7 - 2/5/2012 - EF Humptulips Overnighter (Day 2)

Approaching the Falls portage (Brian Vogt photo)

I woke up early and started packing. We built a fire and finished all of the leftover wood from the night before, and got going while it was still sunny. It turned out that we were much closer to the Falls than we had thought. The big drop above the Falls was just around the bend from camp, and the Falls was just a few hundred feet below that. I led the portage. There was almost enough water to float through the portage channel, so the portage was pretty quick. The clouds began to come in, but it continued to be warm and pleasant for February.

There was one log near the end of the Falls section that could be a little problematic at higher flows. We were able to duck under on the left, but this log could end up falling down into the river. Hopefully, high water will float it out. This log made me feel nervous in the Gorge, but that's not unusual. Luckily, there were no logs in the rapids. At Surf 'n' Turf, the higher flow made it easy to run the left slot, which is one of the most fun runs on the trip.

At the end of the Gorge, the 3 trees in the river had gathered a few more pieces of wood and we had to do a quick portage. That was the last of the wood and we made it to the takeout in good time.