PDX River Explorers

TR: Eagle Creek, Clackamas R. Drainage

2009-12-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

There are two Eagle Creeks within close proximity to Portland. The more famous of the two is in the Gorge, the other is a tributary to the Lower Clackamas River. When most people talk about Eagle Creek you hear about the hike in, large waterfalls, and challenging rapids in a walled out gorge! However you may also hear whispers of fun class 3, with a couple of waterfalls, and a few log portages. This tributary to the Clackamas is in various NW guide books however the descriptions were written ages ago, with one dating back to the 80's. So I figured why not get some new info out there. The creek is broken up into three sections. the first and upper most section is above the fish hatchery and is rarely run. The book called the run fast class 2-3 with a waterfall just above the fish hatchery. The fish hatchery has a electric line in the water at the fish hatchery to detour fish from going upstream to spawn. I do not know much about this so if you intend to run this stretch make sure to find out! The second stretch is the one described in this trip report. We put in at the fish hatchery and ran down to Eagle Fern Park then continued aprx. a quarter mile or less to the falls just below the park. We took out on river right by climbing 20 ft up the bank and to the road. The third section is from Eagle Fern down to the park above the confluence of Eagle Creek and the Clackamas River.

Dave Bakkum enjoying fun class 3 in the upper stretches of the run

Eagle Creek is a nice intro for paddlers looking to dial in there creeking skills that want to tackle some of the NW's best creek run. Its tight class 3 read and run nature, the portages and the waterfalls make a great entry level creek run. It starts of with fast moving class 2 which quickly leads to a few portages. I believe there were about 4-5 all at river level, and requiring no more than a few minutes to get around. Don't get discouraged it won't be long before a nice horizon line shows indicating that you are at the clean 15ftr!

Dave Bakkum running the clean 15ftr

Fun class 2-3 precedes the toughest rapid on the run, paddlers will know they are there when the go past the small youth camp on river left. The rapid that follows is the toughest of the day. A fun class 3+ that ends with a small ledge!

Class 3 above the the 3+ rapid

The class 3+ with the small ledge at the bottom Below this is more class 2-3 and unless paddlers are going to take on the second falls the worst or best is behind them. Immediately after Eagle Fern Park is a 3ft weir with a easy line right down the middle. Once you have passed the weir keep on your toes it is not long until paddlers hit the second falls. The second falls is a bit tougher than the first the book called it a class 6, this is definitely not the case. A good class 5 at most with a nice class 3 sliding entrance that leads to a 6ft boof on the far right up against the fish ladder.

The second falls below Eagle Fern Park

The boof is in the far left of this pic, it is not the obvious dark flake but the one just left of the nice looking flake banking of the concrete wall. The obvious dark flake falls into the bedrock coming in from the middle of the falls.

Till next time!

Unlocking the Mystery: Fly Creek, WA.

2009-11-12T19:10:00.000-08:00

Fly Creek is a tributary of the classic Canyon Creek run in Washington state. It confluences with Canyon Creek at the old put in for the Lower Canyon Creek section. Often at the Canyon Creek put in I would wonder what was up Fly Creek Canyon and why no body ever paddled it. As far as I could find out nobody had really paddled it since 1992. I confirmed that Mike Olsen and Bill Bowie had paddle it as well as Phil Unsworth but wasn't sure if they were on the same trip or not. After reading the description in the back of Jeff Bennett's book, "A Guide to the Whitewater Rivers of Washington" under "Other Runs and Adventure's" I understood why. The write up opens with "If you are itching for a day of epic self-inflicted punishment but the bondage gear is off at the dry cleaners. then this run is for you. This river is a masochist's dream: a solid serving of class 5-5+ drops interspersed with logs, big unrunnable waterfalls and portages." It wasn't till I had explored many of the other quality NW runs that I really got the itch to try and tackle this one. Another reason this run has remained in such obscurity is access issues. The put in lies on Warehouser property and the gate to access the put in road is only accessible during daytime hours in the hunting season. With our curiosity getting the best of us a crew of three myself. Chuck Taylor and Andy Lichtenheld decided to give it a go. After some good fall rains with the Canyon Creek gauge reading 900 and dropping we headed out on what would surely be an adventure! I would to pref is this trip report by revealing our lackadaisical approach to such a challenging run. Are morning went like this, I woke up about 15 min. before I was supposed to meet Chuck and Andy. As I gather my creeking gear for the first time this season I realize I can't find one of my creek booties, Urr. This puts the group behind by 30 minutes. We head out fueling up and grabbing essentials along the way gas, coffee, and food. We stop again at the Chelatchie Prarie store so we can drop of any extra pounds left over from last nights dinner. We also decide to stop at the bungee bridge to check out the log jam on Canyon Creek. This leads to an long conversation with the developers of a new adventure tour area that is being constructed at the bridge. We set shuttle and like amateurs we neglect to leave dry clothes at the take out, DUH! We then set off for the put in hoping we can find it with out wasting any more time. This of course does not happen as we get lost and end up in the out skirts of Yacolt. We head back locating the spot were we decide to drop into the canyon. We first take a quick scout and quickly descend to the river bank to confirm we were where we wanted to be. When we got to the creek we were stoked with what we saw ok flow and bedrock!

Chuck making his way to the put in

We geared up made our way back to the river and headed into the unknown, the time was 12:00pm.

Andy at the put in
Looking back at the put in rapid

The creek was initially class 2 with a few 4-6 foot ledges. We soon came upon a nice 15ft waterfall and jumped out to scout excitedly!

The ledges above the 15ft falls

The 15ft falls above the first portage
Chuck Taylor on the first falls

Andy Lichtenheld running the first 15ft falls Shortly after the first falls the river gorged out a bit and after a short class 3 drop a large horizon line showed up. We eddyhopped down just above the lip and hopped out of our boats. The river dropped off a 30-40 foot falls landing on a slab and then dropped another 15 ft or so. We quickly chose our portage route on river left.

Chuck and Andy looking at the falls
Looking at the falls from the portage
The Falls at the bottom of the portage, what a glorious site!

After portaging the falls the river had some nice class 3-4 boulder gardens which continued down to the first walled in gorge. The first gorge had a couple of smaller drops that swept quickly into a death sieve, then a slide that lead to a clean 10 ft boof which exited into a large pool.

Boulder gardens above the first gorge We were moving along at a good pace when we eddy hopped one eddy too far and found our self's walled in. We were lucky to have been able to portage the death sieve at river level. If the water was higher this could have been a really bad move.

The entrance to the first gorge.
Scouting in the 1st gorge
Looking back up at the entrance drops to the 1st gorge

The death sieve in the 1st gorgeThe portage around the death sieve through the blow down

The entrance rapid above the 10 ft boof drop

Chuck Taylor about to exit the 1st gorge

Andy Lichtenheld taking one last look at his line

The nice boof looking back up stream

Hopes were high at this point but it was short lived as we rounded the next bend and set eyes on a second gorge that looked equally challenging. This gorge was named Three Bone Gorge by the crew that went in in 1992. It consisted of a small slot entrance, a second larger slot style drop and what looked like a 15 or twenty foot large slot drop.

The entrance to 3 Bone Gorge

The 15ftr in 3 Bone Gorge

A quick scout sent us portaging on river right. It was on this portage that I started hoping there were no more gorges and that the whitewater as well as the portages would ease back. But as we portaged high above the gorge I could see large sections of white that seemed to be stout drops and falls. After portaging river right for too long we were forced back to the river by a tributary and roped our boats back down into the gorge. When I got back down to the gorge it appeared to have more stout runnable class 5. At this point I remember Chuck looking down stream and saying "What is that!" We hopped in out boats and crossed the creek to scout on river left. Below us was a 100ft falls. I would like to say I got a good look at it to determine its run ability but that was not the case. At this point it was getting late and I was wondering what time it was but I didn't ask because it didn't really want to know. We needed to find a portage route and get below the falls. This portion of the already too long portage was even worse. It started out easy and quickly became a test of will. Steep, logy, thorny, and unstable large lava rock, combined with the distance of this portage really took it out of us. When we finally got to the river again we were beat down and running out of daylight. The boulder gardens, steep slides, 100ft falls, and the gorge above the falls combined to make extremely high gradient and the heart of the canyon. back at river level was a nice looking 30 ft slide and another small portage. We put in, then portaged the next small log jam and were re leaved to see some flat stretches and small rapids. We paddled for less then five minutes before we heard a roar. Our hearts sank as dark was closing in on us. We had hoped to at least make the bridge over Fly Creek on the road that we had driven in on . This would mean that we could hike the 2 miles to the gate and be in the clear. A scout revealed more unrunable rapids. I asked Andy what time it was and he told me it was 5:15. I told him we needed to call it and start hiking out of the canyon. Andy wanted to portage around the next rapid and I reluctantly agreed. We made it about 50 yards and with one look down the river we all knew what our next move would be, hiking out. We stashed our boats and started out of the steep canyon. The hike started out extremely steep and tapered back as we neared the top of the canyon rim. We soon hit a unimproved road which gave us a small sense of security. The rain started coming down at this point but we continued in hopes that we would hit road 8300. A few washouts later we hit road 8300 and started going in the direction we thought would lead us to the bridge. As we started descending in knew we were going in the right direction and soon came to the bridge. Tired, dehydrated, and hungry we all took a sigh of relief even though we were still about 3 miles from the car. As we finished the hike out it started to thunder and lightning and the heavy rains resumed shortly after. Rounding the last bend and seeing the refection of the car was an amazing feeling. We loaded up and headed out but we all knew we would be back sooner than we wanted. We had left not only our boats in the canyon but Chuck's truck was locked behind the gate in warehouser land.

The next day I took Chuck back to retrieve his truck and that night we all agreed the following day we would go back for our boats and finish the run.

Hiking back into Fly Creek Canyon

The whitewater of Fly Creek far below

Thursday we drove back to Fly Creek, drove as far as we could, then started our steep hike back in to the canyon. Once we made it back to river level and our boats we continued to portage. Andy ran the first double drop and the class 3-4 rapids right after but we were all forced to portage do to logs and steep chunky boulder gardens. One of the sections had a 5+ pinch that dropped in steep chunks barely two boat widths wide.

The double drop that Andy ran

The chunky pinch

The boulders that help create the pinch
The nasty looking falls just aroound the corner from the pinch
A nice drop below the chunky stuff

We were finally able to put back in and the river eased back to class 3-4. This gave way to some fun class 4-5 slides and one class 4+ boulder garden. After the boulder garden we rounded the corner to see the bridge! At this point I felt a sense of accomplishment in completing the run despite our challenges from the previous days. We continued down stream through about 20min. of class 3-3+ until Fly Creek hit Canyon creek where we paddled onto C.C. and our take out!

The slides just above the bridge

Chuck Taylor
Andy Lichtenheld
The boulder garden around the corner from the bridge

Till next time!

Snake River / Hell's Canyon Section

2009-10-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hell's Canyon of the Snake River

Hell's Canyon of the Snake is a wonderful multiday whitewater trip. The Wild & Scenic section is truly wild & scenic and if you have been there and taken it in you know it is much more than just another multiday whitewater trip. Not unlike the Grand Canyon, Middle Fork Salmon, and the Wild & Scenic section of the Rogue these places hold a page in history. It can be all too easy for us to get wrapped up in the adrenaline of the whitewater and miss what is truly unique. We can easily pass through these wild canyons and never see how truly special they are. I can not catch the canyon's true beauty in these pictures, so it is up to you to go and see for yourselves and explore nature's beauty!

After a long 7 hour drive the adventure starts here at Scotty's.

At Scotty's you will be treated to free coffee while you set up your shuttle which will cost $150 per vehicle. They will check your oil and make sure you are full on gas then have you leave a few extra dollars for gas.

The dam is about a 30 min. drive from Scotty's
The put in, just down stream from the dam

Snow on the top of the canyon

Once on the river the scenery is amazing. Here is Willie dwarfed by the canyon walls. October usually has mild temperatures but it was a little colder than usual. You can see the snow capping the very top of the canyon rim.

The river was running somewhere in the 20,000-25,000cfs range which was higher than usual for this time of the year. This flow created big volume rapids, large boils and fun eddylines. Wild Sheep was the biggest on our first day and the largest of the run. We camped a little ways down stream just above Granite the second biggest rapid on the run.

Wild Sheep Rapid as seen from the scout on river left

A raft dwarfed in the entrance at Wild Sheep A oar rig engulfed by Wild Sheep Willie in the left eddy below Wild Sheep Looking back up at Wild Sheep and the canyon aboveCamp 1: I believe this site was called Upper Granite Day 2 on the river started with Granite Rapid. The Green Room was not in but I heard about it. I was told the water was too high.

Granite Rapid Chris & Bruce Scouting Granite
Abandoned ranches lie silent in the canyon as historical sites

The lack of play waves kept us hunting for fun eddylines and whirlpools which we found in abundance. There wasn't much in the wave of quality play waves at this flow. I would be interested in seeing it at different flows, probably lower, to see if the play improved. However on the last day I found a nice wave that was catch on the fly. On the 2nd day just before we got to camp we paddled upon a absolutely amazing whirlpool. The depression made by the swirling water was probably 3-4 feet. When we caught good whirlpools we were getting pulled down so that barely our helmets were visible. This is the best swirls I've ever played in! The whirlpools were intimidating when they opened up and swallowed you in.

Willie playing in one of the whirlpools created by the powerful eddy

Camp 2

Camp 3 was at Kirkwood Ranch, where there is a flush toilet! Kirkwood is only about an hour or so from the take out. There are plenty of campsites around Kirkwood ranch but it was sure nice to stay at a site with nice toilets so we didn't have to get out the groover.
We got up early packed up and made quick work of the 4 miles or so of river we had left. We arrived at the takeout and derigged the raft then prepared for the 9 hour drive. On the way out of the canyon we got some parting shots and said good bye.

The take out

Parting shots with Hell's Canyon in the background

till next time...

Upper Upper Cispus River "Last but not Least"

2009-09-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Mt Adams

After the Little White drops, after the Green Truss is too low and when the rest of the NW summer creek runs have dropped below recommended flows... paddlers start heading to the Upper Upper Cispus! Bobby Miller a.k.a Zone Dogg showed up to have a little fun! That is Bobby in the blue/white NRS dry top. On this August day the gauge was reading about 650cfs. This is a nice flow, not too pushy and not too manky. When the water starts to drop the upper section of the run becomes manky and pinny.

Johny running the falls just around the corner from the put in.

Paddlers should think hard about running the falls just down stream from the put in, wood has gathered in the exit rapid that flows out of the pool below the falls. Most of the paddlers ran the falls on this day, while a few of us portaged. Some took the right eddy after running the drop, got out above the wood and portaged. A few ran the rapid and ducked the logs on river left.

The exit drop looking down stream

The exit drop looking back up stream from the pool after portaging on river left

There was a little bit of shifting or new wood in the stretch above Island Drop but nothing too bad. There is always a bit of wood in this run so paddlers need to keep on their toes for hazards.

Zone Dogg running a drop in the Mank Zone

The same rapid
*Warning p-ton rock, scout this if you don't know the line*

A new tree down in the creek, fortunately this one was not a portage

The section above Island Drop is a little manky, with smaller more technical drops. It is less solidified bed rock and more boulders. The section below Island tends to clean up and have more bedrock.

The photos below show some of the in-between stuff above Island

Zone Dogg in the in-between
This is one of the more manky drops in the upper section of the run

Another drop in the Mank Zone

This drop is easy but if paddlers are not careful they will p-ton the rock that is visible in the right side of the landing zone. A little left angle can save ankles and boats.

After leaving the mank zone paddlers will arrive at Island Drop. This is an awesome rapid with a great right and left line. The right line is a double drop with the first being the largest of the two at about 10ft and the second being about 4-5ft.

Alex Kilyk running the top drop on the right line of Island

The trick is to keep your bow up with a boof so you don't melt the first drop. Then you will be ready to clean the second smaller and more retentive one.

Alex running the second drop right side of Island

The left side of Island is a 15ft slide. Paddlers try to do a sliding fade of the left wall to avoid the confluence where the left and right lines converge. The falls on the left feed directly into the second drop on the right line. If you look closely at the pic above you can see the current on the right side of the pic feeding into the drop that Alex is about to run. This is the current coming from the falls on the left line.

Ryan Young running the second drop on the right line

The pic below was my favorite photo of the day! I thought the shot really captured the moment. Lots of action and style.

Ryan Scott running the second drop right line of Island

The section between Island and the bottom of the boulder garden below Behemoth falls is why we do this run! There are a few nice drops and what is know as Landslide. Scout Landslide from river right. Paddlers CAN portage Behemoth but it is difficult and also a little dangerous. the first person down Landslide should be careful a swim here without safety is unfortunate. It is difficult to self rescue above Behemoth. Set good safety for paddlers descending Landslide and scout Behemoth on river left just above the falls. Beware of the hole on river right below Behemoth Falls it is very sticky!

Matt King running Behemoth Falls

Matt deep in the second hole

Below Behemoth is a very nice boulder garden followed by another smaller one. The first boulder garden has 4 distinct drops. Right all the way works but ideally the line goes like this right, right, middle, right.

Looking down stream at the boulder garden below Behemoth Looking upstream at the boulder garden below Behemoth, you can see the falls in the background
Lana Young running one of the drops in the boulder garden

Alex Kilyk at one of the drops in the boulder garden

Alex getting ready to run the last drop on the boulder with the paddler in front of him going deep

The group in the second smaller boulder garden

Then it is aprx. a 20 minute paddle out some class 2-3 to the bridge! This is a good visual flow. If it looks like this at the take out then your should be stoked.

A view of the level from the take out bridge
Till next time!

Bear Creek: Missoula Montana

2009-08-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

Montana

About 45min. out of Missoula lies Bear Creek, a class 5 classic Montana Steep Creek. Paddlers earn their boofs with a hike in and a little mank, but are rewarded with some amazing whitewater!

The first rapid is a nice slide, this gets you warmed up for the super mank that we called "Walk In The Woods"!

The Put-In Slide

Ryan Young on the 1st slide

We had a paddler swim this section and it was ugly. Besides a broken boat and a bruised ego the he fared well. No more than bashed up legs. He was lucky! Look at the pics and you will understand what I mean.

The Mank!
My buddies pinned boat down below the Mank. That was the end of his boat. Maybe not such a bad thing, he was do for an upgrade!

After we unpinned the broken boat we made our way down stream to the good stuff. I can not remember the names of all the rapids but her are the ones I caught on my camera with the names I remembered.I believe they call this slide Tijuana Crack Whore and the hole below is Hotel California.

T.C.W.

Paddler in T.C.W

The left eddy just below T.C.W. seems to be the common spot to start the portage of the rapid just above Brave Bear Falls.

The holes below T.C.W

This rapid is just above Brave Bear Falls. I believe this one is a standard portage. With a stout lead in and some poorly placed wood a mistake here could have tragic consequences.

Bear Creek saves the best for last "Brave Bear Falls". Brave Bear is a long slide. But this is no low angle slide with a few inches of water running over it. Brave Bear is powerful long and challenging!

Brave Bear Falls

Till next time!

S.L.C. OR 2010 Gear Preview

2009-07-21T22:49:00.001-07:00

Well Paddlers

There is some cool new stuff hitting the market for 2010! I do not have time to put it all up tonight but I will keep you posted. Here is a very short preview of some new Riot boats.

Riot has come to OR to show they are not going down with out a fight. They unveiled the Carbon Composite Astro and a full line of boats.

Riot/Ninja Surf Boat

Carbon Composite Atsro

Wavesport has come out with limited release graphics.

Stay Tuned, more to come!

Bring on the Lochsa!

2009-07-07T20:00:00.001-07:00

2009 Lochsa Pics & Vid.!

Over the last few years PDX Whitewater Junkies have been making the Memorial Day pilgrimage to the Lochsa River in Idaho, 2009 was no different. It is always a great time, with amazing whitewater and loads of fun! Boaters and non-boaters looking for a good time post up at Lochsa Falls with cold beer to watch and catch footy of the carnage. I followed their lead and caught some of my own shots. ENJOY...

Lochsa River around 8 feet.

It is always fun to hang out at Lochsa Falls, drink cold beer, and get a little footy. We probably should have been out chasing class 5 rapids on some creek, but we weren't, so enjoy the media.

The crowd waiting...

Rafts

Creature Crafts
Catarafts

Oh YA!

2009 Memorial Weekend "Lochsa Falls Carnage!"

LOCHSA CARNAGE VID CLICK HERE!

An Afternoon on Rock Creek WA.

2009-06-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

Rock Creek, CRG Washington

Rock Creek is one of my favorite runs close to home. Boulder gardens and waterfalls keep paddlers busy. Unfortunately the 09 winter was not kind to this run and when we showed up in the Spring we were a little disappointed. While some of the rapids cleaned up others got worse. The first good drop on the run is a clean 10 ft boof. The drop had two new small trees in the river right side of the pool below the drop, but they were easy to miss.

The 10ft ledge with the logs on river left

The logs in the bottom of the drop

The biggest disappointment was at Heaven & Hell which had a tree broached on the boulder in the landing zone. Heaven & Hell is a series of drops. It starts out with a 12 ftr that banks of the right wall, then through a pool and over a 3 ft ledge. The small ledge puts you in the pool above the main falls where most of the drop slams into a under water head wall creating a nasty hole that blocks most of the entrance. There is a clean slot about a boat width wide on the left. Paddlers boof the slot then slide 15ft to a sweet 15ft auto boof. After a close look at the final drop I decided it would go and headed up. I had two paddlers set up safety on the log just in case. I ran the first drop and eddied out. My good friend Chuck was shooting pics at the falls. He motioned the final drop was a no go. The safety crew below thought it was to dangerous so I ran the small 3 ft. ledge, eddied out and seal launched back in below the hazard.

The first drop of Heaven & Hell

Me at in the first drop on Heaven & Hell The log creating the hazard on Heaven & Hell

The rapid just below Heaven and Hell was also a portage. We portaged on river left and continued down river.

The next portage just below Heaven & Hell Steep Creek Falls

Steep Creek Falls has been run at high flows. After passing under the bridge paddlers will continue through a couple of miles of class 2. When the river pics back up a bit you will know Three Swim Falls is just around the corner. This is always portaged on river left. Be careful the eddy above Three Swim Falls is fairly small and can easily be missed if you are not paying attention. At high flows a small hole forms that makes it harder to make the eddy. A good friend of mine swam it and did not enjoy the ride. You can read about the swim on Jason Rackley's site www.oregonkayaking.net

The Eddy above Three Swim Falls
Looking down at Three Swim Falls

From the view here the line looks fairly straight forward if you boof the 2nd to last flake on the downriver. Unfortunately it isn't as easy as it looks, I don't know anyone who has run it.

A better view of the flake from downstream, with the runnable flake just upstream of the pillow

After portaging the main part of Three Swim Falls the boulder garden run out will be waiting. Paddlers that aren't into running the boulder garden can portage to the bottom and skip it.

The bouldergarder below the main falls

Stomp'n boulder garden

Chuck Taylor

Chuck Taylor running the boulder garden below Three Swim Falls

Spring Road Trip: Part 2

2009-05-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Road Trip Part 2:

Clear Creek Cali., and South Fork Umpqua Campbell Falls Section

After a great time on the Cal. Salmon we headed North towards home, but we could not pass up a trip down Upper Clear Creek! We had hooked up with Dan out of Ashland Or., to show us the lines, he had told us that the run was a fun class 4-5 classic! We were excited to check it out. After hard rains the sun popped out, we were stoked to see it after nearly continues rain over the last 3 days. We arrived at the bridge over looking a small gorge on the run. Dan had told us we could check the flows at the bridge, and when we peered down into the gorge his face lit up with a smile! "Looks like a great flow", said Dan.

Peering into the gorge below from the bridge

As the rest of the group looked into the gorge we all were happy at what we saw. We jumped back into the van and continued upstream to the trail head. We arrived at the trail head and prepared our gear for the 1 mile hike to the river. It was a nice short hike up to a bridge crossing Clear Creek.

The Put-In

At the bridge we looked at the water level and what had appeared to be a nice flow now seemed to me to be a full or what I like to call fluffy! Dan took a second look at the flow and informed us that it would be juicy and probably as high as his first time down the run which was the highest he had run it! We put on and headed down to the first big section of rapids. Although Dan had been on the run a few times he didn't give us any guarantees that he remembered all the lines at this level. We approached the first rapid and eddied out. Dan told us to start left and cut right finishing on the right side. We peeled out and dropped in! I started working right and was pushed back to the the left side and over a 5 foot ledge. As I dropped over the left ledge where I wasn't supposed to be I noticed the reason why I was instructed to be on the rights side slot. A nice large pour over hole awaited my arrival. My complacency had awarded me a side surf in a big hole! I braced in the hole and struggled to work my way out. I hung on and eventually worked got out unscathed. I paddled down to the next eddy thinking to myself that I better step it up a bit. We regrouped and anxiously awaited instructions as to where the line was for the next rapid. "Start middle and work left", said Dan. Off I went following Dan, this time I was ready and had a nice line. We eddied out and looked back up just in time to see Tony flip and take a couple of nice head shots. Then came the next paddler who also flipped and took a few nice shots to the head and shoulders. Ouch I said and made the signal to confirm he was ok. He gave me the I'm ok and came down to the eddy. A bit shook up, he got his dose for the day and decided to walk out! The rest of us continued down stream and finished the run. Since we put on late and had a stout flow I concentrated on my lines instead of photos. There were to portages one around a manky rapid and the other around a flume style rapid into a huge hole. The first of the two was definitely runnable at the flow we had. Because of the high flows we started our portage an eddy above the normal one. The normal eddy looked a little risky. This made the portage longer and required us to rope the boats and do a little tricky foot work on the cliff. Total portage time was around 30min. After the portage the run continued to dish up nice read and ru rapids! We made our way down towards the final gorge with no problems! The finale gorge was also a bit intimidating. The only possible place to scout was on river left above the rapid. It was also not easily portageable according to Dan and I would have to agree. However this is an awesome rapid, despite its intimidating looks at these flows. The entrance was kind of a sliding ramp that lead paddlers down through a hole, some mank and then into a large horizon line. After the large horizon line we could see more stout runout and then a pool. This gorge was one that you just need to look at the line, then run it. No need to look too long! The gorge marks the end of the run and I would say it goes out with a bang!

After Clear Creek we headed back towards Ashland and toward P-Town. The next day we made our way south to the S. F. Umpqua where we ran a section from S.F. Falls down to Campbell Falls. This run is kind of a novelty run. A few big easy drops with not much else. I will say that this is a very scenic area and well worth a visit if you are in the area.

S.F. Falls South Umpqua R.

This section of the S. Umpqua has two waterfalls, a ledge, and a sliding falls/rapid. Not super hard, but fun and with low consequences. Paddlers put-in a S.F. Falls (pictured above) park.

Me at S.F. Falls

Christie S.F. Falls

Tye O.

One of the 4 rapids on this run Christie G.
The Slide Allan S.

Tye gett'n surfed at the slide

The final falls on the run is Campbell Falls. It is very straight froward and has at least two lines and maybe 3. The take-out is just down stream at the next campground on river right.

Campbell Falls

Me at Campbell Falls
Allan at Campbell Falls

Till next time!

Road Trip Part 1: Cal. Salmon Race/South Fork Salmon TR

2009-05-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

Nordhiemer Race 2009

-April 30th, 2009-

7 paddlers and one Sprinter w/trailer. This was exactly what we needed to do this trip in style!

Thanks Next Adventure!

Thanks to Next Adventure, Portland Oregon for providing the ultimate road trip vehicle! With a trailer for boats the Sprinter could take 9 paddlers no problem.

-10:00pm Thursday we hit the road. A little late but not out of the norm. Destination Salmon River in Cali. We arrived in Ashland at 4:00am and we pulled off to crash at Noah's River Adventures. Thanks again guys! We were on the road again by 8:00 and after breakfast, shopping, changing a trailer light and looking for Brake fluid that we didn't even need we managed to arrive at Nordhiemer Campground about 3:30 pm. The rain started on the way down and didn't stop all weekend.

A rare glimpse of the sun breaking through the thick dark clouds that ruled the skies all weekend.

Saturday morning we woke up and prepared for the race which started at 1:23 pm. Ha Ha! Everyone was at the put in and eagerly awaiting the mass start! I got the chance to try out my new Shred Ready Standard provided by my latest sponsors HUB or "Hopworks Urban Brewing" out of Portland, Oregon! Thanks Hopworks! Sick helmet. Nice job Shred Ready!

This years race theme was Porn Stars and Monsters and people brought out their costumes or lack of.....

One individuals idea of a costume.
Christie Glissmeyer's Costume

Raft Team in Freight Train

Kayaker in Freight Train

A common view from the road on the shuttle of the Nordhiemer stretch

We finished the race and headed for the South F. Salmon Gorge. This was a awesome run! Super Clean class 4 to 5-. We scouted 3 major rapids, one was the last gorge which you can see from the road on the way up.

South Fork Salmon

We drove through the small town of Forks of the Salmon on our way to the South Fork Salmon. Forks of the Salmon is a small and quite town on the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Salmon River. Didn't seem like there was much going on in the Forks but maybe we were just there at a slow time. Speaking of time it seemed like time had kind of froze here.

Frozen in Time at the Forks of the Salmon

Warm'n up on the S. Fork!

One of the larger ledges in the upper section of the S. Fork Ty. O boofing another clean ledge on the S. Fork Paddler: Allan Satcher

Paddler: Christie Glissmeyer

Paddler: Tony S.

The rapid above was one we scouted. Although it was super clean with a nice tongue it was a very narrow constriction and looked stout from above.

I am not sure what you call this one, but up against the right wall would have been a good name. We scouted this on the left and then ran the far right slot between the triangle rock and the far right wall

Paddler: Tony S.
Ty waiting below the final gorge above the take out

We Scouted the last gorge on river right. It had two descent sized ledges and a couple of holes to go with. We took a quick scout, ran it and with big smiles paddled on down to the take out. This is a great stretch. The run is fairly straight forward, it seemed like we had a great flow, everything was covered and not really any stomp'n holes.

The top ledge in the final gorge

The second ledge in the final gorge

We loaded gear and headed back to the party which had begun with out us! Paul got ready for the raffle and awards while everyone else boozed it up!
As the night went on so did the drinking and what else could we do but take artsy photos that plugged our sponsors

Thanks for the growlers Hopworks. You guys make the best specialty beers around!

Thanks again Next Adventure the pop up tents saved the day and made a great event site!Big Thanks to Paul G. for organizing this awesome race and we hope to see everyone
May 16-17 at the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival on the Clackamas River. It is gonna be another great year with the return of the Big Air Ramp, Head-to-Head Boater X, Playboat Mass Start, Downriver Relay and lets not forget the Next Adventure BBQ on Saturday night!
Part 2 coming soon "Clear Creek and why you should stop by the South Umpqua on your way home!"

Upper Klamath River

2009-04-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Upper Klamath River

Upper Klamath Put-In

The Upper Klamath is known as one of Oregon's classic continues big water runs. The Upper K is a dam release run where paddlers can enjoy continues class4-4+ whitewater when many other runs have dried up.

Christie Glissmeyer

There is controversy building about the removal of the dams on this river. Restoring this river to its natural state has big impact on farming, energy supply, and the local fishing and rafting outfitters who count on the predictable release of water during summer/fall months. For know it remains one of the best continues big water runs in the state. Paddlers will most likely see the river at one gun. Which means the dam is running one turbine giving the river aprx. 1500-1800cfs. If paddlers are lucky enough to catch the river a two guns or two turbines and aprx. 2000-2800 cfs hold on and look out for large holes and huge breaking waves that are relentless from Caldera down. The first few mile offer nice class 2/3 warm up before the first big class 4+ Caldera Rapid.

Caldera Rapid

Steven Olsen takes the left line at Caldera and melts the big hole

Cat Boater in Caldera

Paddle raft in Caldera

After Caldera the rapids are stacked tight with short sections of fast moving water separating large rapids.

Hell's Corner Rapid

R2 at Hell's Corner

The girls celebrate in Champagne Eddy After Champagne eddy paddlers can relax a bit knowing that the hardest rapids are over. But don't let your guard down yet there a plenty more read and run class 4 rapids.

One of the Rapids below Hell's Corner

The rapids continue down to the final class 4 State Line Rapid. After State Line paddlers are moments from the take out. I highly suggest this run for all paddlers and especially ones looking for a run with a totally different nature then the pool drop runs we grow so used to here in the NW. probably the biggest draw back to the Upper K is the long shuttle. The shuttle is aprx. 1.5 hours each way. It is well worth organizing a group and paying for a shuttle service then split the cost between the group. Noah's River Adventure's out of Ashland OR., is the host of the Upper Klamath Race that takes place in April. These guys are awesome and will have all the beta paddlers need on this run and others in the area. So if you are looking to secure an outfitter, shuttle or just need some local beta give em a call or drop by there headquarters just 30 seconds off I-5! Thanks again Bart for being a great host!

The parting shots!

http://www.noahsrafting.com/

108'ft. Waterfall World Record Shattered by a 127ftr

2009-03-05T21:17:00.000-08:00

The article just hit the web today! Here is a short excerpt taken from Ben Stooksberry article on the Jackson site, "Brazil World Record Attempt Expedition member Pedro Olivia shattered the existing world record (108 foot or 33 meter) with a 38. 7 meter (127 foot) waterfall descent on a tributary to the Amazon on the Rio Sacre in Campos Novos, Mata Grosso, Brazil." These guys really are changing the idea of what is possible in a kayak. Although I can't say I didn't see this one coming from such hucksters! I give them props! Even though 70ft is no where close to 127ft having run a 70ftr I know the nerve it takes to run large falls .
Go to the Jackson site for the full article http://jacksonkayak.com/articles/article.cfm?directory=articles09&article=200903051

Keep it safe out there.
Luke

Mother Nature's Raw Power

2009-02-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

Pics of another large landslide that took place on Benham Creek at Benham Creek Falls. Another example of the destruction from the January floods. There was a nice double tiered falls(pictured below) in a mini gorge until this January when the slide covered it barring the falls and small gorge. The Slide occurred about 13 miles South of Randal on FR 25. Once again thanks to the Northwest Waterfall Survey for a great info and photos.

Benham Creek before the slide

Benham Creek after the landslide

West Coast Whitewater Racing Series

2009-01-31T13:45:00.000-08:00

Paddlers
We are half way through winter and Spring is approaching quickly. This years West Coast Whitewater Racing Series is going to be better than ever! Make sure you mark your calenders to hit these events. I have put up a schedule of 2009 Spring/Summer West Coast Series Events and pics. *Sorry for the lack of photo credits*

2009 West Coast Whitewater Series Race Schedule

March 21-22 : Upper Wind River Race, Upper Wind R.(Festival)For info go to the Oregon Rafting Tema Blog

April 4 : North Fork American Race, NF. American R. North Fork Race Info

April 11 -12 : Northwest Creeking Competition, Canyon Creek/East Fork Lewis R. www.northwestcreekcomp.org
April 18 -19 : Upper Klamath R./Scott R. (Festival) For info go to the Oregon Rafting Team Blog

May 1 -3 : Cal-Salmon R. Nordheimer

May 15-17 : Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival, Upper Clackamas R. (Festival) www.upperclackamasfestival.org

June 5-7 : Payette Boise River Revival, Payette R. SF. Payette, NF. Payette (Festival) www.pbrkayakevent.com

August 14-16 : Upper and Lower Youghiogheny, ASCI Whitewater Center (USRA Nationals)

October 10-11 : Cali Burn Festival, Trinity River / Burnt ranch Gorge

NW HUCK'N

2009-01-21T18:08:00.000-08:00

NW HUCK'N!

The lip of Outlet Falls
Paddler: Luke Spencer
Photo Credit: Scott Baker

-Scroll down to see the rest of the photos

I have been looking for the right falls to take the next step and really go big! Lucky for me I live in the Northwest, a land of waterfalls. This day took me to a little known creek in Washington called Outlet Creek where 70ft Outlet Falls stands tall looking over the canyon below as if it was guarding the creek. I had heard of this falls before from local paddler/film maker Nate Herbeck but had not considered running it until I saw the pics from the day before. It didn’t take me long to decide I wanted to fire it off. I made up my mind that night that I wanted to run it, so I put out the calls to the peeps that it was time for a hucking mission! After arranging a crew I went to bed feeling inspired. 5:00am came quickly as I got up, gathered my gear, and loaded my boat on the car. This day seemed different than others since I had already made up my mind about the drop. I drove off and headed for what would be my highest descent of a falls yet. When we arrived at the falls there where nine boaters, 2 videographers, and multiple photographers all ready to catch the descent of Outlet Falls. It was a cold day and the water had frozen to the hanging walls around the waterfall creating frozen sparkling crystals and icicles that reminded me of the ice on the inside of a freezer! The surreal surroundings would create amazing images that would later be frozen in time not unlike the icicles themselves. As we peered from the cliffs hundreds of feet above the pool at the bottom of the falls I think everyone had the same feelings flowing through there mind. We all commented about the size of what stood before us, “Man that is tall” someone said, “Looks really good though”, someone else said. It was about then when Ryan Scott from Gorge Hits said he was going to gear up and head to the lower pool for safety and video. Everyone then took turns asking one another if they were going to run it. Before the question made it my way I said, “I am gonna gear up and give’r”. Lucky for me Cody Howard from Hucking Huge was also in, which made two crazy bastards! To check out Cody’s Huge Huck go to huckinhuge.com. It is always nice to have a partner in crime, thanks Cody! A couple of others where on the fence, but this was none of my concern, as I was focused on my line. Despite the falls perfect appearance at the lip, what awaited at the put in was a seal launch into the run-out of a class 5 rapid and a quick move around a class 3 hole up against the right wall, which was separated by a pool from another short class 3 rapid leading to the moving flat water lip of the falls. Oh ya the seal launch was assisted and required another boater pushing you off the cliff in order to have enough momentum to try and miss the class 3 hole below. Lets just say I was less than stoked on the entry maneuver. Despite this I was ready to huck, I looked at my buddy Tony who would send me into the abyss and said, “it is time!” I slipped into my Magnum secured myself and gave the word. Moments later I felt the cold water hit my face and new this was for real! I hit the water, melted the hole, and was pushed right. This was not were I wanted to be since the water on river right was moving toward the next rapid and the lip quicker than I had thought. I swung my bow back up stream and dug my paddle into the water as I worked to make the ferry back over to the left side of the eddy where I could sit safely and signal everyone I was ready. This is where time starts to move at a distorted pace which can only be described if you have been in this sort of situation. I made one long blow on my whistle waited a few moments then took the stroke out of the eddy and into the moving water! I was quickly swept into the class 3 rapid that lead to the lip and before I had a chance to think twice I was peering off the end of the world. Milliseconds later I was looking down the throat of this giant and could see the pool far below. My next thought was my angle and of possible over rotation. It was about that same time I knew I had to tuck, so tuck I did! Some people say running waterfalls does not take skill. I would challenge this thinking and argue that that you do not just fall off of large drops, unless you like being on the injured reserve list. Each waterfall requires a little different technique, as they are all unique. It is not just about the size of ones balls! Although big balls are required as well!

Photo Credit: Lana Young Paddler: Luke Spencer

Lana Young Photography

-Thanks you to everyone that came to support this mission! I know that you all would have preferred to be paddling down a real run. You know who you are! THANKS!

Canyon Creek Washington Hit by Landslide

2009-01-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

A Sad Site For Kayakers
Photo Credit: Ron Reynier

Severe winter weather causing record snow, flooding, high winds, and landslides slammed the Northwest this winter reminding us that Mother Nature calls the shots! Although kayakers welcome the heavy precipitation, when huge landslides send hundreds of logs into a classic creek run we realize weather can be bitter sweet. Recently a landslide slid into Canyon Creek Washington, blocking the class 4-5 gorge. Not only is this a favorite run for NW boaters, but it is the location of the Northwest Creeking Competition and the Canyon Creek Race. As the organizer of this race my heart dropped along with many others when we saw this picture. The event is still scheduled, but it is likely we will not be able to race on Canyon Creek. We will be going forward with the Sunset Falls Huck and possibly move the creek race to the East Fork of the Lewis. So check www.northwestcreekcomp.org for river conditions and updates on the competition.

Sincerly
Luke Spencer
Northwest Creeking Competition Organizer

Video Premiere: Northwest Video Scrapbook 7

2009-01-06T13:03:00.001-08:00

Northwest Video Scrapbook 7 - Trailer from CRG Video on Vimeo.

Come see Ryan's Scott's latest film Northwest Video Scrapbook 7 at Hopworks Brewery January 15 th. The Doors will be open so come pre-funk upstairs, the video will go on around 9:00pm! The video will be shown in the brewery and upstairs in the bar. Unfortunately we can not have sound in the upstairs. Beers will be $3 in the brewery! What a deal! So get there early and find your self a seat or a place to stand down stairs! This is a smaller venue than usual so don't be late.

THIS IS A ALL AGES SHOWING!

Sponsors: Next Adventure, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Gorge Hits, eNRG Kayaking

See You There!

Custom Wood Paddles by: Blunt Family Paddles

2008-12-07T23:10:00.001-08:00

Blunt Family Custom Wood Paddles & Oars
Hand Made Paddles:
made in Oregon

Paddle Info:

-Made in Barton Oregon by Kenny Kiley, Blunt Family Paddles are custom made performance wood bent and straight shaft kayak paddles. Not only are these paddles a hand made work of art but they will shred your favorite steep creek or play spot. Each paddle is custom made to fit your needs. The wood shaft and blades create amazing swing weight and flex that can not be matched by any other materials. The wood also makes these paddles highly buoyant in the water. Remember Blunt Family Paddles are hand made one at a time and can take a while तो produce. Contact Kenny Kiley for your own custom Blunt Family Paddle at http://bluntfamilypaddles.blogspot.com/

Paddle blades: Are made from Western Red Cedar, the edges are made from Yellow Hart, and the tips are African Anigre. The blades are reinforced with fiberglass and the edges are wrapped with Dynol for maximum abrasion and impact resistance.

Dynol edges for maximum impact resistance.

The Shaft: Is a ergonomic wood bent shaft with a standard 23.5in. grip made of Ash with a Spruce core.

Check back soon for Mt. St. Helens Lava Canyon scouting update.......

Scouting Update: Lava Canyon WA.

2008-12-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

Mt. St. Helens Washington

On the flanks of Mt. St. Helens lies some of Mother Nature's most dramatic geology! In a amazing bedrock canyon hides a series of cascading waterfalls. This is Lava Canyon! Lava Canyon Falls was formed by the 1986 eruption of Mt. St. Helens which caused a lahar and flood which scoured out a canyon that had been filled with dirt and mud for 1,800 years. The Muddy River's course was redirected to that canyon as a result of the lahar and the floods The canyon drops 1,400 feet (426 meters) in 2 miles (3.2 km). In steep creek'n terms that is 7ooft per mile! About double the Little White Salmon in its steepest section. As the Muddy river approaches Lava Canyon the river changes character from a rocky and probably constantly changing river bed to solidified bedrock. The amazing designs in the cliffs is cooled lava and what looks like layers of Basalt. You can see the different stages of cooling in the multiple layers and shapes of rock as you pan the cliffs that tower over the Muddy River.

This pic shows the dramatic geology and different cooling stages of the surrounding cliffs

But enough about the geology, there is some amazing whitewater in this canyon! How runnable is it?...... Well..... lets just say bring your a game. Besides the fact that it is probably illegal, it is a 1st-d for obvious reasons ultra steep, large drops, portages, and short pools. Yes there are some pools between drops and yes the river is accessible at river level. Runnable? You will have to go check it out and decide for yourself. If you do go let me know and stay out of trouble!

The Muddy River as it approaches Lava Canyon Pure bedrock delight in Lava Canyon

There are about 3-4 nice drops before the river drops over a unrunable 60-70 ftr.

Drop #1
Drop #2

Drop #3
The lip of the unrunable 70 ft. drop You can get an idea of the size of this drop if you look at the two people standing river right on the rock above the falls.

Once the canyon descends the 70ftr it takes off downstream dropping over multiple smaller waterfalls.

Looking down the canyon from the top of the 70ftr

The first in the series of smaller falls with the large drop seen in the background These two drops looked to be some of the best. The top drop looked clean and fun.
Both drops were over 20ft tall. The bottom drop was very narrow, probably just big enough to get a boat through
Looking down on one the falls from the wood suspension bridge
This is the lip of the drop in the pic above showing the foot bridge overhead

Here is what you see when you look down stream. This gives you an idea of how steep the canyon is.

The 2nd drop in this shot is a bit of a dicey one! The only water that was not re-circulating back towards the falls was the water at the end of the boiling pool where the walls start to narrow up. It looked like the pool was maybe 10 ft or so but I have to keep in mind that we were 100ft above the water. If I had to guess on the length of the pool I might assume it to be more like 15-20ft. in length do to the distortion in size because of the height of which we were viewing the drop.

According to the info I found on the Internet there is a 200ft falls in Lava Canyon. The trail leading down stream looked to be washed out from high water so we never saw it. I am sure that one can get to it if they want, but our light was dwindling so we hiked back to the trail head. Many of these photos were taken from areas that were closed by the Forest Service. I do not recommend trespassing as I am sure the consequence is a stiff fine, not to mention it is a dangerous area from exposed cliffs.

This is a cool video of the drops looking down from the bridge

As the sun set I was able to adjust the lighting on my waterproof Olympus Digital camera and catch some amazing color as the sunset reflected of the clouds. What an amazing place! I have not seen to many other places that rival this in pure natural beauty. This place is truly a phenomenon of Mother nature. If you have not had the chance to get up to Lava Canyon take the time to do so this upcoming Spring/Summer after the snow melts and the road opens again.

Happy Holidays!

Scouting Update: Upper Butte Creek, OR.

2008-12-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

Butte Creek Falls, ORFor most paddlers Upper Butte Creek remains nothing more than a 25ft park & huck. However just down stream are some very large scenic falls. For paddlers that push the limits of extreme kayaking this may be an ideal short section of hucking paradise! The short section boasts 4 falls in close proximity to one another. Reminiscent of the drops on Oregon's Salmon River Gorge or Washington's Upper Lewis River Falls, this short steep piece of falling waters will certainly wet a hucker's appetite! Other than the 25ft Upper Falls the lower falls have not been paddled yet, probably due to their large size. However people have run Butte Creek down to Scott's Mill and portaged this section of river. It starts with a clean 25ftr known as Upper Butte Creek Falls (this has been run).

25 ft Upper Butte Creek Falls A short distance below the upper falls lies the true hucker's paradise. A nasty ledge with a log blocking the right side lies less than 100 ft from the lip of the aprx. 75ftr

The nasty slot drop with the horizon line of the 75ftr just down stream

The 75 ftr "Big One"After the 75ftr lies a large pool which flows right and over a 10ft broken ledge.

The 10ft ledge with "Big One" in the backgroundThe 10ft ledge

Less than 30 ft from the 10ft ledge lies what I call "Split Falls". The majority of the water is pushed down a narrow right channel that drops aprx. 30-35ft and is aprx. 4 ft wide.

35ft Split Falls Below this is a large pool. The creek then tumbles over some class 3 takes a right bend and heads out of sight. People have paddled the section below this and reported mostly class 2-3 with some manky class 4 rapids. My focus was scouting the falls so I will leave the rest for others to explore and report on!

till next time.....

Lindsey Creek TR Part 1: 1st D Turns into Park & Huck!

2008-11-30T12:22:00.000-08:00

Lindsey Creek, Oregon
All Photos by: Willie Illingworth

Like the majority of these kinds of missions you never really know what you are gonna get. This mission was know different. With any ultra steep micro creeks, which is how I like to refer to creeks of this size, it is a gamble. You never seem to get a good grasp on how the water levels go up and down. The water rises fast and falls even faster! It was 3 days after a huge Oregon rain storm and warm weather along with warm temps had NW rivers and creeks going crazy. Myself and the rest of the crew were a little skeptical after watching gauges plummet the day before our mission. But we decided to give it a go and myself, Chuck Taylor, the Herbecks, Ryan Scott, Willie I., Tony S., and Scott Baker would take a gamble. We arrived to find what we all thought were marginal levels for this creek. We hiked up to check out the final gorge, which is stacked with falls, small ledges, shallow landings, and log hazards. With what looked to be less than 100cfs (visual gauge) some of the drops were runnable and others still needed more water. The upside is that the biggest drop of the section seemed to be at a runnable flow. While some of the group scouted the final gorge others continued upstream to check out the first gorge and the 40ftr I call Heaven's Gate. This drop is the exit to this short extremely steep canyon that consists of 4 or possible 5 drops all in a matter less than a few hundred yards and a hundred or so feet. It is hard to tell exactly how many vertical feet are lost but believe me its impressive! The mini gorge which I have dubbed "Satan's Gulch" was lower than ideal for the 40ft. exit drop and we agreed to come back with more water. Click here to see Heaven's Gate Falls. The last gorge aptly named Apocrypha Gorge was still lower than most of us wanted and after talking with the crew only me and Chuck were gonna suit up. Chuck and I decided that the 25ft. falls was looking good and after being there a half dozen times I did not want to walk away with out bagging at least the 25ftr which I call Anathema Falls. This named seemed appropriate after I swam on my 1st attempt and our 2nd runs didn't end up much better.

Pics from my 1st run. You can see how I take a stroke turning my boat and landing parallel to the hydraulic and pushing me into the cove where I swam and Chuck Taylor is in the final pic of this series.

Anathema Falls Lindsey Creek OR.

River left or Chuck's paddler right of this rock point is where I swam. The point creates a river left cove and the waterfalls hydraulic makes it hard to roll up if one is upside down and againts the wall. Honestly I probably need to work on my offside roll. OOPS.. My 2nd, the better of my 2 lines off Anathema Falls.

Chuck Taylor's descent of Anathema Falls

till next time......

TR: Stebbins Creek HIGH Flow!

2008-11-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

Washougal River at aprx. 10,000 on the gauge at Washougal!

STEBBINS CREEK HIGH WATER TR!

The rain was coming down in buckets and as I watched the gauges spike to huge levels my phone was ringing off the hook! The question was "where are we going to go tomorrow?". I checked the gauges in amazement! Everything was rising at a astonishing rate and the runs we wanted to do just kept spiking! One after another the runs fell to Mother Nature as they became unrunable do to high water. Everything was getting blown out and we all started to wonder where we would be able to paddle the next day. We all decided we couldn't safely decide until tomorrow. I fell a sleep dreaming of the epic day in store! We got up in the morning and things were still blower! We agreed on the Washougal drainage crossed our fingers and headed for Stebbins Creek which is a trib. to the Upper Washougal! The crew was strong with 7 of us myself, Ryan Scott, Scott Baker, Dave Hoffman, Keel Brightman, Tony Skrivanek, and Dan from NY who was a friend of Ryan's.

Upper Washougal Waterfall section/left side Naked falls. This is usually about 10-15ft tall!

We knew that the water would be high but were unsure of exactly how high. When we saw the waterfalls on the Upper Washougal uncertainty started to take over. We arrived at the bridge were Mad Dog Falls is to check the level. The water was HIGH and we debated on whether to toss in the towel. Since I was the only one who had ever been on the run the crew looked to me to make the call. The comments that were going around went something like this. "Looks High", "Do you think it is good", "Will there be eddies", "Is it boxed in up there", "What do you think Luke". After conversing with Keel which is never a good idea if you lean to the conservative side but great if you are looking for inspiration! Keel is full of life and seems to be willing to put it on the line. With a little of his inspiration I said what the F... lets do this S...! Everyone was in and we geared up preparing to head into the unknown!

At the NF Stebbins Trail head

The sign where paddlers start the 2 mile hike

The trail was washed out and had a small creek running right down it! Signs that we were in store for epic water levels
North Fork Stebbins at the put in before the confluence.

Scott Baker getting warmed up!

The first falls

The in-between

I have done this run before but have never managed or really wanted to get it at this high of a water level. However this turned out to be a great and manageable level. The stuff in between was fun and consisted of clean continues class 3-4.

The Second Falls

Ryan Scott

One of the Chunky Boulder Gardens

Tony in the Chunky Boulder Garden

Tony in the last drop of the Chunky Boulder Garden

The Portage just above Tsunami Falls

Once you start the portage on river left you continue up and around the drop and then back down to the top of Tsunami Falls.

The portage looking back up stream

The portage on the way up

Portaging down to the top of Tsunami Falls

Tsunami Falls

Scott Baker Tsunami Falls

Ryan Scott at Tsunami Falls

Ryan Scott 3rd tier Tsunami Falls

Dave Hoffman at Tsunami Falls

Dave Hoffman

Me on what looks to be a good line on the left side of the top tier of Tsunami

Me stuck in the violent recirculating eddy on the right line. You can just see my head and paddle. I went around for about three rides before struggling out. I don't recommend it!

I believe this is called Zoom Tube

Six out of seven portaged this drop. I have run it in past years at lower flows when the left line was not stuffed with logs. Keel ran it but for me the consequences far out weighed the fun factor! Your choice!

Keel Brightman at Mad Dog Falls

Keel at Mad Dog

I hope you enjoyed. Have fun out there

SYOTR

TR: Canyon Creek Washington

2008-11-10T16:57:00.001-08:00

The rain is back to the NW and so are our favorite runs! One of my personal favs Canyon Creek! Here are some cool pics. The water level was about 550cfs which is aprx. 6"in. under the unit.

Chris Dawkins Prelude to Thrasher
Willie Illingworth Thrasher Middle Line

Chris Dawkins Thrasher

Me at the left line on Thrasher

Chris Dawkins and Paul Meir Scouting Big Falls

C.D. Big Falls

W.I. Big Falls

C.D. at Champagne

W.I. at the brink of Hammering Spot

C.D. at Champagne

Willie and Chris Loving being back on Canyon Creek in their Magnums!

Till next time!

Over The Next Horizon Line!

2008-10-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well I have been waiting for the rain and it is here! With a little time on my hands and determination to explore every last LITTLE creek on the map I headed out! I was turned on to this by my friend Tim Gross. If you have never had the pleasure to meet Tim, he is an awesome guy and I feel lucky to have him as my friend! Now, I can't tell you where this is as it is TOP SECRET! But here is a preview! Oh ya, and congratulations to everyone who voted and took part of this milestone in American history! It is obvious that the people of America want change and even if it doesn't come to the politicians it is clear that the people of the United States of America have changed!

Makes You Wonder!?

2008-10-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

I found these pics on waterfallsnorthwest.com and couldn't help but wonder what it would look like with more water and if there was more of this in the area. I did google earth it and wasn't able to tell. So if anyone makes it down south toward Ashland and ends up hiking in the mountains up in the upper reaches of the Rogue River on Cascade Creek zip me an email with some photos and let me know!

Waiting For the Water
Thanks