Falls Creek, WA

Andrew and Matt did this run last year and thought the slides were very fun.  Andrew mentioned a scary peal out at the put-in, Matt didn't seem to think it was so bad.  Watch the video and determine for yourself if its worth your efforts for what look to be some really cool rapids.



Falls creek, WA from Andrew Bradley on Vimeo.

Sorry, Andrew didn't remember what the flows were but referred to it as a "good summer run".  From what I read on the Oregonkayaking site, it seems like 1,000 cfs in the EF Lewis would do.


   -jacob

Bear Creek; Wind River Tributary

All shots extracted from Nate's helmet cam footage.

I first scouted this creek a few summers ago with my dad at summer flows.  We found a neat, locked-in mini gorge with a number of class III-IV drops, then a class V exit falls complicated by a log.

I hadn't mustered the motivation to go back, but recently Pete Giordano (who had also been interested enough to scout the creek) mentioned the creek to Nate and it came back onto our radar.  After the 2013 Wind race a group of rafters joined me on a bushwhack scout of the exit drop which I felt was runnable in a kayak even with the wood.  The rafters decided to hold off, but Nate and I decided that if nothing else was in the next day we would paddle the gorge if for no other reason than to see something new.

We met up with a partial contingent of Team Corvallis in Carson and took one last scout of what was later dubbed Freeman Falls.  Most of the team had committed to helping inspire a new member of the kayak community on the Clackamas, but Michael Freeman was game to scrape some plastic from his boat so we headed up to the put-in and geared up for a micro-adventure.

The gorge started as soon as we were below the bridge, and was doing a good job of committing us downstream.  We had exploratory levels, and one portage.  We scraped down some small slides and before long were in the eddy above Freeman Falls.  At higher flows scrambling up a large tree on river left would be necessary to take a peak, but at this level it was possible to walk through the creek to the lip.

Nate, fully committed.

The drop itself was a unique reconnect.  Nate went first and came through, avoiding the right wall.  I followed his advice to let my bow drop as I tried to keep my nose pointed left away from the wall, which I made slight contact with but got a line I would be happy to repeat.  Michael came next and the reconnect directed his bow straight into the right wall where a vicious spinning piton occurred.  He kept it upright, but certainly felt the effects.

Nate, seconds from leaving the gorge behind.

A view of the pit.

We dealt with a couple hundred yards of mank before the tri-confluence with Panther Creek and the Wind.  Floating out on a couple-few thousand cfs was a nice contrast to the 100 cfs we had come from.  The run out was fun, the Flume was wild and we portaged Beyond Limits and Shipperds.  During the throw and go at Shippereds I realized my relief zipper was undone and I took on a lot of water into my drysuit, foolish mistake!  We had one more moment of interest chasing down a rogue paddle before the class two float to the end.

I think a certain type of boater would be into running this short stretch.  It's a neat gorge and Freeman Falls ups the pucker factor.  If Panther Creek is runnable, then Bear Creek should be too.

Freeman Falls from below

* Freeman Falls:  A tilt to Michael's piton and the sense of freedom that comes from exiting the gorge.


  -Jacob

ACCESS:  The take out is the same as the Lower Wind, at the Wind River boat ramp (45.71813770591512, -121.78907840808252)

To get to the put in, drive up like you are going to the Lower Wind put in, but instead of turning left off the Wind River highway, cross over High bridge and in 0.7 miles turn right onto Bear Creek road.  Continue 2 miles (crossing over Panther Creek in half a mile) and turn right onto Bear Creek Lane, the put in bridge is in 350 feet (45.76678002876646, -121.82288989078613).

FLOWS:  Visual, if you pear over the put-in bridge and think the creek is at all floatable, you can explore the gorge with a boat.  High flows would make scouting and running Freeman Falls pretty exciting.  I'd venture to guess this creek has water when Panther Creek does, so maybe when the Wind is around 7' ?  I don't recall the flows the day we ran it.

Panther Creek: First known raft descent

David Saquety and I had been talking all week about trying a first raft descent in the Columbia gorge. The night before came and it looked like it was going to be too low. I drove up to Portland with low expectations for the next day. Getting turned away at the door to view the Dream Result premiere for being too young didn't brighten my mood much either :(

I woke up the next morning and consulted with Dan about the day's plans. The run I was originally planning on was too low so we started looking at secondary options. About the time I decided what I wanted to do, I got a call from David, I don't know who mentioned it first but one of said "what do you think about Panther", which resulted in the other saying "yah, I was just about to ask you the same thing".  We picked up Laura Sol, which was interesting for me since I had heard her name only in stories from my dad who used to boat with her.  In all the thought that went into planning for the day, I forgot to call Steve until we were already in Stevenson, oops, sorry Steve. Luckily he was willing to rally and meet us at the put in.

Here are a few clips, all of Dan's boat.

First known raft descent of Panther Creek WA from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.

After lots of dilly-dallying, We put in around 2. The first section to Rachel's went smooth. Steve was the only one to fire up the first two moves, after punching the stickier than it looked hole, we started scouting the third tier. It was here we realized this was going to be a long day. We were probably there for 30 min. We all fired up the third move (the slide) and continued downstream.

Things went fine until Dan's raft decided to run a rapid without any beta and got pinned, this resulted in a 20 minute or so rescue. Luckily everyone was fine and gear was not lost. Downstream in some boogie water, they got pinned again, resulting in a 45 minute rescue. We decided here that when we hit the Wind, we would hike out. The rest of the run went great, super fun river that was a fun level of challenge. We hit the wind and started cruising. I had only done this section at summer flows so didn't realize we would be moving so fast. By the time we hit Beyond limits we knew we were going to be paddling out and not having to hike. We made it to Shipperds and the portage started smoothly.

We had a plan for the portage, but with some confusion and the rope getting stuck, things got stressful in a hurry. As we were waiting to throw the rafts in, it got super dark. I decided not to do the jump because there were ropes in the water, so the hike along the cliff in the dark was the name of the game and proved to be interesting. We got down to the bottom to realize our ropes had gotten stuck on something and something had to be done about it. After some futile pulling, Dan came up with a plan. He would pull himself up the rope to the rafts against some very strong current, climb into the raft, and cut the rope that was stuck. His first try failed, as the current was just too strong. For the next try, we angled the rope closer to the cliff so he could use the wall. None of us really believed this would work, but Dan is highly trained in doing things everyone tells him won't work and was adamant that he could do it. While he was pulling himself up the rope, we had no contact and could not see him so it was an intense moment for all until we heard his yell as he made it to the raft. I might add he did this with a broken rib, I can't comprehend a lot of the things he does.

He then pulled himself into the other raft, and cut the rope, saving us from hiking out.

The paddle out in the dark was the scariest part of the day. We knew it was only class two but most of us had never run it at this level, and even in class two, big water tends to produce some big holes (7.5 on wind gauge). These are easy to avoid when you can see, but when you can only hear and see ghosts of white, it gets pretty scary. I hit a couple waves that were big enough to get my face wet. We stayed near the right shore, and just kind of guessed where the takeout was, we guessed right! We took out at 9 after 7 hours on the river, glad to have our boats with us. We said our goodbye's and headed home, excited to have completed another adventure.

-Jacob

wind= 7.5

panther= 300 cfs

Wind River: Lower (Summer Flows)

Photo: Chris Arnold

BETA

Stream: The Lower Wind is a Summer time staple in the Columbia River Gorge, as well as a fun trip to do in the Winter.  This page describes the run as it is most commonly paddled, in the Summer at flows around 100 cfs.

The people who live at the top of the put in road don't really dig people driving past there house.  Adhere to their wishes and drive very slowly until you are past the houses.

There is a quarter mile of class II and a nice pool to warm up in and do some rolls before entering High Bridge rapid, a 1/4 mile long rapid that is bouldery and technical at low water.  If you have a good attitude and good boat control weaving in and through the rock piles can be enjoyable, if not you can take the opportunity to let everyone else in the group know how elite you are by complaining about how "boat abusive" and "manky" this part is.

A short distance below the end of High Bridge rapid Panther Creek comes in on the left and adds some water to the stream.  Read and run class II-III is the name of the game for awhile below here, as you learn the run you will develop preferred routes through each of the rapids. 

After passing a rope swing on the left (I don't suggest using it) the river consolidates and bit and goes through a couple III+ rapids that feel different than the rapids upstream before a small pool and horizon line signal that you have arrived at The Flume, which should be scouted and possibly portaged on the right.  The rapid looks straight forward, yet an obnoxious rock just below the surface in the center of the first ramp keeps people from running it sometimes.  Class III+?  Class V?  It has been called both, look at it your first time down.



A couple small, but enjoyable rapids separate the Flume from Beyond Limits.  There is a fish ladder on the left that is to be avoided, and a fun ramp on the right side of the river, or a mediocre boof all the way on the right wall.  It is easy to take a peak beforehand from a bench in the center of the river.





Another section of read and run III-III+ leads to a straight away with a foot bridge spanning the river that signals the approach of Shipperds Falls, the main event.  Stop well upstream of the foot bridge if you intend to scout.  There is a confined fish ladder on river left with an avoidable, but dangerous intake.  Just upstream of the fish ladder is a class III-IV, 4' ledge.  After going over the ledge, move right into a friendly eddy your first time.  From there you can ferry back to river left to a smaller eddy to scout the falls, or scout the falls one at a time.  If you are following people who know the run down, its not uncommon to run all the drops on verbal beta (Shipperds is a class IV rapid by the end of Summer).

The first falls has many line options, and with an eddy at the lip they can be mixed and matched.

Nick Hymel with the rail grab.

The second falls is powerful and can be hard to get a good boof off of.  While there are numerous techniques for running this drop, I feel the safest bet for first timers is to have some right angle to assure you end up in the nice eddy over there after landing.

The third drop looks janky, but if you run just to the right of the largest roostertail pointed at 11 o' clock it is generally quite fun.

Stop before going over the low head dam and ferry over to a small eddy against the retaining wall on the left if you want to hike up and repeat, the ease of doing laps on this falls is an incentive for doing this run.  I have heard of motivated locals exceeding 20 laps in a day.

When you have had your fill, plop of the lowhead down through the notch on the left side.  I like a little right angle here to avoid being pushed into the left wall, the hole is no problem if you keep your nose up.

From here it's read and run class II+ to the take out, with the bonus of a number of hot springs on river left, the one most commonly used by kayakers is 1/4 mile downstream of Shipperds, with the falls still in view.  

The take out is marked by powerlines crossing the stream.

  
Flows:  This run may never get too low, though below about 80 cfs you may notice you don't see others on the river.  Over 150 cfs Shipperds is a little less friendly and at some point it becomes a no-go (it's never been run at Winter Flows to my knowledge).


Access:  Cross into Washington over the Bridge of the Gods. A toll of $1 existed in 2015, with talk of that price going up in the near future.  Head East on Hwy 14 for 5.8 miles (passing through Stevenson) and turn left at a flashing yellow light that takes you up to Carson.  At the stop sign in town turn right onto Hot Springs Ave.  In 0.9 miles turn left onto St Martin's Rd, then make an immediate right onto St Martins Hill/St Martins Springs Rd.  This dirt road leads down to the take out.

Return to the stop sign in town and turn right onto the Wind River Hwy, in 2.1 miles turn left onto High Bridge Rd (there are many similarly named road in the area, so the odometer setting is especially helpful here).  Take the first right off High Bridge Rd and follow through the neighborhood, driving very slowly as soon as it turns to gravel.  Follow this down to the obvious put in site.