Upper Trout Creek

Ran Upper Trout Creek with Luke, Tim, Dan, and Jacob from North Carolina. The water was about 4 inches below the cup, and the weather was mild and cloudy, with just a few sprinkles as we put on, making way for sunshine through the last third of the run. Mike L. forgot his sprayskirt and was not up to being a shuttle bunny, so he took off with promises to join us the next day for some expedition-style boating on another area creek.

This run is nuts! Check out Ryan Morgan's descriptive blog post from his run last spring. The run starts out flat and placid, then gradually cranks up the gradient through Class II, III, and IV rapids before entering a mile-long section that drops around 300 feet, all boulder garden. This is the steepest water I've run, by a factor of at least two, and little did I know when I put on that I would be running Class V mank that many people rate harder than Gettin' Busy on the Little White Salmon.

The drops were breezy and fun through the Class IV and IV+ sections for the most part, but I'll admit my eyes bugged out a bit as we got into the 300 feet-per-mile stuff. It's as if the world tilts forward gradually for the first part of the run and then something breaks inside the tilt mechanism and the creekbed keels forward violently. I flipped briefly early on in the long rapid that marks the crux section near the end, which had me winded and scattered the rest of the way down. Luckily, my line was good, even as I careened down the rapid backwards for several yards. I felt fortunate to not join the Upper Trout swim team just yet, and managed to avoid the many nasty pin spots and sieves as we tore down this sucker without stopping.

Well, we did stop once, when Luke found a new (to us) sieve and properly tested the bore of the thing by sending his Hercules through. The Herc flushed smoothly, broach-pinned on the next drop, and formed a big and deep lateral crease in front of the seat. Imagine my surprise when I came around the corner to see Luke standing on a rock in the middle of the mank with no boat in site. After we got the boat to shore, a couple of punches and kicks to the inside of the boat had it good as new, with no evidence of the debauchery it went through. That Prijon HTP plastic is some pretty magical stuff, to be sure. Luke narrowly escaped a bootie beer penalty by stepping out of his boat and onto dry rock -- technically, not a swim.

Dan and Jacob took off after the run to fire up the Upper Wind River, which was at a great flow that day. Luke and I called it in favor of heading back to Portland -- he had obligations, and I had a bit of a hangover that had me quite tapped by the end of the run. Running Upper Trout Creek was an amazing experience and a sizable step up for me. (Don't believe the print and web guides that say this run is easier than the Green Truss section of the White Salmon -- it's not!) I'm almost starting to think I'll be ready for the Silver, Feather, and whatever else this summer's No-Cal trip will throw at me!

Opal Creek: now I see why they call it "church"

A mob of folks were on Opal Creek, and I ended up paddling with Trev, Jason W., Nobu, Anthony B., and Kourtni. There were five swims shared by three people, and once again I avoided the cold bath. It's an amazing run, hands-down the most beautiful stretch of river I've run. Uncut old-growth forests and crystal-clear water make this a classic. The fun whitewater helps. More to come, including pictures...

While it's not the most thrilling section of river, here I am running the sneak route on Big Ugly:


(photo sequence by Nobu Suga)

mellow East Fork run

Paul M., Kourtni, and I headed up to the East Fork Lewis for the good ol' waterfall run. Steven joined us, and we ran into Adam 12, Jeremy, and Kevin on our way down. Swims and good times were had, but I stuck to just the good times. ;)

3 runs, great day: Canyon Creek twice and East Fork Lewis

Luke and I headed up on the morning and duoed Canyon Creek lickety-split and were met at the takeout by Johnny O. and some newly-met Seattle boaters (Chris B. and Nick S.) for another lap. I almost got munched in Hammering Spot the second time down, but managed a hole escape before the real beatings began. Level was about 3 inches under the unit. I used the ol' Frankenboot (patched MAC-1).

Johnny had to bail and Chris and Nick wanted to see more area streams, so we popped over to Oly's and Steven joined us for a nice East Fork run. We put in a few miles above Sunset Falls and I got to run that section for the second time...it's pretty nice. I was in Steven's 5-year-old Jackson Fun, which is a very undersized boat for me. We had a clean run, except for Luke properly pulling an abdominal muscle that he'd torqued escaping from Prelude to Thrasher on our second Canyon Creek run. A minor, but painful and disabling injury that forced him off the river for the day.

Nummy fish tacos (halibut and ling cod sent from Alaska by Mike!) with Brenda and Steven had us almost nodding off on the way home. A great day.

Bull Run lappage, sweet

Had a great time on the Bull Run River after work with Paul Meier. Justin from NA forgot his skirt, so he was our shuttle bunny for the day. Level was dropping from 1750 to 1700 cfs during our runs. It's an entertaining, if short, Class III run. We charged down it three times in little over an hour, thanks to the convenient shuttle/bunny. I was in the RAD.

It's always fun to check out new rivers, especially when you have good recent beta and everything is boat-scoutable. The Bull Run is pretty, too. If the section above were not closed to boating (it's Portland's water source), it would surely get run -- kayakers who've hiked it report that it looks great.

Lochsa trip coming up

The Northwest River Forecast Center's map looks like a condiment fight gone wrong. Nobody wins when you get ketchup and mustard all over your map...except whitewater enthusiasts.

The Lochsa will likely be somewhere between 6 and 9 feet on the visual gauge. Here is a brief video of a raft running two rapids at 9.5 feet on the gauge, muhuhahaha:



Big water fun is sure to be had!

Update. Well, maybe the big water fun will be had by some, but it's looking like much of the PDX community will not be heading out this year, due to high flows. Listen to Johnny Ott, the voice of experience and reason:

Lochsa River

I saw a post by Will[ie] mentioning the Lochsa. I am very familar with this area and I have gone to the big weekend four years steady. This year however I am going in June. Will[ie] is right the river is going off in a not so fun way. IT is very high and thing are washed out with wood floating down. Not a safe time for rafters or kayakers who might be swimming. The weather is not great for the weekend and Idaho is still at 100% snow pack. I would highly recomend going there in the middle of june. The creeking will be great righ around then as well.

Johnny Ott

Second update. Very few people from the PDXkayaker community went out to the Lochsa this Memorial weekend, but those who went said it was pretty epic. Turns out that the water came down to a more manageable "very high" level, and the wood was mostly washed through by the weekend.

Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival 2008

What an amazing weekend! I was so excited driving out that I took a self-portrait:


Here's a YouTube video from fishhawk1400 (feel free to pause it and then skip the 55-second boring text intro):


Sunday. After a late start (I missed the boatercross kayak race, unfortunately), I enjoyed the tail end of the event and set to work helping tear everything down. It was a privilege to be one of the last to leave, and to get insight into how these events actually come together.

Saturday. This was the day of the Mass Start Race, Relay Race, and Big Air competition.

I took 3rd in both the Next Adventure Mass Start Kayak race and the Next Adventure Kayak Relay race, and was a finalist in the Next Adventure Big Air Competition. (Who sponsors these things, anyway? ;) ) Highlights included my first 14 miles of catarafting, a midnight run in kayaks with some other crazies, and huge applause for running the big air ramp backwards and attempting a forward flip:

(photo by Jeff Bledsoe)
Here's some video of the mass start race. I have a blue boat, yellow drytop, blue PFD, black helmet, and black paddle. Jersey number 44. I'm the fourth guy down until the end when I snake third place.

(video by dweiber)
And some pics, too. This one has me pivoting off the very large wave in the middle of Carter Falls, after trying to catch the gate by surfing it:

(photo by Robert Virostek, Sr.)
And here I am, right behind Chuck Taylor, booking for third place:

(photo by Robert Virostek, Sr.)
After all the excitement of the competition, we had video premieres, an awards ceremony, and a bluegrass band near the Andy & Bax campsites in Lockaby campground. Sometime around 1:00 a.m., it seemed like a good idea to go kayaking. Austin R., Christina G., Kenny Kiley (maker of Blunt Family (woody bent-shaft) Paddles), Ryan Youngs, and I headed up to Fish Creek for a moonlight run. On the way up, I took the opportunity to ghost ride the whip, much to the amusement of my companions. The run was uneventful and a lot of fun, and we hit up the big air ramp afterward for good measure. My recollection of the night is fuzzy after we met up with some folks with Eugene and partied in the middle of Fish Creek bridge on the way back.

Friday. After wandering around during the morning in search of the folks I was supposed to be volunteering with, I threw in the towel and took an offer from some catarafter friends for a run. It was my first time catboating, and moved my total hours of rowboating up to the neighborhood of ten. Luckily, I figured out how to row in time to save myself from the Clackamas at 9,000 cfs. I formed a wicked blister on the base of my middle finger on my left hand, but it was worth it.

When I got back from catboating, I found that my homies had shown up, so we took in a quick run in kayaks, followed by some testing of the big air ramp. I did a perfect half-back flip off the ramp and lost my grip on my paddle. Following a couple of failed hand rolls, I punched and went for the most epic swim I've had so far. It took me 1/4 mile to get to the bank, with my boat and paddle booking downstream. Luckily, my new friend Dave helped me with some chase boating, and I had a few moments to collect myself before jumping back in and swimming to the other shore, which took another 1/4 mile. Did I mention I was wearing a drytop with nothing underneath, swim trunks, and 0.3mm neoprene booties? :) I dragged myself out of the eddy, collected my gear, and rendezvoused with my homies. I have video of my valid booty beer, which should be forthcoming.

Thursday. I headed out in the early evening to help set things up and camp with my homies. I ran into Dave Martin from Wet Planet and, after introductions, we took in a run together, from Sunstrip to Carter. After asking around, I found out my homies had headed back into town. I'll be damned if I camp with stinky rafters, so I spent the night listening to the sounds of the rapidly-rising Carter Bridge Rapid and sleeping on the flat part at the bottom of the country's largest big air ramp -- sweeeet!

More to come!

Olympic Peninsula: short roadtrip

Headed up to the Olympic Peninsula after work today with Luke to grab some boats for Next Adventure. We'll stay with Kris W. at a cabin on a lake, and find some fun creeking tomorrow before heading back down. It'll be nice to test out Das Frankenboot (my stitched-together MAC-1) and see how The Plastic Mechanic's recent repair holds up. I should get an updated picture of the hull and post it here...it's more "Frankeny" than ever.

Update. We didn't plan far enough in advance to secure local paddling partners, so Luke and I ended up scouting some things, and taking in a couple of mellower classic intermediate runs in central Washington.

Sunday. Ah, Mother's Day. Originally started as a war protest. After a lovely brunch with Luke's family, we got to the business of picking a run for the day. Our eventual plan was to run the middle section of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie. Luke's brother Nate accompanied us to help with shuttle and get help for his own shuttle. Nate would mountain bike to the takeout, and we would kayak -- it would be a low-key race, of sorts.

We wandered about, looking for a suitable put-in, and eventually settled on a spot on the side of the road. We came to find out that we put in too high, as a couple of miles of Class II riffles and flatwater lulled us into complacency. There were some entertaining Class III+ boulder gardens and chutes to be had on the remainder of this intermediate run. We definitely charged this run, never stopping paddling and finishing in about an hour. At the takeout A nice woman named Renee, whom I had met on the Toutle (January 27th), recognized me and let Luke and I make some tasty turkey wraps. She was on the way back from the Wenatchee and had tons of extra grub. At this point, we saw a sheriff rig pull up, and Nate hopped out, grinning sheepishly...no bike, though. He had blown a tire a short way into his ride, and the deputy was kind enough to run him down to us. Renee and I talked river safety while Luke and Nate ran up to get the other truck and retrieved Nate's bike from where it was stashed in the bushes. Renee's two friends, whom we'd passed about 1/3 of the way through the run, were just coming off the river when we completed our shuttle back to the takeout. We definitely booked it down this sucker!

Saturday. We headed out for the North Fork Sauk, only to find that the road was blocked 0.1 mile from North Fork Sauk Falls, due to a washout. After extensively scouting the waterfall (an unrunnable 45-footer with Class VI and Class V+ lead-in drops that we plotted lines down anyway), we headed up the road on foot to see what we could see. This is the falls we scouted:


As we headed up the closed road on foot, we noticed six piles of bear scat. After about 1.5 miles with just one spot of river access, we decided to head back. On the way back, we saw a bear off in the brush and seven piles of scat. We were clearly in bear country, and decided against heading back in with our boats. We resolved to get a run in on the standard Sauk section. We put in near some campers who helped us set shuttle, and charged down this classic Central Washington intermediate run. Everything was boat scoutable, and we charged. Near the end, we wondered if we'd already passed the takeout, which resulted in some unnecessary bushwhacking and a possible first descent of a wood-choked tributary creek to get back to the river. Overall, it was a fun, if exhausting time.

Joe Bob's is sick!

I can't really fathom why people aren't flocking to Joe Bob's (near Bob's Hole) on the Clackamas these days, as it is seriously "in" lately. If flows are this good next weekend, we may have to have a rodeo event at the 25th annual Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival! Going by the NWRFC forecast pictured at right, it might just happen...

Thursday. Headed out to Joe Bob's for dawn patrol (5am) with Luke and Eli L., with the level around 3850 cfs. Good times all around. We got a solid 1:45 of surfing in before I broke my backband and had to call it. It's a very aerobic wave to work, due to how fast the eddy is, especially if you exit the wave in the center or on the furthest side from the eddy. I had some nice cartwheels in the foam pile and some sort of proto-loop attempt sprinkled in with some longer rides. Backsurfing and flat 180s are coming along nicely, as well. I think I missed the wave twice this morning, ferrying out while winded a couple of times because of the time pressure.

Wednesday. Headed up to Bob's Hole after work, solo style, to see if Joe Bob's was as good as I had been told by Todd R. Just like he found Tuesday night, no one was there to take advantage of the best play within fifty miles. What were they thinking?!? I had a few 30+ second rides, which was a breakthrough for me. Level was around 4000 cfs, and I got a nice 1-hour session followed by a break and a 45-minute session. I recorded video of the second session with my camera phone...I need to get the card reader situation worked out, edit it down, and post it. Reviewing the footage has already been immensely helpful in troubleshooting my mistakes and inefficiencies. I only missed the wave once, and barely at that.

Man, is it nice to have a boat that doesn't leak like a sieve. Thank you for taking my money, Gorilla Tape and Wild Wasser! ;) I'm measuring post-playboating water by teaspoons instead of gallons, and I feel like a new man for it.

hey oh, where'd you go, Ohio

I'm near Sandusky, Ohio, this weekend for River Rally 2008. I did get out paddling here on Thursday -- a flatwater sprayskirt-free romp on the Old Woman Creek freshwater estuary, ending with paddling out the mouth and catching some swells on Lake Erie. The Pungo is a hell of a boat, I guess. I was super glad to get out and work the old muskles. If I hadn't paddled, I would have served myself up the longest break from yakking I've ever taken. Having that associated with Rally just would not be cool. :)

I definitely need a better Rally picture, but this one will do for now. Van rides rule!

Update. Someone was nice enough to pass along this picture of our Old Woman Creek paddling crew. I squat at lower left, paddle-less.