High Water Three Bears

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!

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

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

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...

South Trinity: Big Slide to Low Water Bridge

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.