62 - 9/29 - Rogue (Day 5)

Me, courtesy of Shawn Cadigan

It rained on and off all night, and I ended got up at 5:30AM and started packing. I was on breakfast dishwashing detail, so I needed to get everything done so I'd be free. We had oatmeal and lots of toppings for breakfast. Yum! I think people were running slow from the day before, because it took forever to get going. It didn't help that it was a bit cooler, and only a couple of us had drysuits.

The trip from Camp Tacoma to the takeout is only 5 miles, but there is a section of flatwater that is at least one mile long, and it really slows you down. I rowed pretty much the whole way to the takeout. About 5 minutes before we got there, it started to rain hard, but it soon stopped.

We spent over an hour getting the boats repacked and getting changed. We were the last ones to leave, but we did pretty well considering we had 4 boats and 4 people to load. We decided to leave the top boat inflated to make it easier to unload in Portland. I was pretty tired, and other people did most of the driving on the way back (thanks!). I finally got home just after midnight.

This was yet another great river trip, and I look forward to many more!

61a - 9/28 - Rogue (Day 4)

Bear picture courtesy of Shawn Cadigan

After our really long day of rowing, we were due for a layover day. The weather cooled down a little, and some wind came up, but it was still a nice sunny day. Some people went for hikes, and some just hung out on the beach. I wanted to hike, but my foot was bothering me so I stayed around camp. Breakfast was French toast, which was excellent. Dinner was fettucini alfredo with smoked salmon - delicious!

At one point in the afternoon, I noticed a bear upstream on the other side of the river. One person in the group got several pictures of the bear, and even rowed across the river to get photos of footprints.

One thing that was nice about this trip was that we had bear fences and toilets at every camp. Bear fences are small electric fences that keep the bears out of your coolers and stuff. We had a small bear fence along, which we put around the coolers some nights, and around the kitchen at the last camp. Having toilets at every camp meant that we didn't need to use the toilet we brought with us. That saved us some time and work at the end of the trip.

As the day went on, we started to get some rain clouds. We put up an additional shelter, and everyone had their rain flies on their tents for the night. It didn't rain much, but it was enough to get stuff wet.

61 - 9/27 - Rogue (Day 3)

Mule Creek Canyon

We would need our great breakfast of biscuits & gravy and sausage because this would be an 18 mile day. We headed out early and ran a few fun rapids before hitting the first long flat section. Luckily, we had a downstream wind during this stretch, which helped a lot. After a few more rapids, we stopped for a quick lunch at the Rogue River Ranch, and then headed for Mule Creek Canyon.

The canyon was tight and technical, but fun as always. At the end of the Canyon lies Blossom Bar. Most of the people in the group went up on the rocks to scout and watch the rest of us run the rapid. I led, and my run was far from textbook. I was trying to back around the first corner, and I ended up hitting a rock and spinning around too soon. I went ahead and dropped into the main chute and then had to make the tough choice of which way to go. I chose left, and ended up having to bounce off a large rock. After that, the rapid was wide open and easy. I pulled over at the bottom and took pictures of everyone else coming through.

After Devil's Staircase, I got out front and rowed. One of the people in the group had an electric motor for this section, so I didn't expect to stay in the lead. We figured that our chosen camp would probably be taken, so the plan was to stop at the camp above, send two people down to the camp we wanted, and then if it was available, one person would come back if it was available.

I pushed down the river, passing a couple of commercial rafts as I went. At one point, I passed a couple in a raft. They pointed out a bear on the shore, and then we could all see two bears. We talked about the camping options, and I realized that I needed to make a run for our camp. Since there was nobody with me, I bypassed the upstream camp and went on to the chosen camp. I figured that the worst that would happen is that I would have to pull my boat up a small rapid and then row a little to get to the upper camp. That turned out to not be necessary. We got the camp we wanted.

As I got to camp and started setting things up, I noticed that I had injured my right foot. I'm not sure where this happened. It could have been on the raft when I was pushing off a rock, or it could have been when I was taking pictures. In any case, it turned out to not be broken, but a week later I still had a little soreness.

Dinner was chili and cornbread, followed by too many desserts and lots of fun hanging out.

60 - 9/26 - Rogue (Day 2)

We got up early and had a great breakfast (custom omelets and hash browns) and got on the river. We went through a lot of fun rapids, and ended up finishing the day at Horseshoe Bend. The original plan had been to go another 4 miles, but people were ready to stop for the day.

Dinner was pho (noodle soup with meat and veggies), and it was delicious.

59 - 9/25 - Rogue (Day 1)

A lot of people run the Rogue River in Oregon - so many, in fact, that the Rogue requires permits during most of the year. Getting a permit for late September or early October is easy, because most people apply for earlier permits and people who want to run it later in the season will either grab cancellation permits or will wait for after the permit season. Personally, I really enjoy the late season permit times because the river tends not to be crowded. This trip was on the permit of some friends. We decided to do 5 days on the river, including 1 layover day.

I started out early on Thursday morning with my gear in the SUV and my boat on the trailer. I got to my friend's house and we switched trailers and loaded our boats. We decided for this trip that we would deflate our catarafts attached to the frames. This would allow us to save time later. Three of us took off and headed South. We stopped for a quick lunch, and then made it to Portland in the mid-afternoon to pick up the last person in our party. We then drove down to the Rogue put-in.

In the morning, we were able to inflate the boats on the trailer and take them off. I was a little frustrated setting up my boat because I changed from having a cooler to not having one. This might sound like a small thing, but it affected the way I had to load my boat and it slowed me down a bit. Still, everything got done and I was on my way. I did forget two things, though. I forgot my lunches back at home, and I forgot my water bottles in my car (which was already gone before I noticed it). Luckily, I had water and I could eat leftovers, so I just had to borrow a water bottle.

We got going down the river well before noon, and headed towards Rainey Falls. This rapid has 3 routes. The main falls was too big for our boats. The secondary route, called the Dory Chute, was the best option for the rafts and catarafts. The two IKs on the trip were destined for the Fish Ladder, which is the route with the least water and least danger. I got things started by getting one of the IKers to sit on the rock next to the Dory Chute. I went towards his position, and then took the sharp left turn into the chute. I shipped my oars and the boat went right down the rapid. When I was through, I parked on the other side and climbed up to watch everyone else. Some of our group had decided to scout first, and they walked over. Then came the dumb mistake of the day. A couple of us thought that the second IKer was going to run the Dory Chute, and we didn't want that. We tried to motion for her to go around, but then both IKers went and ran down the Fish Ladder. This meant that none of the other boats knew exactly where to go, and it slowed things down a lot. It took a lot of waving and yelling to finally get those boats moving.

All of the boats except for one had an easy time through the Dory Chute. One cataraft didn't make the turn quickly enough and ended up stuck in the entrance. It took about 10 minutes to get the boat free. The next weird situation was my doing. In order to get my boat out of where I parked it, I had to get down in the frame and push off rocks. This left me with no easy way to get back onto the seat. I tried the tricks I used to use, but my new frame is too narrow for that, so I had to hold on and float while everyone wondered where I was. Surprise!

Once we got past all of the fun at Rainey Falls, we headed down to camp. We were relieved to see that the camp we wanted was free and clear. We set up camp and cooked dinner. A friend and I had the first night, and we made curries (chicken, fish, and veggie) and rice. It was a great end to a fun day.

Hiking

Kayaking and rafting are my main form of exercise, and there are times during the year when I just don't get in as much boating. So, this year I decided to start hiking. I work at home and live near several great trails that are moderately hard, but interesting. In order to give myself a goal and allow me to do this during my work day, I limit my hiking time. I will drive up to 10 minutes to get to the trailhead, hike 30 minutes out, and then turn around.

For the first 4 weeks, I hiked the Rattlesnake Mountain trail. This starts with a flat hike for a few minutes and then heads up into the hills through the woods. The ultimate goal of this hike is Rattlesnake Ledge, which overlooks the lake and surrounding areas. Every week, I got further, but I don't think it's possible to get to the ledge in 30 minutes without running.

This week, I switched to the Twin Falls trail for some variety. This trail begins with a relatively flat trail, but then it gets steep. It then goes downhill and then back uphill. Eventually, it comes to a bridge over the falls. I didn't make it to the bridge this time, but I was within 2 minutes of it. Next time, I will be able to make it to the bridge. This trail is a lot steeper than Rattlesnake, and it was a bit tougher on my knees. As a result, I will probably hike Rattlesnake a few more times before going back to Twin Falls.

I also want to try the Mt. Si and Little Si trails. I realize that I won't get very far on these trails in just 30 minutes, but the point right now is the hike, not the destination.

58 - 9/13/09 - Upper Tieton

Since it was Sunday and we all needed to drive home, we opted for the short run on the Upper Tieton, leaving from the camp and going to Windy Point. Unlike the day before, we didn't have any incidents. Everyone had a great run. Checking later, I found that the flow was around 1900 cfs.

57 - 9/12/09 - Tieton "Full Pull"

Lee running the dam

This weekend there was road construction at the takeout. Luckily I left home 45 minutes early because when I got past the takeout, I had to wait 20 minutes. A group of us IKers decided to run from the uppermost put-in and run down to Tim's Ponds. This is about 19-20 miles on the river. On the shuttle, we ended up having to wait about 10 minutes on the way down and 10 minutes on the way back.

The uppermost put-in requires driving up past our camp and then driving on a rutted road by the river up to a high bank. You can see the dam from the river when you get in at this put-in. Starting at this point you get several extra class II+ and III rapids that are a lot of fun. Little did we know that the flow had been kicked up to around 1850 cfs, making things extra fun.

We met up with a raft at our camp and headed down. I mostly took conservative routes because a couple of people were nervous and wanted me to lead them. I got a 3-minute lead and took photos at the dam. After that, we pulled out at the usual lunch spot to regroup and then headed on to High Noon, which turned out to be very interesting.

One of my friends had challenged me to go over Tombstone, which is the rock in the middle of High Noon. I normally don't do this, but I decided that I would rather risk a swim than get ribbed by her. Well, I blew it. I was a foot too far left and when I came down I got spun sideways. A few seconds later, I went over, banging my head on the rock as I flipped. Luckily, I have a good helmet and I didn't suffer any damage (that you can prove), but I did let go of my paddle. I realized this and was able to hook it with my foot and get it back to me. At this point, it's worth mentioning that I have flipped here before and knew that I could stand up in the hole below Tombstone. I grabbed my boat and started to flip it over when another IK came over the top. This helped flip my boat over, but it put the other IKer in a precarious position. I grabbed the front of her boat and pulled her away from the pourover. A moment later, her husband came over the rock in his IK. A few seconds later, both of them were out of the rapid, just in time for another IK to come over the rock. Finally, I was able to push my boat downstream and hop in. Overall, my mistake only cost us about 30 seconds, so I was pretty happy with the outcome.

We continued down the run, and we planned to stop for lunch at Windy Point. Somehow, there was some confusion, and the raft stopped above this. When we tried to get over to them, one of the IKers flipped. I chased her down and tried to help her reflip her boat, but I couldn't do much and I had to deal with a rafter who was trying to help. The problem was that we were in fast current, and there was a strong possibility that the IKer or I would end up going under the raft. I told the rafter that we couldn't use his help. I guess he was annoyed by my words and my tone because he said "Well, enjoy your swim" and rowed away. I didn't mean to insult him (I apologized later), but he just wasn't in a good position to help us. A few seconds later, the IKer got her boat reflipped and she got back in. I had her paddle, and I got it back to her before there were any obstacles for her to worry about. We stopped for lunch and soon regrouped with the raft.

The rest of the run was easy and we had a great time.

Gauging the Sauk

There are 2 real-time gauges on the Sauk/Suiattle river system. The river system consists of several tributaries (from top to bottom): NF Sauk, SF Sauk, Whitechuck, Clear Creek, Suiattle, and several smaller creeks. The Sauk at Sauk gauge is the sum of all of these - it is located where the Sauk empties into the Skagit. The Sauk Above Whitechuck, or Upper Sauk gauge on the other hand, is just above the rapid named Rocky Road on the Upper Sauk, so it is the sum of the NF Sauk, SF Sauk, and a few small creeks.

The most popular run in this system is the Middle Sauk. This run begins where the Upper Sauk and Whitechuck come together. Some boaters still use the Sauk at Sauk flow to determine whether or not the Middle Sauk is runnable, but this isn't very accurate. In August and September, it can appear that this run has enough water, but it rarely does. Most of the water in the late summer comes down the Suiattle, which comes in several miles downstream of the takeout for this run. It's much more useful to use the Upper Sauk gauge. In general if that gauge from 750-2000, IKs can run it, and from 1000-2500 most rafts will be fine. It has been run higher.

The NF Sauk and SF Sauk are experts-only runs, so it's probably worth finding a local who is willing to drive up and take a look to see if the levels are good. Boaters running the Upper Sauk start out on the NF Sauk about 1/4 mile above the confluence. Small rafts and IKs can get through here at 750cfs, and the whole run is fine up to 2500 cfs. This run can be done much higher, but you need to be prepared for the Middle Sauk or a quick takeout at Whitechuck.

The Whitechuck is generally around 50% of the Upper Sauk, and is runnable at similar levels. This run isn't run very often because it can get filled with trees.

The Sauk and Suiattle are good choices for mid-summer camping trips. There are nice campsites on the Uppet Sauk, Middle Sauk, Lower Sauk, and Suiattle. It is possible to do 2-3 nights on the Sauk with a reasonable amount of good whitewater each day by starting on the Upper Sauk and continuing down, possibly past the Suiattle confluence.

56 - 9/7/09 - Middle Middle

What an unexpected surprise! Heavy rain brought the Middle Fork Snoqualmie up and we got on it at around 1300. The side creeks added quite a bit, and by the time we reached House Rocks, it felt like 1600. The muddy water made it seem even higher, but that was deceiving, and I got stuck a few times on rocks that I would normally avoid.

So far, this looks to be my lowest year on the Middle Middle since 2003, when I started running it again after an early bad start.

55 - 9/6/09 - Upper Tieton

This was a quickie run. Some friends came out for the day and we just ran the upper section. It was still raining hard on us, but it really didn't matter. We left at around 2:30 and got home in time for a BBQ.

54 - 9/5/09 - Upper & Lower Tieton

The weather on the Tieton is never consistent. It can be 90 one weekend, freezing the next, and 90 again the next weekend. This time, it was cool and rainy. I decided to take my cataraft over for the weekend because it will be crowded the following weekend and I'll want to take my IK.

I decided to wait for a group of IKers and ran with them down to Tim's Pond. I like doing the longer run, despite the easier rapids on the lower section.