46 - 6/19/2011 - Green River Gorge

Another beautiful day on the Green. Flow was around 1300. I ran my IK to take it easy on my back, but I was a little sore by the end of the day. I need to stop boating until my Idaho trip in a few weeks.

45 - 6/18/2011 - SF Snoqualmie

Ran the SF Snoqualmie with friends. The flow wasn't high, but it was a nice summer day. My back wasn't any worse, but it will require some care.

44 - 6/16/2011 - Middle Middle

We had a couple of IKs and a couple of catboats, one with a new "trainee" boater. They had a setup with two frames so that both people could row, but it really didn't turn out that great.

At the end of the run, I made the mistake of helping carry up both catarafts, and I tweaked my back a little. I will need to start going to acupuncture again and consider taking it easy.

43 - 6/12/2011 - Green River Gorge (Day 2)

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. We had breakfast, packed up, and got on the river at around 9:30. We floated an hour or so down to the takeout. On the way, we passed several fishermen. We don't usually get to see the Green this early in the day, so it was a different perspective.

After pulling the boats up onto the grass, I changed shoes and started walking to get the car. The walk was about a mile and a half, mostly uphill but in the shade. I got back to the takeout after about 40 minutes and we packed up. We then went back to get the other car and transfer gear.

I hope to get more opportunities to camp on the Green.

42 - 6/11/2011 - Green River Gorge (Day 1)

One of my friends suggested an overnighter on the Green. We spent a lot of time planning it, and it almost looked like it might not happen, but we made it work. The biggest problem to overcome was the parking arrangements. We couldn't park at the usual takeout because there is no overnight parking in the state park. We didn't want to park at either the alternate takeout or the put-in because of the likelihood of vandalism. Luckily, I know people who live near the put-in and takeout, and was able to arrange with them to allow us to park there. We left my car at the house near the takeout and we drove up to the put-in. After dropping boats, my friend took his vehicle to the other friend's house. He had originally planned to bicycle back, but our friend gave him a ride.

We got on the river just after noon. Despite the nice flow of around 1500, only one other group was on the river, and they were way ahead of us. The only difficulty came at Pipeline, where I guided my back-weighted boat too slowly into the center of the drop and I ended up falling off the back of the boat. I swam the next rapid (an easy one) and my friend pushed the boat over to me.

At about 4PM, we got to our camp at a location people call The Grand Canyon of the Green. This is a large rock wall across from a nice beach. We set up camp, built a fire, and cooked dinner. The firewood near the river was a little damp, but I had brought a few pieces of dry firewood from home that helped us dry out more.

1500 flow
flip at Pipeline

41 - 6/9/2011 - Middle Middle

We had been expecting a flow of 3000, in which case I would have taken my cataraft, but the flow came down to 2400, so I took my IK. We had 2 IKs and a cataraft, so we were able to move quickly.

I tried to do my practice flip in the first couple of big rapids, but I couldn't get the boat to flip, and I started developing a leg cramp. I finally found a hole to hit sideways to help me flip over, and I was able to get back in pretty quickly. I need to work on making sure my paddle is under my backrest before I try to get in. Otherwise, the paddle gets in the way.

One of the interesting things about this flow is that it's about the same as my first full run of the Middle Middle, but it feels a lot different. On that first run, I was avoiding everything big, but on this run I was trying to hit the biggest stuff for fun. House Rocks actually seems easy at 2400, but I know that it gets harder again at 3000.

40 - 6/5/2011 - Chiwawa

I first ran the Chiwawa last year on the second day of the Wenatchee Rendezvous. That time, the flow was around 1700. This time, the flow was around 2200, which is supposedly considered high, but it really didn't feel that big, despite being in a smaller boat. We had a group of 5 IKs and 4 catarafts.

It was a fun run, but it's not really a run that I would go out of my way to do. There are some good potential camping spots, so it may be worthwhile to look at it for that purpose someday.

39 - 6/4/2011 - Peshastin Creek and Wenatchee

Oops! Photo courtesy Brian Vogt

Every June, WRRR holds the Bob Johnson Memorial Wenatchee Rendezvous, named for one of the club founders. Peshastin Creek is a small creek that feeds the Wenatchee river, and it's one of my favorite runs. This year, a few of us decided to try it in our little catarafts. We had a group of 3 IKs and 3 catarafts. The flow was about 600 cfs, which is an average flow for my runs here, but just barely enough for my 11' cat.

This was my first run of the class IV rapid, called Fresh Squeezed. As you can see from the photo, I didn't exactly have a clean run. However, I didn't fall off the boat. At the point the picture was taken, I was grabbing the boat with my left hand. My left foot was firmly in the frame stirrup, and my arm ended up caught between the spare oar and the boat, held by the pressure of an elastic strap. A few moments later, I was upright and in my boat.

The rest of the run on Peshastin Creek was easy, but a lot of work. This is a narrow creek with lots of rocks and lots of rapids, so I had to do a lot of maneuvering. There was one pair of logs that slowed us down a little, but we made it through with no problems.

When we reached the Wenatchee, things changed totally. My boat went from feeling huge to feeling tiny. I bobbed up and down over the waves, and the rapids seemed gigantic. We stopped for lunch and met up with other friends.

In Drunkard's Drop, I thought I was going to flip. I was in a line of 3 catarafts. The first one surfed the entry wave, so I started right. The next one looked like it was going to surf, so I stopped moving right, but then it went through and ended up right in front of me. It started surfing the main wave, and I came up right behind it. Luckily, I had enough momentum to just push us through and not get stuck and flip.

After the run, we went back to camp and had more fun activities and good food.