80 - 12/25/2010 - Green River Headworks

One of my friends wanted to do a quick Christmas morning run. Originally, we planned to do the SF Snoqualmie, but the rain we expected didn't materialize, so we switched to the Green Headworks. It was cloudy, but not too cold, and the sun was peeking through the clouds. We had a nice run, and at the top of Ledge Drop 1, we saw a fisherman catching a big fish. Not far below this, I flipped again. This time it was due to going into a big hole and just not paddling - I guess I was thinking that my momentum was enough to carry me. It's time again to get aggressive with the paddling.

So now I'm hoping to get in a run this next week before the end of the year. I have a half day on Thursday and the day off on Friday. Time to Pray for Rain!

79 - 12/24/2010 - Green River Gorge

The flow was low (830 cfs), but with temperatures around 50 and a willing group of people, the Green was a great Christmas Eve inflatable kayak float. I had a great run through the upper gorge, including my best ever run through The Nozzle. Later, I flipped for the first time in months. The flip came near the end of Deja Vu. There's a spot where there are two rocks that normally form a bump and a hole, but at this flow they formed a hole backed up by an exposed rock. I tried to do a splat on the second rock and spin off, but the current came over the stern of the boat and pulled the back of the boat under and pushed me to the side. The boat went over and I had to prepare for the next drop, which was a shallow slide over a big rock. I got the boat flipped back over at the bottom and was able to get back in fairly quickly.

With this run, 2010 becomes my 3rd best year in terms of number of river days. To tie for second, I need two more runs.

78 - 12/18/2010 - Green River Gorge

View from Snow Cave

The previous weekend, there was a big storm that brought the river level way up on Sunday. The flow on the Green got as high as 6500 cfs. This day, however, the flow was 1400. We had a group of rafts, catarafts, and inflatable kayaks (more than what you see in the photo above). I had a good run without any incidents. For part of the run, I traded with one of the IKers so he could try out my boat.

The result of the high water the week before was that some old trees had been taken out, but some new trees had been deposited. A couple of these trees were in bad places in a rapid called Let's Make a Deal. This rapid has 3 routes. Door Number 1, which is the rightmost route, now has a tree across it. Door Number 2 has a tree on the downstream rock that is a problem at higher flows. Door Number 3, on the left, is clean, but this route is the toughest at low water.

77 - 12/11/2010 - Green River Gorge

Entering the Gorge

This was my second run with the new cat, and the first in the Green Gorge. It was a rainy day, temperature around 40, and the flow was around 1900. With the rain, the flow in the gorge would be a bit higher. We put in on the Headworks road, which adds a couple of miles to the trip. We had a group of 10 boats, mostly catarafts.

Overall, I had a solid run. The flow was on the high end for me in the little boat, but I think that as I get used to the boat I will be able to run higher. Of course, the other side of this is that I like running my big cataraft, and when the flow on the Green is above 2000, I'll want to take advantage of it.

We used a new lunch spot, which we are calling "Snow Cave". This is a place in the gorge a little ways below the rapid called Let's Make a Deal. There's a large eddy with a small beach and trees to tie off to, and a cave that provides shelter from the rain and snow.

I had one close call on this run. I ran the big hole at the top of the left side of Deja Vu. When I came out of the hole, my boat was turned sideways and I hit the wave coming off the wall pretty hard. This threw me onto the left side of the boat behind the seat, where I held on and had to struggle a little to get back in the boat.