Mid-year Roundup

The first half of 2009 has been very good for boating. It started off with a bang, and good water on the Green gave me lots of chances to improve. I'm very happy to have gotten in 4 new runs so far. It's hard to get many new runs now without a lot of traveling, so in future years I need to be prepared for that. I got to run some favorites like Peshastin Creek, the NF Snoqualmie, the Middle SF Stillaguamish, and the recent NF Lewis overnighter, and I got to do several trips in my new cataraft.

The closure of the Middle Fork Road for repairs didn't help much, but it didn't really affect us as much as we had expected. They got the road fixed quicker than expected, and the water was low during a good part of the time. I really wanted to run the Lower Owyhee again, and was disappointed when that didn't happen, but the John Day is still a great alternative.

The biggest negative this year has been the injuries to my shoulder and elbows. I need to keep working to fix these problems and keep them from coming back.

The second half of the year should be very interesting. We still have a little bit of snowmelt left before we have to start traveling for whitewater. Things should improve again in October when the rains return, but we have been warned that El Nino will bring us a warm, dry winter. I hope I get a chance to run some Oregon rivers this fall. Happy boating!

41 - 6/28/09 - NF Lewis (Day 2)

(Clear water on the NF Lewis)

My IK camping setup for the trip consisted of my umbrella tent, a Big Agnes air mattress, a fleece sleeping bag, and a pillow, as well as camp clothes, food, and the all-important chair. Most of the gear went into a Watershed Colorado (large) drybag, which fits in the back of my IK. I strap a folding camp chair onto the top of this bag. The remaining gear went into a Watershed Ocoee (small) drybag. Watershed bags are expensive, but they work - keep in mind that my boat spent a few minutes getting pummeled by water when it was wrapped the day before. I've taken to using compression bags for the gear that can compress (pillow, sleeping bag, and clothes). This was the first time I had slept on the Big Agnes mattress, and it was very comfortable and it wasn't all that hard to blow up.

We had originally decided to sleep in, but I was awake at the usual 5AM. Luckily, I had an iPod with me so I had entertainment for a couple of hours before I couldn't take it and got up. We ended up leaving camp a lot earlier than we had planned. We only had to boat a half hour or so before we reached the bridge that is used as the put-in for the lower run. A few minutes later, we were at Curly Creek Falls, which is a double waterfall with a stone arch in the middle. There is another waterfall a few hundred feet downstream. A little later, we came upon the other campsite we had used on our first trip. This used to be a larger beach with more sand on it, but now it would be a difficult place for more than a couple of people to camp.

The rapids pick up a little at the end of the run. A few creeks and the Muddy River bring in a bit more water, making the going easier except in one place where a big logjam blocks the main channel and a side channel siphons off 1/3 of the water. We hit the takeout at around 11AM and were on the road before noon.

40 - 6/27/09 - NF Lewis (Day 1)

(Above Ski Jump rapid)

A few years ago, some friends and I decided to run the two lower sections of the NF Lewis as an IK camping shakedown run. We ran it again the following year. We didn't get a chance to run it last year, so we made sure to plan it for this year. The flow was pretty low (around 800cfs on the gauge), but it was high enough for us. Since this was an overnighter, we all carried our camping gear. Even with relatively light gear, this makes the boats a little harder to move. The weather was perfect. It was warm, but not too hot that we were sweating in our drysuits. The water was clear and not too cold.

The upper section begins with lots of little class II+ rapids with forest on both sides. The first class III rapid is Ski Jump, which is just a ledge drop next to a big wall (see picture above). A couple of miles later is Spencer Drop, which is a class III-IV rapid that consists of a handful of ledges and ends in a hole. Not long after this, we reached the camp we had used on previous trips, but this time we decided to try a later camp. This meant that we would be taking on Big Creek Gorge on the first day.

Big Creek Gorge is a narrow canyon with a lot of basalt boulders in it. We normally run this by stopping in eddies and checking to see what is below. The rapid was clear of trees, so it should have been an easy run, but I ended up complicating things. I missed the first eddy and didn't understand the instructions to go down to a lower one. So, I ended up in a bad place. When I tried to continue, I didn't make the right moves, and I ended up wrapped against a huge boulder. I came out of the boat and couldn't drag the boat with me. The other guys were able to get it back out, and we portaged my boat over a couple of rocks. This allowed me to continue down to the last eddy, where one of the guys pushed my boat up and over the last ledge. While climbing on the rocks, I slipped and fell a couple of times, which resulted in a few sore days.

Once we were through Big Creek Gorge, we started looking for campsites. We had seen a nice site on the right side of the river the last time we ran this section, and had planned to stop there. When we got there, we weren't very pleased with the site. It was right on the trail, and we had seen a few people riding and hiking, so we knew it wouldn't be private. It was also a very small site - I believe that the river bank has eroded a bit in that area since we were last there. We continued down the river looking at possible camps. The established camps on the right were all next to the trail, and the possible camps on the left tended to be rocky and overgrown.

We finally found a camp that turned out to be perfect, which is why I won't say where it is (so there!). It had a nice beach area and lots of room for tents. There was also a creek nearby to drown out the sound of my snoring. After setting up camp, we built a fire and cooked dinner. It was a great end to a great day.

39 - 6/25/09 - Middle Middle

Some recent rain brought the Middle Middle back up to over 1300, and with the side creeks going, the flow was even better. We had 4 IKs, an inflatable canoe, and a cataraft. It was cloudy and cool, but not too cold - another nice run on the Middle Middle.

By the way, I've been counting my Middle Middle IK runs, and I'm now up to 98. I haven't decided how to celebrate number 100. Of course, who knows when it will be.

It was 20 years ago today...

Saturday, June 24, 1989.

The day before, my friend Kelly and I took off work early and drove from Boulder, Colorado to the Royal Gorge (about a 4 hour drive). We went to the campground, which was basically a windswept field, and claimed some good spots near the fence. I had just bought my first tent and Thermarest, and my second sleeping bag (the first I had gotten by selling greeting cards when I was 8), and I was set. We drove over to the gorge and walked across the bridge to nowhere and talked excitedly about the trip.

In the morning, we had a quick breakfast and got dressed for the river trip. I had wanted to go whitewater rafting for years, but this was the first time the opportunity came up that made it easy. Our group of 21 people from work headed over to the rafting company building and listened to the lecture. We then piled into a bus and headed to the put-in. which was just a wide spot by the road.

When we got off the bus, they quickly herded us over to a pile of orange lifejackets and paddles. I don't remember if we got helmets, but I don't think we did. Next we went over to the boats and got into groups. I was in a raft with several of my coworkers and a couple of their family members.

Within just a few minutes, things went bad. We bumped a rock and one of our people fell out. His swim was uneventful, but we found out later that this meant that our guide had to buy a round of beer for all of the guides that night. It also scared the heck out of half the people on our boat. When we stopped for lunch, half of our crew was ready to quit because they felt that it was too dangerous. It took a little bit of convincing to get them to continue, but we all got back into the boat after lunch ready to go.

The big rapid of the day was Sunshine Falls, and we screwed up. When we hit the bottom of the drop, two of our crew fell out of the boat - including the guy who had fallen out earlier, who took his footcup with him this time, ripping it out of the boat. I fell into the middle of the boat, and tried to help us paddle to shore while on my knees. That was a big mistake. The guide was furious at the people who had fallen out, even more at the guy who took out the footcup, and decided to take it out on me for not grabbing them and for not getting back up onto the raft tube quickly enough.

Everyone was distraught, but we resolved as a group to do better. There were only a few rapids left, and we were going to enjoy them. The rest of the day was a lot of fun. After the trip, we went back to the rafting company place for dinner and to watch videos from our trip. We went back to camp and retired to bed early.

On the way home the next day, Kelly and I couldn't stop talking about how fun the trip had been and how we wanted to go again. I also remember seeing the first double rainbow of my life. The next Monday, I was unable to go to work. I was so badly sunburned on my hands, thighs, and ankles that I had to spend 2 days in an oatmeal bath. Despite the bad parts of the trip - the getting yelled at and the sunburn - I continued to go whitewater boating. I did 3 more trips that summer, including my first inflatable kayak trip, and then moved back to California. Colorado was just not for me.

Now, 20 years later, I have gone over 600 times and I hope to enjoy it for 20 more years. Thanks to everyone I've boated with, and especially thanks to Paul and Kelly for that first trip.

38 - 6/20/09 - Lower Cispus

The Lower Cispus isn't an easy run to do. It's an easy run, but the takeout is behind a locked gate and getting and keeping a key to the gate is difficult and annoying. So, when the Lewis County PUD has the gate unlocked, I like to help make sure they know there is interest in doing the run. This was my third run on this section of river.

On this run, I helped act as a kayak "probe", meaning that I ran out ahead of the rafts to help locate logjams and direct people around them. On this trip, there was only one place where there was an issue. It was easy to see from upstream, so all I really did was to try to help people get through with a minimum of hassle.

We had a reasonable flow (around 1800) due to the rain the night before, but it was a cold and cloudy day - more like early March than mid-June. There were 4 catarafts, 2 IKs, and 2 rafts.

37 - 6/18/09 - Middle Middle

The last time I ran the Middle Middle in my IK was nearly 3 months ago, right when the county started road repairs. On this run, we had 3 IKs, 2 rafts, and a cataraft. The flow was low for the big boats, but just fine for the IKs. For the most part, the run was uneventful, but I did have one interesting situation. About halfway through Second Island Drop, I was pushed sideways into a big rock with lots of current pushing into it. I was starting to get wrapped on the rock, and felt the boat going vertical. I realized that a swim here would be annoying, so I decided I had better do something to try and avoid it. So, I leaned over and put my paddle in the water to brace, found the current, and pulled myself off the rock. If I can learn to do that instinctively, that will make a big difference.

36 - 6/13/09 - Upper Klickitat

The Upper Klickitat has been on my list for a while, but logistics and timing have made it a difficult one to catch. The run is usually best done in late May and early June, when lots of other rivers are running. Also, it's a 4-5 hour drive from the Puget Sound area. Despite this, a small group of us decided it was worth the trouble.

We had 2 IKs, 2 rafts, and a cataraft on the run. There were two other groups running the river that day, but much of the time we were alone. The shuttle roads were better than expected, but the shuttle directions didn't make it easy (no road markers where we expected them). We got on the river close to 1PM.

The river was easier than I expected. It was still continuous class III, but at 2000-2100 cfs, it was very straightforward. We were lucky that there were no problem trees, which was our big concern. The run took longer than we expected. It was around 20 miles, but we expected the current to take us down faster, so we were surprised when we got off the river after 6PM.

Some of us drove home, which meant we got home after midnight. I think that in the future I will make this a 3-day trip: Run the entire run on day 1, run the entire run on day 2, and then run just to the hatchery on day 3 and go home.

Walking away

Sometimes you have to walk away from a run. It could be due to high water, low water, being tired, or being scared. It may feel bad, especially if you've traveled a long way to do the run, but you have to keep in mind that you might be protecting more than just yourself.

The first time I walked away from a run was on the main Tuolumne in California. I had driven 4 hours to the put-in the night before and camped out in a precarious position. The flow was very low, and I just wasn't feeling up to the 18-mile extended run. I ended up helping out with the shuttle and heading home.

The second time was on the NF Nooksak in Washington. This was also a 4 hour drive, and I was feeling fine until a local "expert" told us about the run. He made it sound very difficult, and I was concerned about flipping and taking a long swim. Now that I've done the run several times, I know it's an easy run. That day, I went home and ran a more familiar river.

I nearly walked away from the Lower Tilton in Washington. I was taking a new medication that made me feel weak and nauseous, and I wasn't sure I was up for the run. I had a little snack and felt better. I was glad I didn't walk away from that run. Despite 3 swims, it was still a great day on the river.

The third time I walked away from a run was on the NF Teanaway in Washington. I felt fine until I hauled my boat down to the river. There, I encountered two problems. First, I was sweating and tired, even though I hadn't really carried the boat very far. Second, there were logs across the river right off the bat. I was concerned that I would encounter more logs and have problems dealing with them. In the end, there were no logs to worry about (even the ones I had seen could be skirted without a portage), but I still think it was the right decision.

While I have had to abandon a couple of runs due to equipment failure, there was one run that I abandoned because I was worried I couldn't continue. This was my first cataraft run on the Tieton River in Washington. I had done the run before in rafts and an IK, but I hadn't used my cat in several years. I quickly found that I could not control the boat, and I was dangerous to myself and the others in the group. I decided to take out after 3 miles, and a few weeks later I sold the boat.

35 - 6/11/09 - Middle Middle

As the snowpack begins to run out, we take advantage of the remaining raft flows on the Middle Middle. We had 6 catarafts (including mine), 5 IKs, and 2 rafts. The flow was around 1800, so I did have to deal with some rocks, but it was still fun. Next Thursday, the flow will probably be down in the low teens, so it will probably be all IKs and maybe a small cat or two.

34 - 6/9/09 - SF Snoqualmie

With the snowmelt starting to run out, it was time to take advantage of the nice weather and run the SF Snoqualmie. I went with my next door neighbor, who will turn 80 in a couple of weeks. The flow was around 400 cfs, which is low but still runnable (I have run the SF Snoqualmie as low as 200 cfs and had fun). At one point, we passed under the bridge at a local camp on the river and had an audience of about 40 kids. The water was clear and it was great weather for kayaking.

Before I forget, here's an update on my shoulders and elbows. I've been doing to stretches and exercises and getting acupuncture treatments for about a month now. My left shoulder is the worst problem, and it's only sore after I work it hard. My elbows only hurt if I apply direct pressure to the areas that were sore before. So, I'm keeping up the exercises and stretches and hoping to keep going strong.

33 - 6/7/09 - Peshastin Creek

The night before, several of us discussed running Peshastin Creek again. We started with around 10 takers, but by the time we left in the morning, we were down to 5 - 2 IKs, a raft with 2 people in it, and a small cataraft. We decided to put in just below Fresh Squeezed because the bigger boats would have trouble without more water, and we decided to not run the Wenatchee afterwards.

Carrying rafts down to the put-in was not much fun and it took a bit of effort. The IKs left first, and I immediately got stuck on a rock. After that, the rapids were fast and fun. When the IKs made it past the first few rapids, we stopped to wait for the other boats. They showed up after 5 minutes and we continued on. The run was a blast as usual, and everyone had a good run. I'm already looking forward to next year's trip.

32 - 6/6/09 - Peshastin Creek/Wenatchee

(In my cataraft in Snowblind on the Wenatchee)

The first weekend in June, WRRR holds the annual Bob Johnson Memorial Wenatchee Rendezvous (Bob was one of the founders of WRRR). The first few times I went, I just ran the Wenatchee River both days. As I would drive to the Wenatchee, I would look at Peshastin Creek, the small creek that parallels highway 97. In 2007, the Wenatchee was running high and Peshastin Creek had enough water for a first run. So, on the Sunday rather than running the Wenatchee again, I ran Peshastin Creek, and it quickly became one of my favorite runs. In 2008, I ran it again. So, when people started talking about 2009, Peshastin Creek had to figure in our plans.

We had 10 IKers on the trip. 5 put in up above the Ingal's Creek Bridge to get all of the hard whitewater. 1 put in just below the class IV rapid, Fresh Squeezed. 4 of us put in another mile below that, where the whitewater was merely continuous class II+ with frequent class III rapids.

Some people have called Peshastin Creek "the Tieton on steroids". The character of the run is similar, and there's even a runnable dam on the run. A better analogy is Joe Sauve's "the Tieton on crack" because Peshastin Creek is much more jittery and narrow. Whatever the case, it's a blast.

When we got to the Wenatchee, we had lunch and ran shuttle to continue down the Wenatchee. I switched to my purple cataraft and we launched just below the Dryden dam. At over 13,000 cfs, the Wenatchee is the polar opposite to Peshastin Creek. The waves and holes are huge, and you tend to have to run them hard because they are hard to avoid. I was very nervous and I was relived every time I made it through a rapid without trouble. At Rodeo Hole, we avoided the hole and then watched as a group of people in a raft lazily went in and flipped. The aforementioned Joe Sauve got to play hero by jumping on their overturned raft and reflipping it.

After the run, we all went back to the campground for food and festivities.

31 - 6/4/09 - Middle Middle

With the river flowing in the high-2000s, I decided to see how my arms would hold out on this run. We had a big group (around 25 people) in all kinds of boats. I did very well, with the only pain being in my left shoulder. It kept me awake a little bit during the night, but I took some ibuprofen and it calmed down.

ATuffy Instant Tent

A few months ago, I was searching the web for something, and I came across a mention of Apache Tents, which is a company that makes tents that they describe as "instant". Like most people, this brought to mind the tents used in the movie "Congo" that do pop up instantly, but are not very sturdy, not easy to take down, and kind of large to lug around. But, I looked at the reviews and the video on the Apache web site, and I decided to give their ATuffy 2-man tent a try. I found a deal for $220 for the 2-man version - not cheap, but a reasonable price for a good tent with the right specs.

One of my old tents is a primitive version of this tent. The poles stay in it, so when it's time to put it up, you unroll it, shake the poles until they are together, and put them into place. This doesn't always work - if you get the poles mixed up the tent is all twisted and you have to pull it apart again, which is annoying when you arrive at camp after dark. This is also a tiny tent, so I don't use it all that often.

Anyway, I ordered an ATuffy 2-man tent and when it arrived I gave it a try. It's not a gimmick. You unroll the tent, grab it by the top, swirl it around until the poles snap into place, reach inside, and pull the umbrella mechanism. You attach the umbrella pole to a T-hook inside of the tent. If it's not cold, rainy, or windy, you're done. If you need to put up the rainfly, that's also pretty quick. You unroll it, unfold the pole (which is attached to the fly), snap the pole into a hole in the top of the tent, and unfold it over the tent. It takes less than a minute to put the rainfly on. The tent comes with enough stakes for a full stakedown if you need it.

Taking the tent down is pretty easy. The rainfly poles come apart and the entire rainfly rolls up easily. There are bungee loops to keep it rolled up. Taking down the main tent takes a little bit of practice, but it's really not hard to learn. One really nice thing is that the bag is big enough to put the tent and rainfly in without having to roll it perfectly or spend 5 minutes tugging on the bag.

The tent is made with good quality material and well constructed. There are pockets in the corners, and T-hooks in the ceiling for a gear loft (sadly, Apache doesn't sell these, but they are probably a standard size). Most of the tent is nylon fabric, with 2 small net windows. The doors have both fabric and net panels with 2-way zippers. There are doors on the long sides, so it's easy to get in and out. It weighs under 7 lbs. I have another tent that is around the same size and cost a little more, and it weighs 2 lbs more and takes a lot more time to put up and take down.

I recently used my tent on a 7 day rafting trip. We only had rain one night, and the tent was brand new, so I can't really make a fair assessment of how it will hold up in strong rain and with lots of use, but I didn't get wet that night. Overall, I found the tent to be very comfortable. It was easy to open and close the doors without getting up, so it was easy to control the temperature. The one complaint I have is that the walls kind of droop a little. For me, this means that I need to push my Paco Pad into the foot of the tent, which leaves some room at the head for my pillow to fall off. I fixed this by putting my small drybag up there.

I plan to try out this tent in an inflatable kayak trip soon.