6 - 1/29/2011 - Green River Gorge

Taking the alternate line at Paradise (photo stolen from Mark Burns)

Six runs in January is above average, though this year I used up a lot of vacation for just 4 days of boating (normally, I would have gotten in 10 days for that much vacation). Still, given the snow and extra-high water, this isn't bad.

Last weekend, I had planned to run the Middle Middle both days, but Saturday morning I got a really bad twinge in my left shoulder that put me out for the weekend. Luckily, this went away, and the high water on the Green subsided.

We had an uncomfortably large group of people, and it took an extra hour to get going. We need to work on this problem. Anyway, I had set up Cubby (my 12x20 Sotar) with the frame moved forward, and this made a big difference. Before, I found that I had to back-row to really move the boat, and it's better to be able to move the boat forward.

The dam was releasing 2200 cfs, but the flow at Auburn was 3500, so the side creeks were obviously kicking in a lot. As we entered the gorge, it was clear to me that the flow was quite a bit higher than when I ran it at 1900. There were more holes, but also room to get around them. The rapids were smooth, and even Pipeline was an easy run.

Just above Mercury, I noticed that my bowline was in the water. I had to gather it and get it stowed quickly before entering the rapid. Mercury was fast, and when I got to the bottom, I was way too far left for the normal run at the Nozzle. I chose the slot on the left. This was shallow, but it was no problem. The tree branch that had been below the Nozzle for the past few years was gone, which helped. I quickly went through the gorge down to Let's Make a Deal.

My first choice was to run Door Number One (far right). I tried to get in, but ended up on the pillow wave, which then spat me out. I went to move left to Door Number Three, but Door Number Two grabbed me. I went up onto that pillow, then pulled back and was thrown fast into the main current... backwards. I worked to spin the boat around, which was when I noticed that my oar was stuck in the jaws of the oarlock. Luckily, it was stuck at a usable angle. I was able to run the next two rapids and get to the lunch spot, where a couple of people helped get the oar out. I need to squeeze my oarlocks back together to prevent this kind of thing.

When we got to Deja Vu, I ended up too close behind another boat that got stuck for a moment. I had to work my way through an alternate route, which nearly put me into the big top hole without any momentum, but I got through it fine. Below Paradise, several of us got bunched up, and some people couldn't resist the urge to surf, and it made things a bit uncomfortable. After this, I backed off and boated alone for a bit.

I think that this is about as high as I'll run this boat on the Green. I might go a little higher with some more practice, but for now when the flow is over 2200 from now on, I think I'll run my Ocelot.

5 - 1/20/2011 - SF Snoqualmie

While I was in Costa Rica, the rivers in Washington were running very high. It had snowed before I left, but it then warmed up. So, on the Thursday after I got back, the SF Snoqualmie was flowing nicely (the gauge said 575, but with the side creeks it was more like 800-900).

The recent high water events have cleaned up the run. The braided channels below the clay wall are back to a single main channel. Below that, the dangerous log that had been 3/4 of the way across the river is now only blocking the right 1/3 and is less spikey.

We had a nice time, though at one point my paddling partner got stuck trying to surf a ledge and had to work for a couple of minutes to get out. Some people...

4 - 1/15/2011 - Rio Savegre (Costa Rica)

Kayaking in the Jungle

After the Headwaters run, we were supposed to spend 2 days on the Lower Pacuare, staying at the jungle camp. Sadly, the heavy rains put an end to that plan, and we ended up going back to the Pacific Coast for one more day of boating. Three of us decided to kayak, while the rest of the group went zip-lining.

The road to the river had some steep sections, and our driver was concerned he might not make it back, but that turned out not to be the case. We headed down the river, which was basically class II+ with a couple of harder rapids. The most interesting thing was the sound - the cicadas were quite loud.

Just before lunch, I was going to surf a small ledge and I flipped. This time, I was able to flip the boat right back over and hop in. After lunch, we continued downstream and stopped off to hike up to a big waterfall.

Jungle Waterfall

The rest if the trip was easy rapids.

That night, we had even more adventure. We headed back to the airport area to stay at a B&B to catch our early flight the next day. We were about 30 minutes from the B&B when a car accident closed the road. The police told us the road would be closed for 3-5 hours. We waited a couple of hours and then decided to go get some dinner. During dinner, the driver found out that an alternate route - a gravel road through the mountains - was available. We slid through curves and made it to the B&B around midnight.

3 - 1/13/2011 - Rio Pacuare Headwaters (Costa Rica)

On the way to the Headwaters. Can you tell I'm terrified?

The previous day we were supposed to run the Upper Upper Pacuare, but the rain stopped us. Instead, we did some non-river activities and hoped for the best. The Pacuare Headwaters is only reachable by a steep 3 mile horse trail over a mountain. We had originally thought that we would just be using horses to pack in our gear, but it turned out that we would also be riding horses. I was terrified - I had never ridden a horse before. That made for a long night, and it didn't help that it continued to rain hard.

We got up at 6AM and hit the road. It was a 90 minute drive to get to the trailhead. When we got there, we helped load up the horses and got going. My poor horse did a great job slogging through the mud with me riding. I did my best to lean forward and back to help, and I made it the whole way without any problems. There were several places where the trail was very narrow against steep cliffs, and I made sure not to look down.

Our first view of the river

We were a little concerned that we might get to the river and find it too high, but when the river came into view, we saw that it was at a great level. We got down to the river and pumped up the IKs. We had a quick lunch and got going.


The Pacuare Headwaters has tons of rapids - we estimated that there were more than 50 in 5 miles, most class III, with a few easier and a few harder. I portaged the big class IV because I didn't feel good about the big hole near the entrance. Otherwise, we all did great. At one point, we came to a creek with a 10-foot falls at the end, and a couple of guys carried up to run it with no problems.

In the thick of things

As we approached the beginning of the Upper Upper run, we saw a side creek come in that was bright red mud. It entered the river as a red stream until the mud was mixed into the water by a big rapid. At the end of the run, we estimated that we had around 3000 cfs, which was big water for the river, but a perfect level for our trip.

This was the best part of the Costa Rica trip, and I am glad we did it.

2 - 1/11/2011 - Rio Pejibaye (Costa Rica)

The whole crew

After our stay on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, we went back to the airport, turned in our cars, and then were driven to Turrialba, which is near the center of the country. On our first day, we ran the Rio Pejibaye. We had a group of 7 IKs and there were 4 guides in hardshell kayaks. We started with the lower run, which was fun class II+. After lunch, those of us who were experience boaters went up to run the class III+ upper section.

While we drove up, rain came in and raised the river a little. We hiked our boats down to the river and got started. The first couple of rapids were steep, blind, boulder gardens. We then had to eddy out because the next rapid had a tree across the main channel. After that, things were fun, but pretty easy. We got back down to where we had originally put in, and one of the other boaters joined us to finish the run.

Running the headwall

Near the end of the run there is a fun headwall rapid that gave us a wild ride. Just as we got near the takeout, I got stuck on a gravel bar. One of the other boaters tried to knock me off the rocks, but we ended up stuck together with his boat under mine as we rushed toward some brush by the river. We luckily extracted ourselves in time.

1 - 1/8/2011 - Rio Guabo (Costa Rica)

Rio Guabo Put-in

Normally, my first run of the year would be the New Year's float on the Cedar River, but for various reasons (mostly due to miscommunication and cold weather), I didn't make that trip. In any case, it's more interesting to start the year with a warm river in the jungle in a warm part of the world.

I went to Costa Rica with a group of friends, and one of the things we decided to do was to run the Guabo River. The Guabo is not far from the town of Dominical, which is a surfing town in the southern part of the country. Coincidentally, some old friends of mine own land on this river, not far below where we put in.

A few of us drove up to the put-in the day before to make sure that the road was passable and that there was enough water. There was a very narrow suspension bridge over the Rio Cana Blanca, but it was fine. There was just barely enough water. Luckily, we got a lot of rain that night and the river came up - not much, but enough to make it a bit better.

At the put-in, there was just enough water to kayak down, but after 100 yards, the Rio Angel (which may also be known as the Rio Tierras Morenas) comes in. The first few miles to rapids are class II+ gravel bars. At one point, we floated by a big lizard on a rock. We had to pull over for some boat adjustments, so one of the guys pulled out his camera to grab some shots of the lizard. After a while, someone pointed out that the lizard was a basilisk, also known as a Jesus Christ Lizard. He splashed it with water and it ran across the surface of the river!

We continued down to the confluence with the Rio Cana Blanca. We saw some local kids floating on inner tubes down a rapid near their house. Not far below this, we came to Guabo Falls, which is a steep class V- rapid. One of the guys ran it, and made it look easy, but the rest of us portaged it. With more water, I think we all would have run it.

Below the falls, the rapids changed to steep boulder gardens. These were hard to run - the leader would pick a route, which would run out, and the next person would pick a new route. We often ended up in a completely different order than we started with.

Typical Boulder Garden Rapid

After a bit, we came to an area where there were lots of diagonal ledge rocks. I got stuck in one ledge wave, extracted myself, and then went over a 4 foot ledge that decided it was time for me to flip. I dropped my paddle trying to reflip my boat, and someone else had to get it for me.

After a few more miles of rapids, we went onto the Rio Baru. A 2-mile paddle on the Baru brought us to our hotel.

Airplane travel with an IK

I recently took a trip to Costa Rica to go kayaking. This involved taking my boat and gear on an airplane. Most airlines limit you to 50 lbs per bag, so it's important to be able to put together a bag that weighs under this amount. I had bought an Aire Small Inflatable Kayak Bag. My IK, paddle, helmet, and footbrace fit in this bag and come in just under 48 lbs. The rest of my gear (PFD, wetsuit, pumps, gloves, wetsuit, repair items, mesh bag, carabiners, and straps) went into my main luggage bag.

The mesh bag allows you to keep your wet gear out of your suitcase, and keep it together. There are medium-sized mesh duffels that can roll up to the size of a pair of socks.

I ended up taking a K-Pump 100 and a Rule id20 electric pump ("screamer"). The Rule pump, which is basically a cost-reduced version of the LVM, is small and generates plenty of pressure. The K-pump is fine, but it can take a long time to fill a boat and then top it off. Also, it's a good idea to bring along a small screwdriver and some pump grease if you are using this as the primary pump.

Note that I mentioned that my straps and carabiners went into my main luggage bag. My boat usually has 8 straps on it (4 for the backrest, 2 for the footbrace, and 2 for rear gear), and I take along 2-4 long straps for strapping the boat to a roof rack. Cam straps weigh about 2 ounces each, so 8 of them make a pound, which can be a significant amount of weight. Carabiners are also a little heavy.

The final key is to keep in mind that you may be traveling back with wet gear, which can add weight to your gear. If you can, try to dry out the gear before traveling, but always make sure that you have some extra weight allowance.

Goals for 2011

On The Green With Cubby

A year ago, I said that my goals for 2010 would be to get in at least 50 boating days, to get in at least a couple of catboat runs on the Sky, to get in at least 6 new runs, to self-rescue on every flip, and to learn to use my whistle more often.

I succeeded in all of these. I got in 80 runs, including 2 catboat runs on the Sky. I more than doubled my new runs goal with 13. I only flipped 6 times, so it wasn't all that hard to self rescue every time. I did try to use my whistle more often, though I didn't have that many situations where I needed it.

For 2011, I have these same goals, plus I would like to do is to get in more IK camping runs. I didn't even get to run the NF Lewis this year, and I missed it. I also need to work on thinning out my gear. I have a few extra boats that I need to sell (two IKs and a raft), several extra PFDs, and a handful of miscellaneous items that I just don't need.

I also have a longer-term goal, which is targeted for late June of 2014. I started rafting on June 24, 1989, so June 24, 2014 is my 25th year anniversary of rafting. I am going to attempt to get up to 1000 river days by then. I currently have 741 days, so I need 259 more days over the next 41 months. This is a yearly average of 76 days. Over the past 5 years, I've averaged 80 days, so I think I have a good shot at this.