NF Cispus

(photo-Nate Merrill)

 There were more log jams than clean rapids when I ran this river in 2010, hopefully things change because it would otherwise be a nice run. There is not much to report about the river, as we portaged most of it.

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Gary and I had a scary experience at the end of the run. We were passing by our campsite and decided that we would just continue down to the take out bridge for the sake of completeness. We were floating around a class two bend and I saw a log on the outside corner. It didn't look like a big deal and we had seen much worse all day. I saw Ryan float through just fine and was following Gary down too closely so my downstream view was obstructed. All of a sudden he was typewritered violently across to river right. I was wondering what the heck had done that to him and in the split second I was thinking this, I saw the log that had done it that was funneling strongly into the log I had seen from the top. I decided I was too close to try and boof over it at this point (no momentum), so drove right, hoping I would be able to drive onto shore or the logjam itself. A split second later I realized this wouldn't work, so I found the place where there was the most space under the log (about 1 foot) and aimed for that, grabbed it with both hands and tried to shove myself under it. I got most of the way under, but it was stuck on my chest and I was in a bit of a hole that pulled me farther right and flipped me. At this point Steve and Nate were out of their boats and all they could see were two boats pinned upside down under a log! Steve said he feared the worst. At this point Gary pulled, which flushed both of us somehow (lucky, lucky), and as I washed downstream I was preparing to have to pull and swim under the jam. I decided to stay in my boat as long as possible in order to get pinned close to the surface. Luckily I was able to grab a log and was trying to handroll when I saw Gary's boat. I grabbed the nose and righted myself, pushed off the logs and started handpaddling after my paddle as Gary swam to shore. I collected my paddle and my thoughts as I eddied out, made sure everyone was ok, then looked for Gary's paddle (which we never found).

A typical view on the North Fork Cispus. (photo-Nate Merrill)

This was the second time I made a bad decision boating that led to this kind of life threatening situation. The first I listened to someone else's beta that I didn't know very well even though I had a strong desire to scout. This time, I just sort of turned my awareness off because I felt we were past all the nasty stuff. We had been dealing with wood all day and this looked fine to me, it just goes to show you should always be aware of the situation. Even in the runout. Just because a person runs class five rapids doesn't mean class three can't kill you. I knew this, but this experience helped drive that home. We hiked back upstream and took another look at the jam. It was not as bad as it could have been, but it was still sobering. Gary's paddle is still under there as far as we know. While both Gary and I escaped without more than some cuts on my hand. I hope I never blow it like that again.

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 I want to note how quickly Nate and Steve were out of their boats and ready to help, those are the kind of people I want to boat with.  Looking back years later, that is a quality far too rare amongst kayakers.

-Jacob

McCoy: more smiles than portages

Last weekend Rick and I (Matt) ended up on McCoy creek while Jacob, Nate, and others had an epic on the North Fork Cispus. The creek was rather full of wood, but the portages melted away after all the fantastic drops on this run. It helps that all the good ones are nearly wood-free, but really, the drops are just that good. We were moving pretty fast so I didn't get much for photos, but there are a few good ones. Rick on the pothole drop. It'd be good to bring a saw for this one, but we both manage to avoid it with a high speed duck. This drop is fun, but downstream is where the real goods start to materialize, with a grand finale of this nice waterfall. Rick blasts off. After the goods you have to portage this beast. If the pictures look bad to you, you should see the lead in. Makes this part look easy, logs and all. We roped the boats up the hill to start the portage, then followed a path that Rick knew down to a little finger of land that doesn't require any repelling. After you get up to the flat part, walk about 100 yards then go downhill. The path is just downstream of a sweet slide. After checking out the beast, we both enjoyed the no-brainer slide. A nice way to cool off after working through the portage. Soon after we were at the confluence with yellow jacket and on our way to hot spiked cider from the nice couple camped at the take out.

cispus@Randle ~2,000

Yellowjacket Creek

                                 all photos by Matt King               

            Matt King and I ran Yellowjacket creek last Wednesday.  The ride to Randle was longer than we had expected from Portland, but eventually we made it there and after one wrong turn we made our way to the learning center to hopefully find a guy named Drew we had heard of on the internet, and maybe secure a shuttle.  Drew wasn't there, but one of his co-workers, Layla, was kind enough to offer help on the shuttle afterwards.  When we drove over the take-out bridge we both took a deep breath, the water was looking a lot lower than we had hoped for as it flowed across a flood plain.  We decided it would hopefully consolidate upstream, and we could float down this last section, so we would at least make it down even if it was low.

          We drove upstream about five miles to the normal put-in and took a look.  It looked like it was deserving of the "class V scramble" reputation it had been given, we had already decided to use the upper put in, pioneered by Dave Hoffman and group in 2008 so continued up the road another 2-3 miles until we started catching glimpses of the creek and a short, dirt road went off to the left. 

          There were a few boulder gardens in the first part of the creek, along with some easier floating.  

Eventually we came to the first real rapid since the put-in rapid.  We saw some wood so we scouted.  It was a 3 foot ledge with a weird hole, then a nasty falls with wood. It almost drew us in as a boat scout-able rapid, which would have been an error.  The right is the natural side to scout and portage on, but the left is better if you find an eddy you like over there.

From a return trip

photo: Priscilla Macy

Matt found a path on the right, so instead of running the marginal lead in drop and catching one of the little eddies on the left, we portaged on the right pretty easily.  Note: On a return trip, Whitney Butler ran the lead in down the left into an eddy then a number of us ran a lubricated seal launch on the left.

Matt and I ran a short drop right below, followed by a couple more fun boulder/ledge drops in the class four range, then before we knew it we were scouting another larger drop, which turned out to be the best rapid on the run.  It had an easy sliding lead in, followed by a moving pool, then it split and the right side was pretty manky, but the left side accelerated down a 15 yard long ramp into an 8 foot boof.

 The exit was a short slide, then I believe the creek went back to being pretty easy down to the next major drop.

 We knew there was a 30 foot falls right above the normal put-in, so we where on the lookout for that.  Eventually we found it as the creek started to consolidate.  It is a weird place for a falls because it goes from gravel bars right into the falls.  We got out on the left and at first thought it was good to go, then we saw the boulder on the left that the majority of the falls pushes towards.  We felt it was probably runnable, just hard, with high consequences.

  

               We did a throw and go, which was fun.

Priscilla does the same on a return trip in 2017

The falls does go.  Adam Edwards takes the center boofing right line, following an inspiring probe by Whitney Butler on a return trip.  June 17, 2017

Cispus abv Yellowjacket Creek was @ 2,000 cfs

photo: Priscilla Macy

Brandon Lake

Then we scouted the next couple slides which were pretty fun. 

                             The second slide                      all photos by Matt King   
                       

                     Then we where on the guidebook section.  The first drop was wood infested required a creative portage along a log to the center of the river (clean in 2017).  Next was a series of ledges before McCoy creek comes in.  Godzilla was benign at this flow, but is rumored to be rather hungry at higher levels.  There are a few more ledges and fun rapids when flows are good, then it peters out a bit before coming to the final rapid against the wall, which is run with the main flow.  Take a peak for logs if you are unsure about the wood situation.   If flows are low the rest of the run can be tedious, if flows are medium or more it's still engaging.  Somewhere in a short class two section I boofed right onto a piton rock which launched me onto my head causing the only roll of the day :/             

Eventually we came to the flood plain after what seemed a long time (it was low water, this section moves along nice and has fun III+ at medium flows) and then dealt with two more logs, one of which would be a portage at higher flows (in 2017 the only portage of the trip was a log just above the take out).  Finally we came to the bridge, satisfied with the adventure.  I hung around the take out while Matt and Layla from the Learning Center ran the shuttle.

Look for 2,000 cfs+ in the Cispus @ Randle for medium flows, fun can still be had at 1,500 when the notable drops are still fun but the in between starts to get scrapey.

DIRECTIONS: From Randle, head South for 1 mile on 139 before veering left onto Cispus River Rd/NF-23.  8 Miles later turn right on Cispus River Rd towards the Learning Center.  You will quickly cross over the Cispus, and 1.3 miles after the turn you will cross Yellowjacket Creek at the take out.

Just passed the take out bridge (and on river left) turn upstream onto NF-28, continue upstream 7.4 miles.  The creek should be close by and a road blown out by a debris flow heads towards the creek and to a bridge at the put in. 
   

         -Jacob