6 - 1/31/09 - Nisqually

I don't think I've ever gotten in 6 days of boating in January before (I think maybe 3 was the most before, and 1-2 is more typical). Hopefully it won't get too cold in February so we don't get any boating in. The trip on the Nisqually started out as a possible 2 boat float, but in the end we had 13 boats and 16 people.

The run from McKenna to Yelm is pretty easy. It's mostly fast-moving water with class II rapids, with a couple of class II+ rapids and an easy class III. For me, it was a little harder. I was trying out my new Aire Outfitter kayak, and the backrest I put in it was too small and the valve was loose so it leaked. I pumped it up a couple of times, but by the middle of the run, it was unusable. I ended up getting up on my knees and running the boat canoe style. This worked out OK because it was an easy run, but I definitely need to get a bigger backrest. I also need to add D-rings to move the backs of the thigh straps up higher, but the backrest comes first.

My Inflatable Kayaks - Part 1 - Sun Runner Expedition

(This was originally going to be one article, but it got very long, so I decided to split it up by boat.)

I have a reputation as someone who has a lot of IKs. There have been times when I've had as many as 7, though I've rarely owned more than 3 completely usable boats. There are a couple of reasons why I have several boats. First, I am always looking for a better boat for myself. Second, I have friends who like to boat occasionally, but not enough to own their own boats, and it's hard to find a decent IK for rent.

My first boat was a Sun Runner expedition model IK. Sun Runner was the early name used by Hyside, and this IK looks like a larger version of the Hyside Padillac (rhymes with Cadillac). It has big tubes, it's long, and it has a laced-in floor. It rides like an easy chair. The boat originally came without footpegs or thigh straps, and I never put any in the boat. Because it was so big and deep, I was able to sit down in the boat and stay in. It was a tough boat to get back into after a flip, and a hard boat to flip back over. Luckily, most of my swims involved me falling out of the boat without the boat flipping over. I ran several class IV-V runs in the boat - NF Stanislaus, Cal Salmon, Lower Tuolumne, and even Burnt Ranch Gorge (see photo). It was hard work, but my size combined with the boat's size meant that I had a lot of inertia and flotation, getting me though a lot of big holes without getting stuck.

After a few years, I named the boat "Old Bessie", which was the nickname for the Rambler that I got my driver's license in. Old Bessie was a great boat for overnight trips. I could put medium-sized drybags in the front and back, and still have plenty of room. Old Bessie was a heavy boat, so portages were always tougher for me. One of the last runs I did in Old Bessie was Rattlesnake Creek, near the Tieton River in Washington. I carried a full-sized 4" Carlson pump, a repair kit, a spare paddle, and other emergency gear. There were 9+ portages on this run because of logs across the river, and for several of them I had to carry

I finally sold her in 2007.

5 - 1/24/09 - Clackamas River

I lived in the Portland, OR area from 1983-1986, but I wasn't a boater back then. A friend and I drove down to Vancouver and stayed with a boater friend, who took us on a trip down the Clackamas. We ended up with 4 catarafts and me in the lone inflatable kayak. Because of my flip the previous Monday and the unknown of a new river, I was a little nervous. I took conservative lines and boated in the middle of the pack for most of the run. There were several rapids that were more difficult than I expected, and there were some places where the boils and swirls put me on edge, but I didn't flip and I had a lot of fun.

I look forward to getting to run this river again. I'd like to get in a run with my own cataraft, since this seems like a great river for that type of boat.

My First IK trip

I started whitewater boating when I lived in Colorado in 1989. I took 4 whitewater trips that summer, all on sections of the Arkansas River. The first two trips were raft trips, but one of my friends wanted to try something different, so a few of us decided to take an inflatable kayak trip. We had 6 people on the trip.

Because of a previous foul-up, the company gave us free wetsuit rentals, which helped offset the the fact that they didn't give us the guide we wanted. Our main guide was a guy named Mike (at least that's what I remember), and I'll call the other guide Dick (because that's what he was). Dick was the owner of the rafting company, and he accompanied us in a hardshell kayak.

The trip got off to a rocky start. One of the people in our group made a big deal out of the fact that he had already taken hardshell kayaking lessons, and he thought he would do great. Within 30 seconds of us putting in, he fell out of his boat. We had been warned before the trip that if we fell out, we should never try to stand up in the water. This guy forgot, and the result was that Dick paddled over and knocked him down. The guy's wife and I headed for the side of the river to eddy out, but it took us a while because, after all, this was our first time. Dick chewed us out for this, but we took his "criticism" constructively and continued on.

After a few class II+ rapids and our first class III, we pulled over and had lunch. After lunch, Mike had us all flip our boats and try to get back in. Everyone else got in fine, but I couldn't get in without pushing off a rock in the river. Mike said that I really needed to learn to get back into my boat, but he wasn't worried about me because I seemed to be doing pretty well staying in the boat in the first place (a rule I try to follow to this day).

A few more miles took us to the biggest rapid of the day - Zoom Flume. I was the last IKer in the group, so I got to watch while everyone else worked their way through the rapid. The guy who flipped earlier flipped in the entrance to the rapid, and I ended up bumping him as I went by, though he later said that he was already out of control at that point and that he didn't even notice me. I finished the rapid and tried to pull over, but the only eddy was filled with boats so I continued downstream to the next available eddy. In that location, I couldn't see anything upstream, so I just waited. And waited. It was 15 minutes before Mike came by, followed by the other boats. I pulled out just in time to see the guy who had flipped sitting on top of his IK which was on top of a raft that someone else was rowing. Dick came over to chew me out for not making the eddy. I asked if the guy who flipped (twice) had lost his paddle. Dick replied "No, he lost my paddle", which surprised me, since Dick clearly had his paddle and was using it. It took me a minute to realize that since Dick was the company owner, the lost paddle was going to cost him (though at least it wasn't a $250 custom-sized fiberglass paddle).

The rest of the trip was just plain fun, and I was sad to see it end. A few months later, I moved back to Silicon Valley, and a year later, I bought my first IK.

4 - 1/19/09 - Middle Middle

The Middle Middle is the middle run on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River. This is a nice class III-IV run near my home, so it's the run I do the most (20-25 times a year). Recent storms caused several landslides on the road, so my friend and I decided to put in at First Island Drop. This required a bit of a hike to get from where the vehicle was safe to the river. We had a nice medium flow (1600 cfs), and the water was silty, but not too cold. The skies were clear, and we could see the remaining snow on the mountains. Just after I put in, a river otter slid off a rock into the water beside me.

Everything went great until I flipped halfway through House Rocks rapid. I wasn't able to get back to my boat, so I swam the entire bottom half of the rapid. I had trouble getting my paddle out of the water, and I made the dumb mistake of letting go of it. At the bottom, I went through the slot just right of the big rock (this is for the benefit of readers who know the rapid). I ended up on river right. I watched as my friend got my boat, and then I saw my paddle float by. I tried to get my friend's attention, and I thought he was going after the paddle, but he went back and got my boat. By the time he got to me, my paddle was well into the next rapid. We got out the spare paddle and continued the run. I never saw my paddle again.

I hate losing gear like this, though after almost 20 years and 600 days on rivers, I've come to expect it. This is not the first time I've lost a paddle (I believe I'm up to 4), and it probably won't be the last.

3 - 1/17/09 - EF Humptulips (Falls and Gorge)

It's always fun to see a new river, and it's even better when you get nice weather and a good flow. Three of us braved the snow at the put-in and were on the East Fork Humptulips starting on the Falls section and continuing through the Gorge section. We did not have the option of just running the Gorge section because the gate to the intermediate access point was locked.

The Falls section flows through a lush forest with overhanging trees and little waterfalls everywhere. The rapids are mostly class II with an occasional class II+, including a couple made by logs in the river. Near the end of this section, a large pile of boulders marks the entrance to the falls. We portaged the falls on the right - an easy portage that was preferable to the possibility of getting stuck at the base of the falls. We stopped and had a quick lunch before continuing down to the Gorge section.

As we neared the bridge that separates the two runs, we saw a 15-foot log leaning against the bridge. As we approached closer, we could see that the river was blocked by the log and other wood. We quickly portaged this and worked our way down into the Gorge. This is a very narrow canyon with a few class III- rapids and lots of boiling currents (which are harder to deal with than the rapids). After the gorge opened up, the river widened and there were fewer rapids to the end.

This would be a great run for class II+ boaters with an experienced trip leader and recent information about wood.

Not 3 - 1/11/2009 - Canyon River

A group of us attempted to run the Canyon River, which is a tributary of the West Fork Satsop. We left bright and early (OK, so not exactly "bright", since it's still January) and headed out to the Olympic Peninsula. We had been told that the roads were open, so we were confident that there would be no problems. The rain had pushed the river levels up, but the run was only class II so we didn't expect any problems there.

We got to the takeout area, and there was really no convenient access except for places marked with "No Trespassing" signs. We left a rig near the bridge over the river and consolidated into the other vehicle to head to the put-in. We got to within 5 miles, but the snow on the road prevented us from continuing. We decided to attempt a run on the Middle Fork Satsop instead, but had similar problems. We got to (what we thought was) the road to the put-in, but it was covered in deep snow. We walked a half mile to see if we could find the put-in and drag our boats, but we didn't find a way to the river. On retrospect, we think we missed the road to the put-in and were at a higher put-in, which would have put us in a class IV-V canyon at high water - not what we wanted. We considered a short run lower down the river, but it just wasn't interesting enough on a cold, rainy January day, so we went and had a beer and took a look at Tumwater Falls on the Deschutes in Olympia.

Enough, already!

You can all stop praying for rain now.

Over the past couple of months, we have had 3 major rainstorms, a big snowstorm, and several smaller rain and snow storms. Right now, the rivers are raging, and we're still expecting another day of rain. If we're lucky, the rain will stop, flows will subside, and by the weekend the rivers will be down enough that we can boat.

Whitewater Inflatable Kayaks

The boat I use is an inflatable kayak, or IK. An IK consists of a pair of inflated tubes, a floor, and a backrest. Some IKs have inflatable floors, while others use rigid closed-cell foam. Modern IKs have thigh straps and footbraces to help the paddler grip the boat, which enables the use of leg and abdominal muscles when paddling and balancing.

Whitewater IKs are almost always self-bailing. This is accomplished by having holes between the floor and the side tubes. The boat floats because of the bouyancy of the air in the tubes and/or foam, and the holes allow the water to drain out. This bailing isn't instantaneous, so IKers are often sitting in water whole in rapids. Depending upon the bouyancy and design of the boat and the weight of the paddler and gear, some IKers find themselves sitting in a little water all the time.

One of the key differences between inflatable kayaks and traditional (hardshell) kayaks is that IKs are not intended to roll. While there are experts who can roll IKs, it's not easy and it's not common. Upon flipping, most IKers simply flip the boat back over and climb back in. Luckily, IKs are not all that prone to flipping over in the first place (despite what novice raft guides might say). Another big difference is that it's much easier to get in and out of an IK. This can be useful in very low water and in difficult rivers where there's lots of scouting and portaging.

Whitewater IKs typically cost from $1000-$2000 new. There are lower-cost alternatives that cost from $500-$800, and these are great for people getting started. Cheap vinyl boats really aren't intended for whitewater use, but people sometimes do crazy things in the pursuit of fun.

The 3 boats shown in the picture are (from right to left): Wing Probe (that's me in the boat), Skykomish Boat Works Stiletto, and Tributary Strike. Only the Strike is currently in production.

2 - 1/3/2009 - Green River Gorge

It's always fun to get out on the Green River Gorge, and it's an even better treat to run it twice in a week. There were 4 of us in inflatable kayaks. The dam release was around 1100cfs, but we had a lot more than that due to fresh snowmelt from the side creeks. Down in the gorge, it felt more like 1500cfs, and we had close to 2000cfs in the lower miles.

1 - 1/1/2009 - Cedar River

A recent tradition in WRRR is the New Years Day trip on the Cedar River. Yes, it's cold, and this year there was snow on the ground and some light rain, but it's still fun to start the year with a nice whitewater trip. We had 13 people. Most were in inflatable kayaks, including one double, and we had one cataraft.