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| Preparing to flip in Splitting Hairs (Brian Vogt photo) |
A group of us went down to the Molalla drainage for the weekend, and the rain brought Butte Creek up to a point where we thought we'd have a chance to run it. On the way to the put-in, we saw a group of people scouting Splitting Hairs, which is one of the harder rapids on the run. We followed these people to the put-in (after getting a little lost) and figured out where to get in the river.
Right away we realized that it was going to be boney. We had just barely enough water for most rapids, and not enough for some. At Butte Creek Falls, it took me over a minute to slide sideways down the main drop, still upright. A couple of rapids below, I got stuck and had to get out of my boat. When I put the boat back in, I had to jump a ways to get in. When I hit the boat, the boat pushed down onto a rock and stopped, but I didn't. I grabbed onto the boat and swam below it until I could get back in. Almost immediately, I ran into more rocks and fell out, so I had to get in again.
About a mile downstream, we came to Splitting Hairs. I had already decided to run the left slot, but I thought there would be more water. I entered too far left and ended up stuck in a crease in the rocks. As I pushed through, I flipped and then ended up face down on top of a rock in the river. I got out of the boat, reflipped it, and then went back upstream to help direct the others.
After this, there were lots of little class II+ and III rapids until we came to a steep blind drop. We checked it out and decided to walk around. This brought us to the middle of the biggest rapid of the day. We paddled across and then decided to walk around most of the rest of the rapid. There just weren't any good lines that weren't risky because of the low water. We had a hot lunch (tomato soup, courtesy of Brian) and finished the portage. Just before getting down to the river, I slipped and landed hard on my bottom.
We continued down the river, finding another easy class IV rapid and several nice class III ledges. The scenery was fantastic right through the end of the trip. I look forward to running this again someday with a bit more water.
Right away we realized that it was going to be boney. We had just barely enough water for most rapids, and not enough for some. At Butte Creek Falls, it took me over a minute to slide sideways down the main drop, still upright. A couple of rapids below, I got stuck and had to get out of my boat. When I put the boat back in, I had to jump a ways to get in. When I hit the boat, the boat pushed down onto a rock and stopped, but I didn't. I grabbed onto the boat and swam below it until I could get back in. Almost immediately, I ran into more rocks and fell out, so I had to get in again.
About a mile downstream, we came to Splitting Hairs. I had already decided to run the left slot, but I thought there would be more water. I entered too far left and ended up stuck in a crease in the rocks. As I pushed through, I flipped and then ended up face down on top of a rock in the river. I got out of the boat, reflipped it, and then went back upstream to help direct the others.
After this, there were lots of little class II+ and III rapids until we came to a steep blind drop. We checked it out and decided to walk around. This brought us to the middle of the biggest rapid of the day. We paddled across and then decided to walk around most of the rest of the rapid. There just weren't any good lines that weren't risky because of the low water. We had a hot lunch (tomato soup, courtesy of Brian) and finished the portage. Just before getting down to the river, I slipped and landed hard on my bottom.
We continued down the river, finding another easy class IV rapid and several nice class III ledges. The scenery was fantastic right through the end of the trip. I look forward to running this again someday with a bit more water.
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