13 - 4/1/2010 - Middle Middle

It's April, and time to start Thursdays on the Middle Middle. Some years we get to start earlier and some years we don't get to start until mid-April, so starting at the beginning of April is about average. We had 4 IKers and a flow of around 940 cfs. The weather was cool and we had a few sprinkles of rain, but it was a good way to start out.

12 - 3/27/2010 - Main Skykomish

Boulder Drop at 2000 cfs earlier this year

I first ran the Sky in 1999. I put in just below Sunset Falls on the South Fork, and I flipped my Aire Force XL in the first rapid (because of low water, not because of difficulty). At Boulder Drop, we portaged the entrance. The plan was to paddle across the river into an eddy and then finish the rapid from there. On the way across, I hit a rock, which pushed me downstream into a hole against a rock. I flipped, the boat went into the eddy, and I swam the entire rapid. About halfway down, I tried to toss my paddle to shore, but it ended up back in the river. I had to walk back up, get my boat, and carry it up to the highway so I could walk a half mile downstream to where my friend had found my paddle.

It was four years before I ran the Sky in my IK again. I decided to portage Boulder Drop, but the portage was so annoying that I decided that I'd rather risk a swim than risk a broken leg portaging. A couple of years later, I finally did a successful run of Boulder Drop in my IK. This was after several runs in rafts as a bow paddler.

And now to the present... We were originally planning to run the Middle Middle, but the flow came down, so a couple of us decided to hit the Main Sky. We talked about doing the Lower Sky, but we decided that we needed something a little more difficult, and we both needed to get over our fear of Boulder Drop. Another friend joined us, and then I got a call from the guy who had taken me down the run in a raft several times, who also wanted to join us. This meant that we'd have several more experienced boaters.

I slept poorly, nervous about the run. I got up at 4AM and couldn't get back to sleep. We got to the put-in at around 11:30AM and set up. Just before we put in, we discussed how we would run Boulder Drop. Two people would scout and watch while the other two (including me) would go ahead and run. As we went downstream, I was nervous and had to remember to admire the scenery. The mountains surround the Sky are beautiful snowy peaks, and we had great weather.

Entering Boulder Drop, the main entrance has a center rock. At higher flows, you can go over it, but at just under 3000 cfs, the water pillows off the rock and you have to go around. I saw the boat in front of me go left and the right side of the boat went way up on the rock. I quickly turned my boat left and pushed forward. My right tube went up, but I came through just fine and set up for the next move. I swung around and was pulled easily across the rapid to Airplane Turn. I had my choice of going drifting left, which would drop me into a series of ledges, or pushing right, which started out easier but went straight for a huge boulder. I chose the right line, and then began working the boat back to the left. I dropped over two ledges and was done. I had a clean run!

I waited as the rest of the group, as well as a number of kayakers, ran the rapid. After that, the run was a piece of cake. After a few more runs, I hope to be comfortable enough to run this rapid without waking up at 4AM.

Trailing a Strap

"Hey! You have a strap trailing your boat!" and "That's dangerous. You shouldn't be trailing a strap."

Those are both statements I've heard from boaters when they notice an IKer with a strap trailing. In some cases, people will even float up and throw the strap into the boat. Surprising as it may sound, we have these on our boats on purpose. Some people even put them on the front and back of their boats.

The main reason is that if we flip or fall out of the boat, we have an extra line to grab onto so we can hold onto the boat. A secondary reason is that it gives us a quick line to drag the boat with if we're doing a quick scout or portage, or to tie onto if the boat is wrapped (I've used mine for this on more than one occasion). Yet another reason is that it keeps the strap available for securing the boat when it's rolled up after the trip.

It's very important to not use a rope for this purpose. Ropes compress, and it's possible for a rope to get caught between rocks, compress, and then expand. This locks the rope between the rocks, which can trap you in a place you don't want to be.

One thing I've learned is that when you are carrying your boat, you want to secure the strap into the boat so that it doesn't drag on the ground. Dragging straps on the ground is always a bad idea. They get dirty, which is annoying when you use them, and they get stepped on, which is both a tripping hazard and a way to tear up a strap.

11 - 3/20/2010 - Upper Elwha

Lyles in the "big rapid"

My friend Lyles finished the quarter at school and he, his wife Stacy, and I decided to head out to the Olympic Peninsula for a trip. The entire week before, it looked like we might get a chance to run the Hoko River, but it came down too low. We had several choices, but Lyles wanted to see the Elwha, and I wanted to try out the lower run down to the ocean. We went into the Olympic National Park at the Elwha and paid our fee, only to find out that Altaire Campground was closed. The other campground didn't look as nice, but we ended up getting a nice site and best of all it was free!

We went down to the put-in for the lower run, and found out something we hadn't heard about before - the trail down to the river is long and steep and slippery. The trail started at the level of the top of the dam and went down to the base. We decided that this wasn't going t work for us, and went back to run the upper run. This was probably a really good idea...

We dropped off my vehicle at the lowest reasonable takeout to make the longest run possible. We got up to the put-in and prepared our boats. The trail down to the river was steep, but short. I let my boat slide down the bank, and then convinced Lyles to do the same. When it got to the bottom, Stacy noticed that there was a hole in the boat leaking air. We quickly tried to patch it with an emergency patch, but the emergency patches I have work best on rafts, which have a lower pressure. On one hand, it was my fault for having him slide the boat down, but on the other hand the bank wasn't that rough - the boat had a thin place that was going to give soon anyway.

In the end, Stacy convinced Lyles to take her boat and we headed out. The Elwha is pretty easy, and the flow was minimal, so it was just a relaxing trip that took a couple of hours. After the run, we went back to the campground and had a nice dinner and enjoyed the evening.

10 - 3/13/2010 - Cedar River

This was yet another promising week. It looked like the Middle Middle might be over 1000, then possibly over 800, and then it eventually settled on a flow that was uncomfortably low. So, I went with a hardshell kayaker down the Cedar, which was low, but still acceptable. There was nobody at the takeout, but when we got to the put-in, there was a slalom race going on, and there would be a downhill race later in the day.

We had an easy trip. The weather was a mixture of sun and dark clouds, but it didn't rain on us. There were no new trees down or any problems. The one thing about the Cedar is that the 2009 flooding created a new channel at one point, and it splits the current for about a half mile. That means that we had around 200 cfs for that part of the river. Hopefully, the river will decide one way or the other sometime in the future.

9 - 2/27/2010 - Lower Snoqualmie

This week started out very promising. There was rain in the forecast, and some rivers were still flowing well enough for there to be lots of possibilities. As the week progressed, it even looked like the Green would be in the 750 range, which would have been great for a Headworks run. The EF Humptulips and Clackamas were both in, but that would mean 8-10 hours of driving, and I didn't want to do that. So, when it came down to it, it was another low water weekend and a couple of us decided to do a run on the Lower Snoqualmie from the Powerhouse down to Fall City. This run is 20 minutes from home, so it's not hard to justify.

The run starts with a short section of 5 rapids. At the usual low flows (400-800cfs), the rapids are technical and offer lots of surfing. We had over 1800 cfs, which makes the rapids fast and easy. The main whitewater section barely takes 10 minutes. Below this there are occasional class I-II rapids all the way to the takeout. At higher flows, the river moves along quickly, so it's a nice float with some good scenery.

8 - 2/20/2010 - Lower Sky

IKs on the Skykomish

Plans come and go. Originally, we talked about running one of the class II rivers on the coast, and then we switched to the Green. Then, on Friday afternoon the flow on the Green dropped below a comfortable level, so we switched to the Skykomish. We decided to make it interesting by doing an extended Lower Sky run, starting just below Boulder Drop and ending at the Sultan River confluence. We had 2 catarafts, 4 IKs, and a hardshell kayak, and the flow was around 2200 cfs (low flow for rafts).

The put-in below Boulder Drop isn't easy for large boats. It also wasn't easy for me. I had hurt my foot (again) on a hike a couple of days earlier, and it was not easy for me to get down to the river. We had a first-time whitewater IKer with us, and he flipped right off the bat, but he dealt with it and didn't have any more flips.

The first couple of miles had several class III rapids, which were a lot of fun. We pulled over for lunch at a nice beach, and one of the guys on the trip had a drawing for some promotional prizes for his new business selling plastic dryboxes. I was lucky enough to win one.

After lunch, there were a couple more big rapids before we hit the takeout for the normal run, but we didn't stop. We continued onto the easier section of the river, where the hardest rapids are class II+. The weather was sunny, but we had to endure a little bit of cold and the sun directly in our eyes. After a while, I just got into my paddling rhythm and pushed to the end. The last boats in the group came in just before it got dark.

This was the first time I had run the section from Big Eddy to the Wallace River confluence. I have now run all of the Skykomish from Index to Monroe. I have run the Wallace River from below Wallace Falls to the Sky, the NF Sky below Galena, the SF Sky from Sunset Falls to the main Sky, the upper SF Sky from its beginning down to the takeout above Eagle Falls, and the Beckler River from the Rapid to the SF Sky. I still want to run some of the tributaries of the SF Sky someday.