Copper Creek

BETA

Stream: Copper Creek has two section, an upper and a lower.  The lower gets done more often, as it has more picturesque drops.  I like the upper just as much since it is action packed read and run the whole way, with a couple notable drops near the beginning.  The roads into Copper can be driven by most vehicles, but something with clearance is definitely preferred, especially for the upper.

      Upper:  Upper Copper Creek starts at a foot bridge, Andrew Bradley have hiked upstream to where the creek forks and paddle down from there.  It's not bad, but also not interesting enough that I
  
Flows:  You can run the lower section as low as 1,000 cfs on the EF Lewis sometimes.  Sometimes that is too low, and there really isn't a way to tell the level without driving up there.  1,500-2,000 cfs will always be in.  People sometimes complain about how the stuff between the named drops can be rocky, but at the flows needed to pad the in-between, the named stuff is class V.  If class V sounds great to you, look for 2k+ on the EF Lewis gauge.  The upper section does not paddle well at low water.

Access:  A flows are low-ish and you are just running the lower, I prefer taking out at the Dole Valley Road Bridge.  If flows are up I would probably choose to skip the secret stash and take out at King Creek.

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Original Write-up
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After getting foiled by high water on Eagle Creek, we ran Copper Creek again.  It has become our go to creek.  We had a decent flow with 1500 on the EF Lewis and rising.  This was a great level, felt pretty full for the creek.  Once again we used the upper put-in for the run.  This is definitely the best choice in my mind.  The Upper has a couple solid drops, and a lot of really fun boogey stuff.  Matt was the only one who ran the Weir this day,  it had a tree limb in the center that he avoided, but everyone else decided it wasn't worth the trouble.  He missed the log, punched the hole, and paddled away upright.

Matt on the Weir.

(photo by Nate Merrill)

From here to the lower bridge was fun read and run class IV.  No real wood issues in this section.  Once below the bridge, you will run a narrow ledge on the right, then eddy out immediately on the right to portage Certain Death.  If you want to run it I guess you could go a bit lower, but we all knew we weren't going to run it before we got there.  Then find somewhere to seal launch.  There was a log in the water , but Matt fixed it so it isn't much of an issue anymore.  Below here, the really clean class four continues for awhile.  Eventually it tapers off, before too long you come to Triple delight, one of the sweetest drops in the area.  It starts with a two foot ledge that you want to run leftish, because the right side funnels strongly into the slot on the right that is hard to stay upright through.  I took Matt over blind his first time, and I just said make you are left, left, left.  In the second(crux drop) Two of us hit the boof on the left, one hit the boof pretty far right, and one of us got sucked into the slot, resulting in a pretty interesting line down the rest of the drop!

Here is Eric Foster-moore dropping the final drop in Triple delight.

(photo by Nate Merrill)

Below here were a few more bedrock drops, some fun slides, ledges, and flumes, all with good sized holes at this level.  One sent Eric airborn!  He was able to pull off a catlike move to keep it upright though.  This section was lots of fun and before too long we rolled into the eddy above Final Five.  After taking a look at the headwall drop, I decided I wasn't in the mood and joined Nate, and eventually Eric in the portage.  This left only Matt, who decided to fire off the entire canyon.  To complicate things, the landowner was firing off gun shots.  Not sure whether he knew we were there, we kept a low profile and seal launched in above the final double drop to keep out of his land, but the gunshots were still a little unnerving given the problems that have arisen here in the past.  Matt didn't let the nerves get to him and fired off the entire series, with a roll in the third drop against the undercut wall in the left eddy.  Then finished off the series with an awesome line in the final double drop.  

Matt attacking the headwall.

(photo by Nate Merrill)

Matt in the Canyon above the final double drop.

(Photo: Nate Merrill)

Myself seal launching below the headwall drop.

(photo by Matt King)

After the seal launch, Eric and I decided to take the easy line and ran the final double drop left, left.

Eric driving left at the first ledge of the Final Drop in Final Five Canyon.

(photo by Matt King) 

Myself ducking some branches while getting where I want to go in final drop

  (photo by Matt King)

 I might add that the bottom hole on the right side of the final drop was looking like it could do some serious damage, so consideration of that would be wise.  

    Below here we joined the EF Lewis, which was really fun at this level.  We cruised down to Horshoe falls and scouted to find the funnest line.  We decided to do the triple bounce on the left and it was actually pretty exciting!  We all went deep into the airated landing. 

Below here was uneventful, and we finished the run happy with another great run on Copper Creek!

  -Jacob

North Fork Lewis

After being snowed out of another run, we decided to do the Waterfall run on the N. fork Lewis (not to be confused with the waterfall run on the East Fork Lewis).  We decided not to deal with trying to portage the nasty drop in upper falls.  We decided to do a throw and go instead!  We all had a good run and jump.  There were no takers for Lower falls, but Matt's girlfriend Caitlin took some really cool photos (and did a great job running shuttle for us the last couple trips, thanks!).

Matt drops Taitnapum falls.

Matt about to hit off the 60-70 ft jump

Josh decided to climb down to take a closer look at the bottom.

That was actually him after he jumped.  He didn't get out very far and landed in the veil of the 35 footer and got stuck in the hole for a bit.  Then worked his way along the wall below the drop.  After seeing this, I decided I needed a bigger jump and cleared out farther, without any problems.

myself nearing impact.

We then boat scouted middle falls and took out just above Lower.  I have become increasingly uncomfortable about drops over 30.  I need to practice my tuck.

 -Jacob

Hagen Gorge

all photos by Matt King

Got some cool shots of our Trips to the N fork Lewis and Hagen Gorge from Matt King.

        Ran Hagen with 1600 or so and rising in the EF Lewis.  Usually you want 2000 at least, we definitely felt our low level, but it was good to go.  If I went back at that level I would use the old broken down road right before the clearcut that spurs off to the left and put in right below the logjam.  I am pretty confident this will be the case because it makes sense that there would be a road for when they built the dam.  I was tempted to try it out last time, but we went all the way up and had a portage right at the put-in that Matt punched through(wood) then we bashed our boats down to the log dam.  Let me know if you try out that road.

 I believe this is it.  view in satellite form to see road.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=108197590826630613769.0004788129b1696180e58

   We didn't get out of our boats between the log dam and Euphoria falls as usual.  I love this creek for this reason.  Just flying down the creek is a great day of boating.  Matt's shots of Nate and I at Euphoria are pretty cool.  He got a good angle that really makes the drop look steep.

Nate at the top of Euphoria. 

Myself halfway down the first tier.

Nate exiting the first tier, heading into the lower drop with the log.

The log was not an issue as usual as long as you were in control.  You could go under it if you had to and if you were so far left you got stuck between ground and log rescue was as easy as it gets.  Luckily none of us had problems and we bombed down to Teakettle.  We did see another group there, that was interesting coming around the corner above Euphoria and seeing the bright colors in the scouting eddy!  We were not expecting anyone else with the low water.

Teakettle looked good so besides some mixed up beta from me to Nate, everything went well.  Even with the misguidance we all stayed upright and headed down to the crack drop.

Myself a half boat width farther right than I wanted.  

Nate keeping it upright.

Below here is a narrow little drop that looks like it has a boof on the right, but it is actually pretty ugly.  I have ended up in the pocket below on the left twice.  This day, one of us didn't make the sneak route on the right and injured his arm in a brace, he was ok by the next day, but watch out for this sneaker between Teakettle and Crack drop.  If there is enough water, far far right, almost drying out has been our line of choice the last couple of times and produced successful runs.

   We all decided to portage the crack drop, as it looked a lot more hectic today.  So I guess I will retract my statement from the last time I ran Hagen that anyone with a roll can run the drop.  At the levels we had, it looked like getting your head slammed into a rock was a very likely outcome. 

Going deep in the crack drop from last year.

 From here to the takeout was fun with some good quality class III-IV drops.  We took out and checked out money drop, but there was a bit too much water for those who were considering it.  All in all a great day after a long day on Upper Opal creek the day before when we decided to portage Harvey Wallbanger.  All I will say about that trip is if you are going to run Upper Opal, watch out for this committing drop.  Its hard to scout and the hole below looks like it has some wood in it.  You might be able to eddy out and portage just above, but we decided not to risk it.  We portaged on the right and it sucked.  Not the worst, but pretty bad.  (all photos by Matt King)

 -Jacob

IK's

There was talk about Ik's on the Portland kayaker forum recently and instead of ranting there, I figured I would do it here (which is what blogs are for).  Not that I have anything bad to say.

          I started in an IK and I for one am very happy that is how I started.  My dad has always been an IK'er or rafter and didn't have hardshells, so that was my ticket into the whitewater world.  How this benefited me (besides being taught by a very safety conscious father), was I was able  to learn to read the water and figure out what the water was doing on an intimate level, without having to worry about edge control as much.  I think this is very important because it is critical in my opinion to have your water reading skills a couple notches above you staying upright ability.  There are plenty of places where if you stay upright, you could still be in a very bad situation, yet, had you gone where you needed to go, and flipped, you would be rolling at the end of the pool, instead of swirling around a nasty pocket, or pinned.  In some cases it is a necessity to stay upright, in this case if you read water well enough, you know not to run that one because you know what it will do to your boat.

        You still learn edge control though, you feel when current is sucking a tube under, but you have time to recover.  

        On many of the small woody creeks in Oregon, these are the perfect vessels. David Saquety on Gordon Creek Oregon.  Coming around a rocky, fast, blind corner, only to see a logjam across the current, no real eddies; this is the time to paddle to shore, leap to shore, and then if your lucky grab your boat.  In a hardshell this would not work.  I have a couple experiences like this where I was happy to be in the IK and my dad has quit a few more and this is his strongest argument for why he likes IK's.  If the boat floats downstream, it is ok cause its not full of water so it is much easier to recover.

                              My dad with his Ik where Ik's belong.      Also, I know some IK'ers who can boof, including myself, so I know that is possible and I have to say some of the boofs are smoother and it is more controllable I think.  Its harder to land flat, but you can ride a stroke and keep the nose up for a long time without it dropping out from under you.  I talked to one guy who landed flat off the second tier of Shipperds, anyone who has been there knows this is difficult.  I have never done it (not counting the delayed boof), he boofed from the top and cleared the sloping drop to land flat.  

     During the shooting of "Two Kids and a Duck" I think I was upside down more often than Nick, granted I didn't swim that year and he probably had 3 or 4, but he more often than not self recovered and there were times I wish we would have traded boats.

      If you have seen that film you have seen him clean some gnar.  My favorite clip is him stomping Upper Falls on the Lewis like it was noones business.  He planed away from the drop and had a perfect tuck without getting water in his boat... I broke my nose.

                                                                 Nick tucks up at Twin falls.   Which brings me to my next point, they are less painful, your not going to break your back as easily landing flat, you won't bonk your elbows on the sides, you won't crack your face on the rim of the cockpit, if you pin you are not as trapped.

     And I for one can vouch for the fact you can brace IK's, first you highside, then you brace, this combo can work, watch Nick dropping Taitnapum falls at ~1:30 on this video, now that is some secondary stability. (you will notice this is one of those times he was upright and I was upside down).

The number one biggest reason I don't paddle IK's very often is they fill up with water.  Running the Roaring River in the Clack Drainage felt like class five in an IK because you couldn't miss a single stroke because your boat was always full of water and wouldn't respond well.  That said, it was one of my favorite trips of the year and the Ik's made the portages much easier.  Throw and go's are way easier with Ik's too.

          In this video we run the Lower Wind.  As you can see Nick cleaned the Flume better than all the hardshellers.

      

In this next one you will see some real clean IK lines.  Also, you will see two flips resulting in swims back to back on the second tier of Shipperds around 30 seconds in.  Guess which boater reunited himself with his boat and was ready to drop over the third tier in 10 seconds, and guess which one took 15 minutes to get back in his boat and didn't run the third tier for another 10 minutes?

This next video has some recent clips of my dad doin some IK stuff that I talked about.  First clip is an example of him running a class V-ish drop.  Second is an example of a boof, not the biggest Iv'e seen but still got the nose up.  Third is something I didn't mention which is Ik's are great for shallow drops cause they don't go deep.  I hit bottom off that drop, in the summer it lands on rock, thats how shallow it is so its not very deep and he didn't hit bottom even though he pencilled because the volume brought his nose up so fast, before the tail was in the water even. Third is the Iguana move where there is not much of an eddy but he just hops out.

Now all that said, I still paddle a hardshell :)  No doubt you can run bigger stuff, and I am a fan of the boof stomp.  I will always run the biggest stuff I run in a hardshell.  My point is there is nothing wrong with Ik's, you can go big in them and they are a great way to start. Check out Bryan Vogt's IK blog if you want to see them run some of the biggest stuff in the PNW which is under my links on the right side of this page.  And check out all the stuff from '07 on my blog for Nick tearing some stuff up. Ok, thats all for now.

     

           -Jacob

Mesa Falls (raft)

Some photos of Dan running Mesa Falls.

  Getting set up at the top. All photos by Ümit Yüksel

Dan doing what he does best. R1 descent of the upper tier. With his buddy back in the boat, together they drop the second falls. freefall. stuck it. all photos by Ümit Yüksel Dan's percentage of waterfalls cleaned to waterfalls not cleaned is baffling.  He has a one hundred percent success rate on drops 30 ft or more.  Given the type of stuff he is doing this obviously won't last, but it makes you wonder what is possible in these large rubber boats...

It is difficult to see what is going on in this video.  But if you tilt your head just right you can see them go over the second drop about 20 seconds in.

           -Jacob

Gladiator gage and water levels

Finding the Gladiator gauge 



 

  Find the road that is named after the town.  Along the main highway downstream of the road named after the town is a guard rail as shown in the picture below.  Walk along the guard rail about 75 feet, one of the posts has some yellow paint splashed on it.  Walk to the creek at this point through a couple of trees, the gauge is along the creek bank about 10 yards from the highway.

Interpreting the Gladiator gauge

There are four telemetry gauges to use for trying to predict whether it might be worth driving out there to check the visual gauge.  The Salmon gauge is by far the best correlation, but only came online in 2017.

SALMON RIVER BELOW SLICK ROCK GAGE

 

Visual Gauge on Gladiator Creek

The visual gauge on Gladiator

My notes on how the visual and Salmon River Gauge link up

Visual Gauge

3' is pretty high for a first time trip down the Middle, but good for the Upper.

2.5' is a medium flow. IV-IV+(V)

2' is low, and Vesuvius is marginal.  IV(V) 
1.5' is very low, most people would not consider paddling the creek at this level.

Salmon River Correlation

500 cfs is a low runnable flow, there will be a lot of rock contact. It equates to just below 2''
1,000 cfs is medium, and about 2.5' or just above.
1,500 cfs is high, but runnable.  Perfect for upper, high for Middle/Lower and equates to about 3'





*Flows rise and drop fast on this creek, be ready for a likely change in flows during the time you are hiking in.

*You can put in at the top of the Ludi stretch by hiking down a nose of land from the far end of the quarry if flows are too low for Vesuvius or you're just not up for it and don't want to throw-and-go.

*There is a nearby weather station that can be used to calculate rainfall nearby.

Historic Flows on Gladiator Creek

 Before finding out about the Salmon Gauge, I'd try to guess flows based on other, less reliable correlation gauges.  Below are my notes and data points from each time I have checked the gauge.


Salmon River (Slick Rock): This is the most relevant gauge.  1,000 is medium.  500 is low, but you could run Ludi down, 1,500 is a high runnable flow.

Willamina Creek:  Each time Gladiator has been run, this gauge was between 450-1,000 cfs. 

Sunshine Creek:  This is not in the same drainage, but is at the same longitude and elevation, with headwaters in the center of the Coast Range.
                  

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):    Gladiator has been run with this gauge between 1,000-2,500 cfs, and doesn't seem to correlate beyond that.  Even within that range, Gladiator can be too high or too low.

SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):      Gladiator has been run with this gauge between 1,000-2,500 cfs, and doesn't seem to correlate beyond that.  Even within that range, Gladiator can be too high or too low.


There is also a nearby weather station that can be used to calculate rainfall nearby.

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DATA POINTS

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Oct 20, 2019
When we finished the run, we checked the gauge around 4pm and it was at 1.8'.
There were plenty of rocks to hit, but it was still worth doing and smiles were had.  The runout was rough.

Salmon River (Slick Rock):              Just under 500 and stable
Willamina Creek:                                175 and stable
Sunshine Creek:                                  80 and stable

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):     800 dropping to 450 from midnight to midnight

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Oct 19, 201

On our way to running the upper around 9am, the flow was 3.0'.  Priscilla ran shuttle for us, and on her way back through 2-3 hours later the flow had dropped below 3' and continued dropping throughout the day.   Flows were great for the Upper section, if they had held at 3.0' I think they would have been perfect for that upper section, but high for the middle and lower.

 Early morning                                                                                Late morning

3'                                                                                                    2.8'

Salmon River (Slick Rock):              1500, dropping fast to 650 by midnight
Willamina Creek:                                Peaked at 400, dropped to 250 by midnight
Sunshine Creek:                                  Peaked at 250, dropped to 100 by midnight

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):     Peaked at 1,400, dropped to 800 by midnight
SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):       Peaked at 1,400, dropped to 800 by midnight

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 February 18, 2019

This was a low runnable flow, the rapids are still fun, but there will be rock contact and the runout is rough.  The hit at Vesuvius at this flow would be rough and the line thin, but putting in at the start of the Ludi stretch would be reasonable.

1.9'

Salmon River (Slick Rock):              600 dropping to 500
Willamina Creek:                                500 cfs average and stable/slight drop
Sunshine Creek:                                  100 cfs and stable/slight drop

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):     1,700 avg and stable/slight drop

SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):       1,400 avg and stable/slight drop

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February 16, 2019


This was a good flow, on the lower side of a high-quality medium.
2.4'

Salmon River (Slick Rock):                670-880-770

Willamina Creek:                                  A high of 800 cfs after starting at 700 in the morning.
Sunshine Creek:                                    A high of 175 after starting the day at 150.

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):       A high of 2,500 cfs peak in the afternoon, started at 1,600 in the morning.

SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):         A high of 2,400 cfs in the afternoon after starting at 1,500 in the morning.

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Dec 6, 2014

Salmon River (Slick Rock):               Not Available

Willamina Creek:                                 Peaked at 700 cfs
Sunshine Creek:                                   Peaked at 90 cfs

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):      Peaked at 900 cfs

SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):        Peaked at 1,300 cfs mid-day

This was before I found the visual gauge, my guess is it was over 2.5', but less than 3'.

Great flow, mushy in places.  I liked this flow for Vesuvius, but I think the rapids are a little more crisp with a bit less water.  Plenty of padding throughout and the in-between cleans up.

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March 2, 2019
I was passing through on the way to the coast, so grabbed a data point.  There was water in the creek, but it was too low to kayak.

 1.4'

Salmon River (Slick Rock):                 230-220

Willamina Creek:                                   240 cfs and falling slowly, almost stable.
Sunshine Creek:                                     40 cfs and falling slowly, almost stable.                          

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):        450 cfs and falling slowly, almost stable.
SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):          550 cfs and falling.

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March 3/4 2012
Low water, ran the last few rapids of the Ludi section for the first time. Scraped the lip at Punisher.

Salmon River (Slick Rock):                Not Available

Willamina Creek:                                   450 cfs and stable
Sunshine Creek:                                     80 cfs and stable

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):        Right around 1,000 cfs and dropping slowly

SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):          Right around 1,000 cfs and dropping slowly

Story reminder: Skirt too small

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Nov 15, 2008

Salmon River (Slick Rock):               Not Available

Willamina Creek:                                 500 dropping to 400
Sunshine Creek:                                   Unavailable

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):      About 1,000 cfs

SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):       1,070 dropping to 970

This was low, probably around 2' on the gauge.  We only ran the lower section this day.

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January 1, 2003
High water
First descent of the lower section, from OregonKayaking.

Salmon River (Slick Rock):               Not Available

Willamina Creek:                                 1,000 cfs and dropping
Sunshine Creek:                                   Unavailable

SF Yamhill At Willamina (WRD):       2,500 cfs and dropping

SF Yamhill at Willamina (NWS):        Unknown

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Ryan

I was not close with Ryan, but I wanted to tribute him in some way on this blog. The only time I boated with him was to each of us our first time on the Little White. My dad(the only one who had done the river before) had meant to join us below Gettin' Busy, but fell and injured his ribs hiking in. He hiked back out, this left only Ryan and I to figure out the river together. What I remember most was how much more comfortable Ryan was boat scouting Gettin' busy than I was. He looked right at home on the river. He was very confident committing himself to running the next pitch. This meant I would often be watching him as he peared down the next drop.   Then he would signal me down to his eddy and we would discuss the line. I was very grateful to have some of the stress lifted in this way. We both had a very successful run with each of us flipping only at Wishbone I believe.    We portaged the bigger drops, but just getting in there, just the two of us, and figuring out the run together was a great experience. It was very strange hearing he was gone.

I always knew in the back of my head there was a good chance someone I knew, or myself, could very well die kayaking. It was not pleasant having that thought come to fruition. My thoughts have been recently turning to Ryan now and then, wondering about his family, wondering what his final moments were like, questioning if I should be in a sport where success means you are still alive at the end of the run. I know I am not going to give it up, it is too ingrained in who I am, but this will definitely keep me more attentive and safety cautious. So rest in peace Ryan, hopefully we have all learned from your tragedy.                                            Here is a short video I made some time ago from our first time down the river that eventually took his life.

 -Jacob