Boulder Drop at 2000 cfs earlier this year
I first ran the Sky in 1999. I put in just below Sunset Falls on the South Fork, and I flipped my Aire Force XL in the first rapid (because of low water, not because of difficulty). At Boulder Drop, we portaged the entrance. The plan was to paddle across the river into an eddy and then finish the rapid from there. On the way across, I hit a rock, which pushed me downstream into a hole against a rock. I flipped, the boat went into the eddy, and I swam the entire rapid. About halfway down, I tried to toss my paddle to shore, but it ended up back in the river. I had to walk back up, get my boat, and carry it up to the highway so I could walk a half mile downstream to where my friend had found my paddle.
It was four years before I ran the Sky in my IK again. I decided to portage Boulder Drop, but the portage was so annoying that I decided that I'd rather risk a swim than risk a broken leg portaging. A couple of years later, I finally did a successful run of Boulder Drop in my IK. This was after several runs in rafts as a bow paddler.
And now to the present... We were originally planning to run the Middle Middle, but the flow came down, so a couple of us decided to hit the Main Sky. We talked about doing the Lower Sky, but we decided that we needed something a little more difficult, and we both needed to get over our fear of Boulder Drop. Another friend joined us, and then I got a call from the guy who had taken me down the run in a raft several times, who also wanted to join us. This meant that we'd have several more experienced boaters.
I slept poorly, nervous about the run. I got up at 4AM and couldn't get back to sleep. We got to the put-in at around 11:30AM and set up. Just before we put in, we discussed how we would run Boulder Drop. Two people would scout and watch while the other two (including me) would go ahead and run. As we went downstream, I was nervous and had to remember to admire the scenery. The mountains surround the Sky are beautiful snowy peaks, and we had great weather.
Entering Boulder Drop, the main entrance has a center rock. At higher flows, you can go over it, but at just under 3000 cfs, the water pillows off the rock and you have to go around. I saw the boat in front of me go left and the right side of the boat went way up on the rock. I quickly turned my boat left and pushed forward. My right tube went up, but I came through just fine and set up for the next move. I swung around and was pulled easily across the rapid to Airplane Turn. I had my choice of going drifting left, which would drop me into a series of ledges, or pushing right, which started out easier but went straight for a huge boulder. I chose the right line, and then began working the boat back to the left. I dropped over two ledges and was done. I had a clean run!
I waited as the rest of the group, as well as a number of kayakers, ran the rapid. After that, the run was a piece of cake. After a few more runs, I hope to be comfortable enough to run this rapid without waking up at 4AM.
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