The Powerhouse run is below Snoqualmie Falls. Normally, we do this run in August when it's hot and nothing else is running, but some people wanted to get out and run something without having to travel very far. It was a nice day, so we decided to take a lunch and take our camp chairs with us and start by going upstream. I had a tough time at first. I tried walking and swimming upstream, and the cold water got to me. It took a while to get up to a point where I could cross the river and walk up. We had lunch with a view of the falls.
After lunch, we headed downstream. At 1200 cfs, the rapids are quick and easy. I'm used to running this much lower, and taking a lot more time. We had decided to run all the way to Fall City, whereas before I've taken out after about a half mile. I didn't think that there were any rapids or current below the normal takeout, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were small drops and reasonable flows all the way.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
My Inflatable Kayaks - Part 3 - Sotar II
Many people have seen Sotaks - inflatable kayaks made by Sotar - but in 1992, Sotar made a Sotar II inflatable kayak, using their new Lexatron fabric. Until other Sotar IKs, the Sotar II was boxy looking, made with multiple pieces of fabric rather than a single continuous curve, and the seat resembled a large Hershey's Kiss (or an Apollo space capsule). At the time the boat was made, IKs still didn't have thigh straps or footbraces, and the slick floor of the boat made it easy to slide out when you came to a sudden stop. I first saw the boat when I was running Burnt Ranch Gorge with some friends, and I tried it out at the end of the run. I decided that the boat was big enough for me yet easy to manuever and much lighter to carry than Old Bessie, so I bought one.
My first run with this boat was a disaster. I had the backrest set too far back, and I felt like I was going to flip. This wouldn't be so bad, except that this run wasn't an easy class II+ run where experimenting with the boat would be no problem - this run had 2 class V rapids on it. I quickly moved the backrest, and I amazingly made it through the first class V rapid with no problems. Later in the day, I flipped twice in a class III+ rapid, and ended up sucked under by a whirpool that took off one of my boots and held me under for 30 seconds. This swim bothered me for a couple of years, though I continued boating.
I continued to use the boat, but I slid out of it more times than I liked, and I relegated it to a guest boat. Besides being too slick, the floor kept leaking. I sent it back to Sotar twice, and it seemed fine for years. Then, I lent it to someone who left it out in the sun on a very hot day, and the floor developed a very bad leak. I decided to have Sotar replace the floor, and while they were at it, I had them add thigh straps. Finally, in 2006 I sold the boat to help pay for another IK.
The general opinion of people who have used the boat is that with the thigh straps and a footbrace, it's a stable and fun boat. I may have enjoyed it more with those improvements.
My first run with this boat was a disaster. I had the backrest set too far back, and I felt like I was going to flip. This wouldn't be so bad, except that this run wasn't an easy class II+ run where experimenting with the boat would be no problem - this run had 2 class V rapids on it. I quickly moved the backrest, and I amazingly made it through the first class V rapid with no problems. Later in the day, I flipped twice in a class III+ rapid, and ended up sucked under by a whirpool that took off one of my boots and held me under for 30 seconds. This swim bothered me for a couple of years, though I continued boating.
I continued to use the boat, but I slid out of it more times than I liked, and I relegated it to a guest boat. Besides being too slick, the floor kept leaking. I sent it back to Sotar twice, and it seemed fine for years. Then, I lent it to someone who left it out in the sun on a very hot day, and the floor developed a very bad leak. I decided to have Sotar replace the floor, and while they were at it, I had them add thigh straps. Finally, in 2006 I sold the boat to help pay for another IK.
The general opinion of people who have used the boat is that with the thigh straps and a footbrace, it's a stable and fun boat. I may have enjoyed it more with those improvements.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
8 - 2/7/2009 - Green River Headworks
The Headworks is a short run above the Green River Gorge. I usually do this run with new boaters who want to improve their skills or with boaters who just aren't up to the rapids in the Gorge. In this case, the main reason to run the Headworks was time. I met a friend at the takeout at 3PM, which is about as late as you can meet and do this run in early February, since the park closes at 5:30. The problem is that if anything goes wrong and you don't get out of the park in time, your car gets towed. So, we decided to opt for the alternative takeout across the river, which doesn't have a gate closure.
The run itself was uneventful. The flow was around 720cfs, which is low but every rapid can be run without getting stuck. There had been a log at Railroad Bridge Drop (the first class III rapid), but the high water in previous weeks cleaned it out. We got to the takeout with plenty of light, so we decided to run Ledge Drop One. This is one of the rapids I flipped on the previous week, so I wanted another shot at it. At the bottom of Ledge Drop One, we carried our boats back up to the top, ferried across the river to the takeout.
As we left, I noticed that the time was just past the park closing time. If we had done the full run down to the lower takeout in the park, we might have been able to barely make it by pushing ourselves, but if there had been any problems on the river things would have been tough. So, it turned out to be the right choice.
The run itself was uneventful. The flow was around 720cfs, which is low but every rapid can be run without getting stuck. There had been a log at Railroad Bridge Drop (the first class III rapid), but the high water in previous weeks cleaned it out. We got to the takeout with plenty of light, so we decided to run Ledge Drop One. This is one of the rapids I flipped on the previous week, so I wanted another shot at it. At the bottom of Ledge Drop One, we carried our boats back up to the top, ferried across the river to the takeout.
As we left, I noticed that the time was just past the park closing time. If we had done the full run down to the lower takeout in the park, we might have been able to barely make it by pushing ourselves, but if there had been any problems on the river things would have been tough. So, it turned out to be the right choice.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Return of the Powerhouse Paddle
A couple of weeks ago, I lost my Werner Powerhouse paddle in a swim on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie. Today, I got a call from someone who found it, and I was able to get it back. The person who found it told me he was excited when he found it, but as soon as he saw the info on the paddle, he realized he had to try to return it. I'm very happy to get this paddle back!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
My Inflatable Kayaks - Part 2 - Jack's Pack-Cat
A friend of mine won a Jack's Pack-Cat as a prize in a raffle. The Pack-Cat was a pair of 10' tubes with a couple of small metal frame pieces. It was paddled like a kayak, and was intended to be a lightweight boat that could be backpacked into remote rivers and creeks. I bought it from my friend because he needed the money, but it also seemed like a fun boat. The maiden voyage in this boat was the only voyage for me. I was running the boat on the Camp Nine run on the Stanislaus River in California, which was runnable in the early 90s when there was a drought. I went over Bailey Falls, felt the boat hit bottom, and fell over backwards into the water. I was picked up by a raft, and we found the boat in an eddy below Windowmaker rapid. I hopped onto the boat and promptly fell through. One of the straps holding the frame had been ripped through when I bottomed out in the falls. I replaced the straps and sold the boat. It just wasn't for me.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
7 - 2/1/09 - Green River Gorge
Blame it on being tired from dealing with my boat the day before. Blame it on eating too much Mexican food. Blame it on the low water. Or, maybe it was just time for me to flip 3 times!
I rarely flip on the Green, mainly because a swim could be long and dangerous. But at around 740 cfs, none of my swims were very long. My new footbrace held me tightly in the boat, which meant that when I flipped I was forced to pull my right thigh strap manually, giving me a hold on the boat and the paddle. I was able to flip the boat back over and get back in quickly without a lot of effort. Otherwise, I would have been dead tired after the third swim.
My first swim was right off the bat at Ledge Drop One. I went over the last drop a little more right than I wanted and I hit the hole at the wrong angle, which flipped me. The second swim was at Pipeline (aka Ledge Drop 3). I was way too far right, and my correction to deal with hitting the curling wave left me vulnerable to the next wave, which grabbed me and flipped me. The third swim came in a no-name rapid in the bottom of the gorge, right below a house perched on the cliff edge. I got stuck on a rock, which pushed me sideways into the final hole, which flipped me over.
Then we had lunch.
The rest of the day went without problems. I did get stuck on a couple more rocks in places I wouldn't have wanted to swim, but I was able to keep myself upright in those situations. What the hey - pretty much any day on the Green is a good day!
I rarely flip on the Green, mainly because a swim could be long and dangerous. But at around 740 cfs, none of my swims were very long. My new footbrace held me tightly in the boat, which meant that when I flipped I was forced to pull my right thigh strap manually, giving me a hold on the boat and the paddle. I was able to flip the boat back over and get back in quickly without a lot of effort. Otherwise, I would have been dead tired after the third swim.
My first swim was right off the bat at Ledge Drop One. I went over the last drop a little more right than I wanted and I hit the hole at the wrong angle, which flipped me. The second swim was at Pipeline (aka Ledge Drop 3). I was way too far right, and my correction to deal with hitting the curling wave left me vulnerable to the next wave, which grabbed me and flipped me. The third swim came in a no-name rapid in the bottom of the gorge, right below a house perched on the cliff edge. I got stuck on a rock, which pushed me sideways into the final hole, which flipped me over.
Then we had lunch.
The rest of the day went without problems. I did get stuck on a couple more rocks in places I wouldn't have wanted to swim, but I was able to keep myself upright in those situations. What the hey - pretty much any day on the Green is a good day!
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