22 - 4/21/2012 - Middle Middle extended

There were all kinds of possibilities for a nice Saturday. The Middle Middle was flowing around 2500, which was a great cataraft flow, so a friend and I decided to take our catarafts and do an extended run of the Middle Middle and Club Stretch, which has an easier takeout.

The weather was beautiful, but we were the only people on the river as we started out. We passed a small group of kayakers at one point. Then, at A-Frame, we saw a group of boats and people. At first, I thought that there was a group of Sheriff's rescue people doing an exercise. This would have made sense given the helicopters flying around the area. But, it turned out to be a group from BEWET (Boeing's whitewater club) dealing with a wrapped raft - in a place where there's no reason for a raft to go. They didn't seem to need our help, so continued on.

The rest of the Middle Middle run was lots of fun. At Second Island Drop, I found a lost paddle from BEWET. When we reached the takeout for the Middle Middle, I left the paddle. We continued down the Club Stretch, where there were many more boaters. We talked to a canoeist (with his kids) who had apparently flipped earlier. He asked if the rapid above was the worst of it - he was going to have a long day if that was a hard rapid. As we floated down, we met 3 other groups of beginning kayakers and their instructors.

The final views of Mt. Si were spectacular.