TR: Upper EF Lewis

The Upper EF Lewis River has been a run I have wanted to do for some time. It's not the hardest run around, but one I have been meaning to get to. This past weekend, Dan Thurber was back in town so we planned on getting out on the water. The initial plan was to try for Copper Creek, but with more rain than we had expected we turned our attention to the Upper East Fork. We set shuttle, using Mike Olson's house as our take out, and headed up to the put in. We got stopped by snow just short of the put in, which wasn't all bad as we could see a mandatory portage around some wood just upstream.

Wood was on the menu for the day. Lots of small alders had fallen with the heavy snowfall this year making us keep on our toes. Everything was manageable with lines around all of the wood.

As we approached Double Drop, I was probing and somehow missed the normal eddy. Fortunately, I grabbed the last chance eddy just upstream of the lip. While it looked good, no one in our group decided to run it. We continued the portage past Tombstone and headed down river. Tombstone looked awful at this level with all the water pounding the 'Tombstone' rock in the center of the drop.

Looking back up at Double DropLooking downstream into TombstoneWe made our way down to Sunset Falls without much trouble. However, that damn Huka got Dan stuck in yet another hole providing some amusement for the rest of us. Sunset was different than I had seen it in the past, much more water. The left side that I usually run didn't look so inviting so it was time to try the middle line. After a short look at the falls, I took off first to get below and take some pictures. What a great line over this falls. I really enjoyed it. Alex came down next and took the far right line without trouble. Everyone else went center and mostly had good lines. Dan was the only one that struggled here getting shoved into the center slot on both trips over the falls.

Dan proving the center line can go wrong.

After Sunset it was nice trip down through Sky Pilot to Mike's house. Another great day on the river.

TR: EF Lewis River

The East Fork of the Lewis River has long been a local favorite delivering clean falls and great rapids. Today, it seemed to be one of the few runs that could still be reached after the huge low elevation snowfall that we have had over the last couple of weeks. Dan Thurber was back in town and Alan Douglas was able to make it so Dan picked him up in route to the river. We had planned on meeting up, but decided we would just meet up at the take out. As it turned out, Dan and Alan caught up to me just outside of Battleground. I happened to notice that Dan was pulling off to the side of the road behind me so I gave him a call. It turns out that the new alternator in his car had died due to a bad battery overworking it. In any case, Dan spent the day dealing with getting his car towed and other random wanderings that I'm sure you will be able to read about on Team Kettle Chips. After deciding that there was no way to get Dan on the water, we pulled his car into a nearby driveway and continued on toward the river to meet up with Ryan Cole and Tyree. We quickly changed and headed up to Sunset Falls for a quick scout. The middle and left lines looked good. Shortly after we got back in the truck continue up the road for a longer run we began to hit snow. We made it perhaps a mile before the snow got too deep to go further. With a little bit of shoveling we managed to get the truck safely out of the road and headed to the river.

Ryan Cole on the short hike to the put-in.

First up, Sunset Falls (17'). I decided to go first and get some pictures. I elected for the standard left line in my EZ. I didn't scout the entrance to the falls so I plugged the little hole above the lip, hit the bottom of the river with my bow then fell over the falls landing on my side. A harder hit than I wanted, but I paddled away. No problem. Tyree and Ryan fired up the middle line with style in quick succession. Alan took the left line making it look way too easy.

Ryan Cole taking the middle line at Sunset.

Alan on the left line at Sunset.

Tyree and Ryan taking in the scenery.

After Sunset, the river offers up some really fun class III rapids. Skypilot, Screaming Left, Dragons back and Hippie John's Swimming Hole all provided some great read and run excitement. (I didn't get any pictures of these rapids on this trip) The last major feature is Horseshoe Falls (22'). Tyree offered to go first taking door number 3. This is a very narrow entrance that lines you up for an effortless drop over the falls. Alan went next and made it look super easy as well. Ryan had his eyes set on coming in through door number 5. He slid through with a great boof. We were all a little surprised at how well the line worked out. I went last through door number 2 and plugged the drop. What a great falls. We finished the run and headed home.

Tyree takes on Horseshoe Falls.

Alan takes his turn at Horseshoe Falls.

Ryan trying door #5 at Horseshoe.

Here's a short video of the footage that Alan was able to capture on his camera. (Thanks Alan)

A Snow Filled Day on Canyon Creek,WA

Dan Thurber takes flight at Hammering Spot with Champagne in the background

With low snow levels and not much water, we decided to do Canyon Creek again. Dan Thurber was in town and it was one of the only class IV runs with water and access that I could find to take him on. We were all a little surprised at the amount of snow when we arrived at the take out . The snow fell all day making for some difficult scouts. It was a great trip with the creek running about 6" below the unit. Mike Long grabs a few photos of the drop zone

The crew at the take out

You can see more pictures from the trip on Mike Long's site, Mike Long Photography.

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

Opal Gorge

Opal Gorge is a rarely run section of the Little North Santiam River below the well known Opal Creek run, though it is being run more often than in years past. It's not often run due to the high committing nature of the gorge, difficult whitewater and stories of unscoutable unportageable drops. The run is short measuring 2.5 miles or so. However, the river passes through a very tight, walled-in gorge section that makes escape from the river impossible. The run was pioneered in the winter of 1994 by a strong team after spending a lot of time scouting. You can read more about the history of this run on Jason Rackley's Oregon Kayaking site.

Looking upstream at Thor's from the put-in for Opal Gorge.


You can put on at the bridge near Cedar Creek for a longer run. Given the fact that neither of us had done the run we opted for the lower put-in to give us more time in the gorge.

Jim doing some pre-run stretches before we head into the unknown.


The river is pretty mellow as you pass around the corner below Thor's Playroom, the last rapid on the Opal Creek run. The water is class II-III before you come to the first significant boulder garden marking the entrance to the gorge proper.




Looking into the gorge from the bottom of the first bolder garden. You can see the horizon line for Mystery and the high committing nature of the drop.


The first major rapid is unscoutable and unportageable. Mystery, as it was named by the first descent team, is not the hardest drop on the run, but is easily the most intimidating of the drops we ran. The drop can be run on the left or the right. After some discussion, I went for it. What a rush. I drove off the left side and cleaned the drop. Jim followed with no problems.

A blurry shot of Jim blasting through the left side of Mystery.


Looking back at Mystery.


Below Mystery is a small drop followed by a long, deep pool that leads to the class VI Undertaker. Here the entire river dives below a finger of rock that blocks off the river. The only sane portage route is along a shelf on river right. It's significantly longer than the left, but far safer.

Jim in the pool between Mystery and Undertaker.


The scenery in the heart of the gorge is unbelievable.


Looking into the heart of the Undertaker


Jim ponders the ugliest class VI either of us had seen


The portage was somewhat long, but not bad given the scenery. After taking in the splendor of this fantastic place, we put back on just below Undertaker.


The boulder garden below Undertaker was one of the best drops on the run. Just around the corner Henline creek comes crashing in on the left side of the river marking the next big drop.

Looking into the boulder garden below Undertaker.


Henline rapid begins with a five or six foot undercut ledge drop followed by a fast shoot into an undercut wall with a log vertically pinned mid-stream.


After a brief scout, I volunteered to run it first. The log had us both a little worried, but I felt I could clean the boof and make the necessary move above the log. I cleaned the ledge just about perfectly and began to charge to the left to miss the log. The current was a lot stronger than I had expected and it shoved me into the log. I thankfully bounced off and made it to the eddy below. Jim was up next and had a very similar line.

Jim getting ready to run Henline rapid.






Below Henline rapid is a narrow slot called Sierra. I didn't get any pictures of this drop for some reason, but we both entered on the right charging left. Neither of us even got our hair wet on this one.

Looking downstream from below Henline Rapid. Sierra lies just around the corner.


After Sierra, the gorge really starts to open up as you come to the last drop on the run. This falls looked horrible to us as the majority of the river thundered down on a large boulder before squeezing through a narrow slot next to an undercut. We quickly shouldered our boats and walked around.

The last drop on the run. To my knowledge, it's been ran twice.



Jim gets a little water out of his boat before we cruise on down to the take-out bridge.


This was a great run and as of April 14, 2007 is wood free. We ran it with roughly 660 cfs and this proved to be a very good level, though I'm sure you could add another 100-150 cfs without any real changes. We also had a dry day which is nice given how slick the rocks get when wet.

Flows:


There is a gauge below the take-out bridge on the river right. We had 5.4'.