A little more video from the Truss.

Ivor Davies Park: Dragons & Damsels

As a new Molalla city councilor, I have found myself putting my time and energy into improving our parks. Ivor Davies Park has particular interest to me as a wonderful example of a nature park within a city. As we have worked to enhance this park, I have found myself spending my free time there trying to capture the nuances of this great place. I have decided to attempt to put together a photo catalog of the various Dragonflies and Damselflies that call Ivor Davies Park home. This not a complete representation as of yet, but I will update this page as time to shoot allows and good fortune to capture these creatures presents itself. I have done my best to identify these dragons and damsels, if you have a correction, please let me know. (I am also stuck on a few, help is much appreciated) All pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Striped Meadowhawk (Symetrum pallipes)

Spreadwing (Lestes ?)

Bluet (Enallagma ?)

John Day River: Service Creek to Cottonwood Bridge

After a few years away from the John Day River, my parents and I decided that it was time to go back.  (Our last trip was in 2005, you can read about it here) The trip was planned and we headed out at the end of April along with my father in-law.  The river ended up being higher than we had planned so we added on some more miles and opted for the Service Creek put in.  We had 5 days on the river and covered 118 miles.  It was a fun trip. Previously, we had run the Clarno to Cottowood Bridge section in 5 days at 4,500 cfs.  This time we were adding 40 miles for the same time frame.  However, we were also putting on at 13,000 cfs.  

The weather cooperated for the most part.  The wind picked up and really got going on our third day.  I was a little nervous about Clarno rapid knowing that it would be fast with some holes to avoid and with my father in-law a relatively new rafter.  In the end, we elected to just read and run the rapid.  What a great rapid! It was long, not too difficult of moves, and some nice big waves.  We both had nice lines and no problems.  Basalt rapid, just downstream, also proved to be a great rapid at this level.  

The fourth day ended up being our hottest and the fishing finally turned around.  We didn't catch more than perhaps a dozen small mouth bass, but more than we had thought given the high water and cool temperatures.

Oregon Slender Salamander

On Saturday, I found myself with some extra time on my hands. After taking a look outside, I decided to grab my camera and head out to see if I could stumble onto any salamanders. I felt my chances were pretty good for finding an Ensatina.

I poked around up the Molalla River a little bit before heading out to my parent's place in the foothills northeast of Molalla. To my surprise, I found an Oregon Slender Salamander. I have been trying to find one of these little guys on and off for a couple years and it a was great thrill to find one on my family's property. I was able to get a couple pictures, but the lighting was very poor and I didn't want to handle the little guy too much.

The Oregon Slender Salamander is Oregon's only endemic salamander and can be found primarily on the western side of the cascades over it's 240 km range. They are an old growth associate, but have been found in naturally reproducing stands of 50-80 year old forests. (This is what my parent's place has) There are thought to be less than 200 discrete sites known for this species in the world. This salamander is quite a treasure for us as it exists no where esle on earth. I'm thrilled that I was able to see and photograph such a special animal.

I was up the Molalla River again yesterday and came across a juvenile Oregon Slender Salamander. I was happy to finally find one along the Molalla.

As you can see, these guys are really small on top of being difficult to find. (The adult pictured at the beginning more than covered my hand)

I also came across several Dunn's Salamanders, but they proved to be too fast and elusive to photograph. However, I did manage one shot. I also want to mention that if you do go searching for salamanders that you be sure to replace anything you turn over or look under. The micro-habitats that salamanders depend on can easily be destroyed by careless searching.

Clackamas River: The Killer Fang Section

Looking into Prelude

With summer coming to an end and the winter rains yet to come, I found myself eager for a little adventure. I had never done the Killer Fang section of the Clackamas and it kept calling me as it's the only section I haven't done. I made a call to Marcus and we agreed to give it a shot. While I was on my way to the river, Marcus gave me a call saying he was really sick and wasn't up for boating. Nuts. So, I decided to go ahead and give the run a shot solo. It didn't take too long before I was able to hitch a ride up to the put in from some great people from Bark. If you aren't aware of their organization, I recommend you take a look. They do some great work protecting the wild places we all like to visit. I quickly put on my gear and slid into the river at the confluence of the Clackamas and Collawash Rivers. The river is very scenic and very mellow. The first mile or two was basically flat water. I soaked up the scenery and the solitude that this most remote section of the Clackamas afforded me. Slowly the rapids started to appear, but nothing Killer. Mostly just nice class II and III drops. Eventually, about 2/3 of the way into the trip the canyon starts to close in and I came up on the first significant rapid that I needed to scout, Prelude. The rapid exits through a couple different slots and feeds into the pool above Killer Fang. I did a quick check for wood and made sure I could see the eddy to get out above Killer Fang before hopping back into my boat. Prelude proved to be a nice rapid with plenty of space to exit the river above Killer Fang.

Killer Fang Rapid

Killer Fang is an ugly rapid. That said, there is a thin line that could be run, but a mistake would put you in a huge sieve where most of the river is going. IF you make the cut left, you would still have to deal with an undercut cliff wall before exiting into the pool below. It was an easy descision for me going solo and in a playboat, so I shouldered and did the somewhat difficult portage. (Lots of climbing and lowering the boat)

The outflow of Killer Fang

Looking back at Killer Fang.

The lead-in to The Sieve.

The next rapid below Killer Fang is a rapid known as the Sieve. I hopped out and scouted right first and then ferried back left to get another look. The Sieve is a solid class IV rapid with significant consequences for a mistake. After looking it over, I opted to portage the initial drop leaving a mandatory ferry back to river right. (The Sieve can be portaged it's entire length on the left.)

The entrance to the Sieve. I portaged just below the log.

This is where I put back in to ferry across. Still class IV, but manageable.

The rest of the run was fun with one class three that stood out. I had a nice mellow level of about 1,000 cfs at Three Lynx. It was nice to finally see the run, but I think it will be awhile before I go back. If you haven't seen it, I wouldn't let the Killer Fang name hold you back. It is just one rapid after all. Do be careful to check all of the narrow slots for wood before committing, otherwise it's a nice class II-III float.

Illinois River Video

At the end of February, my friend Will Volpert put together a great trip on the Illinois River in southern Oregon. Here are the video clips from the trip. We had just a little raft carnage on an otherwise fantastic trip. I hope to post some pictures and a write up soon. Will had also arranged to have a writer and a photographer from the Medford Mail Tribune with us on the trip. Here is a link to the article. Wild Ride on the Illinois

Video courtesy of the Mail Tribune


Video courtesy of Will Volpert


Video courtesy of Alan Douglas


Also, here is a link to an interesting short film about a documentary being made about the Illinois. Illinois River Video

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.