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!