Box Canyon Creek

I had seen better access to the Chetco than the Babyfoot Lake trail while perusing the maps before our trip a few years ago. I got outvoted on that trip and we took the 10 mile hike in. This time Ben was down for the three mile hike plus some new whitewater, here we near the parking area close to Vulcan Peak.

Box Canyon Creek, a tributary of the Chetco, had looked good on the maps and we gave it a go for Ben's  birthday.

 A welcome pit stop on the 15 mile shuttle on the way in, I'd consider camping at this location next time.

The Heesacker family, who I had learned the way of the river with when I was young, had done some access recon so we had a good idea what we were in for.  

Dragging through a couple inches of snow was an easy way to start off the 2 mile road portion of the hike in.

2 miles in we left the road and began the 1 mile cross country portion of the hike.  This was not easy going, but also all downhill and not that bad.

A pronounced mineral vein.

A lake on the way in. This meant we were nearing the end of our 1 mile off-trail portion of the hike.

Paddling across this lake was mostly just an excuse to take boats off the shoulders for a bit.  There was camping potential here if a group were to get a late start on the hike in.

A few streams converged near the put in to create a floatable stream, some mank led to the first bedrock and first boxed canyon

The gorge lasted a short ways, was class IVish, and soon we were back into boulder gardens.  A creek comes in on the left and the stream gets flat and an island with a log jam has the potential for a rocky camp.  Things pick back up a short way below this first island, with a peak in difficulty at a steep boulder alley that appeared would be easiest to circumvent on the left, but we ended up ferrying back to the right to finish our portage which is where we wish we would have started from.  Things went back to manageable below here, though more water was wished for.

Ben running a unique one at an island.

Typical day 1 action.

 Night one at a bouldery island, I believe it was the third island below the short flat part above the log jam island (first island). We brought hammocks knowing it wasn't likely we would be sleeping on sandy beaches.

 Water level day 1.

 Water level day 2 from the same spot, clearly it had dropped overnight.

Astrals have great grip, but those stitches are just too exposed. The cost of the hike in.

We knew the drop in flows would make for a rough day two, but were hoping the box canyons in this lower section would channelize the water. 

Ben cruising through a pinch point in one of the first stand out rapids of day 2.

The going gets good on day 2, but we were feeling the drop in flow.  The previous days flow would have been the perfect exploratory level for the part we ran this second day.

Scouting a rapid with a big undercut just under where Ben is standing.

There were plenty of fun rapids with a large dose of walled in sections.  At healthy flows shore scouting options would be limited, but all the gorged in rapids above Nut Dust went when we were there.  Mostly class IV, with a couple IV-V rapids.


 Some straight forward fun.

 Classic Kalmiopsis scene.

 Into the nitty gritty.

We were reading and running with the occasional scout through one of the box canyons and paddled through a backed up hole with a pillow on the right.  Not long below here the gorge veered right and we got out on the left to scout the biggest drop of the run.

Ben scouting "Nut Dust" part 1, I guess it makes sense that we found some boxed in rapids on a creek called Box Canyon Creek.

After lots of talk about options including various throw and go options, seal launching into the rapid, or just running the thing we opted for what turned out to be a not so bad portage high on the left.  At higher flows the entrance may clean up and turn this into a fun rapid.  Or make it more hazardous, only further exploration will tell.

A calm pool below the first part of Nut Dust.  If I return with higher water I would see if it was possible to start the next part of the portage above this ledge on the right.  At this level we were able to scramble into a couple small eddies on the left in the lead in to Nut Dust part 2 which begins just around the corner from the pool pictured below.

A nasty cave on river right had us walking the second part of Nut Dust, which otherwise would have been a nice boof.

 Ben had a bag of trail mix on the trip, the best treat in the bag were large chocolate pieces. He was excited to find the last one left in the bag, but felt the taste was thrown off by the dust caking it from the crushed nuts in the bag. We felt this section of river was similar, its a good run, but the two part rapid we named "Nut Dust" gave it an odd flavor.

Having spent hours running gorged in class fun and negotiating a couple hazardous areas, we were satisfied when the creek started to open up below Nut Dust and we began to shift our attention to the landscape.

We hadn't reached the Chetco yet though, more whitewater and a log in the runout of a walled in class III brought our attention back to the water.

Box Canyon Creek still had a few surprises left.

We kept thinking the Chetco was the next ridge, but it actually kind of came out of nowhere after a mile or less of relaxing floating. 

Eating lunch at the confluence with the Chetco River. 

The flows were noticeably higher than the last time I had run the Chetco, moving us along quicker through the flat sections and the rapids were splashier.

15 miles of read and run class III-IV below the confluence and one bear encounter later we made camp at a calm spot on river left.

These shrubs had grown like this presumably due to the flooding of over 25,000 cfs (vs our 5,000 dropping to 2,500 cfs flows) the Chetco deals with each year.

Kalmiopsis blue.

More read and run whitewater the next day included some flat water, but it passed by at good clip.  There is one rapid below the Tollman Ranch with a large hole in the center left part of the river that is easily missed on the left if you are paying attention.  If not it has been punched through on the right side of the hole.

Rudimentary sketch of this rapid.

  

Eventually we came to the flattest stretch yet and turned a corner to see this bridge, which marks the standard wilderness Chetco trip take out.  To make our shuttle easier we had chosen to continue another few miles through the section in Soggy Sneakers with Candycane and Conehead.

Some locals camping along the river warned us of the big rapids down there,  We were impressed to find out later that one of them had inner-tubed Candycane before hiking to the road above Conehead. 

Ben in the crux of Conehead on the section described in Soggy Sneakers

Some lazy floating below Conehead brought us to the take out at the confluence with the SF Chetco.  We walked up the road to retrieve our scooter, hidden safely behind a poison oak bush.  After Ben had retrieved that we fired it up and Ben set off on the 15 mile ride back to the car.

I began moving our gear from near the river to a shady pot on the SF Chetco and on my final trip heard my name being called, not good.  The scooter had died about 1.5 miles into the shuttle and Ben had to push it back to the take out.  He then set about offering locals the $40 I was pretty sure I had in my wallet at the top for a ride up there.  Eventually he got a ride with one of the guys who had warned us about the big  rapids on the lower section.  He hunts in the area and was fine with the 2 hour round trip, but I imagine his patience was wearing a little thin when Ben's car wouldn't start once they had reached Vulcan Peak!  After a few minutes of trying to jump start Ben's vehicle, they were about to turn back when the Pathfinder finally roared back to life.

Meanwhile I had taken a bath in the SF Chetco and settled down with a newspaper and every kayakers most commonly consumed beverage.

We had thought Ben would get all the fun riding the scooter, but he ended up getting the short end of the stick on this one, and on his birthday too.

We then drove the 5+ hours back to the Willamette Valley, careful not to turn the vehicle off when we stopped for provisions or fuel in fear of Ben's car not turning back on.  

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Logistics

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First you gotta know if its running.  The Chetco itself seems to be misunderstood as of now.  Most hardshell kayakers have been putting on with under 2,000 cfs on the gauge, while small inflatable craft generally shoot for under 1,000 cfs.  My first trip we drove down with the gauge about 3,000 cfs and felt flows were on the lower end of enjoyable for hardshell kayaks (after a day of hiking, levels were again below 2,000 by the time we put on).  This time around we felt flows were at a friendly medium, maybe even low side of medium by the time we hit the Chetco.  I'd certainly paddle the Chetco lower, especially in an inflatable, but would shoot for a minimum of 2,000 cfs if I returned in a hardshell. 

Like I mentioned in the report, our day 1 flow was the minimum I would want for day 2 on Box Canyon Creek.  And the Chetco was at a quality flow.

Below are the flows we had on our trip and which stream we were on at the time.

 For a return trip to Box Canyon Creek I would look for the Chetco to peak near 10,000 cfs with no further precipitation in the forecast and head down as soon as possible after that, or higher and wait a couple days but of course this is one of the puzzle pieces still to be sussed out.  The Chetco drops from these high levels quickly so without rain it should be at a medium flow by the time a paddler got to the main stem coming off Box Canyon Creek.  And to further help ease high water concerns, both Ben and I noted the Chetco itself could handle plenty more water than we had without getting scary.  We didn't share that sentiment about Box Canyon Creek though, that would be a bad one to be on with rising flows.

An example of the conditions I would be looking for are shown in the following hydrograph.  In this scenario the Chetco hits 10,000 cfs with no rain for the next week.  If I were to have run Box Canyon that week, the ideal scenario would have been to wake up on the 28th, see the Chetco had hit 10,000 cfs and drive down that night and car camp near the creek.  Do shuttle and hike in the 29th, paddling for a few miles and camping part way down Box Canyon Creek.  Then finish up Box Canyon Creek on the 30th, and a bit of the Chetco as flows continued to lower and pick a nice camp, then paddle the rest of the way to the take out on the 31st. 

^This scenario isn't set in stone and is rare, so if you want to do the run, extrapolate conditions the best that you can and make good decisions.  The Chetco gauge is the best way to guesstimate the kind of water you will have in there, but it is far from an exact correlation.

 Map of the Box Canyon Creek trip, with the campsites Ben and I used marked.

Directions:  Travel to Brookings and drive up North Bank Chetco River road for almost 16 miles to a bridge over the South Fork Chetco.  Just before this bridge a dirt road heads down to the confluence with the Chetco and SF Chetco, the take out.  Those in the know are leery of leaving vehicles here, so consider hiring Bearfoot Brad (1-707-457-3365) or hiding a dirt bike in the woods.

To get to the put in cross the bridge over the South Fork Chetco and turn right, follow this road a little over 15 miles to where it ends.  There are only two junctions (staying on the main road each time), both of these right turns are marked by signs to Vulcan Peak.  The last mile or so is narrow, exposed and a bit rough, but plenty passable for a Subaru driven by a prudent driver.  You will know you are close to the end when you pass a patch of roadside Pitcher Plants.

From the end of the road hike 1.7 miles along the old road bed where you will reach a nose of land, at which point you leave the road and follow that ridge of land down to Box Canyon Creek.

Here are a couple maps of the hike in, note that on the hike there are a couple spurs that lead in the wrong direction.

* These maps may be a supplement to your own mapping research, but I would not recommend relying solely on these.*

Forest Service link with Directions to Vulcan Peak, including an alternate route than the one described on this blog, the Forest Service page sometimes has current conditions as well.


Some thoughts:

- You will top out over 3,700' on the shuttle so research the conditions before heading down there and be ready for snow zone conditions.

 - I'd probably bring a chainsaw if I had one in case there was a downed tree the locals hadn't taken care of yet on the drive in.

- We drove down Thursday after work and camped in Gold Beach, hiked in and paddled to the third island camp Friday, paddled the rest of Box Canyon Creek and 15 Chetco miles Saturday.  Finished the Chetco, ran shuttle and drove home Sunday.

- Low water is rough on the boat, but be cautious with healthy flows until the portage around Nut Dust part II is dialed in.

- It's tough to catch this one with the ideal combination of a good flow, on a weekend in the Spring with long days, and nice weather.

-While the majority of the rapids on this trip were not class V at the level Ben and I were there, you absolutely need to have a class V skillset/mindset to enjoy the run, especially if flows are up (when the run becomes true class V).  Boxed in gorges, a wilderness setting and few data points lead to a dynamic situation where good judgement and self-reliance are a must.  This is not a guidebook run, and should not be treated as such.


   -jacob

White Salmon River: Green Truss

 Photo: Clinton Begley

BETA

Stream: The Green Truss section of the White Salmon is an incredible resource for paddlers in the Pacific Northwest.  When most of the other creek boating options dry up, this section of the river still offers a half dozen miles of quality class IV-V whitewater with easy access.  For paddlers in the area, this is often their first exposure to serious whitewater.  

***I have run the Green Truss between 1.5' and 3.5', and this description will reflect that.  As flows surpass 4' the run becomes more consistently class V.***

The put in is just downstream of the Green Truss bridge, adhere to the signs letting you know where, and where not to park and loiter.  It would be all too easy to loose this access point.  There is a steep trail downstream on river right of the bridge.  Many people use ropes to lower their boats down the side of the hill, yet many have also made it down without ropes.  Make good decisions here, there has been at least one person and probably more who have fallen off this cliff. 

There is a nice flat stretch at the start where first timers collect themselves and people often choose to warm up with some stretching and bracing/rolling in the calm water before the whitewater kicks off in earnest.

After paddling over the first horizon line, the action is sustained down to Big Brother.  If you have not done the run before and are figuring it out for yourself, it's worth taking a shore scout if you can't see the entirety of a rapid in this stretch.  Not all of the lines are intuitive or with the main flow.

This fun stretch of IV-IV+ whitewater ends with the Meatball and then Bob's Falls.  The Meatball is a large round boulder blocking downstream view in the second ledge of a two part rapid.  Left or right both work if free of wood, left is more common.  Scout if you don't know the line.

A pool separates Meatball from the next rapid, Bob's Falls.  This one can be run right or left, I have only seen people mess up the left line.  The right seems to be a "closer to danger, further from harm" option.  For first timers, or for the less confident it's nice to have a rope set up on the right.  Just downstream is a ledge most easily run on the right with a slightly delayed left stroke.

It's best to avoid the center of Bob's Falls.

Photo: Brandon Bloomquist

Below Bob's is a class three rapid (stay away from the left wall) and then you are in the pool above Big Brother.  Scout and portage left.  There are two hazards with running the standard boof flake line on the right.  The first is the obvious cave, the second is a shelf in the landing if paddlers fall off the left of the flake.  

This is a good place to be off the flake, though I personally like to be a half boat-width further left.

Photo: Priscilla Macy                                                             Paddler: David Formulo

At low flows boaters routinely paddle out of the cave, but safety should be set.    This can be done by climbing up to the cave from the bottom on river right and clipping into some webbing that is installed there.  Keep in mind even if its a warm day, that cave is a cold place to be.  If you have ten boaters, all scouting thoroughly and running the falls one at a time, the person setting safety at the cave is going to get cold.  Be a team player and tap them out if they have been there for awhile.  At high water, this cave has taken a life.

If  boaters are not interested in setting up thorough safety, a 75' throw bag does reach the cave from the viewing zone on river left. 

Cultural note:  The paradigm of how to run Big Brother has changed over the years.  When I started paddling the Green Truss in 2007 the right side flake was the line, no question.  Every now and then you'd hear about someone probing the left side, but it was generally considered a stunt, and sometimes done out  at high water to avoid the cave on river-right.  Over the years things changed as more people started running left, after enough people had pulled that stunt boaters started realizing it was a cleaner line than it appeared and because it kept you away from the cave was appealing.  Somewhere around 2018 or so the tables turned and the left side line is now considered the line and the right side flake is starting to be considered the bold line.  Go figure.

Nate Warren, paddling what has become the most commonly used line at Big Brother.

Photo: Priscilla Macy                                                             Paddler: David Formulo

Immediately downstream of Big Brother is Little Brother.  My preferred approach is to run the left side with a left stroke pointed to 1 o' clock.  It is usually possible to portage Big Brother via a permanent rope fixed to the left wall and put back in for Little Brother.  If flows are high, a portage of Big Brother generally means walking around both Brothers along a trail on the left.

A couple short boulder gardens separate the Brothers from Double Drop, a notorious and challenging, yet generally forgiving rapid.  Scouting is possible on the left, but robs your speed.  The most commonly successful line is center left off the top drop with a delayed right stroke, followed by any sort of stroke off the bottom drop.  The bottom hole often flips people, and sometime surfs people.  There is a big pool below at summer flows though, so recovery is generally not a problem.  No matter how good you are, an upright line through Double Drop is not guaranteed.

Photo: Michael Freeman                                                            Paddler: Anna Herring

  The drop draining the pool below Double Drop is called Karen's Box, the left side is sticky but if you can hit your boof isn't a problem.  If flows are high enough to run right and you're concerned about the hole, it's not a bad idea to scrape down the right side your first time down.

 Below Karen's Box are a few more read and run class IV's before things ease up and the springs start gushing in.  The water temperature decreases over the next half mile and the flow increases.  After a bit of tame floating the whitewater slowly picks back up, when you notice the change in style of the rock and a small horizon line you have reached Cheese-grader.  There is an eddy on the right at the lip you can scout from.  There are loads of line options here, Iv'e seen a lot of tail-stands in the middle of the top ledge.  Mind the walls in this rapid. 

A center line off the main ledge in Cheese-grader.

Photo: Rob Cruser                                                            Paddler: Jacob Cruser

Splashy water leads to a pinch at Unavoidable, run center with speed.  There are some funky hydraulics that sometimes flip people, I hear those same hydraulics can make it tough to roll.  At low water there are some tricky eddies people like to challenge themselves with. 

More read and run leads to Zigzag Canyon.  If you are not with someone who knows the run, keep an eye downstream below Unavoidable.  Don't enter any rapids you can't see the bottom of.  A small rapid that splits around a center boulder is just above the lead in to Upper Zigzag, downstream the canyon looks a bit more ominous, get out on the right to scout before entering the class III lead in to Upper Zigzag.

Upper Zigzag is a long flume rapid, I find the first part to be the crux, this first part feeds directly into two ledges.  The first is run left, the second right.  There is a sieve along the left wall in the second ledge that must be avoided, but fortunately not very magnetic if you are in your boat.  Zigzag can be portaged with some effort along the right bank, rope is usually needed.

Blasting through the top part of Upper Zigzag.

Photo: Clinton Begley                                                            Paddler: Robert Delgado/Brendan Currie

A moving pool separates Upper Zigzag from Lower Zigzag, scout and portage left.  The portage requires using a fixed line to lower boats and then a walk along a steep bank to get down to them.  The line will be obvious from the scout (if it's not consider walking the rapid).  

Just downstream from Lower Zigzag a small creek comes in from the right (often dry by the end of the summer) at the put in for the Oreletta Section.  A run often done by those who want more than the Middle White Salmon offers, but less than the Truss does.

The next rapid downstream has a rocky island in the center that is to be avoided either left or right (right has more water).   The rest of the Oreletta down to BZ Falls is read and run, generally following the main current.  As you learn the run you will start figuring out the smoothest ways through the rapids, but they aren't really ever difficult enough to warrant a scout if you are coming down from the Truss.



The rapid to be alert for is called The Flume.  It is signaled by a flume of water coming in out of a man-made structure on the left (sometimes people don't notice if they are not looking closely).  The rapid itself is narrow and full of off-set waves that gets more exciting at the bottom.  It's not uncommon to see flips or airtime from first timers as they accelerate through the steep bottom part into the pool below the rapid.

Exiting this next pool is one of the cruxes of the entire run.  A long class III rapid leads up to BZ Falls, which has a couple small eddies on the right just upstream of the lip.  If you are not with someone who knows the situation here, it is best to walk down from the pool below The Flume to check it out your first time.

BZ Falls is about 10' tall and very powerful.  The hole at it's base is both capable of extreme beatdowns, yet also of being remarkably forgiving.  Watch some video

Here are some people intentionally getting stuck in BZ.


2011 BZ Huckfest from Sheer Madness Productions on Vimeo.



You can portage BZ along the right side, where there are a couple seal launch options, or you can walk back down to river level in about 100 yards.





Read and run leads you to a set of makeshift steps going up the right wall in a moving pool, or you can catch and eddy on the right part way down Maytag, the next rapid (run right or get a good boof on the left side).  Walk up the set of stairs to the parking lot, and your done!

Some people choose to continue down through the Middle White Salmon for 5 more miles of class II-III+ whitewater.



Flows:  There is a foot gauge in Husum, monitored by a local who reports regularly to This Facebook Page. And this online remote camera of the gauge.  Summer flows are between 1.5'-3.5', it starts to get a bit trashy below 2'.  If flows are above 4' the run changes and you want to be a class V boater who is following someone down your first time.  In the summer you can ballpark flows by dividing the White Salmon @ Underwood gauge by 400 to get the level on the stick.

Access:  Get to Hood River, Oregon.  Cross the bridge over the Columbia River (1$ toll in 2016).  Turn left at the stop light, then make a right in 1.5 miles on Hwy 141 (the turn comes up kind of fast, if you cross the White Salmon River you have gone too far).  Continue about 2 miles to a stop sign, then turn left.  In about 4 miles you come to the town of Husum, where you can check the gauge.  If you are paddling down through the Middle White Salmon you can also leave a car here and scout Husum Falls.

To get to the standard take out, continue north along Hwy 141 about 4 miles past Husum to the BZ Corner Launch Site.  Leave as many cars here at the take out as you can, parking is limited at the put in.

The put in is 4.4 miles upstream along Hwy 141.  There is a black mailbox that signals a right turn onto Winegartner Rd, which crosses over the Green Truss Bridge itself.  Adhere to the posted signs.

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Original Write-up

My first two times down the Truss
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Nick and I finally got to run the Green Truss last Sunday for the first time. Theron Jourdan showed us the lines and was a great leader for the day. We all did pretty well with an IK swim at Little Brother and Upper Zig-zag, and plenty of bracing for me. Theron of course did really well and fired up BZ with a stellar line.

Theron on Double-Drop

This first trip was not as eventful as our second trip the following Thursday, so this report will be on that run. On this trip was Nick and myself, along with Jordan Englert (his first time) and my father (Rob Cruser) who was making his first descent in ten years in an IK. The last time he did this section in his IK he nearly died in lower Zig-zag, he finally felt ready to get back and face his demons. The story of his entrapment can be read here, http://www.oregonkayaking.net/tales/robcruser.html.

 We ran the warm up drop right below the Truss Bridge and headed around the corner and boat scouted the first few drops down to S-turn. On the second drop I had my first flip on the Truss, in a slot at the bottom that was kinda funky. We all made it down S-turn fine with the hardshellers finding a fun boof off the bottom ledge.

Things were looking good until we got to Meatball, when we discovered that Nick had broken his paddle in the drop above. Luckily it was a cheap plastic paddle, that had broken in the same way twice before. All that happened was the blade came apart from the shaft.  Nick didn't want to bail out part way down his first Truss lap, so we found a couple sticks and splinted the paddle back together with some duct tape.

Meatball and Bob's went smooth for all.

We all portaged Big Brother and had upright lines over Little Brother. 

 

The paddle held until we got to double-drop, where in the rapid above it broke again. Nick borrowed a paddle to run Double-Drop from Jordan who decided to portage, and had his only swim of the day in the bottom ledge.  My dad and I were both able to stay upright this time around. Below here my dad set to work loading up the paddle with sticks and duct tape until we had convinced ourselves it might just hold the rest of the trip

Rob Cruser (my dad)in Double Drop

Myself dropping into Wicked Hole aka Karen's Box, just below Double Drop.

Below here we made decent time to Zig-Zag canyon, with no flips occurring. Cheesegrater and Unavoidable were fun as usual and we got pictures and video for both of them.

Rob Cruser exits Cheese-grader.

We were all excited about Upper Zig-Zag for many reasons. My dad hadn't kayaked this drop in a long time, and had swam it the last time. Nick had swam it the last time. I had barely kept myself from flipping last time and wanted a clean run this time. Jordan hadn't ever run it and was pretty nervous/excited about it. I wasn't feeling too bad about it so went first and made it down without needing to brace this time. Jordan came next with an ideal line and gave a "Whoop", the first verbal expression of excitement I had heard from him on the river.   My dad followed with an exciting line, he got pushed left in the entrance and almost flipped, but pulled it together, then he got pushed sideways into the wall at the first ledge, he flipped here and kicked hard to get away from the sieve. Nick decided that he didn't want to run the rapid with his duct-taped paddle so portaged along the right wall. The portage took about 25 min. but could be done in about 10. I had read that the portage was brutal, but it really didn't seem that bad, and really might have been easier than the lower Zig-zag portage. We all portaged Lower Zig-zag even though it is starting to get run again now that the wood is shifting. Below here is the Orletta, which we attempted to get down quickly, but IK's don't really move very quickly, so we took out about 8 O'clock. The Orletta was fun as usual and went well, except that my dad hit his elbow pretty hard on a wall. We all cleaned the rest of the drops and arrived at the take-out after a good day.

Myself on Triple drop

Nick with his duct-taped paddle

Below is some helmet cam footage from before the days of GoPro, a couple years after my first trip down, and in the worst boat I have ever paddled. 

   
Truss POV from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.

    

  -Jacob