Little White Salmon River

Photo: Matt King


BETA

Stream: One of, if not the, quintessential class V backyard run in the world.  It can be paddled 365 days a year (about half those days is it flowing at it's prime), and has non-stop action the whole way with easy access and proximity to Hood River and Portland.

Most people's first trip down consists of following a guide down, if levels are below 3' you can figure it out yourself without undue consternation.  People building their skill set often ask how they know they are ready to run the Little White their first time.  The closest I can get to an answer is this:  When your boat does whatever you want it to, whenever you want it to, you are ready.  Another way of putting it is; you will know when you are ready.

The following beta relates to flows between 2.5'-3.5', the most common level for people who are stepping up to the Little White.  It gets run much higher, and the river does increase notably in difficulty. It also gets run down to about 1', but it's a different river at those levels.

The run starts with 1/4 mile of warm up before reaching Gettin' Busy, marked as of the last decade by a log jam that needs to be portaged left.  Gettin' Busy is a half mile long boulder garden.  This rapid is fast paced and many a first timer has exclaimed how surprised they are to be out of breath!  Kayaking is not often this cardiovascular.  The more you run the Little White, the more you learn to use the water instead of fight it.  While things come at you fast, typically the line is where the current is.  

Gettin' Busy ends in exceptional form at Boulder Sluice, one of the best drops on the run.  This 8' boof should be run off the peak of the launch pad at the lip or just to the left of it.  The first couple times I ran it my peripheral sensors were concerned I would hit the rock it the landing, but it's never happened to me.  While some people splat the rock, it is rare for someone in a creek boat to even touch it, let alone land or piton on it.

Boulder Sluice

                                                                                        Photo: Matt King

Downstream is some easier boogie before the river spreads out at Eye of the Needle, and stays that way to Island.  If you are showing yourself down this section is worth scouting, if you are following someone there is no need to have this part memorized.

At the Island, be ready to check out the rapid called Island.  Some years the rapid can be snuck to the right of island, but I have found it easier to portage left than bother with that.  The main line down the middle probably causes more problems for experienced Little White boaters than any other rapid on the run, but the consequences are justified towards pain over hypoxia relative to other rapids on the run.

Downstream the boulders start to give way to ledges, the first few are read and run, eventually leading to Sacriledge.  Sacriledge is to be taken seriously, this story is not the only close call that cave has produced.  Tentative first timers should run far left, nose pointed downstream.  As you get more comfortable, a fun boof option in the middle may be more appealing.

Sacriledge

 Nate Merrill

Photo: Matt King

A short bit of boogie leads to Double Drop, which can be scouted right if you are boating cautiously.  Beware sticky holes in the center of both ledges.  

Just downstream is one of the few inconsequential and named rapids on the Little White, Typewriter.  Drive center to right, a hydraulic breaking right to left at the bottom can take you for a fun ride (it doesn't hold boaters).

Some bouldery rapids continue downstream, leading to another island at Enchanted Forest.  Left of the island is a series of low angle slides (but has wood as of 2017), right is a bouldery rapid that can be read and run.

When the currents converge at the end of Enchanted Forest, get ready to eddy out and scout S-Turn in less than 100 yards.  This 10' waterfall offers a fun boof at the top, but demands much respect.  The second ledge is tricky, and the run out feeds under the downstream wall, there has been a fatality here.  Boaters often choose to run right-right to remove the thread of the cave.  


                Anna Herring taking the right-right line, this photo is taken from the roof of the cave.

Photo: Matt King

More read and run continue, the next named rapid is Backender.  This rapid has two short ledges, back to back.  The second one can flip boaters end over end, but is not sticky.

Some more boogie leads to Bowey's Hotel, where a busy lead in ends in a riverwide ledge.  The left side is sticky, the right side is easy.  If you are not following someone, and flows are low you can scout this one from the left.  You know you are there when there is yet another island, with a log extending into the right channel (circa 2018).

The next rapid downstream is Wishbone, a 20' waterfall.  If levels are 2.5' or above, the easiest line is about 6" off the left bank at the lip. If it is below 2.5' you will have to go center, but at those flows you can scout from the left just below Bowey's.  Or go center at any level if you want to feel the force of the Little White.  The right channel has been run, but it is not common.


                                                Lucas Glick, feeling the power.

Photo: Matt King

There is a big pool below Wishbone, the water exits into The Gorge/AKA The Squeezes.  This is worth a look from the left bank your first time down, if you look close you can see the horizon at Horseshoe downstream, the most common spot to cause trouble for boaters stepping up to the Little White. 

The Gorge can be entered right or left, then there are two holes to punch, center or center-left is where both flush best.  In the squirrelly water downstream, you must set up for Horseshoe.  Horseshoe should be run far right, but don't drive right too early.  If you go over in the right spot (the right side) with a strong right stroke the hydraulic is not hard to clear, if you do anything else, it is hard to clear.  This is a good place to be bold, and paddle aggressively.


Beatdown on the Little White Salmon from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.



The next horizon line is Stovepipe, scout and portage left or right (left is less hassle if you portage).  There are two lines at medium flow, right or main.  The main line is clean down to about 2.7' when it starts landing on a shelf/pothole.  The right side offers a great boof at the top, with a run-out.  The right side closes off/dries out around 2.5'.

One short and easy rapid leads to Contemplation Canyon, a short section of flat water during which the upcoming Spirit Falls is often contemplated.  More class III-IV boogie continues until the river bends right and over Spirit Falls around a semi-blind turn.  If levels are around 3' or less I like scouting/portaging left, but as levels rise a log jam downstream of the launch point can get hard to avoid for portagers.

The walk on the right side is starting to experience erosion with the influx of boaters running the Little White, and people hiking into Spirit for photos in recent years.

There have even been a handful of raft descents of Spirit Falls, Iv'e only heard of one where both paddlers stayed in the boat.  

Photo: Paul Thomson

Spirit Falls is a powerful drop and should be taken seriously.  It can hand out scary beat-downs, and has broken more backs than any other waterfall I am aware of.  Then just below is Chaos, a powerful ledge that has also handed out a lot of beat-downs.  Despite the hazards, Spirit Falls is an attention-grabbing, aesthetic drop that is as culturally significant to kayakers as it gets.  If you could plant the feeling of your first time in the pool below Spirit to a non-kayaker, for many boaters it would be as close as it gets to answering the question "why do you kayak?".  This drop fully lives up to it's reputation and deserves all the attention it gets, truly a contender for one of the more special places a kayaker can visit along the beaten path. That said, while many young kayakers run Spirit every lap (and sometimes more), it's also a drop that many "experienced" kayakers portage most of the time.  One of your runs over Spirit is going to be your last one, don't make it the one that compromises your back.    Scout, set safety, make good decisions.  For the easiest way to set safety at Chaos, portage right, the trail returns to the river just below Chaos.

                                          The right side of Chaos used to be considered extremely dangerous and paddlers tried to make a move to the left channel.  A transition of perspective occurred in the 20-teens and nowadays it's nearly 50/50 (and increasing yearly) that people go for the right side line.  Safety can be set by portagers or probers on the right from where this photo is taken.

Right line at Chaos

Photo: Matt King

Downstream are two channels, the left one ends in a log jam that has taken a life.  The right channel is easy.

Some class IV leads to the gauge (on the left in a pool) and Master Blaster.  Master Blaster is typically run left through some hydraulics, the last one can mess with you.  There are some other lines center and right, the rapid can be scouted right.

Master Blaster is the end of the class V, and it's now acceptable to let your guard down a bit.  Everything except the dams is read and run class II-III with some fun eddies to catch.  There are three low head dams, if you go off the top of them pointed straight downstream you may piton, if you are not pointed downstream when you land the hydraulic may hold you.  The higher the level, the stickier the holes at the base.  If you have made it this far, you will have no trouble sorting them out.

Landing off the last dam, you will find yourself in Drano Reservoir and it's really time to celebrate!  It's about 300 yards of flat water down to where the cars are parked.





  
Flows:  There is not an online gauge, but if you are on Facebook you can get a pretty good idea what is going on out there.  It can be run nearly every day of the year, but the majority of first time runs are done in April/May.

There is a gauge of the staff variety.  The friendliest first time flows are 3.0-3.5'.  A half foot in either direction of that is still in, and an additional half a foot past that is getting into the extreme's of what your typical boater will enjoy.  Yet another half foot beyond that in either direction and it's really not the Little White as the general kayaker population understands it anymore, but something else.

The definitive gauge is near the end of the run, just above Master Blaster on the left.  There is also a correlation gauge at the top of the run that is close to correct, enough so that you can at least have an idea of what you are getting into for the day.

The Little White is usually at the good first time flows of 3.0-3.5' in April/May.   By August, it is usually class IV.  The guys pushing the upper limits run it after heavy rains in the Winter and Spring.

Below are some videos from various flows.

At about 1.5'

Low Water Little White from Rogue Specimens on Vimeo.

At about 3'

Little white salmon from Difficult E on Vimeo.

At 5.4'

Access:  Bring some dollar bills for the bridge crossings.

The take out is just outside the gates for the Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery (45.718726, -121.646259)

To get to the put in return to highway 14 and turn right (west).   0.6 miles later turn right onto Cook-Underwood Rd.  6.6 miles later you will cross over the bridge at the put in (45.779941, -121.628540).

One last video from Taylor Hazen.   It could be said the epicenter for the bro-brah culture in kayaking is Hood River and even more specifically the Little White Salmon River.  The humorous intro to this video nods to that.




Enjoy

Trouble at the Alter

The Little White Salmon River, with it's legendary status and easy logistics holds a special form of respect in the PNW.  Many paddlers aspire to one day travel this special waterway.  The crown jewell of this run, Spirit Falls may hold even more allure than the run itself.   Some paddlers run the Little White many times before finally finding themselves in the pool below this falls.  With a number of pro paddlers moving to Hood River specifically to run this river (for which most probably don't even have the word portage cross there minds on this river at normal flows) and the saturation of media from the canyon there has been a loss of mystique regarding this stream for kayakers.

With the recent resurgence of the rafting community however, this river and waterfall have become a true proving ground for the best in the business.  Only a few years ago I witnessed more than once, and heard many more accounts from kayakers telling Dan it was a terrible idea to take a raft down this river.  He took no heed and today has logged over 50 successful runs down this stream.  There are many other rafters who also run this stream now, with many having logged in the double digits.

However, Spirit has posed a problem for rafts in the past. With a handful of descents, only one attempt was successful.  Most resulted in lots of pain, followed by some downtime.  Dave Saquety and Doc Loomis reported taking the hit of a lifetime on the earliest attempt of this drop.  This low success rate keeps many rafters away, but also creates a draw for the daring to attempt following the few that went before them into one of the most special pools in the PNW for whitewater boaters.

Josh Sheldon is one such boater who wanted his own Spiritual experience on the Little White.   The following account is from Brandon Bloomquist, who was on the trip where Josh took the risks involved with reaching the sacred pool.  Not all went to plan, take what you will from this account.

  -jacob

---------------------

Sunday was a fantastic day on the Little White, at least once things got organized.  Nice weather made the three hours we were waiting for the final member of our party to show up more bearable.  We finally got on the stream a little after 1:00.  Jacob, Brandon Lake and I put on a little earlier than the raft and we all had nice lines through Gettin’ Busy.  There was a quick scout of Boulder Sluice, and I followed the green tongue in front of me to a porn star finish. 

Brandon ran Island, with a degree of success.  He made it halfway down when he pitoned the nose, which spun him into a tail piton.  He rolled quickly and we kept moving downstream.  Sacriledge and Double Drop were awesome.  I walked S-Turn and had a creative line over wishbone where I didn’t get square to the drop until I was 5’ from the lip.  It wasn’t good, but it worked out.  After watching the raft get hung up sideways on every rock and hole in the gorge, I was happy to see them catch the eddy on right below Horseshoe, which cleared us to follow into the gorge through which I was happy to have a stylish run.   I haven’t run the right side of Stovepipe before, but, wow, that’s a cool rapid. 

We got to Spirit at 4:00 with the sun shining.  We knew the rafters were going to take their time to consider the drop, so we broke out a lunch of smoked oysters, salami, cheese, crackers and snickers right at the lip.  We wave to the gathered crowd of about eight who hiked in from milepost 2, including Paul Thompson, Josh’s Mom and the Manimal, Trevor Sheehan.  

I turned to Jacob at one point and said “this feels civilized.”  I gave Spirit a lot of thought, but decided that I can’t afford an injury right now and told the boys I’d be at Chaos for them.  I was able to lower my boat into the Chaos eddy, where I delicately got in, then ran the ledge to the left of Chaos straight into the proper eddy. 

By this point in the day, I was feeling like the river was actively helping me be a better boater. 

When I got into position, I was surprised to see Jacob standing on the rock on river right in the pool (The Alter as some have called it).  He’d already styled the big drop thinking I was positioned at Chaos.  We were glad it worked out well, because I was a few minutes late.  Jacob practiced his throws, both into the boil and into the current past him.  I uncoiled my ropes a little in my defensive position slightly below Chaos and we wait. 

Jacob approaches the pool.

photo Paul Thomson

At 4:51, Brandon signals from the lip that the rafters are paddling.  Dan was on the right, Josh on the left.  They look good coming over at the lip.  One second and twenty-five later, the over-rotation was obvious.  They hit, the boat just went deep, then rebounded straight up with the paddlers still in.  Their weight pulls the boat down on top of them.  Dan and the raft are kicked out to the eddy on the right.  Josh goes deep in the boil and surfaces behind the curtain.  We don’t know it yet, but he didn’t square up his feet on the front thwart at the landing, and severely rolled his ankle (crutches for two weeks). 

Even seemingly good lines don't always work out.

As a recap, we have Brandon at the top, John the Grizzly on the left, Jacob on The Alter and me at Chaos with Josh’s Mom freaking out at the viewing area.  

The folks up top can see Josh moving around behind the curtain, but I can’t.  All I know is that they aren’t panicking, so I’m just staying put.  In any case, I can’t leave my station in case one of them comes around the corner.  Brandon tries to throw his rope gamely over the lip, but because of the undercut, it wasn’t going to work.  John tries to throw through the column of water from the right, but is rejected.  Jacob gets in his boat to paddle over to Dan, and they get the boat flipped over.  Jake gets back in his kayak and paddles over to river left, just below the left side of the falls.  There is an eddy there, where he gets out, then throws a rope to Dan and pulls him across.  It is already 5:15.  Jake has Brandon come to above him to lower a line with the intent of pulling them up the convergence zone and then into the undercut area.  They clip the line onto the raft, have Brandon walk back upstream on the cliff and start paddling, but the rope gets snagged in two places on the cliff.  I’m the only one who can see both halves of what’s happening.

At 5:30, they give up on this approach and move to simply paddling upstream directly.  Dan decides to first pump up the thwart and adjust it back to paddling position.  15 minutes later they make their first attempt and only get to the nub that sticks out on the right, and Dan is getting pounded by the waterfall landing on him.  They are within ten feet of the point where the current flows into the wall, but just can’t do it.  Over the next fifteen minutes, they try four more times and are rejected each time. 

I can’t see it from my post, but John managed to get a rope to Josh behind the veil.  He attempts to pull him up, but can’t.  Josh can’t climb, either, with a bum foot and an overhung wall.  He eventually cuts himself off the rope, landing on the bad foot, making things worse.  He’s getting cold, too, with the constant mist.  It’s been almost an hour.  Jacob switches boats and paddles his kayak through the veil, only to realize there is a secondary room and he cannot contact Josh from this lower room.  He paddles back out through the veil and down to Dan to further discuss. 

At 5:45, Jacob gets back into his boat, to the massive disdain of Dan.  For the first time, I can hear him through the roar.  Jake comes back to the river right eddy to study the situation, then gets in the current to catch the left eddy above Chaos.  He misses, but knows it and turns to face the challenge directly.  I’m relieved to see him simply style it and carry on to get out at the left, where we normally put in after the portage.  He runs up to where Brandon is, where they confer.  They pass a single line down to Dan again, but I know this won’t work.  I frantically motion to Jake and Brandon to clip the lines together.  They do, and start walking.  I blow a short whistle to stop them.  I get Jake to stay put, holding tension on the line, while Brandon walks around the curve of the falls to where we had lunch.  This keeps the line from snagging on the left wall. 

It’s 6:00 by the time that Jake walks to meet Brandon at the top, then with Dan in the raft.  The boys at the top start pulling, with Dan simply highsiding to keep the boat upright .  They are able to pull the raft straight in to meet Josh.  I can’t see this for a long time, as there was mist from both sides of the falls jetting across my view.  Eventually I see a second piece of red clothing, and from the positions infer that it has to be Josh.  Then things get weird, and I see Dan break out the K-pump.  It turns out that they’d deflated the raft a little for the drop in an effort to make it taco on landing, but it is just confusing from my post.  I’m starting to dance to stay warm, and I haven’t been getting blasted by mist. 

Finally, at 6:15, with the left falls pouring on them, I see the raft emerge with two paddlers.  We all cheer, but they are just ten seconds from Chaos.  Dan knows it, and is shouting at Josh, but Josh is so cold that he can’t paddle well.  I see the look of a shelled soldier on his face.  The boat keeps turning to the right with Dan’s power.  They drooooop over the main drop at Chaos.  Josh falls out of the boat, right into the main pourover and loses his paddle.  I’m ready to hit him with a rope, but he grabs the chicken line.  He stays there for a few seconds, yelling at Dan that he can’t get back in.  The fear reaches through the air.  Dan hesitates, as he’s keeping the raft from flipping in Chaos, but pulls Josh back into the boat.  After a few more rounds while Josh retrieves another paddle, they are able to carry on downstream.  I watch the paddle make rounds in the hole for another two minutes before it finally spits out.  When I get back to my boat, it was waiting for me in that eddy. 

We run Master Blaster blind and catch up with the raft below the hatchery.  We drink beers on the float to the take out, where we carry Josh up the hill to the road and analyze how we can deal with situations like this more efficiently in the future.  

--
Brandon Bloomquist

Little White Rafting

Dan and Jeff Compton rafted the Little White Saturday. We put in a ways behind Hans and Tom, who were also rafting the run. Cool to see the rafters taking charge! I helped them remember lines and we set safety for each other on the way down. It was a fun run. At the put-in Dan slipped and fell, causing his thumb to really swell up, he didn't make a big deal of it and said it was all good, so we put on.

The raft did really well, hitting a log near the end of getting busy, but not getting stuck. Aside from that they styled everything they ran. Dan fired up Stovepipe R1. We all walked Island and Spirit. We finished the run in good Spirits so to speak, we took our time doing the run, hanging out on the platform at Spirit for awhile and floating through the lake at the take out. I always enjoy taking time on this run, its such an amazing pace. The Columbia must have been lower than usual as we had current all the way to the take out.

The video for Kathy Mccain.

little white salmon from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.

Dan also called me the following Tuesday to say he went to the doctor and the fall he took hiking around the put in area broke his thumb. He is getting surgery on it today(Wed.), and is getting a plate put in there. If anyone wonders how someone can paddle off the things he paddles off, maybe this will shed some light on the type of person he is, he paddled the Little White with a freshly broken thumb! Toughest guy I know.

The Level was 3.2

Life is good.

"LWS Drano"

-Jacob

Little White (finally)

I finally got to run the Little White last Firday. I had the chance about three times before but something always seemed to happen. My dad and I drove to hood river to demo the jackson super hero for me. We met Ryan Morgan at the take out and drove to the put in. My dad decided to hike in below boulder sluice to avoid the low water gettin busy in his IK. Ryan and I put in at the normal put in and had a lot of fun finding the lines through Gettin Busy (neither of us had run it before). Ryan led most of the way and we only scouted when we had to. Ryan had one short pin sort of thing but worked free himself. We made it to Island and didn't find my dad. It had taken over two hours so we figured he had hiked out. We portaged island and continued on. Everything went very smoothly. We portaged Stovepipe and Spirit and one manky class four. Everything went smooth and we both rolled in Wishbone. -photo by Ryan Morgan.
 - I had a lot of fun and am glad I got to experience the run the first time with someone else who had never seen it so we could figure out the run for ourselves. When we paddled to the take out we saw my dad for the first time in five hours. It turns out while he was hiking in a boulder gave way and he bruised some ribs! He hiked out after 15 minutes of rest and we relearned the lesson of never leaving someone by themselves on a class V run. That won't happen again. So it all turned out alright and I'm glad I got to do the run.
Photo by Ryan Morgan (RIP)


-Jacob

LWS Drano