.

Below The Wall, Tumwater eases to class IV. There were some great drops in this section. My favorite was a drop that started with a left-to-right move before a sharp move back left around an island with some huge boulders and fun holes. There are many fun III/IV drops before the next significant drop, Chaos Cascade.

Video: Chaos Cascade

Chaos starts with a broken ledge stretching from center to the right bank. This ledge feeds into a nasty sieve, but offers a boof to the left to avoid the mess. Nobody had much luck with line, so I opted to run left-to-right, riding a steep seam. That didn't work either, so I joined David in the Chaos Swim Club, swimming right into the mess in the middle of the drop. Joe pulled me through the worst until I could recover my boat. David, meanwhile, was repairing a busted thighstrap. That's the sixth thighstrap busted since December.

David, founding member of the Chaos Swim Club.

Brian becomes the first dues-paying member of the Chaos Swim Club.

After so many blown lines in Chaos, Mike decided a cold better sounded better than a cold swim. The rest of us regrouped and headed down the last final III drops above Perfection of Whitewater. POW is a long rapid in its own right, but after The Wall and Chaos Cascade, it seemed positively miniature. I'd had enough for one day and pulled out above it, while the crew starting eddy hopping down the left side of the drop.

Video: Perfection of Whitewatwer

David in POW, lining up for the monster double-hole combo just out of sight on the side of the photo.

Below POW the group took out. By "took out" I mean "spent half an hour trying to talk someone into running Exit. No one had hit their head that hard though, and it was left for another day.

White Salmon: Green Truss

2005-02-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

Mike Novak putting in below Big Brother.

Sunday of President's Weekend found a crew assembled for the Green Truss. I didn't make the run, but the crew took the camera. Paddlers included David Chatham, Chris Dawkins, Mike Evans, Steve Munk, Mike Novak, and Scott Waidelich aka Fish. I'll turn the trip report over to Steve.

Original stills are online in the gallery.

Fish in a boulder garden above Meatball.

David in a boulder garden above Meatball.

Chris Dawkins in a boulder garden above Meatball.

Mike Evans in a boulder garden above Meatball.

Video: Bob's Falls

Mike Novak boofing left at Bob's.

Steve going left at Bob's.

Chris getting airtime at Bob's.

David rinsing his face off below Bob's.

Looking back upstream from Big Brother. Bob's is the top drop pictured.

Horizon line above Big Brother.

Fish getting ready to put in below Big Brother.

Mike Evans running right at Little Brother.

Video: Double Drop

Chris plunging into Double Drop.

David with a good line at Double Drop.

Mike Novak drops into Double Drop.

Fish getting psyched up for his turn at Double Drop.

Fish amongst it at Double Drop.

Fish going through in style at Double Drop.

Steve tries to show that IK's can windowshade too in Double Drop.

Video: Zig Zag Canyon

David heading into Upper Zig Zag.

David showing proper bracing technique in Upper Zig Zag.

Fish enjoying a pleasant run through Upper Zig Zag.

Chris Dawkins completing his run of Upper Zig Zag.

Looking back up at Upper Zig Zag.

Mike Novak drops into Lower Zig Zag.

Mike Novak enjoying the downstream view in Lower Zig Zag.

Mike Novak through most of it in Lower Zig Zag.

David practicing his high side near top of Lower Zig Zag.

David joining the Green Truss Swim Team at Splat rock in Lower Zig Zag.

White Salmon: Farmlands

2005-02-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

The horizon line at Lava Dam.

Ah, President's Day Weeeknd. Must be time for a road trip. Our local rafting club, Washington Recreational River Runners had plans to meet up with Oregon boaters from sister clubs for a weekend on the White Salmon. We rolled out of town Saturday morning while the rafters were already gearing up for the Middle White run. Our destination: The Farmlands.

I had been reluctant to sign up for creeking this weekend because I seem to have decimated my boats recently. David offerred me a SOTAR IK though, so off we went. After quick scouts of Lava Dam, a 14 foot falls, and Sidewinder, a nice sliding ledge with nasty cross-currents, we found ourselves at the putin. Don magnanimously agreed to carry the helment camera this trip.

Video: Helmet Cam footage -- putin through Doorbell.

Photo Gallery http://members23.clubphoto.com/brian854659/3060727/guest.phtml

The first section of canyon offers fun class III drops through a narrow basalt gorge. All these drops can be boat scouted, and eddies are plentiful unless the water is high.

The White Salmon canyon above the putin.

David at the putin.

David and Don drop in.

Steve in an early drop.

Eric in an early drop.

Steve in an early drop.

Eric in an early drop.

Steve in an early drop.

Eric in an early drop.

Mike enjoys the canyon scenery.

After several fun drops, you'll arrive at the first horizon line, which appears shortly after you pass under the first bridge on the run. The drop can be scouted right, but is straightforward. The next horizon line is Sidewinder. Scout or portage right. At the flows we had, the right side entry wasn't available, so folks opted for the left line through the seam. After a one-for-five success rate on this drop, I opted for the portage.

Video: First drop

The first significant horizon line.

David in the first drop.

Mike in the first drop.

Video: Sidewinder

Sidewinder.

David in Sidewinder.

Don in Sidewinder.

Eric in Sidewinder.

Below Sidewinder, the run continues through several fun class IV drops, until pooling up above Doorbell, which can be scouted left. This drop looks clean, but has a nasty rock in the middle of the channel at the bottom, as I found out. I nailed the rock trying to move right, and came up from my swim to see the boat wrapped perfectly on the rock.

Steve, below Sidewinder.

Eric, below Sidewinder.

Steve, below Sidewinder.

Eric, below Sidewinder.

Eric, below Sidewinder.

Yes, I rang the doorbell. You'd think someone would answer. Don was up on the boat before I could hike back up to get a rope to the boat. Thanks Don! Video of the boat retreival.

Below Doorbell the White Salmon drops over the best rapids on this run. Several fun ledges and boulder gardens fill this section. I took a swim at Little Lava and had a hard time fighting out of the hole until Eric fished me out. Thanks Eric! After adjusting the boat the next day, I think this swim had a lot to do with the trim of the boat. After unwrapping the boat at Doorbell, I found the seat loose. I tightened it back down without thinking about the position, it being a borrowed boat, and it was about 3" too far backwards.

Steve, below Doorbell.

Eric, below Doorbell.

Frozen springs on the canyon walls.

Shortly below this stretch comes Lava Dam, the single biggest drop on the run, which can be scouted or portaged right. Watch out for the cave on the left.

Video: Lava Dam

Lava Dam.

Don runs Lava Dam.

David runs Lava Dam.

Mike runs Lava Dam.

Below Lava Dam, the rapids gradually taper off and the canyon opens up for a mile or so. As the walls start to build again, the river pools above Offramp, a nasty slot on the left with a clean move on the right. This drop can be scouted or portaged left.

Steve below Lava Dam.

Eric below Lava Dam.

Video: Offramp

Offramp.

David drops off the right side of Offramp.

Mike probes the gut at Offramp.

Below Offramp, the drops pick up a little bit to III/IV as you approach the takeout below the Green Truss bridge.

Video: Typical drop

A typical drop in the lower canyon.

Eric runs the drop.

Don nails his line.

Steve in a boulder garden.

Mike boofs a small ledge.

The final drop above the takeout.

EF Lewis -- Falls Run

2005-02-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

Dragon's Back with Screaming Left in the distance.

A wonderful day on the Falls Run, this time with flows slightly higher at 540 cfs. Still low, and I look forward to seeing the run at 700 cfs next time. Shaun and I met up with boaters from Bellingham and PDX, and I'd list names, but there's no way I get them all right. Suffice to say we had a great time -- and thanks to everyone who came out.

Photos are posted in the gallery.

Video: Sunset Falls

This run begins with Sunset Falls -- the purpose of our whole trip. Shaun was excited to try his first waterfall, and I was hoping to actually stay in my boat this time. First, however, I had to have a boat. My Wing is out of commission til I repair the seat attachment, and the NRS boat was down with one foot peg and both thigh straps being busted. Nothing for it but to get creative at the putin:

Brian's jury-rigged IK. SIX structural straps.

It worked though, and I made a successful run:

That's me. In my boat. At the bottom of the drop. Took a big brace, but damn was it fun.

Below Sunset Falls, the river offers class II and III riffles until Hippie John's, a short drop with a large midstream boulder. Either side goes at this level.

Video: Hippie John's

Hippie John's.

A typical drop in this section.

Next up, in quick succession, is Sky Pilot, one of my favorite drops on this run. We had a bit of carnage here, but everybody came out safe and sound.

Sky Pilot.

Shaun says "I like creekin!"

There's a funny shallow ledgey drop between Sky Pilot and Screaming Left. Stay right. Beautiful section of river.

Roughly fifteen minutes below Sky Pilot come Screaming Left. I enjoy the line in this one -- it's one of the toughest on the run. At this flow, the far left chute at the bottom goes, which makes the line a bit easier if you get pushed too far left on the right-to-left move.

Video: Screaming Left

Shaun gets it done in Screaming Left.

Immediately below Screaming Left is Dragon's Back, a steep ledge hole best run on the right.

Video: Dragon's Back

Shaun gets a lively tailstand in Dragon's Back.

There's a beautiful but short gorge here, with wonderful pools. Too bad the EF Lewis couldn't give us a version of Final Five Canyon ...

The canyon below Dragon's Back.

Below this scenic gorge, one final drop awaits: John's Swimmin' Hole. This starts off with a lateral curler before dropping over a nice ledge hole.

Video: John's Swimmin' Hole

The author in John's Swimmin' Hole.

Just below John's Swimmin' Hole is a short ledge drop above the Copper Creek confluence.

Once below Copper Creek, the East Fork loses a bit of punch. Rapids are mostly class III, with a couple of larger drops.

One of the bigger drops below Copper Creek. Somehow, somebody swims this one every trip. Keep a brace handy!

Video: Horseshoe Falls

Last but not least, Horseshoe Falls awaits, for a final fun drop.

Canyon Creek -- EF Lewis

2005-01-22T20:02:00.000-08:00

Canyon Creek is wonderful little creek that flows into Merwin Resrvoir just NE of the towns of Amboy and Chelatchie, NE of Vancouver. This run was logged at a flow of 1100 cfs on the EF Lewis, +4" on the visual gauge. We met up with Mike Tennant and crew from Seattle, and were also on the water with several boaters from the PDX community. Thanks to everyone for a great run.

Photos are posted in the gallery.

This run starts out at or above the Fly Creek confluence. Below Fly Creek, you'll find several class III drops to get you ready for the meatier drops below. A nice class III wave train near a 60 foot waterfall coming into the river from the left signals that the run is about to pick up.

Boaters warming up in the first good hole on Canyon Creek, just above the main canyon.

One of many wonderful waterfalls.

Steve in the canyon.

First up is a nice center boof into a moving pool above a horizon line with a large log that rises out of the water from river right up to the left canyon wall. This drop is best run river right, just right of the wood, moving back left to avoid the headwall just below the ledge.

Video:
Entry drop

The entry drop.

Next up is Terminator, a diagonal river-wide ledge hole that is best run far left. This ledge follows a good class IV lead-in drop. Be ready for another good class IV+ immediately below Terminator that requires a move over a broken ledge that drops three feet into a meaty hole.

Steve trying to stay left at Terminator.

Another great waterfall.

This section of the run is set in the most constricted canyon on the run. As the walls open up a bit, you're getting close to Thrasher Prelude and Thrasher. Thrasher Prelude is a twisting ledge drop best run boofing left off a flake 10' off the right wall. Scout right. Thrasher is a meaty ledge that can be scouted from the left. Safety can also be set from the left. The main drop is steep and meaty, so most opt for the right channel. Stay high on the right wall, or swim like I did.

Video:
Thrasher Prelude and Thrasher

Thrasher Prelude.

Below Thrahser, Canyon Creek offers several fun boulder gardens, most class III. One stands out as harder than the others. This drop can be scouted from above on the left, but the actual drop is set in short canyon walls, so land well above the drop. A class III+ boulder garden leads into the first ledge that can be run left or right. Get back left and allow for the curler above the second big ledge. This ledge is best run far left to avoid the meat. Safety can be set for this ledge hole from the left.

Video:
Boulder Garden

Looking downriver at the biggest of the boulder gardens in this section.

Looking back up at the first of the two ledges.

Looking back up at the whole drop.

Kahuna, a 17' waterfall, quickly follows. Scout from the eddy and rock outcropping on the right. The easiest line is the autoboof on the right, or you can throw and go from the right wall.

Video:
Kahuna

After a short III+ boulder garden, Champagne and Hammering Spot, twin 10' ledges offer a great complement to Kahuna. Scout from the left and run Champagne center off the flake; Hammering Spot just off the right wall.

Video:
Champagne and Hammering Spot

In the pool between Champagne and Hammering Spot.

Looking back up at Champagne and Hammering Spot..

Cominng through the small drop below Hammering Spot.

Steve and David. Gotta love the weekend!

One final drop awaits, a final 8' ledge that can be run with a right-to-left move on the right, or a quick hop off a flake on the left. Enjoy the 1.5 mile flatwater paddle out.

Video:
Final Ledge

The final 8 foot ledge.

Main Sky @ 1000 cfs -- in the snow!

2005-01-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

Launching at the confluence in the snow.

David plays battering ram.

It's a good job it was above freezing, or David might have spent some time on this rock!

Steve, making time past the snow covered bank above Boulder Drop.

David, in that one rapid.

David, same spot.

Steve in Boulder Drop.

David in Boulder Drop.

Looking back up at Boulder Drop.

Steve in the weir drop.

David at Lunch Hole.

Season's Greetings?

Winter scenary.

Steve. Doesn't. Want. To TAKE OUT!

Neither does David, so he decides to park it.

EF Lewis Falls Run

2004-12-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

Nick in a drop below Copper Creek.

The EF Lewis drainage offers some excellent whitewater, ranging from III to V. For this outing, we headed to the EF Lewis itself, running from above Sunset Falls to below Horseshoe Falls. This is a great IV-V run, though with the low water (450 cfs) there was little IV+ on the run, other than the two falls. On this trip, we were joined two hardshell kayakers from PDX. JD volutneered heroically to carry the helmet cam.

Helmet Cam Video

Steve at the putin. There are several access points depending on how far above Sunset Falls you wish to launch.

JD in a typical EF Lewis drop.

Steve in a typical EF Lewis drop.

Nick practices his rock pivot.

This run begins with small rocky rapids, usually a combination of bedrock features and small boulders. The whitewater starts with a bang at the big horizon line above Sunset Falls, an 18-footer that is clean on the left. We had a quick scout, then proceeded to run a couple laps on the fun, forgiving drop. I continued my hellish record at waterfalls with two swims, including busted thigh straps. Our hardshell guides decided to give the drop a go in our IKs, and I felt somewhat more vindicated when my boat generated a third swim on the drop. After some field repair on my thighstraps, we headed downstream toward the canyon.

Sunset Falls Video

Brian shows how to swim 18-footers.

Steve shows how to do it with style.

The EF Lewis offers several class III rapids before dropping over Hippie John's Boulder Drop. This is a short boulder garden that is clean on both sides. Check the helmet cam footage for a great carnage scene as I flip on a shallow boulder. Yup, four swims, a new personal record. Sigh ...

Looking back up at Hippie John's Boulder Drop.

Next up is Sky Pilot, a fun rapid that begins with a tight drop into a hole on the left before a big hole near the end of the drop.

Sky Pilot Video

Steve in Sky Pilot.

Nick in Sky Pilot.

Nick in a shallow drop.

Below Sky Pilot, you'll enter the shallow gorge. First up is Screaming Left, which opens with a three foot ledge into a big pool. Get out here to scout or portage the entry. The trick with this drop is the undercut wall on river right. Run close to the left bank or portage the entry move to the left on river left. Immediately below Screaming Left comes Dragon's Back, a steep hole that is best run right. Below the ledge drop there's some class III under a log before the canyon settles out to a calm pool.

Screaming Left and Dragon's Back Video

JD shows a good line at Screaming Left.

Steve pins in Screaming Left. A little left angle, please.

Paul powers through the holes in Screaming Left.

Steve gets his swimmin' done at Dragon's Back.

JD melts through the hole at Dragon's Back.

The canyon below Dragon's Back.

The next horizon line below the pool is John's Swimming Hole, which can be scouted or portaged on river right. This straightforward drop pushes hard into a headwall at the bottom, so stay right.

John's Swimming Hole Video

Steve in the final ledge above the Copper Creek confluence.

Shortly below John's Swimming Hole, the river drops over another ledge and Copper Creek enters on the left. There's some fun class III - III+ drops that will keep you entertained most of the way to Horseshoe Falls. When the river drops off to II+, you're fifteen minutes above Horseshoe.

Horseshoe Falls Video.

Vance Creek: ELF Boating

2004-12-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

Nick makes a move on a low-water drop.

Vance Creek is a neat little class IV creek on the Olympic Peninsula. Saturday, David, Nick, Steve and I met up with Seattle kayakers Jon Almquist, Chris Totten, and Sybille Fleischmann. In keeping with recent trips, this run featured a less-than-convenient putin. For this one, Korb's guidebook advised us to follow an old road and then stick with the STEEP part of the hillside we would encounter. The steep pitch took a couple of ropes to handle. Things were going well, but Nick's IK got sick of waiting and struck out for the river. The last thing I saw was a yellow IK hurtling down the steep slope, then boofing impeccably over the edge of a 60 foot drop to the creek along which we were descending. Luckily, the boat survived with no damage other than a few new scratches.

At the putin, Vance Creek looked tiny. Chris and Jon mentioned that between them, the lowest flow they'd ever been on was at least three times more water than we had today. We were in for a day of ELF boating: extreme low flow boating. I knew right away I'd brought the wrong boat.

Vance Creek starts off with a fairly trashy, log-strewn first mile before entering the canyon and tightening up. With more flow, say 50 to 100 percent more water, this run would feature some excellent class IV creeking. There are few drops bigger than 4 feet, but the whitewater is nearly contunuous. Once within the canyon itself, the wood also cleaned up, with very little problem wood. Still, there's plenty of wood available, so check around corners. With higher flow, eddies would start getting scarce.

The photos from the day are posted in the Vance Gallery.

Thanks very much to Jon, Chris, and Sybille for joining us and sharing their knowledge of this creek.

Vance Video
I've wrapped it up into one big clip. 15 minutes, so it's big! (80MB)

Brian descends the steep pitch via rope.

Nick and David staging boats on the hike in.

The group at the putin.

Entering the canyon.

David at the first limbo log. This is right above the first trashy III drop.

Sybille in a typical drop.

Nick boat-scouting on Vance.

A typical drop. Boney -- but you can see what great drops these would be with water.

Steve in Vance's scenic gorge.

This was probably the biggest single drop on the run.

The first part of a great drop. This rapid continues around the corner below the pool.

David in the first part of the long, scenic drop.

Sybille prepares to run one of the bigger drops on Vance.

Sybille styles a steep drop.

Looking down the canyon. This about as long a straight shot as you will see in this small, intimate gorge.

Steve on Vance Creek.

Another technical work out on Vance Creek.

Sybille, moving fast to make a line.

Nicks floats the canyon.

Copper Creek

2004-12-16T22:40:00.000-08:00

Looking back up at the first three pitches of Final Five Canyon.

On Thursday, December 16 Steve and David and I ran Copper Creek, a small tributary of the EF Lewis. We estimate we had flows of maybe 300 cfs. The EF Lewis gauge showed 950 cfs dropping slowly. Photos are in two galleries: Gallery 1 and Gallery 2.

Copper Creek starts out with a boney class III riverbed. Shortly below the bridge near the putin, the river plunges over a triple drop collectively known as Certain Death, class V+. This drop had one of the worst undercuts I've ever seen. We hiked down a gated road for five minutes and putin at a nice pool below Certain Death.

Certain Death Video
Certain Death Scout

Certain Death from below. Note the nasty undercut on river right.

The first mile and a half for Copper Creek has numerous shallow rapids. The little bit of wood present was well out of the way, and we were all amazed at our luck at finding the run with water on a sunny December day. As you approach the first big rapid, variously known as The Big Falls or Triple Delight, the river begins to show a little life with small ledge drops. At these flows, none of the holes were burly, but that didn't stop Steve from swimming one, just to cool off from the unseasonably warm weather.

Steve in one of the early rapids.

One of the bigger ledges early in the trip.

Steve in one of the early rapids.

The 28 drop forms the first significant horizon line. Here, Copper Creeks over three ledges. First a two-footer, then a twisting 8-foot drop into a pool above the 18 foot falls. With a rope set at the base of 8-footer, you'll have a good position to keep anyone from swimming the main falls.

Triple Delight Video
David
Steve
Brian

The first two drops of Triple Delight.

The final 18' drop of Triple Delight.

Below Triple Delight, Copper Creeks continues with some fun class III/IV small drops. Two of these drops stand out. The first is a sliding ledge drop. The book says run right-to-left, which is definately a line available to you. We opted for a neat, narrow chute on river right. The second drop is a flume-style rapid, with a series of drops in a tight bedrock slot. This had a nice little limbo log mid-chute, for style points. There were several other fun, clean ledges from two to four feet in this section.

Sliding Ledge Video
David
Steve
Brian

The sliding ledge drop. Run river left-to-right, or hug the right bank.

Another nice ledge drop on Copper Creek.

Flume Drop Video
David
Steve

The flume drop.

David shows off his tailstand skills.

Eventually, you'll round a corner and be at the top of Final Five Canyon. This is an excellent rapid, by any standard I've ever heard of. Definitely the highlight of a Copper Creek run. Final Five Canyon consists of five distinct drops. First a sliding ledge, with a nice boof flake center-right. This leads into a 7-foot punchbowl falls with very little runout before a sliding drop into a headwall. This drop has a decent runout and 50 yards of pool before a two-tiered falls, a six-footer into an 8-footer to round of the five drops. This magnificent collection of drops is set in a 30 foot gorge, with a very manageable portage trail on river right that provides a place to set a rope if needed.

Final Five Canyon Video
David

The first pitch of Final Five Canyon.

The second drop, a punchbowl falls.

The third pitch of Final Five Canyon, a sliding drop into a headwall.

The final two pitches of Final Five Canyon.

Below Final Five Canyon, Copper Creek quickly joins the East Fork Lewis, which has several lively class III/IV boulder gardens and small ledges. After a mile or so on the EF Lewis, you'll come to Horseshoe Falls, a very clean drop the book claims is 22 feet. You can scout on the left, and opt for the left side, which offers a narrow, twisting chute, or the main drop, which has an incredible autoboof -- just go straight and keep your balance!

Steve about to swim on the EF Lewis.

Horseshoe Falls Video
David
Steve

Horseshoe Falls on the EF Lewis.

Below Horseshoe Falls, the EF Lewis offers class II/III boogie water down to a final small ledge at the takeout.

Steve runs the final ledge at the takeout.

Main Sky

2004-12-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

David, Shaun, and I had a quick run on the Main Sky Sunday. Fresh snow in the hills made for a wonderfully scenic winter day. No photos as I was testing a helmet camera setup, but here's a clip of our Boulder Drop run. I'll try to get the helmet cam footage posted at some point.

David and Shaun in Boulder Drop.