TR: Sandy Gorge or: That Hole That Almost Kicked My Ass

It had been about a year since I last went through the Sandy Gorge. With the Marmot Dam coming out this past fall and limited time in my day I found myself interested in revisiting this section of water. Alan Douglas and Matt Haven met me at the put in and after a quick shuttle we were on the river. The gorge looked good and it was a beautiful day to be on the water.

Alan and Matt gear up for the Gorge.

We had heard that there was new wood in the first significant rapid, Boulder. I eddy hopped down the left side and scouted for a route through. The right line and the center line both had wood so we opted for the easy portage down the left side.

Matt sneaks down the left side at Boulder.

Looking back upstream at Boulder.

Below this the rapids get closer together with the next one being Rasp Rock. I felt pretty confident about running this drop so I charged ahead. It was only as I began to drop in that I realized the size of the hole. I disappeared into the foam and resurfaced a couple feet shy of breaking through. The rodeo had begun.

Rasp Rock aka "The Hole"

I quickly got pulled back into the hole and threw a nice compilation of boat ends and paddle blades as I struggled to gain control over my boat. I was just hoping Alan and Matt had decided to scout because it was looking like I was going to need a rope soon. After what seemed like far too long I managed to get a my boat under control and began a bouncy side surf in the hole. It was at this time I realized that the hole was backed up by a large rock and the exits were only on the extreme edges of the hole. It also quickly became apparent that this could be extremely difficult to swim out of and there still was no guarantee that someone was going to be able to hit me with a rope. As the gravity of my situation began to settle in I happened to look to river right and see the bottom of Alan's boat in the hole with me. OH SHIT!! Now there's two of us in here, what the hell are we going to do. Fortunately, Alan's time in the hole was relatively brief as he was able to grab some deep water and flush out the right corner of the hole. Unfortunately, there was no way I was going to be able to surf over to that exit without getting trashed and it wasn't a sure thing that I would flush out the same as Alan. My only option was to back surf out the left side. Working my skulling brace I managed to get to the left corner and begin to finally find some water that was exiting the hole. I pulled hard and popped free. I was immediately propelled downstream and flipped before hanging up on another rock just downstream. I reached around the rock with my paddle and pulled myself free. A quick roll and BAM!! piton into a rock. I drifted into an eddy, spent and happy to be free. What a ride. Lesson learned, scout Rasp Rock. (Not only for the hole, but it is known to collect wood) I walked back up to get a picture of the hole that nearly kicked my ass. It was strong and I certainly would have run it differently had I looked at it ahead of time. It did feel good to know that I was able to handle a tough situation. It was the first difficult hole I've ever been in with my Salto and it performed great. It also appeared to me that it would have taken Matt a while to get a rope to me if he could at all. It looked a little sketchy and I'm not sure he could have positioned himself in a manner that would have allowed him to pull me out.

A closer look at the backed up hole that almost gave me a beating.

After some pictures of Rasp Rock we continued on to Drain Hole. Drain Hole has an ugly sieve on river left that you must cut hard to the right above in order to miss it.

Matt runs through Drain Hole first.

Alan takes his turn making the "move"

Everyone had clean runs at Drain Hole and we proceeded to the last rapid on the run, Revenue Bridge. This rapid has cleaned up nicely with the extreme right and center lines looking really good. I went center while Alan decided to go right. Matt had portaged down the left. All in all, it was a fun run and I'm glad that I gave the gorge another try.

Alan at the top of Revenue Bridge rapid.

As a side note, it appears that Revenue Bridge is being replaced so parking is limited at the take out.

TR: Rock Creek/EF Lewis III-IV (V)

Little Rascal

Still fighting low snow, not much water and an itch to do something new I found myself gravitating towards Rock Creek. (Though there are many Rock Creeks, this one flows into the EF Lewis above Moulton Falls) After a brief call to Alan Douglas the plan was set and we were off. We quickly set shuttle and drove to the bridge that marked the put in.

Alan preparing to put on.

While there was ample flow to float your kayak it was still a small creek. The upper section of the creek isn't very steep, but moves along with a constant gradient. This is a good thing as this is also the most likely section to have wood problems. We encountered some minor wood, but nothing requiring a portage. After about a mile, Cedar Creek comes in on the left and added about 60% to the flow. It was enough that we began to question if we had put in on the correct creek. We proceeded downstream and the scenery began to improve when we came to a small tributary coming in on the left. It was a nice 4' ledge that looked like a nice park and huck. (There wasn't much more than class II action above this point making the drop look more enticing) But, I decided it really wasn't worth it to get out and carry my boat up the bank to run. The next corner after this the character of the creek changed and we found ourselves quickly grabbing an eddy on river right. We had come to Little Rascal and the beginning of the good stuff. After a quick scout I decided to run it first. While the guidebook states that you can run the middle slot and get buried in the foam I opted for the boof just to the right of center. Alan followed my line shortly after and we continued on downstream.

Alan hitting the boof at Little Rascal. The slot is to his left.

The creek turns to bedrock at this point and some nice surf waves show up. A couple of nice rapids appear below this before coming to the last large rapid before the confluence with EF Lewis. We took a quick scout for wood before continuing as the canyon became tight and it was difficult to see through the rapid.

Alan scouts the upper half of the last rapid on Rock Creek.

We exited the creek and found ourselves in a large river with some fun rapids. I was surprised by the amount of action once on the EF Lewis. For some reason I didn't think there would be much. Now that we were on the EF Lewis, we kept our eyes open for the last and biggest rapid of the day, Naked Falls. Naked Falls is a three part drop separated by short pools. The first drop looked the hardest as the line through the hole looked thin. The second drop looked good and the third has a clear line right of center. After a lengthy scout on river right, we decided to ferry to river left and portage at least the first drop. (Eddies are scarce on the right side above Naked Falls, so be cautious approaching this drop) We didn't find any place that looked good to launch above the second drop so we both put back in in the pool above the third part of the rapid. We both had clean lines.

The first two drops of Naked Falls.

Looking downstream at the last drop of Naked Falls.

We decided to take out at the confluence with Yacolt Creek as the eddies above Moulton Falls were small and not really worth the risk. (I scouted the falls before we put on and had no interest to run it due to the size of the hole and the undercut wall)

The gage on the EF Lewis was reading about 2,200 cfs at Heisson and slowly falling. This seemed to be a nice low first time flow. (However, it is important to note that things had been falling for two days without any rain and snow melt is most likely what was keeping the creek and the EF Lewis up.)

TR: Upper Wind River IV+-V

With Dan and Will still in town and a successful run down the Washougal with my wife we decided that we could step things up a little bit. After gathering some beta from the group of rafters that had hit the Upper Wind the day before we made plans to do the run. I was still a little nervous about Danielle going, but Will is a very good rafter and Danielle had the right attitude. With Dan's car fixed, we car pooled up to the take out which was still covered in 1 1/2' of snow. This was going to be a beautiful run. The water level was a little higher than I had run it in the past, but it looked good. We quickly piled everything into Will's truck and headed up the road to the put-in. We found 3'+ of snow, but easy access to the river.

Dan and Will getting ready for the Upper Wind.

Danielle getting geared up. (Thanks Will for the dry suit)

Will decided to run the raft as an oar rig today with Danielle adding paddle assistance when needed. I wasn't able to get many pictures as the whitewater was continuous and my camera is hard to get to. In any case, it was the best time I've ever had on the Upper Wind. I was a little fuzzy on the rapids so it turned into some of the best read and run whitewater I've done in a long time. I was truly amazed at how Will was able to move that raft. It was so much fun. Danielle had a great time and the scenery was incredible. The only minor problem occurred at Climax. The hole was a little retentive and pulled Dan back in for a second ride. Of course the raft couldn't see this so I quickly threw up my hands to signal the raft to hold up so they wouldn't drop in on him. Unfortunately that's all it took for an eddy monster to grab my boat and flip me into the wall. A took a hit to my back before I could locate my paddle and snap off a quick roll. Dan came out and rolled up.

Dan works on getting the raft down to the river.

It was a really nice day on the water and fun all the way around. Danielle has started entertaining the idea of future river trips. (Provided Will is at the oars) I'm looking forward to our next chance to get out on the water.

The water was just going through the horns on the gage rock
providing a nice medium/low level.

Danielle has a little fun in the snow while Will and Dan run shuttle.

You can also read Dan's write up at The Water Cycle and Will's at Tales from the Rio.

TR: Canyon Creek, WA.

With the local rivers running low because of the lack of rain and a low snow level, boating options have been limited. The decision was to do a low water run down Canyon Creek, WA. It's always been a fun run and given we had a relatively new boater coming along it seemed like a good fit. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a great run. (For those of you familiar with the run, the creek was running about 12" below the unit.)

Alex runs Prelude to Thrasher without a problem

Dropping into Thrasher

Markus throwing down at Thrasher

Big Kahuna was a lot of fun. This was going to be Markus's largest falls, 18' to 20' depending on flow, and the rest of us were interested to see how he would do. He cleaned it without any trouble. Great run Markus.

Alex showing us how it's done

Markus dropping in.

Markus at Champagne and Hammering Spot, a couple of 12' falls back to back.

Alex at Hammering Spot