Other reads

We have some new media to get up on the blog here soon, including epic Gopro-meal time from Caitlyn coming at some point.  We have also been getting after some good adventures that will be written up in due time. For now check out these other pages that explore adventure and life in the lesser known reaches of Oregon and the PNW.

 http://www.lagrandelife.com/tag/kayak   -  This is just a link to our recent Wallowa teaser, but exploring the website further will give insight into the people who call this majestic area their home.

http://beachwalkproject.com     -  The most recent story is about a trip my dad was a part of involving a project to boat all stretches of the White River this year.

http://riverlog.blogspot.com    -  And after a long hiatus, the IK riverlog is back in business for the time being.  Brian is currently writing about their recent trip into the Chetco wilderness.

A quick teaser I am making from our father's day trip

    -Jacob

Four Decades of First Decents: A Return to Roosevelt, Washington

If you asked me last year if I'd ever return to Roosevelt to kayak, I would have told you no way, never, not going to happen.  Not that the far-east gorge isn't beautiful or anything, but after our last epic out that way, I swore it off for boating.  

Never say never, as they say, and when Jacob and I got the word this spring from John Whaley about a creek with a 30 footer, a bunch of bedrock, and the right flow, we knew we had to head back, especially since someone else had already done the homework.  It sounded like exactly what we had hoped to find in Jupiter Canyon, so we jumped on the opportunity and planned to meet up with John the next day.  The mission:  Rock Creek.

Now, neither of us had ever met John, but we certainly knew his name from his days with the Oregon Kayaking crew and knew he was had great exploratory credentials, including at least one first decent in every decade from 1980-2010, so this one would make it his fourth decade with a first decent.  I hope Jacob and I get there some day! It was Pete Giordano who got us all connected after John asked him if he knew anyone who would be willing to get after a questionable first decent with a big hike starting on a tiny tributary of a tiny creek that goes into a small creek with only a couple hundred CFS.  Pete didn't hesitate to give John our info, knowing that we're masochistically addicted to hikes and portage-fests.

We met up with John on the banks of the Columbia, set shuttle and got things rolling.  On the drive up to the put in, we passed lots of ominous no trespassing signs describing the various punishments that would be levied onto anyone entering private land.  John had some extra marines stickers for exactly this reason, and we slapped a couple on the car, hedging our bets against the crazy landowners.  All went well getting up to the put-in though, with only a few crazy snow crossings in the subi, and we got to hiking.

 This sign warning us about entering logging land wasn't very intimidating after what we had seen on the way up.

 

The hike was pretty easy, somewhere around 4 miles, pretty flat, with some nice snow to drag on at times.  John had looked at everything on his mountain bike, so he took us right where we needed to go and we started out final decent to the river before noon.

 The last push down to river level.

While we where hiking down, we got excited about some bedrock in a tiny tributary that ended in a waterfall.  On the other hand, the brush covering the creek and only about 30-40 cfs reminded us of Jupiter Canyon and we knew we'd be bashing brush all day.  Luckily, we'd already perfected the brush tuck, so we could make good progress while practicing our waterfall technique.

 Bedrock on the trib, with the creek buried in brush.

 

Not long after we put on, we came to the first bit of bedrock, two back-to-back slides that were quite fun.  Already we'd found some stuff that was better than anything in Jupiter.

John having a blast.

We worked our way further downstream until we got to a tight gorge at our first confluence. John had seen this on his scouting and named it Pine-in-the-Ass, after the huge tree blocking most of the falls.  John portages from upstream, I portages at river level, and Jacob portages the first part on river right, then slid down the bottom.  With more water and less log, this one could be pretty fun.

Pine-in-the-Ass

After the confluence, with the welcome addition of more water, we bashed through more brush until we reached a significant horizon line.  We all eddied out and took a look, with big smiles on our faces when we looked at the squeaky clean waterfall.  It wasn't 30 feet by any means, but it made for a fun drop, and we all launched off with a hoot.  Just seeing the smile on John's face at the bottom of this drop made everything worthwhile.

John's 30 Footer

After the waterfall, we had several more miles of water, but nothing too exciting.  A couple good drops and innumerable portages, and John and I were both fighting cracks the whole way.  We kept up the pace, as we where worried about light and didn't want it to get dark on us.  The take-out came into sight right as it was getting dark, and we celebrated with beers and donuts before heading up to get the car, which we knew we'd have to hike to despite the best efforts with Jacobs civic in the snow.

All and all, it was a great trip in an absolutely stunning canyon and an awesome group, and it made a great counter-point to the Jupiter Canyon debacle.  That being said, I doubt any of us will return to this one.  Thanks much to John for finding this one and giving us the call, hopefully we'll find exploratory missions for decades to come! 

Product Review: K-Bomb Skirt

Product Review

K-Bomb Skirt

Here you can see how the K-Bomb repels water, while the other skirt absorbs it.

Fellow Earth Science student and adventurer models the dual-fabric of skirt tunnel.

In use.

              -Jacob

From the Great Salt Lake: Provo River Utah

My good friend Nick just sent me this trip report of a run down near Salt Lake City he has been talking about for a few years.  He finally got the chance to run the stream and it looks like it was a great trip!  Here is his account...

For the last three years I've been trying to get on one of Utah's only steep creeks and have be turned away by lack of water and road closures.  However, this May things finally lined up and I was able to throw together a trip.  The creek only runs for about one week a year and you need an average amount of snowfall on the year.  If its too high the snow melt happens too late and the creek turns into a monster.  Too low and the road won't be plowed before the creek turns into just a trickle.  

Although I have plenty of boats to borrow out here I only had one day notice that the trip was actually possible.  I took the best option I had; an IK rental from REI with no thigh straps or foot pegs.  I'm plenty familiar with IK's (look some of the archived footage from 2007 on this blog) but hadn't paddled one in two years.

The creek was a bit low at 700 cfs, I would have preferred around 900 but hey, beggars can't be choosers.  The run is only 1/2 mile and can be scouted in its entirety from a trail running along side it.  Thankfully my roommate wanted to check things out so he said he would take some media.  

The first 1/4 mile is all 3-5 ft drops similar to the one below.  I instantly realized that without thigh straps I would not be attempting the lower two drops, which both have very narrow lines.

After the warm up drop are three slides that provide a good warm up for the steeper drops.  I am in the middle of slides 1 & 2 below:

Three main drops make up the 50 feet of vertical drops that this run is known for.  The first is a 15-20 ft slide that ends directly above the main double drop.  At higher levels it would be almost impossible to eddy out above the main drop.

Since I was using a rental boat without thigh straps I chose to run the bottom half of the main drop.  The line for the upper part is to run river right, which worried me because the deposit I would lose on the IK if it were to tear was $500.  Needless to say the bottom tier was straightforward and I ran several laps to please the onlooking families.

Below are the two big drops below the double drop.  They both land in waist deep water.  The larger of the two has seen 3 broken backs in the past few years.

Overall it was a great trip.  It felt great to get back in the water and get some vertical in-even if it was as straight forward as they come.  If anyone reading this ever ventures to Utah in May I would highly recommend getting on this creek and checking out the surrounding areas.  In my opinion it is some of the most impressive country close to Salt Lake.

   ~Nick Hymel

County Teaser

Here is a quick teaser showing some of the wealth located in NE Oregon.  The melt is about to start, get out and explore!



    Some pictures Matt took of the intimidating gorge the crew took care of a few weeks back can be found here.

              -Jacob

Sierra Photo Drop: Wildplum, Pauely, Middle Feather, and the South Branch

This month marked a major milestone in my kayaking career: A paddling trip to the legendary sierra mountains.

On May 4th, Alex Kilyk, Dan Rubado, Dan Dellwo, Abe Herrara, and I loaded up in two rigs and headed south for a few days in the sun.

Cali Crew 2012 - Middle Feather Put-In

We had left the plan in a fairly fluid state: Make it up as we go....

After it was all said and done, we had knocked off two of the greatest rivers I've ever had the pleasure of paddling and completed two easier northern california classics.

Day 1: Travel
We left Portland after work around 6:30. We ended up crashing out along the shores of Lake Shasta around 2 AM.

Day 2: Rendezvous
After meeting up with Abe and Dan in Oroville and eating some breakfast at the delicious and nutritious Oroville Denny's, we headed up into the mountains towards to the town of Downiville and the NF Yuba.

 The NF Yuba is 8 miles of class fun. We didn't get out of our boats and it still felt like a long day.

 

The Author riding the Wildplum

After finishing up the 8 mile Wildplum section of the NF Yuba, we decided to rally up the Downie River to run Pauley Creek.

Pauley creek is similar to Canyon Creek, WA @ 500cfs in many ways. Lots of one stoke moves over steep pool drop ledges.

Slip n Slide

 

Our tour guide for Pauley Creek

After wrapping up Pauley Creek, we began a mad scramble around Downiville to find cell phone service and wifi. After checking levels, we threw together an ingenious plan to get onto the Middle Feather. The level had been steadily dropping for the past 7 days and was hovering around 2100 cfs. With warmer weather in the immediate forecast, we decided to drive that night to the put-in with designs to run the 30 mile wilderness run in 2 days, rather than the standard 3 day journey. Our plan was to beat the warm weather to the punch and hopefully be taking off the river by the time that the levels started to creep back up. Most reports I'd seen online feature Middle Feather runs at levels closer 1500 cfs, so I was a little nervous about the higher flow. However, I was reassured by several folks milling around Downville that the run didn't get really hard until flows surpassed 2500. With this in mind, we placed a call to Matt King's cousin Shawn (who lives in Quincy) who agreed to pick us up at Milsap Bar at 7 PM on the second day and drive us back to our cars.

 

Gear Explosion in Downiville

We rallied to the town of Quincy and picked up some groceries and were in bed at put-in by mid night.

Days 3 & 4: Middle Feather

Unfortunately, we awoke the next morning to temps in the mid-twenties and frozen gear. After thawing our gear by the fire, we were packed up and ready for our adventure.

Dan and his icy dry suit

 

2100cfs covers much of the mank on Day 1

 

 Abe loves Franklin Canyon

The hits just keep on coming

Reaching the end of Franklin Canyon

 

 Warm and Cozy

 

 Enter Devil's Canyon

 

 Good talk boys.

 

 Alex has it under control.

 

Rubado in Landslide - This rapid is nasty and unportable. We heard later, folks run it on the left.

 

Alex feeling the heat - One of my personal favorites

 

 Dancing with the Devil

 

Salami, crackers, and cheese.

 

Dellwo with some sympathy for the Devil.

 

The Devils mandatory portage.

Fat lady's singing over the middle feather

The Middle Feather is no joke. The rapids never let up and increased in intensity as the trip went on. There were probably 15 class V drops and over 40 class IV drops in all and several were not portage able. We were able to finish both days with time to spare due to heroic boat scouting efforts of the Dan's and Abe. Quite remarkble considering no one in our group had been down before and we only had limited beta regarding the manadatory portage. I really just followed the leader for much of the run. Thanks guys!

About a mile from the takeout on day 2, we were overtaken by another group of paddlers. Two of the group turned out to be old friends of Runados. Amanda and Macy? After sharing some laughs at Milsap Bar, they informed us that the South Branch of the Middle Feather, was indeed running and a prime level! The next stop on our Sierra Tour!

Shuttle Shawn showed up 30 minutes early and quickly loaded up into his giant pickup truck. He kept us entertained the entire drive with his stories about growing up in Quincy and the trouble him and Matt got into back in the day. Back at the Put-In, we again beded down for another night in the cold.

 

Shuttle Shawn! Thanks again man.

Day 5: South Branch Feather

We all woke up early and hit the road headed for the South Branch. We'd heard word of a sneak route through the mountains via the Quincy-Laporte Rd. Sadly, we hit snow just passed Little Grass Valley Resevior and were forced to take the 'long way' to the put-in. After running shuttle, gearing up, and eating a little lunch, we weren't able to launch on the South Branch until 2 oclock.

 

En Route

We had some serious reservations about putting on so late into the day. It's said that folks who know the run can do two laps in a day, but the run can easily take over 7 hours for those who have not been down before.

After a quick discussion, we threw some food, headlamps, and lighters into a dry bag and headed down stream.

 

 Mank on the First Third

 

Looking down into the mandatory gorge!

 

Alex amongst it!

Mandatory Fun

 

Dellwo finishing up the mandatory gorge.

 

 Alex too.

 

Okay guys... Don't over boof. My bad.

 

Double Dippin on the South Branch

 

I'm sure all these drops have names.....

Out on the porch

 

Planning my route to China.

 

Dellwo headed for the southern hemisphere.

Sunset over the sierras

 

Wait. It didn't look this big in the pictures.

East-bound and down.

G-force

"I didn't know this thing was must run."

 

 A fond farewell.

 

 Seven Falls.

The South Branch is far and away, the best creek I've ever had the pleasure of paddling. The drops are big, mostly clean, and don't stop. I never heard a firm number on the gradient for this thing, but I'd have to guess that bottom half drops over 600 fpm.

The photos don't do this run due justice.

We finished the portage around 199 problems and all remarked how 'un-runnable' the falls looked. Little did we know, that a few days prior, Chris Korbulic had actually fired er off.

The sun was setting over the Sierras as we came to the last drop on the South Branch. The much anticipated 55 foot waterfall.  With day light running thin and the line being evident, I was ready to get it out of the way. After Abe and I fired it off, the race was on. Everyone had great lines... with one broken paddle.

With that, we began snooping around the banks for the 'obvious' boater trail the leads up the canyon walls to the parking spot far above. This trail was not as easy to find as had been indicated, but Abe followed the plastic to the head.

An hour later we all at the car in the dark after tackling what was one of the worst hike-outs I've ever done. Dan R compared it to a double dose of the Hoffstadt hike out... with more poison oak...

Day 6: The Road Home

The next morning, we got leisurely and ate breakfast creek side. After getting organized, Dan R. Alex, and I bid farwell to Abe and Dan D. and headed North.

After a quick stop at In 'n Out for a much deserved burger, the guys dropped me and the Redding Airport so I could catch a flight to LA to complete a short job for work.

I have to admit, it felt rather surreal to dawn the business clothes and enter one of the biggest cities in the country after such a wild 5 days in the Sierras. I'll be back next year... without a doubt.

Many of the photos in this report were taken by Abe Herrera. Abe grew up in Ecudor and runs private kayaking trips through his company Boof Sessions. Check it out at:
http://www.ecuadorpaddling.com/