Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Christmas: More effort than usual for a drink of water

Everyone enjoys presents, but they are twice as sweet when you don't already know what's inside!

Last weekend we unwrapped some whitewater presents of our own.  Some of it is commonly run, some of which is far from, all classic material by Oregon standards.

Three of us got to unwrap one gift I (along with plenty of others) have been wanting to know what lay inside for a long time.  We put in more effort than most who taste these waters, but it was worth it.

Andrew made a video of that trip, along with another nearby classic.  Here it is.



Forbidden Fruit from Andrew Bradley on Vimeo.

Happy Holidays!

~1,000 cfs

Thursday, December 19, 2013

A less than relaxing Jacuzzi

Jacuzzi near the end of Ernie's Canyon has long been rumored as one of those drops people walk without much consideration.  It has been run a few times but the general consensus has been it was too risky to run regularly.  Recently however, a few people's actions have been changing this paradigm.

Dan Patrinellis puts it this way on his blog  "Jacuzzi was a rapid of ill repute until Joe and Mike Nash tamed the beast, now its an everyday thing (if you're those two)".


That point is validated in a video by the two guys he refers to in that quote, embedded below.




Dan and Jeff are all about changing paradigms. Deciding they wanted in on the fun, they headed up there and along with Willy Dinsdale and Chase Nobles, fired up Jacuzzi.

As can be seen below, good lines were had.



Jacuzzi Falls on Ernies Canyon from Daniel Mccain on Vimeo.

Additional links to Facebook footage.

                Chase   -    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153585947885144&set=vb.769895143&type=2&theater
                Raft      -   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153590183105144&set=vb.769895143&type=2&theater

Does this mean I am going to go try to run Jacuzzi this weekend?  Unlikely.  However, its cool to see our sport is still dynamic on a local level and that people are searching out new challenges in their backyard.


   -jacob

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Rock Creek: Ryan Allen Rd to Columbia River

This is the section with the famous Money Drop, an ever-changing drop near Stevenson Washingon in the Columbia River Gorge.

It's worth scouting the two big drops before putting on, this can be done via Iman Cemetery Rd.  Some routes have no tresspassing signs, but there are ways to get a good look.

Downstream of the put in bridge is 1/4 mile of warm up before the first falls.  This is a 30 footer that is run middle.  Below this first falls the river bends right as it goes over some more bedrock.  Get out on the left after the bend, and well before entering the low angle slide into Money Drop to get one last look from the left side.

Money Drop is a high speed, low angle ramp of 50 yards or so into a vertical drop of variable height.  You can typically count on it being over 50' tall.  It can be tricky to set the correct angle, resulting in many chaotic descents of the drop.  Recently (2016) the lip seems to have cleaned up and people no longer seem to have so much issue.

Andrew Bradley dealt with the tricky pre-2016 lip by boofing as big as possible.  While Andrew says his hit was soft, this technique is not recommended, at least one person has broken their back here.
Photo: Jeremy Lynn



Money drop from Andrew Bradley on Vimeo.


The level was about 10.10 feet on the Rock Creek gauge under the Ryan Allen Rd Bridge when Andrew and John ran it.
You can use the EF Lewis gauge to guestimate when Rock Creek will run. 
That gauge had a little under 2000 cfs when Andrew and John ran Money Drop.

Danimal rafted this one too.  Amazingly, he landed upright in the raft, unhurt. The level was pretty low that day, around 9.5'.

The falls was measured at 51' high the day he did it.
March 14, 2010










Thursday, December 5, 2013

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