80 - 12/25/2010 - Green River Headworks

One of my friends wanted to do a quick Christmas morning run. Originally, we planned to do the SF Snoqualmie, but the rain we expected didn't materialize, so we switched to the Green Headworks. It was cloudy, but not too cold, and the sun was peeking through the clouds. We had a nice run, and at the top of Ledge Drop 1, we saw a fisherman catching a big fish. Not far below this, I flipped again. This time it was due to going into a big hole and just not paddling - I guess I was thinking that my momentum was enough to carry me. It's time again to get aggressive with the paddling.

So now I'm hoping to get in a run this next week before the end of the year. I have a half day on Thursday and the day off on Friday. Time to Pray for Rain!

79 - 12/24/2010 - Green River Gorge

The flow was low (830 cfs), but with temperatures around 50 and a willing group of people, the Green was a great Christmas Eve inflatable kayak float. I had a great run through the upper gorge, including my best ever run through The Nozzle. Later, I flipped for the first time in months. The flip came near the end of Deja Vu. There's a spot where there are two rocks that normally form a bump and a hole, but at this flow they formed a hole backed up by an exposed rock. I tried to do a splat on the second rock and spin off, but the current came over the stern of the boat and pulled the back of the boat under and pushed me to the side. The boat went over and I had to prepare for the next drop, which was a shallow slide over a big rock. I got the boat flipped back over at the bottom and was able to get back in fairly quickly.

With this run, 2010 becomes my 3rd best year in terms of number of river days. To tie for second, I need two more runs.

78 - 12/18/2010 - Green River Gorge

View from Snow Cave

The previous weekend, there was a big storm that brought the river level way up on Sunday. The flow on the Green got as high as 6500 cfs. This day, however, the flow was 1400. We had a group of rafts, catarafts, and inflatable kayaks (more than what you see in the photo above). I had a good run without any incidents. For part of the run, I traded with one of the IKers so he could try out my boat.

The result of the high water the week before was that some old trees had been taken out, but some new trees had been deposited. A couple of these trees were in bad places in a rapid called Let's Make a Deal. This rapid has 3 routes. Door Number 1, which is the rightmost route, now has a tree across it. Door Number 2 has a tree on the downstream rock that is a problem at higher flows. Door Number 3, on the left, is clean, but this route is the toughest at low water.

77 - 12/11/2010 - Green River Gorge

Entering the Gorge

This was my second run with the new cat, and the first in the Green Gorge. It was a rainy day, temperature around 40, and the flow was around 1900. With the rain, the flow in the gorge would be a bit higher. We put in on the Headworks road, which adds a couple of miles to the trip. We had a group of 10 boats, mostly catarafts.

Overall, I had a solid run. The flow was on the high end for me in the little boat, but I think that as I get used to the boat I will be able to run higher. Of course, the other side of this is that I like running my big cataraft, and when the flow on the Green is above 2000, I'll want to take advantage of it.

We used a new lunch spot, which we are calling "Snow Cave". This is a place in the gorge a little ways below the rapid called Let's Make a Deal. There's a large eddy with a small beach and trees to tie off to, and a cave that provides shelter from the rain and snow.

I had one close call on this run. I ran the big hole at the top of the left side of Deja Vu. When I came out of the hole, my boat was turned sideways and I hit the wave coming off the wall pretty hard. This threw me onto the left side of the boat behind the seat, where I held on and had to struggle a little to get back in the boat.

The Wettest Week of the Year and no Boating

The week of Thanksgiving is usually one of the wettest weeks of the year, and this year was no exception. On Monday, we expected a couple of inches of snow. Instead, we got close to 10 inches. It took me 3 hours to get home that night. For the rest of the week, it was cold and we got a little more snow and some rain. It stayed cold enough that the snow has stayed around, and there has only been a little bit of melt. I had expected to get in as many as 4 days of boating, but in the end, I didn't boat at all.

Some people are still amazed that we boat in the winter. The key to winter boating is clothing. You need a drysuit and warm clothes to wear under it. If you keep your core warm, it's quite pleasant. For me, the worst situation is when the wind comes up. Strong winds can really make me cold.

76 - 11/20/2010 - Middle Middle

Russian Peaks from the Put-in

I had originally planned to run the Green in my new boat, but nobody responded to requests and some friends wanted to run the Middle Middle. The flow was around 1200, which was low for a cataraft, but still good enough for a first run.

Realistically, 1200 is not a great flow even for my small cataraft. It's more work looking for the channels and dealing with rocks. I don't like to run my big cataraft on the Middle Middle at under 2000 cfs, and I think I'll prefer to run the smaller one at 1400-2500.

The run was fun. I got stuck a few times, but that was no big deal, especially since half of them were intentional. Getting the little boat out of trouble is pretty easy. I took the steep drops whenever possible, and the boat was stable and quick. I'm looking forward to lots more runs in the new boat!

New Boat!

Cubby

In 2009, I developed shoulder problems for a while. I got several pieces of advice, including using shorter oars and getting a smaller boat. A smaller boat would have all kinds of advantages. I could carry it more easily by myself. It would be a great winter boat for when the water is low but I don't feel like kayaking. It would even be fun for overnight runs when I just need to carry a small amount of gear. I decided that I would put together a small cataraft in 2010.

The first step was to get a frame. I wanted my frame to be the same basic size as my existing frame, but without the cargo area in the back. I knew that Dave Nissen would be busy making frames, so in October of 2009, I called him up and ordered the frame. His estimate was that it would be ready at the end of January, but in the end it wasn't in my hands until the end of May. That was fine, since I really had no idea what tubes I would be buying. In various conversations with Dave, he suggested that I consider an 11' Sotar Legend. This is a small, but very maneuverable setup.

In July, a friend of mine got a set of standard 12'6" Sotar Legend tubes, which are 22.5" in diameter. I tried these tubes out a few times, and found them to be bigger than I wanted. I then tried some smaller tubes, and finally settled on a set of 11'x20" Sotar Legend tubes. I ordered these in early October of 2010.

The boat arrived in mid-November. I was able to put it together an about an hour, though I still need to get the final matching straps made for it.

75 - 11/13/2010 - Skykomish

I admit it. The main run on the Skykomish scares me. When I first moved to Washington, I ran the Sky and swam all of Boulder Drop. I didn't get hurt. I didn't lose any gear. But I still get scared running that rapid.

We had a fairly large group, and I was running my purple cataraft. The water level was just barely high enough for that boat, and I got stuck a few times in the early rapids.

When we got to Boulder Drop, we all stopped to allow some people to scout, and then 4 of us went ahead and ran the rapid while they watched. I went into the entry very fast and ended up spinning around backwards at the bottom. I made a quick decision to run the Needle, rather than going around to Airplane Turn. I hit the Needle with a right angle, which caused me to get pushed onto the Dragon's Back, which is a big rock that sticks up. I had some trouble getting my right oar out of the water, and once I did, I had to make sure I didn't go in front of someone else, so I waited. When I saw the next boat go by, I spun off the rock and finished the rapid. If sloppy is a style, I styled the rapid. In any case, I did make it. I hope that someday this rapid won't scare me so much.

The rest of the run was much easier, and I spent more time playing. One thing I try to do a lot when I'm on rapids I know fairly well is to try to get myself in minor trouble and then get out of it. That is, I'll get myself stuck or go into a big hole and then work my way out of the situation. I think that in the long run, this will help me on new runs.

74 - 11/6/2010 - Middle Middle

We started the week with a huge storm, but by the weekend the flows had dwindled. A lot of people went over to the Skykomish, but I decided to stay local and do a quick Middle Middle run with a couple of friends.

I took my Aire Outfitter (now named "Derbus") to get some practice for the future. The boat is fine, but it's a lot heavier than my Wing and it's not as easy to carry. I need to work on some kind of shoulder harness to make it easier.

73 - 10/31/2010 - Green River Gorge

Halloween on the Green was a bit lighter than the day before. The group consisted of 3 IKs. The weather was nicer than the day before, and the flow was about 150 cfs lower, so it all equaled out.

With 73 runs, this year moved into 4th place, and there are still 8 weeks to go.

72 - 10/30/2010 - Green River Gorge

I was still recovering from a cold that kept me from boating the weekend before, but the Green was calling. The flow was around 1200 cfs, and we had a pretty big group of IKers - 8 in all - and a riverboarder. Once again, we used my trailer to make it a little easier to move the kayaks fully inflated. I had a good, solid run with no real problems.

71 - 10/16/2010 - Green River Headworks

(OK, so I'm way behind, but trying to catch up could make things worse, so I'll just continue.)

It wasn't a promising looking weekend, but at least the Green was running around 800, so a group of us decided to run the Headworks. I hadn't run the Headworks for quite a while - we mostly do it when we have beginners or if it's running 600-700, which is not so great for a Gorge run. We had a group of 4 IKs and a hardshell. The plan was to do laps in the park, so I brought my trailer. In the end, we just ran two laps of the whole run. It was a nice day, and a fun little trip.

70 - 10/10/2010 - SF Snoqualmie

The rain arrived with a vengeance and brought some of the rivers way up. I hadn't been planning to run, but some people wanted to practice on the SF Snoqualmie, and since it's so close I couldn't help myself.

The logistics of this trip was a bit of a nightmare, and I'm going to take this opportunity to clear the air about something. There are some people who think they are being "laid back". They complain that other people are "in a hurry" and should just relax. In my opinion, these people are just plain rude. I'm not in a hurry - I'm just efficient. It doesn't take me forever to blow up my boat and get it ready. I leave the house at least partially dressed to get on the river, or I arrive early so I have a little extra time to change. If you can't get to the meeting place on time, get your stuff together, and get going quickly, don't waste everyone else's time. I do not find it pleasant to hang around a parking lot. I want to get on the river.

Anyway, one good thing about this trip is that I got to try out an 11x20 Sotar Legend, and I decided to order one this size. One other bad thing about this trip was that I was testing out my recently-repaired drysuit and didn't check the relief zipper. Luckily, I didn't swim and I didn't get wet until the very end of the trip. Ugh.

69 - 10/9/2010 - Green Gorge

Me and Mini-Me

The forecast promised a lot of rain, but it arrived late, so we took advantage of a reasonable flow on the Green to run the gorge. There were a handful of IKs and a couple of small catarafts on the trip. A friend let me use her little 9x16 cat (aka, "Mini-Me") on the last third of the run. That was a lot of fun! As you can see from the photo, the boat is tiny. My feet were just barely out of the water, the oars hit my knees, and it was impossible to straddle rocks unless I stood on them. Still, it showed me what I could do with a small boat.

Schmafters

A few months ago, someone made a comment on Facebook that is was finally "rafting season". My response was "Rafting season, schmafting season!". In Washington, it's possible to do whitewater boating every month of the year. You don't need 90 degrees and sunny weather to enjoy yourself. I'm just as happy boating the Green in December with snow on the ground and icicles hanging from the walls at Paradise as I am running the White Salmon in July.

Thus we have:

schmaft - verb, to run whitewater only when the weather is nice
schmafter - noun, a person who only runs whitewater when the weather is nice

To call a boater a schmafter is an insult. It's almost as bad as calling an inflatable kayak a "duckie". :-)

68 - 9/27/2010 - Rogue (Day 5)

Leaving Camp for the Takeout

Normally, we try to get an early start for the takeout, but nobody was in a hurry, so we got a late start. I switched with one of the IKers, so I made good time to the takeout, but we still didn't reach it until nearly 1PM. We got the gear loaded and the groover cleaned and finally left for home after 3PM. I got other people to drive, so I was able to nap. We got home well after midnight, so I left my gear on the trailer and picked it up the following day.

Lesson learned: Discuss the takeout plans with everyone the night before.

67a - 9/26/2010 - Rogue (Day 4 - layover)

Using the Zing for Shade

The night before, the breakfast people announced that breakfast would start at 9AM the next day. In reality, most of us couldn't sleep in that late, and breakfast was mostly over by 9AM. We hung around camp for a while and set up the Zing tarp as a shade.

A few of us hiked up to Tate Creek with the intention of the new folks going down the slide. The hike up the creek trail has gotten tougher over the years because of erosion and lack of maintenance. After getting to the slide, we opted to take the creek bed route back down.

In the afternoon, we played games (pinochle and dominoes) and then had pho for dinner.

67 - 9/25/2010 - Rogue (Day 3)

Mule Creek Canyon

I got up early and packed up so I could help with breakfast (bagels with lox and other toppings) and get going. I pushed out ahead of everyone else and made it to Mule Creek Campground a bit earlier than the group. After a nice lunch of salmon salad sandwiches, I headed out with the couple who were handling dinner. As we headed into Mule Creek Canyon, we were a little bunched up, so I slowed down and still tried to get some photos of the people ahead of me. Mule Creek Canyon is a lot more interesting when you have to run it slowly.

People caught up with us in Mule Creek Canyon, and the people I was with decided to scout Blossom Bar. I waited and ran it with people watching. I had a lousy run, hitting every rock, but I still made it through OK. Below Blossom Bar, we pushed off towards camp. We were hoping for Middle Tacoma, or possibly Upper Tate Creek. Upper Tate Creek was already taken, but the beach there has gotten much smaller, so it's not as desirable. Middle Tacoma was also taken, so we took Lower Tacoma, which turned out to be a very nice camp. It has easier beach access, and it has more options for camping if you don't mind walking a little bit.

Dinner was fish tacos, which were really good after a long day of rowing.

After dinner, we were all sitting around the "fire" (which was actually a fake propane fire that looks really nice) when we heard a noise from the river side. We had seen bears on the other side of the river that afternoon, and someone said it was a bear. The person next to me jumped up and yelled "BEAR! Go away!". A moment later, the "bear" stood up - it was actually one of our group who had fallen returning from the river. I think she was more scared than we were.

66 - 9/24/2010 - Rogue (Day 2)

In the Upper Canyons

We had a pleasant night, and it would turn out to be another sunny day. We headed out reasonably early and pushed our way through the upper canyons. The rapids were fun, and not too difficult. We pulled over for lunch below Windy Creek, and then headed down river into the first "lake". At the end of the lake was Battle Bar, where we set up camp for the night.

I had never camped at Battle Bar before. It's a very different camp. The beach is small and rocky and not very conducive to a big group. Most of the camping is about 50 feet above the river, and you have to climb a steep trail to get there. One of the advantages to Battle Bar being a rarely-used camp is that it still had an outhouse, so we didn't have to carry the groover all the way up there. Speaking of the groover, we tried out a new "groover key" system on this trip. I put the toilet supplies (paper, etc.) in a red drybag. We leave the red bag near the kitchen, and when someone needs to go to the groover, they take the bag with them. When someone wants to go to the bathroom, they first have to get the "key", which avoids embarrassment.

This evening was my night for dinner. The meal was jasmine rice with panang salmon curry with spinach and green beans. I had pre-cooked the salmon, and brought bottled curry sauce. This made it much easier to cook the meal. I had brought more than enough rice, but my cooking partner wasn't sure, so we ended up cooking about twice as much as we needed to. We also had nan (Indian bread), which we heated on a griddle. At one point, I burned a couple of fingers, which was painful. Luckily, ice really did help. Only one finger blistered, and the blister eventually went away.

65 - 9/23/2010 - Rogue (Day 1)

Almost Ready to Go!

The Rogue has become a late summer tradition for me. In 2006 and 2007, a group of us ran it in early October. We found that it was easy to get a permit and there weren't a lot of other people on the river. After skipping 2008 because of scheduling conflicts, some people started putting in for late September permits. It's just as uncrowded, but the weather is usually nicer.

I had a tough time getting started on this trip. I couldn't find several items, which was frustrating, though nothing was critical. Also, with 15 people to feed, there was a lot more meal preparation for my dinner night. We got into camp just after dark the night before.

In the morning, we tried to get an early start, but a flat tire on the trailer slowed us down. I was glad that we had pre-rigged and deflated our catarafts, since that made them much easier to set up. I did learn one lesson - make sure people don't tighten the boat straps on the trailer.

We got going quickly enough, and headed down the river. I got ahead to take photos at Graves Creek Falls. We had one swimmer, but otherwise everyone made it fine. As we approached Rainey Falls, I changed my mind several times about running the Dory Chute, which is one of the options. In the end, I ran the Dory Chute and I did fine. It was the right option for me. As I was waiting for people below the rapid, an overturned canoe came towards me and I grabbed the rope and wrestled the boat to shore. The owners were thankful.

We got to Whiskey Creek campground, which was the campground we used the year before, but the trip leader decided that we should push on for another hour or so. We finally stopped at Tyee Bar, just below Tyee rapid. This campsite has a long beach, which was ideal for our large group. One of the people in the group told me that something very interesting was coming down the river. I saw it as it came around the corner - a raft was carrying a smaller, orange version of my Wing inflatable kayak. These boats are very rare, and I am still looking for another one like mine.

64 - 9/19/2010 - Tieton

Rafting in the Rain

We got going pretty early because of the weather. I needed to get home to pack for the upcoming Rogue trip. A friend dropped my SUV off at the takeout and I got in a quick run before heading home.

The Tieton season ended up being a little short this year. By the time I returned from the Rogue, the river levels were dropping quickly.  The reservoir will likely refill very quickly in 2011, so the Tieton might be available at other times next year.

63 - 9/18/2010 - Tieton

The weekend after the WRRR Tieton Rally is the Tieton Oregon Weekend, when we get together with the Oregon rafting clubs. One of the big parts of this event is a pot luck dinner. At the end of the day of boating, we all get together and have a huge meal together.

I brought my IK and brought a spare IK for a friend. We had a fun day of boating, though it was rainy and cool all weekend.

It was great to see the Oregon folks I knew and meet a few more. It started raining a bit at the potluck, so I brought out my wing tarp to  give people a place to sit out of the rain. That worked out very well. The one really funny aspect to the potluck was the tables. We were supposed to have tables, but the person in charge couldn't get them, so people had to bring whatever they had. It was a very interesting step-up, step-down pattern through the line. The food was excellent - in particular, my friend Lyles made a killer chile verde that everyone enjoyed.

62 - 9/12/2010 - Tieton

On this day, a group of us (including David Delfiner and Lisa Parsons) decided to head up and run the extended run. This is a bit of extra work, but it's fun. There are an additional 5 or 6 really fun rapids up there.

61 - 9/11/2010 - Tieton

Earlier in the week, my SUV broke down. I had originally planned to take my frame and try out some small cat tubes, but this wasn't going to work out. I almost didn't go at all, but then some friends volunteered to take my boating gear in their truck so I could drive my little car.

I took the opportunity to try out my 4-person umbrella tent. I have been using a 2-person umbrella tent for a couple of years, and I really like it. The 4-person tent was roomier, but it's harder to put up and take down. In particular, it takes a lot more work to put up the rain fly, which is one of the key advantages to my other tent. I estimate that I can put up my 2-person tent, including the rain fly, in about 3 minutes without hurrying. The 4-person tent takes about 3 minutes just to set up the main tent tightly enough to put on the rain fly, and the rain fly is big enough that it can take 5 minutes to get properly set up. Of course, the big advantage of the larger tent is that if it is raining, I can get in the middle of it and not need to worry that the rain fly is tight. I will probably only bring out the larger tent on trips where I know I'll have lots of room and time to set it up.

We had nice weather, and we did 2 runs.

60 - 9/5/2010 - Tieton

The Sestak Family

The second day of Labor Day weekend, I took a 12'6" Sotar Legend cataraft with my new frame. It was a lot of fun running this boat.

For some reason - maybe it was my back still being a little sore, or maybe just not wanting to put up with traffic - I ended up leaving on Sunday and going back home.

59 - 9/4/2010 - Tieton

Below the Put-in

Every summer, I look forward to running the Tieton. It's not a particularly exciting run, but it is a lot of fun and I get to experiment with different boats. One of the side benefits is that I get to listen to a couple of audio books in the car, because each week there's at least 5 hours of driving to and from the river.

The weather at the Tieton is predictably unpredictable, or maybe it's unpredictably predictable. It will probably be really hot one weekend, and it will probably rain really hard one weekend, and it will probably be really cold one weekend, but there's no way to know when this will happen. I've been there Labor Day weekend and half froze to death, and another year sweated the whole weekend.

This year, I brought a couple of boats to try out. On this first day, I brought the Aire Outfitter, which had recently been modified some more. I had a friend add D-rings to allow me to raise up the backrest a bit. This made a big difference.

58 - 9/1/2010 - Middle Middle

Lyles in House Rocks

I had to take a few weeks off from boating. Before the Poker Run, my back had already been hurting badly, and I needed to rest it. The weekend after the Poker Run, an old friend visited from New York. The weekend after that, I went to the beach with another friend. After that, my dad came to visit me for a couple of weeks. On 9/1, my dad was still around, but he graciously let me take a long lunch to go and run the Middle Middle with Lyles.

A sudden rainstorm had brought the flow up to 2500 cfs. I called Lyles in the morning and we figured that if we hit the river by 11:30, the flow would still be over 2000. We jumped on it and had a great time. My back felt good and I paddled hard.

57 - 8/8/2010 - Skagit

Nolan in the S-Bends

The second day of the Poker Run weekend I like to change things up and get in an early run. This time, I let a different person use my catboat, and I used Brian's tubes with my new frame. The tubes are kind of big (12'6"x22.5"), but it turns out that my frame is almost too short for the tubes. I'll keep that in mind for when I decide on what to buy.

Nolan and I did a quick morning run and I was home by mid-afternoon.

56 - 8/7/2010 - Skagit Poker Run

Homer, me, Lyles, and Dari

My back had been bothering me, so I took a few weeks off from boating. My original plan was to use Brian's cat tubes with my frame, so I loaned my catboat to someone else. I ended up taking my IK, which was fine since the flow wasn't that high. Usually, I start the Poker Run weekend by running the Sauk as an overnighter, but I'm having to save up my vacation for January, so I didn't arrive until Saturday morning. I took my time because for the first time in 7 years I wasn't involved in running the event.

The run was fine. Several people switched boats. The person who borrowed my catboat decided they didn't like it, and there was more switching around, but I stayed in my IK. As you can see from the picture above, I went as a frog. My niece got the hood for me when she was in Japan, and I wore it the whole day. That part was lots of fun. It's easy to meet people when you look goofier than usual.

I had lousy poker hands, but won a couple of small prizes. I screwed up my potluck dish and ended up saving it and eating it for dinner the next night. I'll have to make a simpler dish next time. The one good thing was that I got my new Zing tarp. We used it to help protect the potluck tables from the rain.

55 - 7/18/2010 - Middle Sauk

Brian's new boat

 

We had a few more folks join us for Sunday. My friend Brian had just gotten a new set of cataraft tubes, and I let him borrow my frame (I had a new frame, but wasn't planning to get tubes for it until later in the year).

We had a very interesting run. There were no problems until we got to Whirlpool. One IKer flipped near the top, followed by the other, and they both got to swim the entire rapid. Near the end of the run, I got to try out the Aire Panther. It felt very weird, but it was a stable boat.

54 - 7/17/2010 - Middle Sauk

Aire Panther

My back was starting to bother me a bit more, but I decided that I could take my catboat out on the Middle Sauk. I met up with some old friends and some new friends, and we had a nice day on the river. One of the new people had a very interesting boat - an Aire Panther. This is a 14' cataraft with double tubes. It's very wide, and relatively short.

We went out to dinner after the run, and then went and camped at the put-in so we could boat again the next day.

53 - 7/11/2010 - Upper Klickitat

Basalt wall on the Upper Klickitat

Normally, we would have done a second day on the White Salmon, but some of the people on the trip had come from very far away and it was worth doing another run nearby. The Klickitat flow was medium-low but was still fine for IKs, and probably better for a first run. We had met a couple the day before who wanted to do the run with us.

We chose a takeout that cut off the last hour or so of mostly flatwater, and then headed up to the put-in. The run started off with no real problems. We got to a place where there had been a river-wide log when I ran this back in the Spring, and I saw people pulling over to the right bank. I figured people were going to portage, but then I realized that the log was gone and one person had lost the backrest out of his boat and it was floating downstream. This was one of the people we had just met. I pulled over and he walked up to me and said "I'm done. I'm walking out". I responded "There's no walking out. Look behind you. There's a 200 foot cliff to the road, which is probably a mile away. Look behind me. There's a 50 foot cliff with nothing beyond it". After a couple of minutes of discussion, I convinced him that he had to continue.

Not long after this, someone flipped and lost a paddle. We had 2 spares in the group, so that took care of one. A little later, another person broke a paddle, so we had no more spares. Luckily, not far above the fish hatchery, I saw the lost paddle floating in an eddy and I was able to retrieve it.

This was my 3rd run on the Klickitat, and I always run the fish hatchery dam. I had never seen it at low water, and I didn't realize how many rebar spikes are actually sticking out. I was able to locate a route wide enough for my boat, but it was close.

The rest of the day was easy and we all had a great time. I did hear that the couple who went with us sold their kayaks the next week, but I'm hoping that it was to buy better kayaks, and not because they were quitting.

52 - 7/10/2010 - White Salmon

The IK crew

Every July, WRRR goes to the White Salmon. As usual, I drove down to Vancouver, WA the night before and stayed in a hotel. This makes the drive easier, since it's only a couple of hours to the put-in on Saturday morning. I took 84 (in Oregon) over to Hood River and crossed rather than taking the slow and winding 14 in Washington.

We had a good flow - a little higher than usual - and some people were nervous. We had a couple of people flip in the first rapid, but it really wasn't a big deal. Once everyone got their minds into the game, we pushed through and had a great time.

51 - 7/8/2010 - Middle Middle

Karie and Mark in their catboats

We had 2 cats and 3 IKs. We got a little bit of a late start, but that's not a big deal in July.

River Flow Disagreements

I was running the Sauk River and got into a conversation about the river flow. I had been watching the river flow, and I knew that the flow was dropping, but one person was sure it had come up since the day before. He had convincing evidence - when he ran it the day before, there were rocks that were not covered that were covered the next day. The only problem was that he was wrong. Both of the gauges showed that the river had come down somewhat significantly, and there was no reason to think that the river had come up. It wasn't hotter and the rain had stopped the day before.

I realized that this wasn't an uncommon situation. Many times I've heard people say that a river was higher or lower, and then checking the gauge showed that the flow was unchanged or had changed in the opposite direction. In most cases I can recall, people said that the flow had come up when it had in fact gone down.

A similar discussion came a couple of weeks later, when someone claimed that the Wenatchee had been lower a year earlier. The estimate was that this year the flow was very high, while it had been about 3000 cfs lower the year before. In fact, just the opposite was true.

I believe that this phenomenon is caused by people associating high water with difficulty, while some rivers can actually get easier at some higher flows. Rapids will "wash out" - holes turn into waves, waves stop breaking, and new routes open up that aren't as hard. Another factor is the "fractal" nature of rivers - rivers have similar characteristics as they get larger and smaller.

I've gotten to the point where I no longer argue about it. I just gather the opinions people have and then check out the information available when I get home.

50 - 6/27/2010 - Middle Sauk

50 boating days before the end of June is a new record! Before I moved to Washington, 50 days in a year was that best I had ever done.

The campers from the day before got up and met up with the other folks running the river. We had a mid-sized group - 4 catarafts, 5 inflatable kayaks, and a hardshell kayak. The flow had dropped a little from the day before, but was still a fun flow. The first few rapids were a good warmup, and there was plenty of space in Alligator to miss the big hole at the bottom. I was the only one to run right at Six of One, but I didn't really understand why the others went left - oh well, six of one... One of the IKers swam, and decided to trade with a rafter through Jaws and Graveyard.

The IKers mostly ran left at Jaws. I bombed down the center, which I find is the easiest line even though it doesn't look like it. We had one swimmer at Graveyard, but once everyone was gathered up, we were ready for Whirlpool. This is my favorite rapid on the run. We run the right channel, which starts with a couple of big holes, followed by a fast wavetrain, and ending in the end of the whirlpool. We stopped here for lunch.

After lunch, we continued down through the easier rapids. We had a few more minor IK swims, but things went fine otherwise. At the takeout, we were met with an odd situation. Three young guys had swum to the island next to the bridge earlier in the day, but had gotten stuck. They planned to swim back to shore, which should have been easy, but the strong current had swept one of them downstream to an island. We helped get the other two to shore at the takeout, but they had to call for help to get their friend off the island.

49 - 6/26/2010 - Upper Sauk

Can we get a few more red boats out here?

One of my friends wanted to try out her new mini-cataraft, and the Upper Sauk seemed like a good place to do this. The flow was around 2100 cfs and it was a nice sunny day. I met a group of 6 other people and we headed up to the put-in.

After getting our boats rigged, we started down the river. Everyone had a great run at the first big rapid, and it looked like we were on our way. As we headed down into the first few rapids, someone signaled for me to pull over. This was in the middle of a set of rapids, and there was no good place to eddy out where we could get all six boats in, so I had to go through a couple more rapids to find a good stopping place.

It turned out that one of the people in the group was feeling sick and couldn't continue safely. After some discussion, we were able to reorganize people and boats, strapping an inflatable kayak to the back of my cataraft, and continue.

At 2100 cfs, the rapids are splashy and fun, but it's easy to find routes through the rapids. We made it to the last rapid and almost everyone had an easy time - the remaining IKer flipped and swam the last section of the final rapid.

After handling the shuttle, we went out for dinner and most of us found a place to camp for the night so we could do another run in the morning.

48 - 6/25/2010 - Upper Middle

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by someone in town who wanted to find a commercial outfitter to take him and his wife down the river near their house. I volunteered to take them on the Upper Middle, which is a really pretty run a few miles upstream.

On this day, the flow and weather were perfect for first-timers. Sadly, the wife didn't realize she would be running a boat alone, and she wasn't confident that she would be able to steer properly, so she didn't go with us.

As usual, I had a fun time helping a new boater and getting to run the river.

47 - 6/24/2010 - Middle Middle

With the low snowpack, we really didn't expect the Middle Middle to be in the high teens this late in June, but the flow was nearly 1700 cfs. Homer, Lyles, and I did an earlier than usual put-in, meeting at 4:30. The weather was nice and sunny, but not too hot.

No matter how many times I do this run, I have a good time.

46 - 6/20/2010 - Lower Entiat River

 After such a nice day, it was completely unexpected to have a rainstorm, so we hadn't packed away our gear before going to bed. At 4:30AM, I heard the tap-tap-tap of rain on the roof of my SUV, and I got up to deal with it. Luckily, I had a big tarp with me, so I just grabbed the clothes on the line, added them to the gear pile, and covered it all up.

In the morning, it was still raining, but it slowed to a drizzle as everyone got up. We hit the road at 9AM and headed for the Lower Entiat, about an hour away. We dropped off my SUV at the takeout and headed up to the put-in. On the way up, we checked for hazards. There was a fish trap at the hatchery, and we made sure we could recognize the area from the river.

It took us a while to find the put-in, though the owners have made it a lot easier to access the river. We still had to deal with the owners and neighbors, who have had problems with some people trashing the area next to the river. They graciously allowed us to use their access, and we got ready quickly.

The Lower Entiat at 1170 cfs is a lot faster and more active than I expected. There are long nonstop sections of class II+ with some places bordering on class III. If there were logs in this run, they could be very troublesome, but luckily for us this wasn't a problem. The Mad River comes in a couple of miles from the start, adding to the flow and to the excitement.

When we got near the hatchery, there were signs warning us and advising us to exit the river. I recognized the area, and we were able to easily get around the fish trap. A few miles later, I didn't do as good of a job. There are several weirs on the river, built a long time ago by ranchers and farmers in the area. At one point, the river splits at a bridge. The left side is blind, but the right side had a log-choked weir. I chose the right side because I thought we needed to be on that side for the takeout.

We had plenty of time to go back if we needed to, so I continued down and found that there was a clear slot in the middle of the weir. That part was easy, but just below it there was a jumble of rocks that made the route more challenging. In the end, nobody had any problems, but I still think that the left side is the better route.

The takeout on this run is also a bit challenging. We had to stage at a big eddy, and then go across a fast-moving channel to a small takeout eddy next to a steep path on the bank. This proved to be easy for us, but it was still important for us to handle it this way.

After the shuttle, it was time to say goodbye and head home. I had 9 new runs under my belt, and great memories of the Whirlwind IK Tour 2010.

45 - 6/19/2010 - Methow River

 Cody on the Methow

Despite the fact that my friends do this run every year, this was my first run on the Methow. I didn't know what to expect. I had the impression that it was a big water river like the Wenatchee, and that it had one really hard rapid, known as the Black Canyon. On the way down to the takeout, we scouted this rapid and another big rapid below it. They both looked big, but not difficult to deal with. The flow was average for this run, about 6100 cfs.

The run started out easy enough. The rapids were mostly just big wave trains without many distinctive features. When we came to the Black Canyon, we were all a little nervous, but everyone made it through without any problems. There was a slightly tricky entrance, but below that there was plenty of room to maneuver.

The next big rapid was Staircase, which Lee described as being like Snowblind on the Wenatchee. For some reason, most of us went right, but there is a nice clean route right down the middle. Below this was our lunch stop.

After a couple more rapids, we came to the second one we had scouted. This was a giant minefield of holes leading into a hard left turn with several huge waves and holes on the outside. The preferred run was to start right and then move left in the turn. All but one of us made the move - one swimmer got bumped out of his boat and had to try a few times to get back in, but was fine. The rest of the run was just splashy wave trains.

After the shuttle, we headed up to a free campground nearby. There was nobody else around, so we had our pick of campsites. That should have meant spending time finding the best site, but we really just took the first partly shady one we came to. A few minutes after we started setting up camp, someone noticed a better camp across the road, next to a creek. I checked it out and decided it was worth moving. The camp was a little trashy from the previous tenants, but with a little work it was fine.

Up to this point, I haven't really talked much about the weather. Before this day, we had cloudy days and a couple of drizzly days, but this day was sunny and hot. When we got to camp, it was around 80 degrees. This would turn out to be important later on...

44 - 6/18/2010 - Lower Similkameen River

 Below the Ledge

We headed back to the US via Oroville and met a new boating friend (Brent) across the border. We all headed to the takeout, just a few minutes away, and then consolidated to go to the put-in.

Lee's description of this run was all over the map. There was supposedly a "portage from hell" followed by some class III rapids, but maybe a class IV rapid. Lee had done the run before at about 8000 cfs, and we had 8600 cfs, but that extra 7% could make a huge difference in the lower canyon.

The first half of the run was wide and slow, but a little pushy. The sides of the river still show signs of mining in the area. After a while, the river slowed into the lake above the dam. We pulled over and found the portage trail.

The portage wasn't really all that bad - mostly because it wasn't all that hot. It started with about 100 yards of carrying our boats on a road and a wide path. Then, Lee and I carried his boat down to the river, over some huge basalt boulders. While we did this, Brent found a slightly steeper, but easier, path that they could hand my boat down to me.

During the portage, we passed the dam - a 50-foot drop that lead into a smaller, but still nasty class V rapid. There is a possibility that the dam will be taken out, but the rapid will most likely still require a portage for most people.

We took a short break and then continued. The first rapid was a huge wave train, with several 10-foot waves. The next couple of rapids were also big class III drops, and the canyon began to narrow. We pulled over to scout the big ledge rapid. We could see most of the rapid from above, but there didn't seem to be a completely clean way through. We were going to have to trust that the route we planned would work. In the end, there was a route to the far right that made this rapid easier, but it was still a monster.

Below the ledge rapid, the canyon narrowed more and boils came up. Lee flipped when a boil turned into a whirlpool and tossed him around. The boils made going difficult and interesting. One moment you could be in a simple current, and the next a whirlpool could develop right in front of you.

After a couple more miles, we got to the takeout and loaded up. We ran the shuttle and then headed south. We eventually made it to the town of Winthrop, and then went up to camp by the Chewuch River, which was our potential next run. We went to Twisp to get dinner and meet the rest of our party. At dinner, we decided that the Chewuch was going to be too high for some of the group, so we switched to the Methow.

43 - 6/17/2010 - Upper Similkameen River

In the morning, we once again got up and headed for Canada. We crossed the border at Midway, which is a very small stop. I don't know if the guard was worried about us or just bored, but he sure asked a lot of questions and seemed to try to be tricky with them. It took us a few hours to get to our destination. On the way, we stopped to look at Spotted Lake, which was something I had been wanting to see.

Spotted Lake

We got to the takeout at around noon and dropped off my rig. We checked out the usual put-in, and decided to see if we could put in higher up. We found an easy access that added a couple of miles of river and a few nice rapids.

Lee had run this section before at higher water, and we expected a couple of rapids to be very hard, but the lower water seemed to have made a big difference. The hardest rapid, which we expected to be a hard class III rapid, actually had a class I line through it. I didn't mean to miss all of the fun stuff, but I ended up just floating through the rapid.

After the run, we looked for a campsite next to the river. The highway made it a little noisy, but it didn't really detract from the experience. We scoured the woods for firewood (not easy - this place was pretty picked-over) and had a nice campfire for the evening.

42 - 6/16/2010 - Upper and Lower Granby River

I have rafted in the US and in Australia, and I had IKed in the US, but never in another country. On this day, I finally got to change that when we went to Canada to IK the Granby River. We loaded up and headed out in the morning for the 60-mile drive over the border and to the river. This was the first time I had crossed the border since having to use a passport, and it took a few minutes to get through.

We had been warned not to run the Upper Granby. The reason for this is that the takeout is right next to a class III rapid, and not far below a class III- rapid. If someone swam, they might have a problem making the takeout, which could mean a hike out of the Granby Canyon below. However, when we got to the takeout, we realized that this was not going to be a problem. There was plenty of opportunity to get out, even if someone missed the main takeout.

A local hardsheller had come along with us, and he acted as our wood probe. This turned out to be unnecessary, but it made it easier for us. The river is very fast, and there were several places where the rapids went noticeably downhill. The river is continuous class II+ with a couple of easy class III rapids that can be made more difficult by choosing challenging lines.

The run was over very quickly. It was actually about 2 hours, but if felt like much less. At the takeout, the hardsheller decided to run the extra rapid. He had to roll at the bottom, and he missed the initial takeout eddy, but he had plenty of time to get out.

While the other guys ran the shuttle, I reorganized my straps and started loading the kayaks onto the top of the SUV. It took longer because I had to spend a bit of time fighting the mosquitos. Once Lee returned, we headed down to do the shuttle for the Lower Granby. When we got to the takeout, we discussed the problem that the lower run might end near dark. We decided to cut off the last 4 miles, reducing the run to 7 miles. In the end, this wasn't necessary, but the cold and rain made it worthwhile.

The Lower Granby is class II, though we added a harder rapid by putting in on Burrell Creek, a major tributary of the river. The general character of the river is fairly flat, but quickly moving. There are a lot of trees in and around the river, but none blocking. There were places where the river looked almost exactly like the Upper Sauk in NW Washington.

After the shuttle, we decided not to stay and camp near the Granby. By the time we got food and returned to camp, it would be late, and we could get back to Lee's house in the same amount of time. We took a side trip to see Kettle Falls, which is a huge and nasty looking waterfall on the Kettle River. After that, we headed back to Republic.

41 - 6/15/2010 - Sanpoil River

The Sanpoil (or San Poil) is a river nobody has heard of except for the locals. Some parts of the river go through private land, and the landowners do not want people kayaking through it (and some will threaten you with violence if you try). The section we kayaked is on tribal land and the local kayakers have informal permission from the natives to do the run. So, we got a group together and headed out.

The Sanpoil starts out swift and splashy with lots of easy class II rapids. The road is nearby, but with hardly anyone on it, it's hard to notice. On river left is a basalt mountain range, with small cliffs sometimes coming up to the river.

One of the weird things about this river is the color. I've run lots of muddy rivers, but they tend to be a light, silty tan color. The Sanpoil is a dark brown, almost like root beer, but it doesn't seem to be very dirty. The river comes out of the mountains and spends a lot of time meandering through a swamp. Our theory is that the color comes from the plants in the swamp - kind of a river "tea".

About 2 miles above the takeout, the river becomes significantly more active. There is a fish fence to prevent an invasive species of bass from coming up the river. When this fence was originally installed, it made a river-wide hazard that required special attention. Luckily for us, the fence was not made all that sturdy, and part of it had fallen down.

As we worked our way down the final, fast portion of the run, our group spread out a bit. This made things a bit confusing for me. I needed to follow the leaders so I wouldn't miss the takeout, but the people behind me were trying to slow down to make sure the last person was OK. As I came around one corner, I saw some sort of mechanical monster in the river - I would soon find out that this was a fish trap. I also soon found out that the takeout was above the fish trap, but I just barely made it to the proper channel.

A few moments later, I saw that the last person in the group had flipped. He made it out OK, but his kayak headed downstream and was caught on the fish trap. We took out and went to try to retrieve his boat. After a bit of examination, we realized we weren't going to be able to extract the boat, so we ended up leaving it there.

On a happy note, the boat was extracted a few days later. It wasn't in perfect condition, but it did survive.

40 - 6/14/2010 - Upper and Lower Spokane

In the Bowl & Pitcher

When we arrived the previous night, we took a look at the major rapids on the Lower Spokane - The Bowl & Pitcher and The Devil's Toenail. These are class III rapids, but the river was running over 12,000 cfs, which looked very big. The B&P has a wave at the top that could flip and IK, sending the boat and swimmer towards a logjam on the left. I was admittedly nervous, and I asked Lee why we were doing this run.

In the morning, we drove by Spokane Falls, which separates the Upper and Lower runs. This is a monster set of waterfalls that would be nasty to try to run. If the upper falls doesn't kill you, the lower falls certainly will.

We headed up to run the Upper Spokane. This is a class II run through farmlands and neighborhoods. The river is wide, and the rapids are easy, but a little pushy at the higher flow. Incidentally, the flow had dropped about 800 cfs overnight.

After finishing the run, we loaded the inflated boats on top of my SUV and headed to the Lower Spokane. This involves driving through the city - this section of the river goes right through downtown Spokane, even though it feels relatively remote. In fact, the put-in is under a highway bridge in a small neighborhood.

Before we got on the river, I checked the flow online and found that it had dropped to around 10,500. While this helped me with my nervousness, it was still a high flow.

The first 8 miles of the run were pretty easy. We had to work to get to the biggest waves and holes we wanted to run. When we got to the Bowl & Pitcher, it sounded huge. Lee pulled into the final eddy and took pictures before taking off. I followed him and tried to remember what the rapid looked like from the scout. In the end, it was easy - avoid the entrance hole, move right, and run the easy line. No problem. The Devil's Toenail was similarly straightforward.

Overall, I'd say that these runs were worth doing. I wouldn't make the effort to drive to Spokane and back home just to do them, but the lower run especially makes a good practice run for the locals.

After the run, we had dinner and then headed to the town of Republic. It was a late drive, and at one point I had to take a short nap to avoid falling asleep at the wheel.

39 - 6/13/2010 - Upper Middle (MF Snoqualmie)

The original plan had been to start our tour with a run on the Middle Middle and then drive to Spokane. The Middle Fork Snoqualmie was running 2400 cfs, which would be a little high for Lee's first run on it, so we switched to the Upper Middle. At this flow, the Upper Middle would be fast and fun.

I hadn't run the Upper Middle for a couple of years. In early 2009, the road was badly damaged and this run was inaccessible until May 2010. The run itself hasn't changed much, though there are a couple of places where the river has moved significantly.

We did a shorter version of the run, which cuts off the last 3 miles. This allowed us to get on the road early enough that we could get to Spokane before dinner.

The Whirlwind IK Tour

Back in the early spring, I started thinking about a summer trip. I had originally planned to go to North Carolina and boat, but the logistical problems were big enough that I decided against it. The biggest problem was that there was no way of knowing whether there would be reasonable water levels at a specific time of year.  I didn't relish the thought of shipping gear and paying for an airline ticket only to not be able to boat because of high or low water levels.

So, I talked to my friend Lee, who lives in NE Washington, about the possibility of an IK trip with him. The idea would be to travel around eastern WA and BC and run various rivers. If the water levels didn't cooperate, we could go somewhere else or reschedule for better levels.

The plan we decided on was to start on June 13 and end on June 20. Lee set up the itinerary and we got started...

38 - 6/11/2010 - SF Snoqualmie

Many of us expected the Western Washington rivers to all be too low to run by now. The snowpack is pretty much gone, but we've had a lot of rain over the past 3 weeks and it has kept all of the rivers going.

My next door neighbor contacted me a couple of days ago and wanted to do a quick run today, so we did the run on my lunch hour (it actually took 90 minutes including the shuttle). The water was running high, but not too high, so it was a great flow. It's been years since I've run it this high with the water still being clear.

When I logged this run, I realized that this was river day 699, starting with my first day in June, 1989. My goal is to hit 1000 runs when I get to 25 years. That means I need to do 301 days in just over 4 years, which is an average of 75 days per year. My average over the past 5 years has been slightly higher than that, so I should be able to get pretty close.

A Web Tool I Would Love To See

People often ask the question: What's a good river to run near ?

There are several web sites that will show you river flows, and some will even tell you if the river is at a runnable flow, but these sites tend to be organized alphabetically or by broad geographical area. There are also web sites that will help you find the location of a business near you, and many will give you a list of several addresses in order of driving distance.

What I would like to see is a tool that would allow me to plug in a location and a river difficulty range (e.g., class II+-IV) and would spit out a list of runs in order of driving time to either the put-in or takeout (whichever is closest). It would also be useful to be able to put in a maximum driving time in case I just want to find stuff within a certain range.

37 - 6/6/2010 - Chiwawa

People used to run the Chiwawa all the time, but it seems to have fallen into disuse for some reason. I was prepared to do an easy run on the Upper Wenatchee (class II section) when someone suggested that we run the Chiwawa. I had been wanting to run the Chiwawa for years. The rain almost stopped us, but a group of boaters stepped up and we were off.

The logistical information we had was old, and it made things interesting. We took a wrong turn going to the put-in (onto a section of road that probably didn't exist when the guides were written). Then, we found that the lower takeout was no longer available and we had to go to the upper takeout.

When we got onto the river, I was expecting a much more difficult run. The Chiwawa is continuous class II with occasional class III boulder gardens. There were a few minor log hazards, but we never had to portage. We had a perfect level for a first run. The only negative for me was that we weren't sure about the logs, so we had to be careful. This would be an ideal section of river to do twice in a weekend, or after someone else scouted it for wood.

The takeout was fine - easy for kayaks and not terribly hard for rafts. I will definitely be back for another round on this river.

36 - 6/5/2010 - Wenatchee Rendezvous 25th Anniversary

 Shelly Becker and me at Rodeo Hole

(Photo courtesy Lee)

Technically, it wasn't the 25th Wenatchee Rendezvous (it wasn't always on the Wenatchee), but it was the 25th anniversary of the Washington Recreational River Runners club. The flow was down from the previous year, but it was still pretty high (9500 cfs) and I took my cataraft.

I was the first person at the put-in at 10AM, but I was quickly joined by others. After the shuttle, we took off. I ended up bringing up the rear. I don't know how many boats we had, but it was at least 20, and maybe even 30, in 3 waves. I started off in the rear group, but after lunch I found myself in the front group.

At 9500, the rapids on the Wenatchee are pretty easy in a cataraft. The rapids are mostly big wavetrains - at higher flows the waves start to turn into breaking waves that can flip rafts easily.

After the run, we had a nice potluck dinner and a raffle. I won a couple of nice prizes (a water filter and a sand stake) and a bunch of us played our guitars until bedtime.

35 - 5/31/2010 - Sauk River (Day 3)

Camp on the Lower Sauk

The rain stopped just as I got up in the morning. We dried our gear as much as we could while we had breakfast, and loaded up. The takeout was only 4-5 miles downstream, but there was no way of knowing if we would have to portage.

After the minor logjams of the preceding day, I was surprised that the Lower Sauk was clean all the way to the takeout. Even channels that normally held large piles of wood had easy routes through them. It only took a couple of hours for us to reach the takeout, and we were quickly loaded and ready to go.

We stopped off and had lunch before heading up to the put-in. When Chris and I reached Bedal, the rain was pouring down, and the campground was deserted. I ended up driving home the back way, coating my boat and trailer with mud (it's still on the trailer almost 2 weeks later).

34 - 5/30/2010 - Sauk River (Day 2)

Jaws

We took our time breaking camp and packing. We packed a little more gear on my raft because the rapids below would be a bit more difficult. I was still concerned about logs in the river, which are a typical problem on the Upper Sauk, but the run was cleaner than I had seen it in years.

We made it to the midway point, grabbed the remaining dry firewood, and took advantage of the facilities. We talked to several people we knew who were running the Middle Sauk, and then we took off.

Lee and Chris decided to scout Jaws, which is the big rapid on the run. I waited until they were halfway down and I ran it while they watched. I then waited for them to finish scouting and run the rapid. Lee had a minor swim at the bottom, but got back into his boat easily. He had another flip on the next rapid from running it too far left.

Once we got through all of that, we continued down the river, with a short stop for lunch. We passed the two Middle Sauk takeouts and headed onto the Lower Sauk. Almost immediately we ran into a sketchy rapid with logs in it. This took a little work, but we made it through easily.

A bit later, I came to a place where I had to make a choice, and neither option was particularly appealing. On the left, the water channeled under a low log across most of the river. Taking this channel would mean frantically getting to shore and carrying the boats around. On the right, there was a channel with logs in it, but there seemed to be a way through. I chose this way, and immediately realized I would have to duck under a log. Going under the log, I lifted it up, and a moment later it came down onto my head - not hard, but I was glad to have my helmet on.

The campsite I had hoped to get to was now upstream, so we continued on. The water moved fast, and many possible options came and went before I could get to shore. Finally, we rounded a corner and came to a big beach next to a rapid. We had a view of mountains, plenty of space to spread out, and a big log next to the camp to dry gear on.

We settled into camp just before a light rain started. We set up a tarp as a wall on the canopy to keep the wind and rain out, and had dinner. Just before bedtime, the rain came up a bit, but we were prepared for it.

33 - 5/29/2010 - Sauk River (Day 1)

Lee and Chris on the Upper Sauk

Back in January, I reserved a campsite at Bedal Campground on the North Fork Sauk for Memorial Day weekend. My plan was to camp at the put-in one night and then do 2 nights on the river, and offer the campsite to friends who didn't want to boat or just wanted to do day trips. Several people were interested, but in the end only 2 people showed up.

The week before, we were looking at the flow dropping and considering plans for a low water run. Then a couple of days before the trip, the rain started and the flows came up quickly. I switched to my cataraft so that we could carry more rainy weather gear, like a popup canopy, extra tarps, and dry firewood. It also meant that I could help carry gear for the other people.

On Saturday morning, we ran our shuttle. We decided to leave one vehicle at the takeout and one at the mid-way point. The mid-way vehicle had more firewood in it, but more importantly it gave us an option to change our plans if the weather got worse.

We got on the river just after lunch. We ran into a log near the beginning, but the run was clean after that. We made it to where I had planned to camp very quickly, and decided to continue downstream and take our chances with a later campsite. As we passed through this area, we saw a helicopter doing some questionable logging operations. After more paddling, we found a nice spot. I had seen this spot before, but never considered it as a potential campsite.

The site had a nice beach for the kitchen with plenty of driftwood for firewood and several flat sandy areas for tents. It was situated between rapids, though apparently these would not be loud enough to drown out my snoring...

We set up camp and built a fire for dinner. We enjoyed a nice evening, with just a little sprinkle of rain.

32 - 5/22/2010 - Middle Middle

Me at the end of Second Island Drop

(courtesy Bill Yager)

We had originally planned to run the Green, but the flow came down too low for rafts, and people started to back out. So, we switched over to the Middle Middle. We had half IKs and half rafts, and it was informally named a "flip practice" run. I just had fun with it.

31 - 5/16/2010 - White River

Joe entering one of the bigger rapids on the White

When we planned this run, we thought we would have 4-5 people, but in the end it was just Joe and me. We didn't like the look of the usual takeout, and we found a much nicer one upstream. This would make a big difference later in the day.

We started out easily enough. The White has a lot of wood in it, but most of it is along the sides and is easily avoidable. The rapids are easy, but fairly continuous, so the run is pretty fun... except when disaster strikes.

OK, so maybe "disaster" is a little strong, but I did get myself into trouble. There was a place where we had 3 choices, 2 of which had obvious logs. As we started down the remaining channel, we saw a channel-wide logjam. Joe made the eddy, and I didn't. I went downstream and stopped next to the shore. I handed Joe my paddle and went to get out by holding onto a branch and standing on a rock. I slipped, the branch broke, and I went downstream. I grabbed for the shore, but had no success there. I saw the logjam coming up, and I remembered my training. I got into the aggressive swimming position (head downstream, on my stomach) and pulled myself up onto the first log. A few moments later, my boat was next to me, wrapped on the log. My foam footbrace came out, and I ended up having to send it downstream.

After a few minutes, Joe showed up with my paddle. I was fine, but I needed to get to shore and that wasn't going to be easy. Joe went back up and got his boat and a rope. While I waited for him, I shifted position and ended up losing a shoe. This made things a little tougher, especially for climbing out. First, we got my boat tied off to shore. Next, Joe tried to help me climb up the rootball, but it was steep, high, and crumbly. Everywhere I tried to stand fell apart. We finally decided that the best way for me to get out would be to get onto my boat and then climb onto shore. It was shakey going, but I made it.

Finally off the logjam, we still had to portage, and the shore was steep. We dragged the boats up the hill about 40 feet, walked downstream 100 feet, and then slid back down to the river. Back in the river, I waited for Joe. As we headed downstream, we found my footbrace stuck on a log, and Joe was able to rescue it.

Short one shoe but otherwise unharmed, I continued downstream. The takeout we chose was easy and I was able to drive the car right down to the river.

30 - 5/15/2010 - Green River Gorge

Lyles goes big at Paradise Ledge

The Army Corps did an experiment where they allowed the level of the reservoir above the Green River Gorge to go up to a higher level than normal to test the integrity of recent repairs. The plan had been to start releasing this extra water on Friday and continue through the weekend, with levels dropping in steps. They started a day early, which meant that we only got 1300 cfs on Saturday. Still, 1300 cfs is a great IK level, and it was a sunny day, so a group of us took advantage.

The trip was fun as it always is. There were long surfing sessions at Ledge Drop 1 and at Paradise. The one incident involved me at Secret Class IV. I was being silly above the rapid, and I predicted that I would flip. I did. At the bottom of the right side of the rapid, there was a tree branch in the water. I got too close to another boater, and I ended up having to hit the tree branch. I flipped on it, went under it, and came up under my boat. I recovered quickly, but it was a harbinger of things to come...

29 - 5/14/2010 - SF Snoqualmie

Yana dealing with the tree

A few weeks earlier, a woman named Yana contacted WRRR about boating. I offered to take her on an IK trip, but she had to agree to a class III run at a later date (in a previous posting, I noted that I think IKers need to start out on class III in order to really get moving).

We had planned this Friday trip, and the weather and flow cooperated nicely. We only had one minor hazard to deal with: the tree across the river in the picture above. This tree is a lot worse than the photo indicates. Swimming under this tree would be very dangerous, and there's not much room to get around it. It's not clear from the photo, but Yana is actually stuck on a rock just above the tree.