6 - 1/29/2011 - Green River Gorge

Taking the alternate line at Paradise (photo stolen from Mark Burns)

Six runs in January is above average, though this year I used up a lot of vacation for just 4 days of boating (normally, I would have gotten in 10 days for that much vacation). Still, given the snow and extra-high water, this isn't bad.

Last weekend, I had planned to run the Middle Middle both days, but Saturday morning I got a really bad twinge in my left shoulder that put me out for the weekend. Luckily, this went away, and the high water on the Green subsided.

We had an uncomfortably large group of people, and it took an extra hour to get going. We need to work on this problem. Anyway, I had set up Cubby (my 12x20 Sotar) with the frame moved forward, and this made a big difference. Before, I found that I had to back-row to really move the boat, and it's better to be able to move the boat forward.

The dam was releasing 2200 cfs, but the flow at Auburn was 3500, so the side creeks were obviously kicking in a lot. As we entered the gorge, it was clear to me that the flow was quite a bit higher than when I ran it at 1900. There were more holes, but also room to get around them. The rapids were smooth, and even Pipeline was an easy run.

Just above Mercury, I noticed that my bowline was in the water. I had to gather it and get it stowed quickly before entering the rapid. Mercury was fast, and when I got to the bottom, I was way too far left for the normal run at the Nozzle. I chose the slot on the left. This was shallow, but it was no problem. The tree branch that had been below the Nozzle for the past few years was gone, which helped. I quickly went through the gorge down to Let's Make a Deal.

My first choice was to run Door Number One (far right). I tried to get in, but ended up on the pillow wave, which then spat me out. I went to move left to Door Number Three, but Door Number Two grabbed me. I went up onto that pillow, then pulled back and was thrown fast into the main current... backwards. I worked to spin the boat around, which was when I noticed that my oar was stuck in the jaws of the oarlock. Luckily, it was stuck at a usable angle. I was able to run the next two rapids and get to the lunch spot, where a couple of people helped get the oar out. I need to squeeze my oarlocks back together to prevent this kind of thing.

When we got to Deja Vu, I ended up too close behind another boat that got stuck for a moment. I had to work my way through an alternate route, which nearly put me into the big top hole without any momentum, but I got through it fine. Below Paradise, several of us got bunched up, and some people couldn't resist the urge to surf, and it made things a bit uncomfortable. After this, I backed off and boated alone for a bit.

I think that this is about as high as I'll run this boat on the Green. I might go a little higher with some more practice, but for now when the flow is over 2200 from now on, I think I'll run my Ocelot.