Copper Creek

May 29, 2006

Copper Creek

Last Winter we had our first trip to Copper creek. This was Nick and my first river with legitimate class 4 rapids. The trip went well and access is easy enough. We looked down stream from the put in and wondered how we were going to get down if the river spread out at all. With 1100 cfs in the EF Lewis it turned out to be a reasonable first time flow for paddlers like us stepping up to the run. We made it down the first section of class 2-3 rapids to Triple Delight without incedent. The middle ledge is the crux and the approach is made somewhat difficult by a boil after the first drop that funnels a boater into the meat of the ledge. The plan was to drive left after the first drop and boof off the left side of the ledge. This worked well for my dad who showed us the way.

Nick and my dad scouting the begginging of Triple Delight

Nick went next and got pushed right by the boil. He went into the meat of the ledge and pogoed over the front of the boat upon landing, but was able to recover and get to shore before the next drop.  I went next and hit the left bank between the drops. I recovered enough to give a halfhearted boof and was able to keep it upright.

 

Nicks first run

After my mostly successful run Nick decided to try and redeem himself with much the same results, this time finishing with a large ender where he was sucked from his IK.

 

Nick attempts to redeem himself

We decided to cut our losses and neither of us took another try, we went left on the last/tallest drop of Triple Delight which is an autoboof that me and my dad both botched and ended up turning sideways midair, but no flips. Nick had a perfect line here and kept his hair dry.

Myself resurfacing below Triple Delight.

After Triple Drop were a few fun ledge drops including Piton and the Flume. Niether was class 4 at this level, but still fun.

Nick drops into the Flume

My dad exiting the Flume

After some more class 3 we arrived at final five. This is the signature drop on Copper creek and feels more serious than anything else on the run barring Certain Death. It was the toughest thing Nick or I had ever run before so we scouted the second and third drops for ahwile. We had seen plenty of video of this canyon so we had a pretty good idea of what we were going to try and do. My dad went first and ran the first three drops well. Then Nick and I headed to the top for our run. We cleaned the top drop and said a few words before the next two drops which include a 5' punchbowl and an 8' slide into a headwall. Nick dropped over and got a HUGE tailstand, he looked like he was certainly going to go end over end kept it together and brought it down upright. It would have been a real bummer to swim here because of the headwall drop so close downstream, in his boat he was able to slide easily to the left.  I adjusted after seeing the tail stand and angled to the right over the pourover before moving left through the headwall drop. Once we were below these drops we realized we couldn't scout the last double drop from where we were. We had decided not to do it earlier because of private propery issues and were hoping to get a peek from in the canyon, but that didn't look like an option.  I was pretty sure I knew what line I was going to take from studying video, but my dad insisted on going first for safety reasons. I explained that the line was to aim left over the top drop and boof off the left edge of the next ledge. He didn't make it left, but Iv'e never seen him have trouble before so I figured he would come out alright.  I came down next and was able to make the move to the left like I wanted and Nick followed behind a little closer to the hole on the right, but still was able to paddle out and away from the hole. It was then that I realized my dad appeared to be very wet. It turned out he had ended up getting stuck in the hole at the bottom that is backed up by the right wall. He swam and said he got recycled out of his boat by the hole for about 15 seconds. He took a bit of time to gather his strength before we head downstream.  This was a lesson I carried with me into the future and don't assume success is a sure thing regardless of the boaters skill.

 

The exit to Final Five CanyonWe then drifted to the EF Lewis and enjoyed almost continuous class three to Horseshoe falls. We all took the easy and fun center chute and made good time to the takeout.