North Coast Paddling

Sierra Wrap-Up 1: Fantasy Falls

2011-09-19T00:12:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that one of the greatest aspects of padding is that it brings people together in a mutual team experience unlike many other sports and or recreational hobbies. So the focus of this writeup is to bring light to the many talented and motivated paddlers who I had the pleasure of enjoying the water with this summertime.

So the story lets off at the Royal Gorge, which leads directly into a 30 mile paddle out through Generation and Giant Gaps. Next time I paddle Royal it might be a 4 day just so I can enjoy this stretch instead of having to power through. Here is the rapid marking Euchre Bar Trail as seen in the movie Wild Americans. Here are Taylor Cavin and Chris Zawacki getting ready to make another 30 miles

Then it was back to Coloma for a day at the end of which Alex Wolfgram rallied me up for a sunset paddle of South Silver Creek. Here he is charging into the steepest part of the Autobahn slide as we put-on. Alex is an awesome guy who brings major stoke, emphatically charged up and always busting with laughter.

Walking back up to the car for shuttle, the moon was hitting Skyscraper and the Off Ramp on South Silver Creek

Then it was off to Fantasy Falls where Niko Peha introduced himself in a solid fashion. Here he is charging the first falls drop which I like to portage.

Orion Meredith has been known to wake up and bake himself a huge boof for breakfast! It appears as if he lightened his load today. Fantasy Falls Day Two.

Willy Pell prefers charging through classic sections of California whitewater at higher flows in the sunshine.

Louis Geltman, on the other hand has a distaste for the mank, but when it's a little fluffy.."it's not that bad" he says.

Benjamin "Airtime" York decided to take a summer break from schoolteaching and immerse himself in the study of boofology, here he conducts some research on the theory of potential boof distance off Mushroom Rock, FF Day 2

Ben takes a minute to inform Orion that his last boof wasn't A-grade material. "But there is potential for extra credit downstream"

Downstream the Jedi Mind Meld Awaits...here is the only way I could capture the monstrous rapid which I will always portage.

The finest moments of Fantasy Falls come where the river lets you take a break and enjoy the finer moments of life, like staring at amazing waterfalls and floating through old-growth forests.

Good crews come together. LtoR Louis Geltman, Willy Pell, Niko Peha, Ben York, Orion Meredith.

The Dark Gorge, or Rifleman's Gorge, FF Day 2

Putting in below the "I want my mommy gorge" after a morning portage session, Fantasy Falls Day 3.

A succulent in full bloom on the portage route.

The Untouchables Portage awaits downstream, don't even think about it.

Here Willy Pell can't decide, "is this Fantasy Falls or is it really happening?"

Yeah, its Fantasy Falls alright especially if you grew up with it in your backyard like B-Y.

Downstream of Fantasy Falls the equally, or even more fantastic Island Slide awaits.

Sadly, so many beautiful California whitewater river trips end in a Reservoir.

Paddling Siskiyou Gorge With Walt Garms

2011-09-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Did you notice the days are getting shorter?

This is an almost-seasonal, and long overdue post from a trip I took last November up to the Smith River. I had been hoping to meet up with Walt Garms and ask him some questions about the misfortunate 1st descent trip on the upper Middle Fork of the Eel River which suffered the fatality of Czech paddling legend Jaroslav Mach way back in 1994. My curiosity in the topic came as result of our trip down the said stretch of river, nonetheless I was stoked to paddle with somebody who I consider an old school paddling legend that was still boating. I had never met Walt however, and figured he was an old guy who wanted to paddle something mellow anyways.

I met up with Walt and set shuttle at the Panther Flat Campground River Access. The weather was beautiful Smith sunshine the day after the storm and the river looked inviting. We arrived at the Patricks Creek Lodge since the water was flowing great (20,000 cfs at Jed Smith), and I mentioned the narrow gorge that laid upstream as a trivia factoid. Suddenly Walt says we should scout it and blam there we were walking along the narrowest stretch of Highway 199 which I swore never to do again for fear of my safety and well-being. Its literally a cliff on both sides with the river down below, but fortunately there wasn't much traffic and we quickly had our lines dialed.

This is looking up Little Jones Creek and down at the Siskiyou Gorge

Per Walt's request, we put-in directly above the gorge, where an easy river access awaits..no bother with a warmup right? This guy was starting to impress me (he had flown a plane into the Gasquet airport) with his nonchalant calmness as we paddled downstream towards a great stretch of whitewater. The first drop gets down to business with a sneaky river-wide hole where the river pinches through a narrow flume. Just downstream, another big drop awaits at the glorious Little Jones Creek confluence that we were able to run center.

This is an epic day in the Siskiyou Gorge--looking back at the Little Jones Drop

Beware of a big hole bottom left here alongside the wall. Next comes a steep drop we scouted that due to our healthy flow had an excellent boof line down the center, to avoid the Maelstrom down the right. Walt then tells me he's going down the right, and proceeds to have a styling line. In proper form I chose to go right as well.

Walt Garms going right

The Runout of #2

Downstream you arrive at the remarkable exit drop. This is a two part rapid and upon scouting, it looks like the rapid drops into a gorged out hole, but "don't worry" I told Walt, "the hole is only a pillow off the left wall and just an eddy on the right." With some hesitation (his first of the day) he requested to see my line first, and I proceeded to sell it for him. There is no really good portage route for this drop, so giver!

Walt sticks the entrance boof

And styles the Exit Ramp

Just downstream we met our friend Julie and paddled the Patricks Creek Section, which generally has awesome play when the Smith has healthy flow. It was a great day of paddling and Walt informed me the details of their trip down the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Eel which ended shortly downstream of the confluence with the Middle Fork.

Julie enjoying the Middle Fork Smith

The Siskiyou Gorge section has more of a steep creek feel than the other Smith gorges downstream and doesn't get paddled enough because of it, however it is an incredibly beautiful section of river that will be flowing soon. I like it above 10,000 cfs at Jed, and have run it up to 30,000 with good results at a trip that ended with oyster shots at the Patrick's Creek Lodge. Just a reminder, happy paddling!

Sierra Loving...Royal Gorge Style

2011-08-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

After working as a freelance photo-kayaker in Coloma during 2006, I've only managed a couple of trips down to the veritable promised land of kayaking. It was truly awesome then, that I was able to return this year to some of my favorite runs and to reunite with some of my favorite friends too! It started off in the usual way, my phone rings and it's Scott Ligare on the line telling me "Royal Gorge is coming in". This I already knew, as I had been keeping an eye on the gauge as well. With a quick "Yes", I was in and driving south the next day. One stop at Eureka Natural Foods then a quick stop in Sac to see my sister and then up to Coloma where the posse awaited.

The next morning we were off to put-in. Taylor's boat was already waiting for him down at Heath Springs Gorge due to circumstances he encountered during an earlier trip, so the first few miles were paddled with Zawacki and Ligare in a flash.

Zawacki makes Mr. Boof-face!

Ligare- he's got double vision!

We arrived at Heath Springs Gorge stoked to fire off some big drops

The Heath Springs Gorge is renowned for dealing out lots of amazing lines and notoriously dangerous with a 40 footer into a 50 footer with a hungry cave at the bottom. This year has already seen two back injuries at Upper Heath and an assisted removal from the cave at Lower Heath. One of the back injuries occurred on our trip, as a member of the group behind us had a bad line off Upper Heath, boofing and landing on his side. After searching for our best options it was decided that we would build a stretcher and carry our friend up to the flat spot on the gorge rim overlooking the falls. Fortunately with the two crews we had enough manpower and ingenuity as we leashed two logs and two paddles with a throwbag to build a makeshift stretcher. Immobilization was a primary concern and the carry was brutal, while we were conducting the carry, another paddler Tom was sent back to put-in to call in a helicopter evacuation. Once we arrived at our campsite, we relaxed and did the camp thing.

Eventually Tom returned, and later as we were cooking dinner around the fire we heard the sounds of a chopper heading up the canyon. In a very extraterrestrial-aura we gathered our shit quickly so it wouldn't disappear in the updraft of the chopper. The fire was quickly blown out, and paddlers were running around with their gear left and right. I can't imagine how Nate felt during all of this, laying motionless and looking straight up at the lights coming from his ride out.

Down dropped an alien in a spacesuit with a flashlight swirling all about. Then we gathered round as the EMT assessed the situation, and assisted with transferring our friend to the stretcher.

Apparently the helicopter had seen some other kayakers en route at the base of a waterfall, and landed only to be informed by the paddlers that they "were fine". This delay, however, meant that they were running out of gas and the chopper left for re-fueling leaving us alone for a few minutes. They quickly returned, and with the cable lifted the two men, one on a stretcher, up to the chopper. As the heli-bird flew away, it left us with a quiet sense of accomplishment mixed with compassion and hope for our friends best possible recovery. But we were still in the Royal Gorge within the Desolation Wilderness and had two days and over 30 miles to go, so I went to bed dreaming of UFO's, flying saucers and little people running around in space suits....or was that real?

Taylor had encountered another crazy situation two days earlier. The shortened version of his story goes something like this "someone lands flat on Upper Heath, a Swiss Father and his two sons paddle upper and lower heath then with a giant 'whoop' are gone, a different kayaker goes into the cave at lower Heath requiring his friends to assemble a z-drag and hoist him out, he falls back into the cave after failing to properly attach himself to the rope, the crew assembles the z-drag a second time and someone kicks a boulder loose, the boulder falls 20 feet and lands on Taylor's head and neck, they get their friend out of the cave when he properly attaches to the rope, Taylor and the paddler who landed flat hike back to put-in together in pain."

Looking down the lip of Lower Heath into the Yawning Cave

So at this point, Taylor was needing to get out of his limbo stay at Heath Springs. We portaged first thing in the morning, allowing him to move on with his life and into the best section of the Royal Gorge.

The Beautiful exit from the Heath Springs Section

Life was good as we paddled through the desolated granite wonderland. After the initial tone of suffering, a bright and cheery mood was restored as we dropped through the endless rapids and major portages that make up the royal gorge.

The boys admiring Scott's Drop

Zawacki prepares to plug Split Falls

Taylor Cavin tapping in

Scott's Drop and Wabena? No thanks...they sure are pretty to look at though!

Zawacki cooks his bacon on a stick over the campfire like a real man

We camped at the mouth of Wabena Creek, giving me an excellent chance for a side-hike where I spotted a monster Bear coming down from the hills. Here we are chilling.

The paddle out contained more heads-up rapids before we arrived at Generation Gap. In one such rapid Taylor missed an easy line in class II and got sucked through an enormous sieve, "reserving a beer" for take-out. After recovering his gear we took a lunch break and then continued on down to the Generation Gap put-in. Only 30 miles to go! After the notoriously long Generation and Giant Gap paddle-out, we were graciously welcomed by a cooler full of cold coors light! Thanks Alex, for making Taylor's Reservation possible!

The Generation Put-In Falls

The Unforeseen

Everyone...Must Run...Dillon Creek!

2011-07-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Want to paddle a sick northcoast creek run? If you're willing to commit to a sweet must-run gorged out rapid, Dillon Creek is the goods. Here is a short video of Russell Kramer styling the Must Run

With an abundance of beautiful scenery, sweet drops and proximity to other excellent paddling its a wonder this creek doesn't get run more often. The view from take-out.

If you're wondering why it doesn't get run more often, I am happily writing this to dispel of mythology and fear factory. Because if Stookesberry calls anything a "nightmare", then certainly 99% of the rest of us wouldn't want anything to do with it, right? I mean, some of the stuff I see him running qualifies for my nightmarish status. He then continues with verbage like "frightening", "terror" and even "deathtrap" (we would have none of this on our trip, nor in this description). Here is a link to Ben's scary writeup.
It was confusing because I always thought to myself, there's no way the Knapp Brothers would've run Dillon Creek 3 times (twice down the NF) if the "must run" was really that bad. Not only that, but they regard it as one of their favorite creeks around here. Eventually someone mortal would have to check it out...

On the brink of my 30th Birthday, I was ready to test my mortality...since Dillon Creek sounded like the place to do that I partnered up with a rugged posse of roughnecks who were also willing to put it out there: Jared (Southen Oregon ruffian) and the up and coming Arcata Huckster - Russel Kramer. We were planning on Bridge Creek (again), but decided for something new instead. Me and Jared had always wanted to paddle it, and besides when would Dillon Creek ever flow again in July? The drive to put-in is pretty straightforward, and due to unlocked gates we were able to drive within 100 yards of Copper Creek. After parking a shuttle rig at the highway 96 bridge, head south, and take your first right, which proceeds to go uphill. Stay on the main road, continuing uphill until you pass this shack.

The next road takes off to the right where the main road makes a big left-hand bend, go right. Down this road we reached a confusing fork with two unmarked roads that both have gates, go right again.

We put on to a bumpy flow of maybe 50 cfs? After the first bouncy mile you arrive at the confluence of Medicine Creek on your left, adding some much needed flow. The creek remains bouncy until arriving at some fun bedrock drops indicating you are getting close to the confluence with Dillon.

The sun came up, and the true beauty of where we were started to come out. In places, the fires of 08 burned all the way down to the creek.

One more portage brought us to the "20 footer" on Copper Creek. This slide into a crack forces you to put your right paddle to the sky. Dillon Creek is visible on the left side of this shot.

Copper Creek drops right into a beautiful gorge section of Dillon Creek, where you quickly arrive at the second "20 footer" of the day.

A couple of more sweet drops follow, then the creek backs off to class III-IV for several miles until the confluence with the North Fork of Dillon Creek. This will either double the flow with much needed water, or double the scariness factor if there is already abundant water.

The gradient gradually builds again, eventually reaching the "Kiwi-Garden"-- an extremely steep boulder garden laced with new wood from a fire that burned in 2008. We made a short portage around wood at the top and ran down a shallow boof on the right side...I know for a fact its shallow cuz I pitoned...luckily no pictures were taken. Downstream the walls begin to rise as Dillon Creek drops into the 'fabled inner gorge'.

The confluence with Cedar Creek is your signal that you've reached the crux of the run. I don't think streams get any more beautiful.

This was a sweet drop with a chute leading to a slide that kicked off a small slab at the bottom.

Next is a drop I'm gonna call "The Ladder", as it has a weird bedrock chute on the left that requires you to punch a hole and then climb over a rock ridge to escape the backwash.

One more drop remains before you have arrive at the lip of Must Run.

At our flows there was an excellent eddy on the left to get out and scout the drop. We had to climb a little to see the bottom, but at even higher water the scout would still be available. The drop itself is a series of 4 ledges as you round a bedrock bend. The line actually sets you up to be left for the final drop, which is where you want to be. A sneaky boof awaits--don't be afraid to stick it!

Here is Russel on the entrance boof

Then he makes the move left

Finally Jared making the corner and approach to the final boof...which he plugged!

Looking back upstream at the final boof.

Downstream, fun rapids continue for a couple miles before the gradient flattens out in the final approach to the Klamath. We took lunch here, as we had made amazingly fast progress up to this point. Unable to complain about the weather, we decided it would be just to hang out for awhile.

Downstream we saw a momma bear with two cubs, sealing the deal that this was no ordinary paddling trip. In our final approach to the Klamath, we encountered a family of Native Karuks with 10 children enjoying their swimming hole. When they saw us, they were stunned, and then erupted with cheers and a round of applause! 100% sure they had never seen paddlers coming through their backyard I gladly executed a perfect eskimo roll per request...adding the exclamation mark to Dillon Creek!

I'll be the first to admit that our low water level made this a mellower trip than we were expecting; it was pretty scrappy at the top, and I'll definitely return with more flow next time. Legitimately, it is a long run that should be taken seriously. I definitely agree with Stookesberry's advice to be careful with this creek. At our level I would rate Must Run as a solid class V; although I'm sure with more flow it becomes V+. I also wouldn't expect to drive all the way to put-in during a normal season. Moral of the story: If you can paddle class V, you need to check this amazing creek out for yourself.

North Fork Eel River, Day Three...and then some!

2011-05-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

We had hoped to make it to the confluence with the Main Eel, but our late departure from camp on day two left us a couple of miles and one big gradient section short of the confluence. We had already scouted out the "Breakfast Rapid", the night before and with one more river level scout of the top, we decided she was good to go. We then routed the run-out section and were stoked to have gotten our day off to such a great start.

Warner Sticks the Breakfast Boof

Immediately thereafter, the river's character changed to a wide gravelly class II run.

We made quick time down to the Main Eel...where we were surprised to see a group of rafters, the first people since Kettenpom Store that we had run into.

Warner Stoked to be at the Confluence

Beautiful Confluence, looking up the North Eel on the right, and Down the Main Eel on the left.

I'll be honest, I haven't ever paddled the Dos Rios to Alderpoint section before, always afraid of endless flatwater and boredom...well immediately upon my arrival, halfway through the run, I was taken by surprise at the abundance of great playspots and fun big-water feel of the river. (we did have ~7,000 cfs at this point). I now unconditionally recommend this section and can't wait to return and run it in its entirety!

Eel River Country

Did I mention the playspots? I was wishing I had my playboat as I took this photo!

Oar-Frames on the Eel

Island Mountain Rapid comes before the actual Island Mountain tunnel, although its pretty obvious that you are approaching a larger drop..It had an entrance rapid that the rafters elected to scout, while we simply bombed through and continued to blaze down the river like we do.

Warner sets the Eel River Ablaze, Island Mountain Rapid

The scenery was beautiful, it was crazy to see the faulty railway which some people are still trying to keep going (pipe-dream), and some all around backcountry goodness...the best description of the railway I have heard yet is "looks like a roller-coaster in places"...here I am, in front of the Island Mountain Tunnel, having the time of my life!

Downstream of Island Mountain, where the river makes a monstrous horseshoe, one more big rapid awaits!

Kekawaka Falls was more fun than Island Mountain at this higher level, although an active slide on river left gave it the feel of an entirely new rapid..one thing to keep in mind when you're padding in the Eel river area is that the geology is incredibly active, and things like rapids rearranging is entirely commonplace.

More Beautiful scenery ahead

This is a really fun river, and all of the train remnants are a constant reminder that once our "Babylon System a Fall" this will be what's left...abandoned railways and ghost towns!

We did take-out in Alderpoint, where there is a spot on the river left side just upstream of the bridge where you can drive most of the way to the river (all the way with 4WD). I must admit, after hearing rumors of the "town's" reputation, it quickly lived up to them. There where "whip-it" canisters (NO2) and Crown royal bottles on the bridge, and this is no place I'd want to leave my car. The first people we encountered were true Appalachian-style hillbillies, roaring by us in their mufflerless truck and hollering incomprehensible gibberish. Its worth the extra 5 miles to Fort Seward, to say the least, or hire a shuttle driver like we did...thanks Rosada!

The 3 day trip was awesome, we timed it perfectly with the break in the weather and both the North Eel and Main Eel are river's with spectacular and unique scenery that I will undoubtedly return to. Don't let them get by you as long as I did!
Happy Paddling!

Middle Fork Eel River

2011-05-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

I'm going to keep this post short, because it is so sweet! Looking down the Black Butte River at put-in.

The Middle Eel was way above my expectations for quality and way below my expectations for work. Easy shuttle, tons of wildlife, nobody there...how can you go wrong. On the water.

All you gotta do is find the right people to go with and it'll be flowing for a little while longer.

The first 20 miles there are way more class II drops than I was expecting, the river keeps up a good pace (at 1500 cfs) and had much less flatwater than I was expecting.

We had lunch at about mile 13, after only 3 hours on the water

Things start to mellow with longer pools for awhile, but the rapids start getting larger. You arrive at the Skinny Chutes around mile 25, and this is where I got schooled. I tried boat scouting into the drop, and with the ferry angle I chose, allowed a diagonal wave to completely grab the cataraft, shoving me left into a boat-catching eddy that I had fully neglected to appreciate on my hurried boat-scout. A few minutes of swirling around and cursing, missing my ferry angle and being shoved back into the eddy by the pillow ensued. I gave my passenger the high-side talk, mentioned the possibility of a swim, and proceeded to make my way out of the eddy. This left me boat-scouting the second half of the drop, which fortunately had a good line left of center. Whoop Whoop! Then some beautiful Scenery.

Here is the view of Coal Mine Falls' First Crux Drop

We arrived at Coal-Mine Falls downstream, and took a lunchbreak in the only non poison-oaked shade we could find. This rapid is completely hyped and is the reason many people haven't paddled this run. However it is a full-on class IV+ drop, with consequence. It had a line, but after my shaky experience upstream, my confidence was rattled, and the lack of safety convinced me that lining the cat down the right channel would be the way to go. I made the entrance move, catching the eddy right at the lip where Laura grabbed the boat...I removed the oars and tied on a rope. Then, before you knew it, 5 minutes later the boat was at the "bottom" and we were ready to roll again.

It turns out there is a whole other part of the drop downstream which I knew about, although the eddy I was hoping for turned out to be of insufficient size for the cataraft. Several scrambling moments later the line appeared to me in a boat-scouting vision of creative splendor and I managed to luckily pop through clean as a whistle. Another big Whoop! Here is looking back up at the exit to Coal-Mine Falls.

The rest of the river flows through a beautiful canyon, I'd say in summary that it gets better as you go, and at no point is it bad, in fact it is beautiful. The miles came easily and we camped at mile 17.5 where we should have.

Black Butte Store at put-in #707-983-9438 runs shuttles for only $50, call them and get on this run that you've been putting off for way too long. We saw 5 bears, 2 bald eagles, 50 deer, cormorant, ducks, wild horses, green heron, and not one person. Nuff said!

North Fork Eel River, Day Two

2011-05-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

We awoke to an early sunrise and had a relaxing morning before disembarking from camp. It was a warm night, and we awoke without even dew on our sleeping bags. I reckon we camped somewhere about the Round Valley Indian Reservation, as we were now also in Mendocino County. During the leisurely morning, we spotted a bear descending the hillside across from our camp to a spot where vultures were circling. Cowpies littered the grassy flat where we camped and some were decorated with these funny looking mushrooms...

The next 6 miles to the Mina Road Bridge were fun class III, and though the flows had dropped a little they weren't significantly lower. It felt good to get back on the water.

One of the highlights was the Rainbow Wall, a chert formation unlike any other rock and undoubtedly the most colorful rock I've ever seen. We took a break here to admire the monolithic masterpiece.

We paddled underneath the bridge, and into the undescribed Split Rock section. For a class III-IV paddler, a two-day trip to Mina Road Bridge would make an excellent run with an easy shuttle, but continuing downstream definitely puts you into a committing class V section for several miles as the North Fork descends to its confluence with the main Eel.

Split Rock was first descended by a group containing Bill Cross, and the only information we were able to gather regarding the section was that it "wasn't worth doing ever again", and "it wasn't that bad", but the group did a long one-day descent, taking out all the way down in Alderpoint. This didn't leave us much to go with, and after scoping the river on Google Earth, I thought it looked bad-ass. So as we paddled downstream from Mina Road, our mood was optimistic and cautious. The old Mina Road Bridge eerily awaited us around the first bend.

After a couple of easy miles we reached a pair of rapids that dropped us toward the gorge, where the river takes a 90 degree left hand bend.

One more boat-scoutable rapid brought us to the crux of the gorge where we elected to carry a stout class V+ drop. The portage was across a fresh, and loose landslide and was less than relaxing to say the least.

From here we had to ferry across the river to get a scout at the next rapid, and get a view downstream around the bend.

Stoked to find that the next two drops had good lines, Warner proceeded to fire them up.

Before we left the canyon, it was time for a lunch break. Chilling in the gorge was a powerful experience, and just as we were leaving a mist-storm blew down the canyon.

The rain was visibly falling, but seemed to be evaporating before even reaching the ground...before we knew it the sun came out and the fun rapids continued.

Looking Back up at Split Rock Canyon

Downstream of Split Rock, the river eases for awhile, though fun rapids continue.

Eventually the river's character became more intimidating as the gradient steepened with many large boulders that made for difficult boat-scouting.

Being off-line wasn't an option as many places had hidden sieves and undercuts, some even clogged with wood. We continued downstream and were able to run most of the whitewater, although it was slow going.

John Warner--On Line

Two major portages came after a bit, one that we carried on the right, through a hole in the rock and into a back channel pool of schmeg water.

The second portage could have gone, but we chose to carry on the left, and after completing it, realized that the second half of the rapid was completely sieved out.

We then had to carry up and over a ridge, where simply portaging up and over on the right bank would've saved the time and energy...these are the types of problems that arise due to the lack of visibility between large boulders.

Looking Back Upstream

Cool Sedimentary rocks

All of the scouting and portaging had burned up quite a bit of our daylight hours, and exhaustion led me to suggest looking for a campspot, even though we had hoped to make the main Eel confluence. After charging through a sweet drop, we got fired up that we might be close, but then reached another gradient section and decided to call it a day. We were able to take a sweet hike and scope out the "Breakfast Rapids" for our final day on the water and a sweet sunset.

North Fork Eel River, Day One

2011-04-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

This river has flown under the radar for way too long. I was completely surprised to find paved access (and plowed) all the way to an easy put-in that provides access to perhaps one of the best class III-IV wilderness overnighters in California. Dick Schwind gave this run an extremely high acclaim in his West Coast River Touring Guidebook, touting it as "one of the best sections of whitewater in Northern California"...given this and my need to get on new and unknown runs and a plan was hatched. Deciding on a 3-day trip continuing the whole length of the North Fork and into the final 24 miles on the Dos Rios to Alderpoint section we wanted to maximize the paddling to driving ratio. The North Fork flows south and into Mendocino County before turning west, flowing into the Eel River in Trinity County again, then passing us into Humboldt County just before our take-out--Thusly we travelled via. boat through the heart of the "Emerald Triangle" in country as unknown and unexplored as anywhere.

Here is the Beautiful Kettenpom Valley on our Drive to Put-In. Snowy South Fork Mountain is visible in the background.

Salt Creek looking downstream from the put-in bridge. Access doesn't get any easier than this!

On the water, we did the bump and scrape for less than half a mile to the confluence with the North Fork Eel. We portaged twice in here, once at a rapid that drops into a narrow chute and another at a sieved-out drop. There are lots of willows to paddle through too.

Confluence with the North Eel

The Douglas Wallflower, named after David Douglas an early Botanist. The natives left him alone thinking he was crazy because he collected and dried plants of little use.

During the first 8 miles of the trip, you are in the North Fork Wilderness, which provides plenty of beautiful, steep and craggy scenery.

Several miles into the run you start to feel the river picking up gradient.

Immediately you arrive at the first big drop, with a sinister log making this a class V drop…make a mistake and you're going into the log. A sneak line existed on the right and portage route on the left.

Here is Warner finishing off the sweet drop.

Soon thereafter we arrived at the larger and longer drop we decided to dub the Emerald Triangle. It was a little chunky but made for a great piece of whitewater to get us fired up, not to mention the beautiful scenery and blue skies.

Warner scouts the Triangle.

Running the tricky entrance drop, and avoiding the sieves.

Making the move left

After the steep canyon section, the river settles into a nice pace of class III rapids that although not the "best in the state" was purdy darn nice!

After 12 miles of paddling we'd arrived at the confluence of Hulls Creek, a major tributary on the left that drains from the Yolla-Bolly wilderness. As such it has a higher drainage and was contributing significantly to the flow.

At this point you have passed through the North Fork Wilderness and are now within private Ranch inholdings along the right bank, and the Round Valley Indian Reservation on the left. It was time for us to start looking for a place to camp.

This wasn't hard, as many large sweet campsites existed. The trouble was picking the right one. I think we did pretty good though.

The trippy clouds are the result of a low-pressure system moving into the area. We hoped to have two dry nights of camping, but were expecting rain during our last day of paddling out the Main Eel.

Me and Warner talked about the Split Rock Canyon downstream, which had only been paddled once during the 80's. The crew that did it consisted of Bill Cross, I believe, and some other boaters, and no details of the run existed except that they had said "It wasn't that bad", and "It wasn't worth doing again because it was such a long day including the float out on the main Eel. But the serious lack of details meant it was exploratory. We rested well after the beautiful sunset.

Indian Creek (Trinity)

2011-03-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

This is a long overdue and hurriedly typed blog about a creek that many people have been missing out on. Indian Creek requires driving on side roads through much beautiful scenery. Turn off HWY 299 onto Hwy 3 in Douglas City, and precede to take the first major left turn (more of a Y) onto Reading Creek Road. After several miles you will reach the well-marked Indian Creek Road, turn left. Several more miles bring you to a bridge, which is the take-out if you have optimal flows of 125-175. If it looks bony, you can take out at the We Be Jellin Claim for a sampler upstream.

The rumors are not true--it isn't a gnarly run, in fact its mostly really fun class III-IV creeking, although it is extremely sensitive to flow. Indian Creek is amazingly high quality though. And if you want to scout or portage any drop, you have that option...up to a certain flow. That being mentioned, it flows rarely and takes a substantial set of storms to trigger good flows. Last year (2010) saw a good extended season and this year appears to have ample flows too.

Me and Fishbone at Put-In

Most of these pictures were taken with flows close to 100 cfs. It was bony, but manageable. I'd prefer 200 or maybe 300 if I had a solid crew, but it would depend if anybody knew the wood situation recently. That being said, this run is good enough that the loc's should keep some sort of tabs on it from now on...please.

Fishbone sticks another IK Boof Stroke

Although the creek is roadside, because it cuts into a small canyon it is generally not visible from the road. Wood Hazards were not an issue except for one sharp turn just below a "railroad flatcar" bridge where wood always seems to accumulate. you can see this from the road and the entry to the wood drop.

Here is Fishbone still well above that

And Sticking the drop

Lots of Slate Bedrock makes for some even bedrock ledges and east-coast style creeking. There is one rapid in the upper mile that should be portaged at lower flows due to pin potential, but forms a sweet boof as flows increase. Downstream you reach the Redneck Bend where perhaps the best continuous gradient lies.

Even further downstream is Scalpers, where a sweet boof leads into a pinch slide

And then Another Sweet Boof--at the "We Be Jellin'" Mining Claim..This isn't an 8 foot drop

Unless your nickname is Fishbone

But I have to seriously give my buddy some props for always givin' er! Here's to Fishbone!

To be honest the two times I've paddled this run, flows were low enough that I was ready to get out at this point. However, downstream the creek cuts into another bedrock canyon that is worth doing if you are hAving a good time and have better flows (~150). This makes for an easy access point if you are over it, however. Downstream from here to the bridge are more fun ledges and one spot where an old dam creates an interesting hazard that is negotiable.

Go get you some, Weaverville Locals...It's Flowing, so is Brandy Creek!

BR10G

2011-03-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

Here are my shots and account from an epic day on the water with a great group, meaning a solid group of friends! The trip was cast when German David Ernst and the notorious Kyle Hull decided to join along with Wes Shrek and his creature craft. I got the call from Dave, said I was in, and sent a text to Leif and Natalie who happened to be in town, telling them to meet us the next day. Since moving to Humboldt over 10 years ago I have always wanted to paddle the BRG with this much flow.

The day finally arrived, Wednesday March 16, and what a day it was. Cold dark rainstorms would subside to a bright warm sun on and off all day. Paul Gamache had joined the crew, electing to ride the Creature Craft with Wes. Of course, it was Paul's first time in a creature craft. After we got to put in, we kayakers waited for awhile, milling around while the Creature Craft was inflated and while Wes gave Paul the rundown on how to right the boat. Then we were off and on the water.

Here we all are, at put-in..top row: Leif, Natalie, Dave Ernst, Kyle, Jon Hyland, Wyomin Dave, Paul G. Bottom Row: Dan M and Wes Shrek.

It was a solid crew and needless to say all of the boys were very impressed with Natalie because she was charging. As we entered through China Slide, we were all too close together, and at one point I saw Natalie hold her breath for three solid roll attempts (like 200 yards or more underwater). Then we arrived at the Pearly Gates, which was one big wave into boils, and totally washed out.

Well, not totally washed out. Kyle Hull charging

Dave Ernst and Natalie

Das German

Downstream, the rapids continued to be washed out for awhile until we arrived at the Toilet Bowl, which had become a two-part rapid with a gigantic hole on the right (at the top), and another river-wide hole in the normal runout where a gigantic rock makes a nasty feature. Time to scout.

And Run.

Leif and Wyomin' David Get After It

You can see they made it past the giant hole here

Good lines left everybody stoked and when we arrived at Lips (Double Drop) we got to see the creature charge through a massive hole, I remember seeing Paul really jacked up at this point, with the total look of fear and focus in his eyes! Then it was time to scout. Here you can see where Jon was posted up with the umbrella..right above #2.

Scouting the Burnt Ranch Falls section took almost an hour, as we basically scouted the three altogether before dropping in. There's pretty much no hope of stopping in between the drops, save for a couple of micro-eddies, and that's provided you can break the boil line. Nevertheless, there was a line through all of the drops and it seemed like everybody was game so the first crew headed up to charge. Kyle, German Dave, and Natalie. Looking down at #3

They all had good lines through #1 (Jaws), Dave and Kyle entered first, but Kyle exited first too!

Natalie had a surf in the hole and got eddied out but had no problem portaging over a rock rather than trying to surf the surging pillow feature out in front of it (smart decision!) By the time she was in the eddy, I looked downstream to see Kyle Hull finishing the Third Falls!

Natalie set safety while Wyoming David and I came through the first falls. Here is David testing the reverse hole punch method.

I came through fine, game on for sure, and caught a micro-eddy above #2. Next thing I knew, Natalie was charging downstream past me and proceeded to have sweet lines through 2 and 3. I charged through next and managed to gut through the middle of the biggest curling diagonal waves I've seen in a while! So Fun!

The sun came and and it was time to watch the Creature Craft!

We were at the bottom of #3 and could see them hung up in Natalie's Eddy on the left side of #1, then they came free and charged into #2. Good entry and then ohhh, a flip in the middle of the drop! They washed up against the wall on river left with the boat on its side. I could see Paul straining with all his might, just laying it out, trying to right the vessel to no avail. Well, the straining didn't stop for awhile, he kept trying but him and Wes had their timing off and entered #3 on the side. Paul took a moment to accept the moment.

Then the boat just got rocked in the most enormous hole ever! The boys did the full barrel role and clocked in a good violent 30 seconds before getting spit out and washing downstream. They were around the corner from where we could see them before they were able to right the craft. Lastly, Leif Anderson, Mr. Chaos Theory himself, came through and proceeded to have a sick line.

Leif popping through the Guard Hole to #3

And Exiting through the Final Drop in Style!

The rest of the run was better than the top half, with Hennessy and Origami both serving up sweet long rapids with extremely big water. Then Table Rock, and the New River coming in, which was also Juicy. We made it through Greyhound and then Grey's Falls, and the rain clouds subsided, parting for the sunshine. This was perfect for all of us to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather, stoke and sense of accomplishment the day provided. Good Vibes!

Upper Hayfork Creek

2011-02-17T16:09:00.000-08:00

A Short Video of Upper Hayfork Creek...I.K. Carnage? Yes.

Upper Hayfork is an interesting run that is shrouded in a cloud of mystery. When I first read the Stanley/Holbek description, it turned me off to the run. All the talk of portages and fishladders on a class III-IV+ section just didn't sound too appealing. The grossly inaccurate flow information provided in the book only served to perpetuate the less than appeal for Upper Hayfork. It's true that the Dam is managed differently on the Trinity these days, but even in the 80's, 3,000 cfs on the Trinity @ Hoopa did not translate into 500 cfs on Upper Hayfork Creek.

The Wolf

To make a short story longer, I was talking with my buddy Alex Wolfgram one day. I mentioned Upper Hayfork, and in his charismatic fashion "Duuuuude! That run is awesome!" Alex proceeded to explain that the "portages" were actually the best rapids on the run. Then, Upper Hayfork made my list.

Upper Hayfork Country is just that, country. Some very cool limestone outcroppings along the drive definitely peaked our interest though, as well marked signs for a natural bridge out here. We set shuttle, and took off driving upstream from the East Fork of Hayfork Confluence at an obvious bridge. Less than a mile upstream, the Fishladder is visible from the road, in a beautiful bedrock gorge...I wiped my eyes, "was this for real"? In my typical fashion I tried not to let my expectations get too high for fear of letdown.

The put-in is a cherry little spot where you can park about 10 steps from the creek. We waved goodbye to our Inflatable Kayaker Shuttle Driver who elected not to paddle the run with us due to time crunch. Due to the time crunch, I didn't get many pictures either, but here they are, blurry ones and all. Damon bounces through Roxy's Rock

The run continues along with good gradient and lots of bedrock. Eventually you reach the obvious gorge portage. The eddy above this is rumored to be extremely difficult to catch at certain flows, but with our scratchy level was no problem. This gorged in rapid is literally so boxed in that its difficult to get a really good scout at it. I basically traversed the entire portage route along the left gorge wall and was unable to get a good look. Be careful if you portage as it is a little exposed up there.

The rapid is a split drop around a rock that would make for juicy hydraulics if you came at it with high water. There is also nowhere to set safety from, so even though its not a bad drop, treat it with respect. Looking down the left slot.

I was able to climb up onto the gorge wall and take this shot. You can't see the entrance rapid from this angle, but there is one. At our flow we ran the left slot because the river right was too tight. At higher water I bet the river right channel would make a sweet boof and be the preferred line.

Downstream was one more extremely tight boulder slot that could've used more water. We did a boof to gorilla to seal launch maneuver, as always: scout when in doubt. After this first gorge, the creek opened up again until we arrived at this sweet drop. Well, it kinda landed on a rock shelf, but as long as you stick your boof it's good to go. Damon Goodman sticks his signature Goodboof.

More fun rapids downstream that could've used more water to make them more fun.

The view downstream

Finally, we arrived at Fishladder Falls. And who was waiting for us, but our I.K. buddy Aaron, all suited up and fired up! We were stoked! Rumor has it that this drop actually used to be a falls, but it was blasted to allow for fish passage. I can only imagine how sweet of a drop this used to be, but hey it's still sweet. When scouting this drop, I didn't notice any chucks of rebar, but you know its in there, so be careful. Here is the sweet entrance boof preceding the fishladder.

Aaron watched Damon and I grease the line, and with the look in his eye, jumped into the I.K.

Aaron charged through the first two holes, the third one he got sideways and was fine, but when he turned around backwards in the fourth drop, the boat was completely full of water. Fishbone then performed a backwards piton, shedding the water and him from the rocketing I.K. He then performed the inverted running man maneuver with true grace, as he swam the run out to the drop.

The take-out is less than a mile downstream, where you can also park within steps of the creek, just a little ways upstream from the bridge another small road goes right to the water.

Final Notes:
1) We paddled this one last spring as an after work run from Weaverville, though we did cut out of work a little early that day(3ish).
2) The flow was 1,600 cfs. at Hyampom, and though it was enough water to get down the run, I personally would prefer 2,000+ to juice up the hydraulics and pad things out. I realize this is just my personal preference, and somebody else may find it enjoyable with lower flows, it was definitely not a stressful run.
3) I think the 3rd portage in the Holbek/Stanley book is the panoramic shot, but it could've been the one where Damon is bouncing over the rock. We may never know.
4) The Fishladder drop is truly park n huckable, with an easy trail leading back to the top, and was actually really good at the lower level because its so channelized. Next time I'm there and its a little bony, I'll just run the fishladder a few times and call it good...it was the best drop anyway.
5) This run belongs on the top list of Bike shuttles.
6) When this creek is flowing good I bet its a real kick in the pants the whole way.

Upper Middle Fork Eel River: Day Two

2011-02-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

A little Video

Day Two:

We camped at Hammerhorn Lake again, chowing down on food and going to bed early. The plan was to have a crew run shuttle, whilst a couple of people stayed behind at camp to cook breakfast burritos and to make burritos for the river trip. The shuttle is incredibly long, so after nearly two hours, we returned to camp and hurried our breakfast along. Minutes later, the crew was tracking our way back down into the canyon, arriving at our boats close to 10:30. Mike had come down with a cold and elected to carry his boat back to the road. We were all bummed to be losing a member of the crew, but given his condition he made the right decision. As we would later learn from Warner, it was a nasty cold indeed! Here is Ed running the second breakfast rapid.

Here is the view Downstream

Immediately we dropped into a great section of continuous rapids with more water than the previous day. The first two miles of the day would drop 125 and 215 feet respectively so we were expecting lots of action. As on day one, we were able to boat scout 90% of the rapids that turned out to be cleaner and more fun as we went. Unfortunately, John boat-scouted a drop blind, landing on a sharp rooster tail-rock that cracked his boat under the seat. Investigating the crack.

With a foam patch cut from his pillar wedged between the crack and seat, we charged onward through more fun drops.

It seemed that we had a near perfect flow.

Another Rapid I scouted with a nasty piton rock, the crew wasn't convinced with my suggested line after Warner had a near brush with the rock here.

We had gone less than two miles and already we were stoked on the pace of the run.

A Bummed Warner

But the crack in Warner's boat had gotten worse. He was able to continue to the end of the second mile, at Beaver Creek. It was here that John wisely elected to hike out, the river was still close to the road, and 10 more miles remained with another steep section through the "Osbourne Roughs" that dropped 111 and 242 feet in one two-mile stretch. We made sure he drank lots of water, because it was getting damn hot. His hike out is a different story though, as our crew of 5 became 3.

Onward we charged as two miles of relaxed whitewater with several spicy drops peppered in brought us to the confluence of Howard Creek, the beginning of the steepest gradient. It was here that we took a lunch break, mowing down burritos and hydrating with an abundance of water.

The weather was 90 degrees, helping snowmelt to hold the river flow. Numerous tributary accretions had swollen the river to a healthy 800 cfs by this point, making for some powerful hydraulics and interesting seams. Despite our expectations of deathtraps and a menacing character however, the run remained incredibly fun and beautiful.

After lunch, the river's gradient slowly began to increase again. A little slow on the trigger finger

Eventually we reached the Osbourne Roughs, a steep and continuous boulder garden section very reminiscent of the final 9 of the Middle Kings, or Golden Gate on the South Fork of the American.

The difference was the type of rock, as there was absolutely no granite to be seen. Instead, we encountered house-sized boulders of Chert, Schist, Gneiss, and Mudstones intermingled with the predominant sandstone bedrock on river left. Orion charging towards the steepest part of the run

Orion, charges on Downstream

Ed in the next boulder garden

There were nasty hazards to be avoided but fun boulder garden rapids continued one after another until we reached the crux of the gorge: Steelhead Falls.

We were officially in the crux of the run, and our healthy flows translated into meaty hydraulics. Though we portaged twice in here, they are both the kind of rapids you want to go back for.

As we scouted this enormous drop, Steelhead were jumping up the various channels, smacking into rock and sometimes making it over the falls.

At this point the significance of paddling on the Middle Eel occurred to me, not only were we experiencing a true adventure, but life in its fullest. A healthy salmon stream is not widely encountered while paddling these days, in many ways our journey reflects the travels of these fish, bumping our heads into rock over and over before we get a chance to spawn. The portage was mellow on the left, and downstream another huge, yet runnable rapid was portaged left as well.

The view downstream

Ed and Orion charging onward.

Some truly beautiful whitewater in here

We didn't walk too many times. Orion launches another sweet boof.

And Sticks It...

And suddenly, the Middle Eel hits flatwater, the perfect time for a break in the shade.

Time to relax

After rounding a corner and charging through a sweet rapid, I recognized it as the one visible from the Recon section weeks before. The final gorge of familiar whitewater went quickly, arriving at the Black Butte Confluence at 5:00 pm after another long day on the water. Miguel was waiting for us at take-out, but Warner was not, so we proceeded to drive back up the road for our lost buddy. We found him, riding in the back of a jeep with two friendly ladies, having a great time.

Driving back for Warner's boat

The Middle Fork exceeded all of our expectations and is a classic stretch of California whitewater that deserves to be on any class IV-V paddler’s list. The amazingly forgiving river, quality whitewater and spectacular scenery and solitude make for one of the best rivers I’ve ever paddled. Friendly locals greeted us as we arrived at the take-out, as well as a giant rattlesnake.

Rattlesnakes inhabit the area, so I brought a snake-kit before our trip. Some of the unique rocks were slippery (soapstone) while others were incredibly sharp, so good footwear is highly recommended. Sunscreen and a water filter were nice too. Additionally, the Black Butte River Ranch Store will run shuttles for both sections of the Middle Eel if you arrange it with them, phone # (707) 983-9438. They also have Yolla-Bolly wilderness maps and cold beers at take-out (or put-in). The Forest Service office was helpful in assisting us with access information as well, the Covelo Ranger Station # is (707) 983-6110. We had flows around 1,600 at Dos Rios. Go out and enjoy some wilderness paddling in one of the most remote areas of California and the West Coast.

Upper Middle Fork Eel River: Day One

2011-01-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

On May 2^nd, 1993 a group of kayakers attempted a first descent on the upper Middle Fork that flows from the Yolla-Bolly wilderness. This trip resulted in the fatality of early Czech paddling phenomenon, Jaroslav Mach, forcing abandonment of the trip and generating a bad reputation for the river. There is literally no information regarding this 22-mile stretch of river or of the attempted first descent, merely a tragic legend from Lars Holbek’s NFMF Feather River Description on page 128 of The Best Whitewater in California. After one of the wettest Northern California springs on record, we decided it was time to revisit the Upper Middle Eel.

History: Round Valley Reservation

The drive to the Middle Eel takes you through the beautiful Round Valley. Round Valley is culturally and geologically unique. The original inhabitants of the area were the Yuki tribe who established themselves thousands of years ago. The Yuki lived in this harmonious setting for millennia until the arrival of white, gold-seeking settlers in 1854. Conflicts escalated in 1856, and the entire Middle Eel Watershed was designated “Nome Cult Reservation”. This was probably due to its remote setting and a lack of gold-bearing rocks, but officially to ‘protect’ local tribes. By 1864 however, the reservation was reduced to 1/5 its original size and became known as the Round Valley Indian Reservation.

Round Valley

Because the land was considered to be of little use to the white man, other Native American Tribes were displaced from all around Northern California and forced to relocate here. This includes the Nomlacki, Wylaki, Lassik, Sinkyone, Pomo (Including Cahto, Kabeyo, Shodakai, Yokayo, Shokawa, Shanel, Kashaya, and Habenapo among others), Wappo, Concow Maidu, Colusa, and Achumawi. These tribes were relocated here prior to reducing the reservation size. The Nome Cult Trail was named after 461 Native Americans from these various tribes were forced to march a veritable “trail of tears” guarded by soldiers. Leaving from Chico on September 4, 1863 they marched across the central valley and over Mendocino Pass, reaching the Eel River Camp (the Black Butte River Confluence) on September 17. The trip resulted in 32 deaths, a few escapees, and 150 natives who were left behind since they were too sick to continue. Men, women and children were all forced to make this 100-mile march to the Nome Cult Reservation that finished a day later. Following these events, the Round Valley Reservation remained relatively unaffected for nearly a century, until water politics forced the re-appearance of government bureaucrats and legislation.

Geology: Yolla-Bolly Mountains:

The Northern Yolla-Bolly Range marks the southern terminus of the Klamath Mountains geologic sub-province. The higher peaks are volcanic with abundant granitic and basaltic formations. However, the southern extent of the range through which the M.F. Eel flows contains almost entirely coastal-origin metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. This river has some of the most unique rocks I have ever seen, from gorge walls lined with red and green chert to sandstone bedrock and enormous calcite boulders. In fact, the most similar scenery lies along the coast. Though we expected menacing undercuts, man-eating sieves and gorged-out mandatory rapids, the river turned out to be amazingly clean and runnable. Passing through a sandstone bedrock gorge on one side, with a grassy hillside on the other is an amazing and beautiful experience. Nearly all of these grassy slopes are evidence of active earth flows, rather than past logging practices.

Orion Portages Asa Bean

This river is prone to massive high-water events, clearing the channel of any wood hazards at our flow. This also results in unstable rapids that may be likely to change annually. During the unprecedented flood of December 22, 1964, the estimated discharge of the Middle Eel at Dos Rios was 270,000 cfs. This major event caused massive changes throughout the watershed, resulting in what the early paddling community described as a drastic change, namely “all the intermediate and advanced runs on the Eel became easier by about 1 class.” This resulted from massive deposition of sand and gravel into the river channel, produced from countless landslides due to clear-cutting. In fact, studies have shown that the average depth of pools in the Eel River watershed has decreased, reducing the abundant cold-water refuge that native Summer Steelhead and Spring Chinook Salmon require. Not to mention that fish numbers in the Eel River drainage and entire Northern California have dropped as well.

Recon Run:

On May 22, I picked up my friend John Warner and headed south to check out the Middle Eel, flowing 2,000 cfs. @ Dos Rios. We made the long haul through Laytonville, Covelo, and beyond the Black Butte River confluence to where it leaves the highway. Much to our dismay, 7 miles up the road we were stopped by a locked gate. After making the journey however, we were committed to getting on the water. On our drive back we found a forest service road that descended towards the river, and we followed it to the end. This put us at a beautiful campsite above the final class III-IV gorge 4.5 miles above the Black Butte. We were able to descend a delightful grassy hillside all the way to the river (1 mile hike) for an easy-access run with a bike shuttle to boot. This only whetted our thirst for more adventure in the drainage. On our way out, John asked the Ranger when the gate would be open, and he informed us it was supposed to be open, but the fire crew had unnecessarily locked it.

Looking upriver near Black Butte confluence

Upper Goods: Day One

Two weeks passed, and we returned with a solid posse of five. Mike Lee, Orion Meredith, John Warner, Silent Ed and myself made the haul beyond Covelo to get the goods. The flow was 1,650 and fluctuating daily due to snowmelt so I called the Forest Service office to check on road access and was told that the road to Indian Dick was open. This would allow us to reach the headwaters of the Middle Eel above its confluence with the North Fork of the Middle Fork (NFMF). The logistical plan was to break the run up into two sections, hiking out at Pothole Crossing where the road comes close to the river. This would grant us the ritual paddle without loaded kayaks, as we were anticipating lots of portaging.

We made the long drive, eventually camping at Hammerhorn Lake. That first night the Scorpion King visited Orion; the local wildlife was advising us to be on guard. The crew got an early start, setting shuttle and arriving at Lucky Lake close to 8:30. This put us on the trail by 9, although we didn’t reach the river and put on until 11. We were excited for the reasonably early start as the ten-mile stretch averaged 105 feet per mile. This section required a 3-mile hike down a road and decent trail, although we did note that the game trails are much more heavily travelled.

Miguel Hiking into MF Eel River Drainage flowing right to left

Silent Ed at Put-in

The first mile of paddling to the NFMF was small and creeky; approximately 150 cfs carried us through class III-IV boulder gardens, culminating in a solid class IV canyon above the confluence. Due to the extremely warm day, Ed decided he was going to skip the drysuit and go skin to wind...this didn't last long and shortly after the NFMF we stopped so he could don his drysuit.

The additional flow at the confluence immediately opens up the riverbed, and after an easy mile of scenic water, we started dropping through continuous class IV boulder gardens.

Then it was time for a little nap

The canyon was incredibly open, and the river occasionally flowed around the base of enormous rock walls, despite an open grassy hillside along the other bank.

After several fun miles of water and significant tributaries to add flow we arrived at Asa Bean Crossing.

I recognized it immediately from a picture in the Wilderness Map and marveled at the stunning stretch of river that dropped through enormous sieves and house-sized boulders. We portaged through a field of waist-high grass sans-ticks reminiscent of an Austrian landscape. The ground was incredibly unstable, with cracks, fissures and slumps hidden amongst the grass. Lucky for us it wasn’t totally moist shoe-robbing goo.

Silent Ed lets his paddling speak for itself

John Warner cleans the next drop

Ed and John paddled the run-out from the portage that contained several large drops. Below here more fun rapids continue, as the gradient mellows and the river flows through some gorges of red and green chert.

Fun Sandstone Bedrock in this section

Eventually you reach a major pinched out class V drop that Ed and John paddled, until the gradient relaxed for a couple miles.

Warner styles the Pinch

By the time we reached Pothole Crossing it had been a long day on the water. The hike back to the road wasn’t too difficult, as we were able to follow game trails, and happy not to be carrying our kayaks.

Orion reflects on a good day of boatin'

Sorry I didn't get this out sooner.

High Water Three Bears

2011-01-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

Howdy everybody,
It's been a busy winter thus far. Lots of water and surf, but lots of work to be done as well.

When the rains came New Years day, we decided to head back to the Bears, which was flowing a respectable 13,000 cfs. at Hyampom. Luckily for us, we timed it perfectly and put-on the peaking river, still well within its banks. Our crew of 6 consisted of three playboats, two creekers, and an inflatable cataraft. While we were gearing up at put-in, a second crew of two older (and mellower) paddlers arrived and got on the water ahead of us. I was surprised to see them at such high flows.

After being away from Idaho for so long (~10 yrs), it felt awesome to be in big, pushy water again. The typical eddy line was 10-20 feet wide complete with whirlpools and crazy boils. We were expecting to get down the run in 20-30 minutes due to the high flow, but we were dead wrong.

Right away, the first corner has a sick breaking wave on the right. The eddy service was marginal, but if you wanted it, was possible. The river continues through fun and large wave trains with occasional play spots created by inundated house-sized boulders. After Todd Ranch, the play gets better until you arrive at the Bears.

Our attempt to scout the first bear was foiled by the inability to see the river features from the bank, over 200 feet away. No worries though, it turned out that all of the lines were the same as low water, just bigger. Remembering the importance of the "buddy system" in big water, I peeled out with Matt Tolley and into some of the biggest water in years. Next came the rest of the crew, with Grant flipping at the top and running most of the rapid upside down. In his typical "no-swim" fashion, he made a crux roll, dropped into the biggest hole of the rapid and flipped again. Everybody caught the eddy on river left as the wave train continued all the way to the lip of Mama Bear.

Mama Bear was easily scouted along the left bank, where you can get a good look at the Mother of all holes. Our crew was nervously hemming and hawing along the left bank for at least 30 minutes before Ryan da Rafter stepped up to give her a go...Remember what I said about the "buddy system" in big water? Well we had a breakdown in the buddy system, as I was on the bank holding my video camera and everybody else was watching Ryan's line, trying to psyche themselves up. What happens when the buddy system breaks down is the true story of the day. It's not often you have a cat-boat probing the lines. Mad props goes to Ryan for stepping it up and probing out the line with his cataraft!

Ryan made the entry to Mama bear and approached the crux hole, staying upright with a vicious high-side. While scrambling to get back on the oars, he dropped into a second hole just downstream and proceeded to get rodeoed directly from his boat and into the maelstrom. Fortunately Ryan is an incredible swimmer, and deftly made it to the left bank (just downstream was a willow jungle with thousands of cfs flowing through.) Ryan's cataraft, however didn't make it to the bank, and proceeded downstream through baby bear.
The scramble was on. I put my camera quickly away and darted to my boat. Tolley was waiting in the eddy at the top and he peeled out alongside me. We both managed good lines through the 100 foot wide crux hole, and checked in with Ryan who was O.K. on the bank. We then peeled back out in the current, dropping into Baby Bear. I scrambled hard right, barely missing a macking pour-over that Tolley proceeded to drop into and recieve a proper spanking. The chase was on! We couldn't even see the cataraft, which was already en route for the Pacific Ocean. Thinking to myself of possible eddies that the boat might catch before take-out, after a couple of miles we were quickly approaching the take-out when I finally caught sight of the boat, encouraging me to paddle harder. Finally, less than half-mile from take-out, I saw the boat get surged by a pillow into a tiny whirlpool eddy carved into the cliff wall, complete with whirlpools and large woody debris. It wasn't that gnarly, but it definitely wasn't a comforting spot.
I forced the boat into a corner of the eddy, and clinging to some alders managed to get myself and my kayak onto the cat. Tolley and I "cooled out" and waited in the cleft eddy for awhile before deciding our best option was to get downstream to take-out. Well, I'm no big water catarafter, and surfing the boat across the pillow was enough to get my juices flowing. But we made it to take-out without incident, and started carrying the cataraft up to the shuttle rig to stay warm.

Meanwhile, the rest of our crew was dealing with getting Ryan back to the river right so he could hike out. This went smoothly, however in the melee Howie (from the other group) took a swim and proceeded to lose his paddle. After hanging out at the low-water bridge for over an hour, Matt and I saw a paddler come walking down the road on the other side of the river. Minutes later, our buddies arrived with a kayak in tow. Fortunately we were equipped with a breakdown paddle which we ferried over to Howie and watched him nervously as he made the ferry across to take-out.

I consider the mission a great success, we managed to get everyone and all of their gear (minus one paddle) safely to take-out, where we enjoyed some Boont from the can. "Bahl Hornin'"! The lesson of the day, however, is the importance of the buddy system in big water. At 13,000, I give the Bears a class V- rating, merely for the fact that any swim could be long and troublesome...the play was awesome, all of the lines were the same as low-flows and I can't wait to do it again!

Return to Hardscrabble

2010-11-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess its already a new paddling season. That summer sure was a short one, and the water seemed to just keep on flowing. After a brief 5" rainstorm this October, we were blessed with the opportunity to get on Hardscrabble Creek. This run is extremely difficult to hit at a good level, which is basically, high. You need a lot of water on the Smith to make this run go. I recommend 15,000-20,000 at a minimum, and if its dropping quick you may already be out of luck. The best way to gauge it is visually inspecting the take-out and hoping all the rocks are covered. It it looks bouncy or scratchy, go elsewhere...that being said, we arrived and it seemed a little bony. But we were jonesing to go creeking, and it had been raining hard so the hope was for rising levels. During the shuttle drive to put-in, we encountered monsoon-like conditions, which brightened the mood.

Once on the water, you will be scraping over many sharp rocks in a tiny creek. Eventually you reach another tributary, and then another, until it suddenly seems like a reasonable flow. Where the canyon necks in, and a road is visible on the left, get out to scout the first gorge. By walking down the road on river left you get this view of the steepest part of Hardscrabble Creek. We were stoked because the flows seemed to be coming up after that downpour on our shuttle drive.

Downstream, another large tributary comes in, and the creek backs off for a little while. Damon Goodman and Craig Hull enjoying the October creeking.

Eventually you reach a long and steep boulder garden rapid where the canyon opens up. This is followed by a calm pool and horizon line signaling this drop. Chris Zawacki boofs on an earlier trip.

Then it backs off again, for a little while. As the gradient steepens up again, be prepared to portage Judo-Log Roll, one of the sketchiest logs I've ever seen. This rapid is named after Alex Wolfgram escaped a sketchy situation, where he was splayed over the log with his leg trapped in his boat which was underneath the log. Be extra careful to scout this one because the log isn't easy to spot...making it extra dangerous. Here is a shot of the rapid preceding Judo-Log Roll, in the foreground is the entrance.

Damon Goodman looking at Judo-Log Roll

Downstream from here is another heads-up portage where the creek plunges off a falls into a log filled gorge. This one is hard to spot ahead of time, but comes on a slight right hand bend where a small side channel takes off to the right. The portage route we've always used requires side-hilling through huckleberries and poison oak on the right. But the last time we did it, it looked like a river level route exists, which would be wise. After lowering our boats down a steep hill to this rock precipice, we engaged in the classic bouncing seal-launch. Here is Damon preparing to drop in.

Craig Hull executes the same said maneuver.

Damon sticks the excellent boof just downstream.

Craig Hull follows suit.

From here, there are still some big boulder-garden rapids with log hazards. We portaged Billee's Goat, as a log that always backed up a hole seems to have gotten worse. Towards the end it starts mellowing out. We were lucky, the last-minute downpour on the shuttle drive gave us just the water we needed, and flows were the low side of good. We hit the peak of the flow: 19,000 cfs, and it was just enough water. This creek is a boat-abuser, especially at lower flows.

Swift Creek Gorge--Photo Update

2010-08-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

This is a two-part story. During the last two years (2008-2009) I was working in Weaverville during the summertime. Fortunately, my co-worker Damon Goodman, is/was an extremely talented kayaker and willing to take on Swift Creek gorge. We first paddled it in the summer of 08 (smokiest summer ever), but only once. It was an after-work run, leaving Weaver-vegas at 5:30, and we portaged the final falls.

In 09 however, we made 4-5 more trips up to Swift, to get the goods! During 09 though, every time we paddled Swift was during a thunderstorm, so no good pictures were taken.

Lessons learned in 09 and 2010 should be passed on, as well as some good lighting. Not to mention that taking your time, as opposed to doing an after-work run, is much more enjoyable.

John Warner Nails the Entrance Fall

The entrance falls (and the entire gorge) is extremely sensitive to flow: with higher water the hole is stomping, and pushes directly into a cave behind the falls. Scout the entrance carefully.

Matt Tolley, Tappin' in!

Just downstream of the entrance fall, is a riverwide portage log, that slightly shifted during the high water winter. Still a portage though. The very next drop is the perfect pour.

John Warner with the perfect line.

This drop is directly above another elbow-crunching "portage" that we don't have the balls to run. It's a crack/slide into a meltdown with a consequential rock-pile just downstream. The portage route is skinny to get into, always check this on a pre-run scout for safety (unless you plan on running Elbow Cruncher).

Downstream is a triple-boof around a corner. This rapid had a new piece of wood in 2010, that we were able to boof directly over, but should be scouted for 2011.

Matt Tolley sticks his boof in Swift Creek Gorge

The final falls needs a good name...Fire Left, Boof Left, Right moving Left, Get Left, Southpaw Falls, Left or Crunch Falls

John Warner took this shot.

Left or Crunch has handed out several funky-chunky lines, resulting in pain. I recommend scouting this one carefully, as it has a hidden "shelf" rock halfway down, not to mention the enormous shelf that protrudes from the right bank. Essentially, in a boat-width wide entry, you want all your Mo to be carrying left, or else.

The rest of the run becomes extremely manky at lower flows, but also contains some fun boat-scout rock dodging. Be careful of logs. Pretty much everyone to paddle Swift Creek Gorge considers it a classic, and one of the best creeks in the area. Sine it flows pretty late (Trinity above Coffee Creek ~250-125 cfs) it is an easy one to hit, as well as a short one mile hike on the well-marked Swift Creek Trailhead. Scout your take-out as you begin the hike upstream from the trailhead.

Middle Eel: Recon Run

2010-06-23T00:33:00.000-07:00

I paddled this section with John Warner on the 21st of May. We were hoping to run the upper-most section but were unable to reach it due to a locked gate some 7 miles up the road. On the way back down the road we found a forest service road that seemed to be heading in the right direction. Following this road to the end, we arrived at a sweet campsite on the rim of the Middle Eel's final gorge. We had time before the sunset, and spent it exploring a potential route to access the river. Lucky for us there was a fairly well established trail (probably due to some forest service study) that was marked with flagging to discern it from the many game trails. By following the flags we were able to access the huge grassy field visible from our camp that provided a great river access. Here is the river as seen from camp

Base Camp was at the sunny ridge on the left side of this shot.

The next morning, Warner elected to run the bike shuttle. I rolled over in my sleeping bag because it was chilly out, and before I knew it he returned. After making coffee, we stashed our stuff in the woods and started hiking for the river.

There were thousands of caterpillars everywhere, on every tree, plant, rock or other inanimate object.

Warner enjoys a moment on the hike in.

Here is the view looking upriver at a great rapid marking the end of the upstream classic run.

After descending one more grassy hillside to the river, we put on an estimated 1,500 cfs. The flow was powerful and the river is fairly steep (80 fpm) combining to make boat scouting a little difficult. The river channel was huge however, evidence of massive wintertime flooding. Here is John Warner coming around the first corner.

Everything went with the flow, making for a great class III-IV run as we dropped into the gorge.

Just downstream was a fun boof down the right side, and then we arrived a the rapid visible from camp. This drop turned out to be much smaller than anticipated with a line just right of the middle.

The river was amazingly clean and filled in at the level we had (2,000 @ Dos Rios). We finally arrived at a portage drop where the river enters huge boulders, this is visible from the shuttle road high above. The portage we did on the left was short, but slippery and over boulders. We seal-launched directly into the rapid and paddled a slot to the right (as the left went into a sieve). This would probably clean up at higher flows.

One more fun rapid is just downstream, we ran it down the right side.

In all, this run is fun and unique with great scenery and whitewater. Our campsite was excellent, and the hike in was quite nice with great scenery. This run is definitely worth doing on an evening prior to a lower Middle Eel trip, or if you run into a locked gate while heading to the upper run. To reach the run, drive to the confluence of the Black Butte River and Middle Eel, either by heading across Mendocino pass in the springtime (from the east), or 15 miles from Covelo on the Highway 162. Be sure and make the right turn after Covelo, or you will wind up in Zenia! We took out on the right bank downstream from the bridge. To reach put-in, turn left at the Black Butte store, following the sign to Indian Dick. The unmarked forest service road to put-in was about 3 miles upstream while you are going uphill, and takes off as a "Y" on the left side. This comes after several private residences, so if you take the wrong turn, be respectful. Just down the road, stay left at another "Y" and follow it to the end. This may be difficult for a low-clearance vehicle, but it's not that far anyways. Hope everyone's enjoying a good spring...Have fun!

Elk Creek near Happy Camp

2010-06-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

Because it is an enormous drainage, on the north side of the Marble Mountains, this creek was high up on my to-do list for 2010. After a trip to the Middle Eel, I got two more days off and rallied Miguel and John Warner. We drove via. Greyback Saddle from O'Brien to Happy Camp, though this road is usually closed in winter. After eating breakfast at the Frontier Cafe, we headed across the river to set shuttle. 12 miles of driving brought us from take-out to the unfortunate locked gate we at Sulfur Springs trailhead. We began our hike here, aiming to paddle from the Granite Creek Confluence down. The hike wasn't too bad, but my biggest piece of advice is the trail is on river left, so before you arrive at Bear Creek, head to the other side of the river from the road.

This area burned two years ago, resulting in one of the most beautiful wildflower displays I've seen.
After 3-miles of hiking we arrived at Granite Creek and took a well-needed break. It was fortunate the weather was cool, as this hike would have been brutal on a hot day.

Once on the water, the pace was steep and continuous (200 fpm+). A little more water would be nice, making the big drops spicier though. Here is John Warner on Elk Cr. above the Granite Cr. Confluence

After 1.5 miles we reached the Dream Chute, where the creek drops through a steep boulder-garden/cascade into a gorged out waterfall with a sticky hole. I had seen pictures of this on Google Earth, and it was veritably responsible for us hiking all the way to Granite Creek. I decided to give er a go, and wound up plugging the hole, logging seconds of downtime and emerging with a huge back-ender into the hole. Somehow I managed to flush against the wall, rolling up with a big smile.

Here is John Warner scoping the Dream Chute.

Looking down into Dream Chute

More boulder gardens continued, with occasional bedrock goods spiced in too. The gradient was steep, yet despite the forest fire, we didn't have one log portage. Here is Miguel in Chopstick Rock.

Miguel sliding down Upper Elk Cr.

We finally arrived at Smooth Walls Falls, where a diversity of lines treated us O.K.

Below here more steep rapids continued all the way to Sulphur Springs, where we took our lunch break. It was here that the creek changes character, from a IV(V) to a III-IV section. Because it was such a long drive, our shuttle was set at the Klamath confluence, 13 miles downstream. Here is Miguel sticking a boof in his new Burn.

A quiet moment on Elk Creek

Many more miles of mellow water brought us to the final 5 miles, containing an interesting class IV bedrock section and the one rapid we all portaged. Here is Miguel charging the corkscrew drop.

Here is the rapid we portaged. It would've gone, probably on both sides, but it was the end of a long day for us, when we reached take-out we'd paddled almost 16 miles, dropping close to 2,000 feet of gradient.

Finally...the take-out!

The Confluence.

Though this creek is not quite a classic, it is borderline classic. Definitely worth doing, with just a touch more water it would've been even better. If you are a class III-IV boater, the best section is from Sulphur Springs on down, or the guidebook section downstream of the East Fork confluence. If you are after some bigger drops, the goods are upstream of where you can drive, and slightly higher flows are recommended than what we had (Salmon @ 5.2 ft, Indian Cr. @ Happy Camp 500 cfs, Klamath @ Orleans 9,000). Here's what it looked like from Highway 96.

Upper Van Duzen (Class III)

2010-06-06T23:51:00.000-07:00

You know those days when you are stoked to be on the water, paddling a new run with good friends...Those are the days that we paddlers live for: the sheer appreciation of living on a beautiful planet.

After hearing reports from my trusted source Silent Ed, who paddled this run when he was a 13 year old beginner I knew it would be a good run. This section is also well regarded in Dick Schwind's 1974 West Coast River Touring guidebook, although he recommends putting in another 3 miles of class II up at the confluence of the East & West Duzen. We decided to keep it short and sweet, paddling the bridge to bridge section containing all the class III.

Ed told me there was only a couple of Rapids, so I wasn't surprised when we quickly arrived at the first one. Johnny Chin bombs into the mellow class III.

Fitting through the Pinch

The beautiful upper Van Duzen

The run was rather steady at our flow, (275 @ Put-In; 450 @ Take-out) with only a few big pools.

We arrived at the second class III, a tongue that boofs you over a rock.

Typically when I paddle the Duzen (Grizzly Creek Run), its brown & muddy. This headwaters section has much better water quality and takes you through a very peaceful area. Several large creeks enter from the left, nearly doubling the flow.

Fun little rapids continue downstream

Sandstone is the primary rock, soft, smooth and forgiving. Blooming asetum Succulents line the cliffs.

Relaxing in one of the pools.

Phil Cruizin on the Duzen

We finally arrived at the take-out bridge and rapid, 3.8 miles later. This drops over a series of sandstone ledges and required sticking to the flow.

Phil enters the Ledges

Phil ready to boof

With a mellow bike shuttle, pretty country and good company this is one stretch of river that deserves attention. If you are a class III boater you will enjoy it, and should consider putting in upstream for more warmup and scenery. We enjoyed the run and ended with a Jam, Mad River Butte in the background.

Take-out is reached by turning right onto the Van Duzen River Rd. off HWY 36 just east from Dinsmore, and driving about 8 miles to the first bridge. Put-in is 4 miles up, or continue to the upper put-in at the confluence of West & East Van Duzen (bring a map to find it, its not totally roadside).

Flows were 1500 on the Duzen @ Bridgeville, but it was June so a good proportion of water was coming from the top of the drainage. This run could handle much higher flows, and may develop excellent playspots with more juice in the rapids. Warm sunny days in March and April are your best bet for this run. Recovery pools would be nonexistent at high water though. The water had dropped at least a foot since the night before we paddled, very typical Duzen.

An Ode to Bridge Creek!

2010-06-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I might as well share the pics I've got from my most photographed, and favorite creek run!
Especially considering that this summer it will probably be running into July, its latest season in years!

Disclaimer: Its initial classic reputation became tarnished as numerous epic mis-adventuresome stories began to emerge. However, if you consider the 440 fpm gradient average (300, 475, 525), epic hike-in, beautiful wilderness, amazing bedrock, supreme solitude, and 10 miles of classic Wooley; the initial classic reputation must linger on! Here's the Solution: take this run seriously, get an early start, bring break-down paddles and food make sure you can navigate off-trail, and don't dilly-dally unless you brought gear for a 2-day (Highly Recommended and pleasurable!). The hike-in is the most daunting task!

After 13 trips down Bridge, a couple planned overnighters, and a hike out down Wooley in the dark, this is my favorite creek. It is one of the best waterfall training runs around, with no single drop greater than 20'. This is where I learned to plug-boof waterfalls. If your cup of tea is 20' plus, heed the words of my friend Dave Norell, who stated "none of the falls were big enough!" Time to move to Hood River.

Damon Goodman and Seth Naman in the midst of the "Mank Mile"

Plan on portaging two drops in the Mank Mile, the slippery log portage comes 1/4 mile down from put-in after the creek flows through a meadow and turns left. It is a mank cascade, runnable without wood. Leif's Purple Toe is a 30' boxed in drop that dished out Mulleticious consequences in 2007. This comes after a calm pool and is portaged right though we've been portaging over a log spanning the drop. Purple Toe Gorge is changing rapidly, any year I expect it will be different. Once past this drop, my stoke level starts to climb.

Damon Goodman in "First Taste"

Damon Goodman exits "First Taste"

Orion Meredith plops the "Bobsled Run"; a sweet sliding entrance kicks off the First Waterfall

Immediately below Bobsled Run lies Medicine Falls. This drop is best boofed with right to left momentum. I've pitoned this at low flows, as an underwater shelf juts out from the right. At higher flows this hydraulic is powerful and safety is extremely difficult to set!

Mike Lee drops Medicine Falls

This marks the beginning of a high quality stretch of bedrock drops and low angle slides. After a tight right turn and increase of gradient you approach the Rooster and Fucker Rock.

Plugging The Rooster: Photo Curt Welsh

Mike Lee portaging "Fucker Rock" immediately downstream from the Rooster

Story Time: Fucker Rock

This drop has changed remarkably on a near-annual basis. We used to run a boof onto a rock that bounced you very near the left wall. Now we portage this mandatory-hit manker. One fine day (2004) I was paddling with my friend Gabe Forsythe. His line through F-Rock was hideous--he flipped as he was coming off it. When he tried to brace, his paddle stuck into the drop, resulting in him falling straight through and breaking it. Neither of us had a spare paddle, I had brought my NRS handpaddles instead. We were approx. halfway down Bridge, with most of the big drops ahead.

Gabe stood up to the plate--hand paddling the rest of Bridge creek, mostly on verbal directions. He portaged Toilet-Bowl and the Penalty Box, but ran everything else; often styling moves with the dynamic hand-plant. When we reached Wooley I asked if he would like to trade-off the paddle. "Nope", Gabe said and continued to Hand Paddle the 10 miles of Wooley also. Remarkable Bridge Creek Achievement!

Miguel hits the "Kicker Slide"

Miguel speeds through "Amnesia"

Curt Welsh takes the "Magic Carpet Ride"

Magic Carpet marks the one-mile mark to Wooley Creek. It is the most picturesqe drop on the run and forms severe hydraulics as the flows increase. You have officially descended into Poison Oak territory. Continuous manky boulder gardens continue downstream from here and it is a very good place to be on your toes. The next major horizon line is the Teacups, scout left before blundering into them.

Flowdaddy boofs the first teacup with right angle.

Damon Goodman backlit in "The Teacups"

The Teacups is a legitimate 3 part rapid, containing a very tricky and congested entrance boulder garden. This drop is so legitimate in fact, that at a flow of 5.5' a crew of 6 paddlers had 4 simultaneous swimmers here, one in each drop at the same time.

Silent Ed lines up "The Toiletbowl"

The Toilet Bowl is definitely the stoutest drop on the run. The horizon line is hidden behind a large boulder, and comes during your typical busy-water boulder garden. Be on your toes to scout right and/or portage this one. Maintaining slight left momentum and launching a boof can help you to avoid this amazingly unique and sticky hydraulic. On a previous run I was surfed in this hole, scrambling to stay out of the way of my buddy Andrew Bell, who came off the drop and gave me a funny look as he cleaned the line. I was swirling in the bowl while he eddied out and came to feed me a rope. I then flipped and decided I would rather try to paddle out myself. After surfing the hole across the boil I made it out. Moral: if you're paddling in a 2-pack, consider setting safety for your friend so you don't both wind up in the bowl.

Another time I was in the toilet bowl, my friend Seth Ricker fed me a rope properly...he pulled it while hunched down to maintain a low-center-of-gravity-pull. This kept me from flipping, though he needed a pull from our buddy Matt Fayhee to prevent him from sliding across smoothly polished slippery bedrock. This drop can be portaged rather easily on the right, but be careful as I've seen several paddlers walk right through the enormous poison oak bush here.

Your next scout is the Pearl Necklace, which comes shortly downstream. This is an amazing crack to slide drop, I used to walk it, but now its my favorite. People who walk it can seal-launch into the slide, but I've seen at least 4 different folks slide into this drop while portaging the mossy slab.

Seth Naman squirts through the "Pearl Necklace"

Flowdaddy

Pearl Necklace is a slippery portage. Clint learns the hard way.
Great shot of typical Bridge water

Downstream of the Pearl Necklace, rapids continue to the Penalty Box, recognizable by a cliffed out right wall and a left-hand bend. This is the worst hydraulic on the run, scout, set safety and/or portage on the left. The portage requires teamwork and delicate climbing to avoid falling into the drop. Poison oak is abundant here.

Penalty Box--Set safety and Boof the Hell out of it!
Photo: Mike Lee

On our first trip down bridge in 2000 (before we found the put-in trail), Guillo Torres was giving our crew of 8 verbals as we paddled in dusk. We were racing to reach Wooley before dark. In the eddy above I was told to go left and watched Ligare paddle into the darkness. Upon entering the slide though, I could see the creek fell into the left wall and quickly stuck my boof to the right. One after one, our friends came off the drop, with large smacks to the wall echoing in the canyon. We couldn't see 'em but we could hear 'em. It is amazingly fortunate that we didn't have any swims that day. The Penalty Box actually becomes more sticky at lower flows due to the bowled out hydraulic and bedrock-pinch exit.

Two more rapids remain, a mini-gorge on a corner and Bridge Creek Falls--The Grand Finale.

Mike Lee drops into Bridge Creek Falls

Matt "Flowdaddy" Flofo drops Bridge Creek Falls

I can't think of a prettier creek anywhere. You've now descended from fir and cedar to oak and pine.

Camping at The Wooley Cabin

My new favorite logistics are to plan a 2-day and camp upon arrival at Wooley Creek. This is especially a good method if you haven't heard wood reports yet, or haven't done the run before. The cabin is a 1/4 mile hike up (left bank) Wooley from Bridge Creek Falls. This will allow you plenty of time to scout, set safety and rest before you test your mettle against Wooley.

Flows: between 4 and 4.75' on Salmon @ Somes Bar for first timers. This is a class V run. Above 5.5' it can produce other-worldly hydraulics to Boof or Die! (Even though the Knapps paddled it over 7' once)

Slammin Salmon Butler Race 2010

2010-06-04T05:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it was unfortunate timing that the road wasn't open yet, but the turnout was excellent and good-times were had by all to make this the premiere Northern Cali Spring event!

Here's my listing of photos: If I don't know you're name, post a comment and gimme some shit!

Here's Alex Wolfgram edging out Chris Hatton for 2nd.

Wolf Still has one coming his way...

The always positive smile of local Chris Hatton, 4th year placing in the top 3

Seth Naman Stepping it up with a fourth

Damon Goodman: 1st place Shortboat, didn't break a sweat

TaZ Soto-2nd place shortboat, 1st descender of Bridge Creek

Girl Alex barely edging out the competition: should it be a tie?

The Competition: Sorry I forget your nombre

Trinity River Kyle Craig: 1st Place Junior, also first time down Butler

Team Wet Makes an appearance as the proud boss-man Steven Lisles looks on

No time to celebrate!

Break out the Keystone Light Victory Brew!

Orion Meredith's 10-pack rolling heavy into second place

Event organizer Paul Gamache getting swirled at the convergence of Wooley Creek and The Salmon with 80 lbs of wet hippie clothes on--In 3rd Place

The Shambles of ORT arrive in 4th...I know of at least one torn drysuit that led to a hike-out

Classic Salmon Spring Weather

Western Oregon Whitewater with a proper celebratory paddle high five!

ORT II Crew battled for placement

Extra special thanks to all who showed face this year!

About to miss the finish line...unknown crew being cheered on by natty-head-mop-Orion

What better way to celebrate than continue on down to Big Ike...and surf it!

And after that...its a Jam & Party Session with Johnny Chin

Hope to see ya'll next year, and more faces too...where's my competition!

Extra Special Big Thanks goes to the event organizer Paul Gamache...the man with the plan!

Thanks to Caliproduct as well, hope you make it next year.

Stuart Fork Trinity River: Wilderness Run

2010-05-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

After backpacking to Emerald and Sapphire lakes last summer, I decided my return to kayak the Stuart Fork Trinity was imperative. This is a beautiful river, whose headwaters share the highest peaks of the Trinity Alps with Canyon Creek, the North Fork Trinity, and South Fork Salmon River. Because it emerges from these glacially-carved granitic mountains, the channel is primarily continuous boulder gardens with round granite boulders. The gradient is quite steep, averaging 180 fpm, though the first two miles drop 400 feet. Towards the end you work your way into bedrock drops with some punch, making the most of the gradient. This also makes for many even, ledge holes to get worked in and also provides some interesting undercuts.

The Stuart Fork area is rich with mining history, during the hike-in you follow the path of a canal used to divert water for hydraulic mining operations. It's pretty safe to assume that everything has been mined in one way or a nother. Though this area is wilderness, its crazy to think that 160 years ago it was the most happening place in Northern California. Looking down at Emerald.

We decided to hike to Deer Creek, approximately 7 miles up from the trailhead. I roped my buddy Chris Zawacki into making the trek, and we got an early start, hitting the trail by 7:00 A.M. The hike took us approximately 4 hours, but including our stops, lunchbreak, and brief losing of the trail (not maintained in winter), we probably didn't hit the water until noonish. We did manage to hike through snow along several sections of the trail, not so rare in May. Here's a sweet bedrock rapid next to the trail on our way up.

The first two miles are steep and continuous. It is also incredibly scenic, with mountain views all along. It really makes you appreciate kayaking, as the views from the river blow away the views from the trail. Though we could have used more water (1,200 on Trinity @ Coffee Cr.) we had a good flow. Eddy's weren't numerous but there were great drops where the river squeezed against bedrock and the scenery was amazing.

More of Chris Zawacki on the Stuart's Fork.

One major memorable rapid was at the Alpine Creek confluence, where a boulder garden with 4 or 5 consecutive moves as well as shady off line consequences awaits. We were tired and took a quick break here.

Downstream you arrive at the Deep Creek Confluence, the falls on Deep Creek has been run, though we decided not to go for it as the creek was quite low. The falls drops right under the trail.

This marks the end of the boulder gardens and the beginning of more bedrock rapids.

Zawacki styles yet another Stuart Fork Rapid

We decided to portage this drop due to interesting caves along the right side, though it is runnable.

Here is the view looking down another two-part rapid in the bedrock section.

Chris tackles the rowdy hole in part two

Towards the end, we also portaged the rapid at Cherry Flat, happy just to be back near the take-out.
In retrospect, there were endless rapids, and including the 7 mile hike it made for a very long and tiring day. I consider this run to be a north coast classic, though as much for the scenery and adventure as for the rapids. Because you hike along the river, you can go as far as you wish, though Deep Creek is a good halfway point. Get an early start if you plan on hiking to Deer Creek.

The Stuart Fork is 20 minutes north from Weaverville on Highway 3, alongside Trinity Lake. Turn left after the bridge and drive approximately 5 miles to the trailhead.

Lower Goose Creek

2010-05-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

So, we actually paddled this run back in February, though we did have a great day on the water. This was probably my fourth trip down Lower Goose Creek, over about a 10 year span. On my first trip we were able to drive 2 miles down the road to a washed out stream-crossing, and on each successive trip the creek access has doubled, and now tripled in hiking distance to the creek (due to decomissioning of the put-in road). This year, we had to hike the full 3 miles (downhill, on a road) from the turn-off at Saddle Road. Despite this less-than perfect access, I still fully recommend Lower Goose, as it is a beautiful creek with great rapids. Speed-blur: Melissa DeMarie corkscrewing the Honker.

Upon arrival at the creek back in 2001, water was ripping through willows on both banks looking very high, though this turned out to be a great level (12,000 cfs @ Jed Smith). This year, the level was slightly lower (10,000) though still a great flow. After a couple miles of steady class III, with fun playspots, you arrive at the first sweet drop, the Gander (Class IV). This is scouted easily on the right bank, and is basically two consecutive hole-punches over ledge drops. Miguel charging.

Class III water continues to the next horizon line at the Honker, which is somewhat obscured by large boulders. This is the largest rapid of the run (Class V), and continues for a couple hundred yards. The easiest portage is probably down the left, which requires eddying out early. This year I found a great scout angle on the right where you can get an excellent view of the top drop, a boof into a sticky hole, right next to a large undercut. This would not be a fun place to get worked, though I haven't seen anybody get stuck here. Miguel sticks his line.

The rapid continues through a boulder garden, before passing an eddy and plunging over the final bouldery exit we ran on the right. Martin Belden and Miguel showing how its done.

Below here the creek lets up for a couple of miles, with a class III-IV character. The canyon is incredibly beautiful, and because this run flows north-south it can often be sunny in the middle of winter.
The Ugly Duckling is the final rapid (Class IV), with another slightly obscured horizon line. The current charges at a big boulder before continuing to drop over a sliding runout. John Warner sticks the line.

A couple more corners brings you to the confluence with the South Smith, and a wicked fun eddyfence where the currents converge. At higher flows, there are several fun play-waves and holes between here and Steven's Bridge, the take-out 1 mile downstream on the right. There is a good eddy and trail on the downstream right side of the bridge.

To reach Steven's Bridge, drive 10 miles up South Fork Road from HWY 199. There is good parking across the bridge (river right). To get to the "trailhead", drive upstream, turning right at the Gasquet-Orleans road in one mile. Two miles up this hill you will reach an obvious "saddle" on the right side, with several random roads and lots of shotgun shells in the large flat area. The road you want to put-in is in the back, on the left, and proceeds downhill 3 miles to the creek. Good flows are 6,000 to 14,000 at Jed, though I prefer 8,000+. Have fun.

South Trinity: HWY 36 to Hyampom--Day Two: Sulfur Glade Creek to Hyampom

2010-04-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't read the day one description it is here

The sun rose to the beach about 8:00, coaxing me from my heavy slumber. It was damp and dewey, Ed claimed he saw some frost, but I must've slept through it.

In the morning I spent about an hour walking around on the enormous flat where we camped. This area burned during 2008, and is beginning to revegetate nicely. Upon returning from my jaunt, Ed was in his drysuit, with drybags packed and looking eager to go...

Recap on the camping situation:
Once you are past the river-spirit community a couple of miles (houses on both banks, suspension bridge) good camping is abundant. I'm not sure exactly where we camped but we passed a gigantic flat and creek on river left that must've been sulfur glade creek, and I'd reckon we made it past there about another mile and a half.
The many enormous campsites are essentially deltas created by the monster floods during 1964. Widespread logging of steep slopes and road-building practices (e.g. using too small sized culverts) led to enormous hillslope failures (landslides) that poured millions upon millions of yards of sediment into the South Trinity watershed. This resulted in the "filling" of many pools and the "raising" of the river-bed. Today, the system is still working all of this sediment through, though sediment inputs from human causes and the naturally soft coastal geology continue to contribute ample supply, keeping the system in stasis (impaired). The salmon runs have been impacted as a result, but hey, there's tons of great camping!

Putting back on the water, and our stick gauge

This put us about 17 miles into the 25-mile section and meant we would have ample time for scouting and portaging in the Hyampom Gorge.

After paddling for only an hour in the morning we reached Oak Flat and Butter Creek shortly thereafter. Houses start coming into view, and the canyon opens up. Butter Creek is the best take-out (unless you know landowners) for people who wish to avoid the gorge. Taking out here requires an extra half-hour of driving time (St. Johns Road off Hyampom Rd), and it is a short steep hike up to the road (20 yards). Nonetheless, this may still be less effort than lining/portaging rafts and kayaks through the rocky gorge downstream. The gradient picks up slightly, and a couple of swift miles bring you to the gorge, which rises abruptly. There is a large flat (Winton Flat) on the left upstream of the gorge, where we took a nice lunchbreak in the shade, put the elbow pads back on, and hydrated up.

Ed chilling on a beach where there was a goose-egg...We saw several nesting goose pairs.

Ed Scouting the Gorge

I was fortunate enough to get to snorkel this stretch of river, during the summer while doing a fish count. I had already seen the ugly sieves and nasty pockets, and was happily looking forward to the portage on river left, which had an easy to catch eddy at our flow. We took a good long scout on the right, however, and marvelled at the beauty of the nastiness.

I like the gi-normous undercut Limestone wall on river right, though taking this photo put me on an uncomfortably precarious slab above a man-eating crack in the wall.

The river forces its way through this notch, with a hidden mystery rock right in the middle, and head-hunting undercut on the right.

After pouring through one more VW Bus eating sieve, the gradient suddenly lets up and fun rapids follow for the next several miles. The portage was really not that bad, though it was over large, uneven boulders for about 150 yards. Here is the view, standing above another uncomfortable spot.

The fun continues downstream.

Eventually we reached another big class V rapid that we both fired off. It had a fun double boof-entry to a ramp that ended with a crazy curler that you rode back to the left (of a sieve). Ed styled the line, and I followed with a very not smooth line, catching every eddy and barely riding the curl to the left of a smooth rock, which I got a good look at. I took a video of Ed, and should have it up soon.

A typical off-line consequence

More fun class III-IV continued for about a mile before it tapered off. As quickly as the gorge began, it tapers off into the Hyampom Valley, with one final display of splendor as you pass an enormous limestone wall.

Two miles of flatwater brings you to the take-out, on the river left side about 1/4 mile upstream of the bridge in Hyampom. Here you will find a big flat area where you can drive right to the river. We, however, took out at the bridge, which was not such easy access.

Considering the easy access, high quality of scenery, wilderness and whitewater, likelihood of good flows combining with sunny spring weather and amazing campsites...I'd give the South Fork a definite 4.5 out of 5 stars. There were certainly some nasty spots to avoid, but the river is generally quite forgiving with plenty of eddies for scouting and fairly easy portaging. I'll venture to say that a crew of confident class IV boaters would probably make it down this run with maybe 2-3 portages in Klondike Mine, and another 2 in the Hyampom Gorge.

Rafting flows would ideally be slightly higher than what we had, as it would open up some narrow slots and provide more coverage. In the words of Cassidy/Calhoun, "Any rafter who takes on this run must be a wilderness nut who doesn't mind several long, difficult portages. Seasoned experts only. Pack light." We had ~1,000 cfs @ put-in (Forest Glen)...so I reckon ideal rafting flows would probably be 1200-1500. The adventure is awesome and has the same remote feel as any other wilderness run that I've paddled. Unlike all of the mainstream "notorious", permitted wilderness trips, we didn't see a soul for 2-days. This run could also be extended all the way through to the 3-bears if one were inclined for a hefty 3-day (kayak), or 4 day (raft) trip. Happy paddling.

South Trinity: HWY 36 to Hyampom--Day One Klondike Mine to Sulfur Glade Creek

2010-04-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

To All My Paddling Friends,
I don't know of any reason not to do this run. This has to be one of the most accessible and classic class III-IV (V, P) overnight runs in the country, and will probably be flowing for awhile longer. I can't recall another river I've paddled with the same abundance of sweet wilderness camping spots than the South Trinity (Bruneau, Selway, M.F. Salmon, Grand Canyon, Rogue River & S.F. Salmon included) In fact, I would rate the South Trinity among these rivers for the quality of scenery, solitude and beauty. If you have done these rivers, you will undoubtedly appreciate the S.F.T. for its unique scenery and feel. This shot is from S.F. Mountain, overlooking the Mad River, with Red and Black Lassic Buttes (Van Duzen Drainage) visible behind.

After paddling Lower Hayfork Creek a couple of days earlier, I convinced my buddy Warnertime to help leave my truck in Hyampom, at the bridge over the south fork (not recommended take-out). Shuttle set, it was time to find someone to paddle with! Several calls and messages later (my phone was running out of charge) I knew Silent Ed would be the man for the task. After a night on the couch in Rio Dell, Ed picked me up at 8:00 A/M. We drove to safeway in fortuna for a food/booze buy, then proceeded to stop at Murrish market for batteries to run the Ipod...then we stopped in Dinsmore so I could buy some sunglasses. Ed then decided he wished to take a side-trip to check out the upper Van Duzen (class II-III). Several more photo stops later, we finally arrived in Forest Glen and managed to put-on the water by 1:00 in the afternoon.

The Klondike Mine section has a great warmup before you get into the steeps. Several small, technical rapids precede the first major rapid. For the most part the run is actually not very difficult, despite containing substantial hazards (undercuts, sieves, logs) to avoid. For rafts, I would recommend slightly higher flows than we had (1,100 @ Put-in) to provide coverage and more space through boulder-gardens and willowy areas.

The nature of the river makes boat-scouting quite tricky, so I recommend scouting whenever in doubt (through Klondike Mine). The first big drop is a long and complex affair, that would be difficult for raft passage at our flows.

After the initial wave of rapids, the run backs off again for a little bit until arriving at the major drop: Holey Schist! This rapid is a holey affair and I mean water through rocks. There is a sweet line down the right, that proved to be quite friendly for the loaded boats. Ed sticks the line.

The portage down the left would be difficult, though not brutal. After Holey Schist, fun rapids continue.

Eventually you reach the last major drop of Klondike Mine, with a nasty undercut on the left that draws most of the flow. This is a longer rapid, and definitely deserved a class V- rating at our flow. I don't have any pic's of this, but before you know it, the major rapids back off and the run gradually tapers off to IV- and then class III for the next 16 miles. The Klondike Mine take-out is vaguely recognizable by a tailings pile 80 feet up the left bank. This road has been decommissioned and is supposedly a 2-3 mile hike for access these days. The float continues below here with a consistent pace with class III rapids interspersed throughout and a fairly even gradient. There was a surprisingly small amount of flatwater @ 1,100, though in places the river coursed through tight willow and alder areas that could prove challenging for oar-frames.

The first major ranch comes on the left approx. 6.5 miles into the run, on the Left Bank. A surprising amount of private property exists along this run, although most of the time the S.F.T. is flowing, residents don't have access to their land (due to snowed in roads). South Fork Mountain, on the left, produces innumerable side-creeks that constantly add flow to the river. After about 14 miles you pass the Riversong Community, where buildings are on both banks. Approaching the river spirit community:

We couldn't help but check out this vintage Perception Eclipse, located behind an unguarded fence.

The South Fork sure is beautiful

Below here fun rapids pick up again for several miles.

After a while, I decided it was time for some beers and we started looking for a campspot. The trouble we had was picking one! We passed by one killer spot, then another o.k. spot, then passed by two more killer spots before arriving at the killer spot we decided to be our camp. I loved this spot, with a huge beach, ample wood, and enormous grassy flat above.

We definitely saw some signs of life, though only one human and two dogs were aware of our presence along the trip. This compared with the bald eagles, osprey, herons, goose, ducks, deer, lizards, frogs, turtles, woodpeckers and countless unique endemic plant species that inhabit the area. See day two for more...

North Fork Cottonwood Creek

2010-04-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

Wow!
I recommend getting on this run ASAP, before this ever-giving spring (2010) subsides. However, clandestine and commando kayaker tactics will be essential to continued access to this run. North Cottonwood is among the most unique creek runs I have ever paddled, and at flows of ~525 cfs, it is a must-run classic. After an early start from Arcata, and long drive, we made it to take-out in Ono at approx. 11:00 A.M. This is god's country, with the sweet green grass and flowers a bloomin'. The mini-mule farm on the shuttle road only reinforces the fact that curious looking green and red boats on top of a subaru are indeed auspicious in these parts. In accordance, my buddy J.R. prayed for perfect flows, and supple breast-like rock formations.
But that's beside the point, especially if you manage to make the right turn (left) onto Sunny Hill road, which will take you to the correct put-in. We, however, arrived at the terminus of Rainbow Lake road, and were fortunate enough to meet an informative local who told us we were about to put-in above an 80' dam in a box-canyon that might make a difficult portage...we quickly decided this wasn't in the run description we had read and headed for the lower put-in. Extra-special thanks to this guy (who wasn't "that guy"). More potential exists at this upper put-in, but we weren't looking for anything extra.
After re-routing, we arrived at the correct put-in approx. 12:00 and still needed to run a shuttle. The flow looked absolutely perfect, with surf-able looking waves at put-in. 12:30 came round and the crew was on the water. The first rapid comes quickly on a left-hand bend, drops into a crack, and had a somewhat backed up hole with a log in it. This may have been the only wood hazard on the entire run. Some sketchy lines through here set the tone for our day, as the team fell into our boat-scouting and communication groove.

The run has an excellent feel at 500 cfs, with class III-IV drops carrying you along between the big stuff. A mini-gorge rapid with a log-duck tested our teams communication skills, though good eddies exist above the log-pinch.

Another sweet rapid with a sticky hole came on a left-hand bend downstream. Matt Porter showing how its done.

The first major rapid comes shortly thereafter as you begin to drop into an obvious gorge. We sent Martin (probe jr.) first, and he informed us that this was indeed the first sticky hole referred to in Darin's blog. He communicated a center boof with right momentum was the line, and we all charged it blind. At our flows, it was indeed a 6-8' drop, with a sticky hole at the bottom. Several plugs, a couple flips and one back-ender later we were all sitting in the pool at the bottom, stoked.

Eventually you get into some granitic rock, this marks the beginning of the Shon's Crack section. First, we portaged a crack drop that Shon has run.

Then we ran part of the non-stop rapid that ends with a falls into a crack that Shon has also run. This second drop was a challenging portage, requiring us to run a lead-in rapid and catch a small eddy on the right. There is no good eddy above this falls, just rapids. We all agreed that this is a runnable drop, and it looked sick. I'm sure Martin will have the same regrets as me looking at this picture, until next time...

This marks the confluence with Jerusalem Creek, meaning you are approx. halfway through the big drops on this section. Jerusalem Creek looks badass, and adds plenty of flow. Downstream, fun rapids continue until you arrive at the sliding-pillow falls.

This was probably the most fun drop in my opinion, with a lead-in rapid bringing you to the final 10' drop that slides into a sizable pillow, then drops through a bottom hole. We all ran this left with no consequence...well, almost no consequence.

Next thing you know we're out scouting the Big Kahuna, the perfect 20 footer. This took approx half and hour. The left line was a sweet plug line, with a more technical boof line on the right. Matt Porter got tired of waiting and fired it off with a sweet line down the right, fighting his way out of the hole at the bottom. Sweet line after sweet line, we were all stoked to have run the falls. Martin runs right.

And Melissa runs left

The view Downstream

Downstream was a sweet sliding drop through hydraulically-mined conglomerate bedrock.

Some more rapids brought you to the possible river access at gas point road on the right. This is also the location of the final portage falls, into a crack. The eddy above this falls was extremely difficult and sketchy to catch at our flows. We had J.R. go first and then be the "catcher".

The problem was a small tree sticking out of the bank right in our way. This falls also looked to have a runnable line, but none of us were takers.

The paddle-out was thoroughly enjoyable, though it would suck at lower flows. We were amazed at the hundreds of surf holes and waves created by the never-ending sandstone ledges. There were many low-angle slides and sharp bedrock shelves to scrape on, but at 500 cfs they were mostly covered.

In fact, the run doesn't let up as the gradient is fairly continuous with a fun mini-gorge section to boot. There are some very cool cliffs exposed where you can see the tilted sandstone layers. I'm guessing these are deposits from when the central valley used to be an enormous inland sea during the pleistocene? age. Upon our arrival at take-out, we generated our strategy. The shuttle drivers (me & Martin) took off to our vehicle parked at the Ono grange building, 1/4 mile away. The remaining crew trolled around under the bridge until we returned, and upon our return attempted to make a somewhat hasty departure (not really). Maybe we just hit it on the perfect day, with perfect flows and sunny weather, but we all agreed this to be a run we wish to paddle again.

Shuttle is easy, just drive up Rainbow Lake road approx. 5 miles, and past the mini-mule farm until you reach Sunny Hill road on the left. Take this road all the way to the end. The creek should have some small surfable waves at the put-in. The run took us approx. four and a half hours. Did I say no consequences?

North Fork Smith River Headwaters

2010-04-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

This run was definitely not on my radar. My motivation to run something new however, caught my interest immediately upon talking to J.R. He was the brains of the operation, and had already roped Bearfoot Brad, potentially the worlds most weathered shuttle driver into aiding our mission. Allow me a minute to plug Brad's Shuttle service on the Smith River. Brad is a virtual black hole for knowledge about the Smith River; he absorbs all and will tell you as much as you are willing to ask...Be careful, the stories are all true! He takes shuttle driving to a whole new level, tricking out his truck to maintain the shuttle road, and exhuming the courage and willingness to drive shuttle that you wish your girlfriend had.

According to Brad, it had been approximately 5 years since he took a crew to the Upper N.F. Apparently they got separated and wound up hiking through wilderness in the dark. This I tried to laugh about on our drive to put-in, but you can't help but wonder. After leaving Gasquet at close to 11:00 A.M. our drive took us to the Ray's in Smith River where Wes purchased a delicious cut of Tri-tip off the BBQ outside and I was lucky enough to find some granola bars (past their expiration date). The place was a total madhouse...there was about 75 random kids and all their parents in attendance for a planned 'easter egg hunt'. Free coca-cola for everyone! I must admit, beer in hand, I felt a little out of place.

But then we were gone like a whirlwind, and driving up the Winchuck River Rd. It was a beautiful drive through unfamiliar territory, where the pretty girl (she was pretty) seemed to be impressed with Wes' large truck. We averted the potential situation and continued up the road unabated, for we were on a mission. It turns out the Upper NF shuttle road is actually lower than the normal put-in road. We were able to follow our map and turn onto the proper road (290), and were immediately driving through overhanging bushes and trees weighted down with 6-inches of snow. After a couple of miles of this we reached an impassable fork close to 2-miles from the river. It began to snow as we declared this the put-in and geared up quickly.

After a mile hike down the road, we reached its terminal end.

Unable to find any real trail, we dropped into a gully on the right that proved to be fairly easy going. It was steep and woody for about 1/2 mile until we reached a flat spot and the river. The forest was completely old-growth virgin, enormous douglas-fir trees, hemlocks, port-oroford cedars and possibly redwood. We devoured the tri-tip, and put-on probably close to 2:30. The run was entirely the opposite of the standard North Smith Run, with beautiful healthy forests on both banks and smooth dark mudstone rocks.

This section felt more like the middle fork run above siskiyou gorge, though not quite as difficult, and with more wood.

In all, we portaged about 4 times due to wood, but had another 8 log ducks or so. Our level was ideal for ducking wood, without being too low. The river grew in size gradually, and passed through 3 separate gradient sections before its meeting with Baldface Creek. One of these had a sweet bedrock pinch with several ledge drops and mellow holes.

I had been waiting and waiting for the Chrome Creek confluence, though we passed it without making any visual contact. I did notice a sudden increase in water, and mile or so later we reached a large horizon line. No time for pictures, we charged through the best and longest rapid of the entire run, a big and sweet class IV. Upon our arrival at Baldface Creek we stopped for a well-needed break. Baldface creek was easily larger than the North Smith at the confluence.

Cold times call for cold beers...Baldface coming in on the right side of the frame

Below here the character of the run changes completely and assumes the standard N.F. feel for the remaining couple of miles. Props to Brad for coming through, waiting at Major Moores...good trip

South Chetco

2010-04-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

After being on the top of my to-do list this year, I have to say that the south Chetco didn't disappoint. It was absolutely dumping rain in Crescent City, and we were afraid flows were going to spike until we started to see snowflakes at less than 100' elevation.

With perfect flows, a chance to buy cheap oregon gas, and a low elevation guarantee of a snowy shuttle drive to boot, the list of reasons to do this run goes on longer than the actual meat of the gorge itself. That being said, if we had actually taken the right shuttle road to put-in we probably wouldn't have had as much fun on our adventure. Lesson learned: always make sure the person who knows where you are going is in the cab of the truck (as opposed to riding in the back). After driving through snow for half an hour, and reaching the end of the decommissioned logging road we committed to the virtual cliff laced with overhead huckleberry bushes.. knowing what we were in for.

As the cliff got steeper, we were groveling through the mud and clutching to bushes for handholds when I heard my buddy announce we were cliffed out at least 70' above the river, and to head left. Seconds later, I heard a branch snap and my other friend Miguel's boat start careening down the canyon wall. Seven solid "thunks" later, John announced "it's in the river"! Miguel looked at me and asked "what should I do?" to which I replied "run"! It turned out that his boat landed upright, in an eddy, after careening almost 200' down the hillside. At one point during the free-fall, the boat was headed right for J.Warner, and he ducked behind the only nearby tree. The boat smacked the tree, as John avoided the near-maiming. After a one-hour, quarter-mile bushwhack, we all made it safely to the river... J.R. said he saw a little poison oak near the bottom, but I didn't pay that close of attention. Also there is a brand new throwbag waiting to assist anyone else un-lucky enough to find it down the cliff.

Glad to be on the water.

As foretold, the river was mellow with a steady flow and class III character all the way to the gorge.
The scenery was very Oregon-esque with moss covered walls and lots of enormous logs along the bank, as well as beautiful old growth forest. After wondering when the river was going to finally drop, we arrived at the first major horizon line. There was lots of gradient, but the character of the river made for suprisingly forgiving class IV+ drops. In the first rapid, we all ran left through a sort of sneak line (due to ample flow) and aimed for a center boof.

Miguel hit the left boof with good results as well. A couple of more ledge drops downstream brings you to the next rapid, which has a nasty undercut cave/recirculating hole. In our efforts to avoid it, we all took a line to the left, managing to bounce off a very unfriendly underwater rock shelf. This has potential for nasty pin situations, and should be taken seriously. J.R. wisely took a safer line to the left of ours.

J.R.'s Left Line

This led into another fun wavetrain that finished the crux of the gorge.

Around the bend we came upon another great class IV rapid which we ran along the left wall.

After this the gorge let up, very abruptly. As it opened up we all figured it was over: short, and sweet. Luckily, there was one more additional rapid waiting on a right-hand bend downstream to spice things up.

The shuttle is fairly straightforward, though we weren't able to find our way to Swede Haven, the proper put-in (where you can drive straight to the river)...After driving up road 1107 to the top of Snaketooth Butte, we took road 550 on the left at a major two-way intersection. This is the correct road, our problem was staying straight at a major fork approx. 1 mile down this road as opposed to taking the main road, which veers right. Eventually it leads to the river, but that will be for the next crew to figure out. Our flow was 6,000 on the Chetco @ Brookings, and we all felt it could accomodate either less (down to 4,000)...or more!

East Fork Trinity: Mumbo Cr. to Lake

2010-03-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

We paddled this run on April 24, 2009 when the Trinity was flowing 1,000 cfs above Coffee cr. We all felt it was the perfect level for class IV boaters yet had some serious potential for big water play at higher flows (Lochsa style). This run can also be rafted (experts only). Right off the bat the river drops through a steeper section of gradient, followed by a very fun bedrock drop. After this it backs off for awhile, though it maintains a constant gradient throughout (in upper Trinity fashion) beautiful cedars line the banks.

Occasional larger drops are peppered throughout the run. There are two memorable drops in this middle section, one that funnels into a large hole, and another steep rock garden.

Towards the end of the run is a 1/4 mile gorge gorge, signaled by an old dam. This is the best part of the run, and feels like the Feather River drainage with beautiful granite and a mini-gorge-chunk style. It was class IV+ at our flows, but develops into class V material at high water. The best scout and portage seemed to be on the right, though an eddy exists on the left after the Dam Rapid.

The Crux is next, which split around a huge rock at our flow. The right was a boily, backed up hole, with the left side offering a perfect boof banking off of a pillow. Lining a raft through here wouldn't be an option at flows much higher than ours.

Two more quick drops brings you out of the gorge. It would be wise to scout this entire gorge before dropping in.

After the gorge class III-IV rapids continue all the way to take out including one very fun low-angle bedrock slide.

This run is worth doing and deserves some attention. Mumbo Creek and some of the other Tributaries offer additional paddling opportunities making this a worthwhile place to spend a weekend in springtime. Rumor has it that a shuttle route exists on the East side of the river, significantly shorter than driving over Ramshorn Rd. This misses the first rapids, but still puts you above the best stuff. There is also excellent camping at take-out, just downstream from the bridge where the East Fork meets Trinity Lake. 2010 should be an excellent year as Mumbo Basin has received ample amounts of snow (42.5 inches snow-water content as of March 16).

South Trinity: Big Slide to Low Water Bridge

2010-03-14T22:42:00.000-07:00

The South Trinity is probably one of the last runs on anybody's radar: a long shuttle to the middle of nowhere dims the motivation levels of interested paddlers. After 10 years of living in Humboldt, I finally made it on this high-quality stretch of river with good friends Orion "O-Face " Meredith and Paul "Knoxville" Gamache. This trip was made possible by two factors: 1) Orion's Dad was willing to drive us a shuttle and 2) Construction on Hyampom Road means that the Corral Bottom Road is being plowed this winter (2009-10; not usually plowed), shortening the shuttle drive immensely. That morning Orion had to take the GWPE and as such we left Arcata at 10:00 A.M. We met Orion's Dad in Willow Creek, and drove our vehicle to the low-water bridge, eventually hitting the 299 at noon, heading east. 2 1/2 hours of driving brought us to put-in at Big-Slide Campground.

We eventually put on the water at 2:40 in the afternoon, a bit late for the 17 mile section, but we were counting on perfect flows (2,000 cfs @ Hyampom) to carry us along through the canyon. Big Slide, one of the four major rapids, is right at put-in. This is a long 3-part rapid that drops a significant amount of gradient and offers multiple routes. We found the top part to be the sketchiest, a big rock jumble. You immediately begin to notice how many big rocks are in this river while scouting/portaging. Below Big Slide, the river continues to drop through smaller rapids before arriving at Big Undercut (EntrapmentFalls).

At our Flow this was definitely the scariest rapid; I looked at it for 5 seconds before portaging. The first two drops had massive holes and wicked currents looked like making the final move above the big undercut would be a tough go. Several of the rocks on either bank looked dubious as well as a couple obvious sieves. We were running late and opted for the quick portage on river left. It wasn't bad with our kayaks, but a raft would be more difficult for sure as you walk over and around many large boulders. We got back in and several more fun rapids continued.

In fact, I had expectations of this run being only 3 or 4 rapids, but actually there are many fun and exciting drops laced throughout the entire section, with several playspots too--maybe next time I'll bring the playboat and get an earlier start? However, when you approach the obvious powerlines and a class 2 rapid with a disappearing horizon line, look for an eddy on river right. Powerline Falls is ahead. We eddied on the left and were able to get closer to the drop, but the scout and portage are marginal. Orion and I took different lines on the left. Someday I'll get that picture from Paul.

The River did back off for awhile, until we passed the confluence of Grouse Creek on the left, which was carrying a substantial amount of water. The next drop "Grouse Hole" comes after a left hand bend, though not a falls, it had a large hole at the bottom we all punched through inadvertently. Take the time to scout all the way down to this hole. Below Grouse Creek the river drops into a beautiful canyon that continues all the way to Surprise Creek: the 3 Bears put-in. My memory of this section is fuzzy as we were paddling quite hard. We arrived at Low Water Bridge at 5:45, 3 hours and 17 miles later.

This Run would be an excellent 2-day in early spring (March, April). Although it would definitely maintain a great character at lower flows, I imagine this would limit the cleanliness and playspot density that we encountered at 2,000 cfs. It is probably good down to 1,000 or less, though you should expect more sieve and pin hazards at lower flows. Despite the major drops (which can be portaged relatively easily) the run has more of a class III-IV character, and should be on more class IV boaters' to do list.

South Trinity: 3 Bears

2010-02-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a really nice winter here up north...Lots of water, warm weather, good friends and lots of paddlin!

Baby Bear

Our latest exploits took us back to an old friend, the 3 bears run. This has been a favorite of mine since college days when I used to paddle it twice a week with Alex Wolfgram. We were rollin in his huge 82 chrysler (boat!) with boats on top and a milkcrate strapped onto the back, usually carrying empty oly's. Those days are gone, but the river is still the same high quality section with fun rapids, excellent playspots, beautiful scenery and a terrific bike shuttle (one of the best). After a dismal 2009 winter where the South Trin only flowed several times, 2010 has been a major resurgence for this drainage: the longest undammed river in California. The last week of January I teamed up with two new paddlers to the area, Drew and Ryan, as well as Miguel and Seth for an epic day on the bears. Flow was approx 2200 in Hyampom and we all felt it was an ideal play level.

Miguel at Put-In

Seth Naman surfing First Wave

Seth Tearin up Second Wave

Wait a Minute...Are you sure it's January?

Miguel Charging Momma Bear

Ryan and Drew in Poppa Bear

The 3 Bears take-out is almost 7 miles up South Fork Rd (off HWY 299). It is recognizable by a sign for Escot Farms, turn right and follow the left fork down to the river (at the low-water bridge). To reach put-in continue up South Fork Rd another 5 miles, staying left at the turn for Todd Ranch. The road starts to descend after a small hill, and take the right fork which takes you down to Surprise Creek. Have fun and don't forget your bike!

Swift Creek Gorge

2009-08-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is a classic run that flows later in the spring and always leaves you stoked. I have heard it compared to Vallecito Creek in Colorado for its high quality and easy access. Once the flow on the Trinity Above Coffee Creek drops down to the 500 cfs range, Swift Creek is on the verge of being in. High water, however, makes for some scary hydraulics within this tight notch, and eliminates the eddy above "The Elbow Cruncher" portage. Usually, the 300 cfs range on the Trinity gauge is a more managable flow for most people. At higher water, though the gorge is not reccomended, the rest of the creek becomes a kick in the pants, and is runnable all the way down to Trinity Center. The hike-in and paddle are short enough that we have done this as an after-work run, leaving Weaverville at 5:30.

The swift Creek trail is heavily used and a very nice trail, keep an eye out for the carnivorous pitcher plants and ladyslipper orchids.

After 3/4 mile of hiking, the gorge will come into view, and should be scouted in its entirety before dropping in. The ruggedness of the gorge will be immediately obvious, as exit would be extremely difficult and dangerous. Be extra careful to check the eddy below the 20 footer, and immediately above the portage. If you don't feel comfortable with catching the eddy, you shouldn't be dropping in.

Looking down the lip of the 20 with the eddy (right) and Elbow Cruncher (left)

Keep going up the trail and put-in below the bridge at an obvious campsite. There are several boulder gardens to warm-up, they are usually pretty chunky, as the flows should be low for the gorge. The first falls into the gorge has a nasty recirculating hole feeding into a cave behind it. Be careful with this drop, especially at higher flows.

The next rapid is mank, with wood in it. If you run the first falls, eddy out left and portage across this log.

Damon Goodman keeping his balance

Below the mank portage, is the crux 20 footer with the mandatory eddy. Right angle is mandatory coming off the drop, but the landing is green if you boof too hard right. I prefer to roll off the drop without so much as a stroke, just maintaining a right angle. The portage has been run, it is a slide into a crack, but not quite tempting enough for me.

Damon Goodman - Speed Blur

Orion dropping the 20 during a thunderstorm

Two more fun drops lead you to the final falls, exiting the gorge. This is run hard left, against the wall, and with slight left momentum to carry you away from the shelf bottom right. This one is definitely a plugger, and can also be a chunker as the flows get lower. If you have all day, this is where you get out and hike back to the top for laps on the gorge.

Bigfoot guide Chris drops the Final Falls

The paddle out is more steep boulder gardens and a small section of hydraulically mined bedrock with small slides and sticky holes. Check your take-out on the hike-in, I prefer to exit the creek where there is a large boulder on the left next to a bigger drop.

Here is a short Video of Swift Gorge and the nearby Bridge Creek

Upper Red Cap Creek

2009-08-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

Stand of Incense Cedar on Road to Put-In

Emerging from the seldom visited western flank of the Trinity Alps, Upper Red Cap is high quality creekin'. In fact, the drainage is large enough to draw comparisons such as "mini-New" or "Mini Salmon" to its bigger brothers nearby. The gradient, however, is more ample on this run, and flowing through several gorges this creek sports some great rapids. Finding your way to the creek is part of the challenge, as you drive through wineries and eventually reach some unmarked turns...bring a map and you'll have no troubles. We paddled this section when the salmon was at a meek 4' on the gauge and had enough water to get down, but in the future I will probably not return with less than 4.7'.

The Hike-In

Getting to this creek is not easy, though we were pleasantly surprised to find the road was in great shape all the way to the top, and there was a trail leading all the way to put-in. Pretty good access considering this was a (potential) obvious first descent. While hiking in on the trail, several spur trails take-off, though you generally want to stay all the way to the right, as long as you continue downhill. You will reach a small flat filled with mining junk along the middle fork of Red Cap, keep staying to the right, negotiating along the mini-gorge, until you can see the main-stem of red-cap. The last descent to the creek has a poison oak bush waiting for the unwary kayaker.

Damon about to get P.O.

Orion at Put-In

This run is characterized by steep boulder gardens in a remote canyon. The first big rapid you get to is the "Logjam Drop". This marks the beginning of the first canyon.

Orion Meredith Boofin' Away

Too Low To Go--The Crew Portaging an otherwise Sweet Drop

Orion Meredith at the Bottom of the Aforementioned Drop

Fun Rapids continue for a while below here, until you reach "the pinch", where the creek splits up through a weird boulder garden and then comes back together in a gorged out rapid, that could be a difficult scout at higher water (though the rapid would be much cleaner). The bottom of this could also potentially develop a respectable hole at high water.

Chrisler Torrance in "Wall Check"

The Boys on Red Cap

Damon Goodman in The Pinch

Below here the river lets up for a while, and flows through an enormous landslide-carved channel where a debris flow appears to have temporarily dammed the creek, only to break through the earthen-dam. The result is a long, steep boulder garden where the river spreads out fairly wide, this continues for nearly 1/4 mile before backing off again.

Damon Goodman Drops in on the Boulder Garden while Orion Looks On

Martin Scouting the Bottom of the Boulder Garden

After backing off for awhile, Red Cap Creek saves up its best for last, with a final bedrock gorge containing several sweet drops.

Chrisler boofing "The Shelf"

Martin in the final gorge

Red Cap Creek is a run that I can't wait to do again, with abundant flow I think it will be a classic North Coast creek. At our flow I would say it was mostly class IV, with a few tricky drops, however at high flows there would be a good amount of class V.

North Fork Trinity River

2009-08-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

The North Trinity is still one of the steepest and most difficult runs in the Northern California mountains. Reliable spring flows, classic rapids, spectacular wilderness scenery and emerald green water combine to make this one of my favorite runs. Around the corner from put-in, the river starts dropping out in its push towards the Trinity. Much of this section is visible from the shuttle road, high above—it’s much bigger than it looks from the road. Here is a short video of the North Fork Trinity

Limestone Ridge from Hobo Gulch Rd.

The first two miles pack in the fun drops, with a very continuous and steep nature. The stand-out rapids are the first one (which has a nasty log in it) and the island drop. When the river splits, and the left channel is clogged by a large log, take the smaller right channel. Eddy out, and clamber down the island to scout.

Chris Zawacki styles the First Drop at lower flows (500 cfs).

Paul Fritze boofing the next drop

After the initial 2-mile steep section which contains many ledge drops in steep boulder gardens, the river backs off for a while. One rapid of note is a pinched out flume with a tricky seam. This drop can sneak up on you as there are no large eddies above the tricky horizon line.

Fritze styles the Pinch

After this you reach paradise gorge. Within this beautiful mini-gorge lurks one particularly sticky hole, that would be a rough surf. Be sure and boof hard.

View from inside paradise gorge

Lunch Break below paradise gorge

Purple Lewisia Succulent, Endemic to Trinity Alps

Once through this gorge, you will be at the Cabin of Gaines Horn, who runs a business with his wife Karen making "climbing jewelry", and other fascinating trinkets. The cabins are very beautiful and could be used as an emergency exit point (or put-in), as a trail leads back to the road here. However please respect the private property by not stopping here unless it is necessary. If you happen to see the landowners, they are very nice people, say hi to them for me. Here is a link to their website and Karen's blog

http://www.ruggedcanyonjewelry.com/

Paul Fritze checking out the climbing jewelry

Fascinating Micro-hydro power generator

Many fun rapids are interspersed throughout the middle section. Most are short, steep drops into powerful hydraulics. There are also a couple of fun mini-gorges with sticky holes lurking around to keep you on your toes. One of these we call "party time", though it really should be "scary time", after having three simultaneous swimmers out of one hole. We boat-scouted directly into this drop, and had marginal success, with about 40% of our crew stuck. Orion got the worst treatment, he describes being pinned upside down underwater, his wedged between his boat and an undercut rock with the current holding him in place. Fortunately he was able to muscle his way out of the boat, which remained pinned after he exited. Be careful not to blunder into this rapid on the left, an eddy and easy boof line are on the right side.

Extricating Orion's Boat from "Party Time"

Beautiful wild azalea lines the banks

The river calms down for a while, and another access point exists, where there the Waldorf Crossing trail heads back to the shuttle road on river left. This spot is recognizable where a small creek tumbles down a bedrock shelf into the river on the right. Downstream you reach Mr. Squiggles…a classic drop where the river falls 8 feet into a crack, scout left and boof hard right.

Ben York airing out his boof at Mr. Squiggles

Miguel spawning

The final gorge contains several classic drops as well. Of particular note is Leap of Faith—an 8 foot boof into a very sticky hole. Even at 500 cfs I’ve been violently cartwheeled in this drop. Portaging and scouting this drop can be very difficult due to the vertical canyon walls—be careful to set safety here as Arn’s Falls is just downstream.

Looking back up at the Leap of Faith

The left side of Arn's is a hideous sieved out cataract, the right has a classic line that collected a log several years ago making it unrunnable. The portage on the right can be tricky, and this year we were putting in our boats in a small eddy on the right and paddling the last two drops. The portage route is along the cliff on river right…high water can make this portage much more intimidating. Below here, fun rapids continue all the way to the take-out.

Looking Down Arn's Falls

John Warner running Arn's Falls

Beware of high water on the North Trinity, I wouldn't recommend paddling it with more than 1,200-1,500 cfs unless you are very comfortable in big water. 500 cfs should be considered the minimum. The shuttle is rather simple, to get to take out turn at the sign for Helena, about 5 miles west of Junction City and drive about 1.5 miles to the take-out bridge. To reach put-in continue up this road for about 3 miles to where the marked Hobo Gulch road veers off to the left. Continue for 15 miles to the Hobo Gulch campground. This road can be snowed in during winter, though it usually opens up during march or april.

The boys payin' some dues after a rough day on the North Trin