As we neared the of our 2008 Guide training for Blue Sky Rafting everyone was itching to run other the Clackamas River; our home river. After a really cold April, the first weekend of May was warm and sunny so we thought it would be fun to fire up the first West Fork of Hood River raft trip of the season. The West Fork Hood is a small river which requires significant snowmelt or rain to bring the river up to raftable levels. Although the river was rising, it was still below a good rafting level but everyone was up for a little rock bashing so we decided to run it anyway.

The crew at the put-in

I hadn’t been on the WF for quite awhile so wasn’t sure what a good water level really looked like at the put-in but I figured it was enough to get down without too much trouble. After we got on the river I realized it wasn’t really that low and started to remember the lines through most of the rapids. For the most part the first half is pretty mellow with a really nice, narrow basalt gorge with a couple fun drops and lots of small boulder gardens. The river feels pretty remote. The upper and lower sections of the run are separated by a river-wide fish-ladder where there used to be a nice waterfall.

After the short portage around the fish-ladder, we boated down to scout the biggest rapid on the run; Boulder. Boulder is aptly named as it is a hundred yards of boulders scattered across the river. The main problem for rafts is low water; particularly at the top of the rapid. A smooth line requires some tight moves and it’s pretty likely the raft will get stuck at least once. Jesse’s raft fired it up first and briefly got stuck on the crux rock before spinning off and continuing down the rest of the rapid. Dave just about fell in as the raft tipped while spinning but the rest of the paddlers were able to keep him in the boat.

Jesse’s boat doing a dynamic rock move

My boat was pretty confident we could improve on Jesse’s line as we walked back upstream to the boat. We had a good entrance but got bounced to the right just above the crux rock and couldn’t make the move back to the left. We ended up going over the rock on the right and then heading down the rest of the top half of the rapid on the right. This worked out o.k. except for a brief stick on some small rocks. We finished the rapid by bouncing down the right side through some nice waves. Not exactly my best line but it worked out o.k.!

Jesse’s boat heading down for the final drop in Boulder

After Boulder the river gets steeper and the rapids pick up with some nice drops spaced pretty consistently down the river. After one more manky boulder drop, the rapids clean up and we were able to enjoy some nice drops and some waves. The scenery is exceptional in this section with steep walls on either side of the river.

Jesse’s boat heading down into a nice gorge section

The final gorge on the West Fork

Just above the confluence with the EF Hood River, the WF drops over Punchbowl Falls. I’ve kayaked this drop once but we usually line the rafts past it. Before the trip I thought that some of the young guns would fire it up on this trip and I was right. After a quick scout Jesse, Sarah, Sarah Junior, and Dylan hopped in the bigger raft and fired it up with no problems. This inspired Dave to hop in for the second run in the smaller raft. They back-loaded the boat a bit (maybe a little too much!) and got a huge stern ender at the bottom but still paddled away without carnage. Pretty cool to see 2 successful runs after years of wondering whether a raft would get trashed. Maybe I’ll run it next time.

The second run in the smaller raft

Showing off for the camera 

Below Punchbowl Falls, the West Fork joins the East Fork and becomes the main Hood River. We finished the day with warm weather and sunny skies. All in all, a great day on the river.

I don’t even remember the first time I scouted this section of the Zig Zag River. I know I ran the section in the guidebook 7 or 8 years ago and wasn’t that impressed. Some wood and trashy rapids and then Class 2-2+. This upper section has a much more continuous gradient and promised to be a bit more exciting.

But, after some initial scouting I didn’t see all that much that really called out to me so I put it on the back burner and moved on to other adventures. My friend Trev has just started to get into some exploring and surprisingly enough, our long slog on Little SF Kilchis hadn’t deterred him from looking at other stuff. After a couple scouts of Upper Zig Zag he started talking about doing a run. I wasn’t all that excited but, after spending all day doing taxes, the thought of getting on a river, any river, was very appealing. We met up after work and headed up Mt. Hood to Upper Zig Zag.

View from the Put-in

The put-in for Upper Zig Zag is about 2000ft. and the weather report was calling for snow of all things. We’ve had a crazy winter out here in Oregon so I just had to laugh to myself when it started to hail on the way up the highway. A quick change by the highway and we were off to try and find a put-in. We didn’t know exactly where we were going to start but I thought we might as well try to put-in as close to the top as possible. For the sake of completeness, I guess. A short hike through the snow got us to a very small and very woody river so we immediately decided to try lower down. After a short hike through the backyards of some cabins the river looked marginal do-able so we decided to give it a try. We put-in right below a log jam and crossed our fingers that there wouldn’t be too much more of that.

Of course my hands were so cold at this point I really couldn’t cross any fingers. Just downstream was a log that I thought I could get under so I kept going while Trev stopped to watch. I made it under the first log and then ended up with a second log across my lap. Not good! I was able to extract myself and get to shore for the first portage. The creek was so low that it was pretty easy to stand up and walk out of any situation so I wasn’t too worried about it.

Immediately below this log was a nice rapid that showed the potential of the run if you had more water. Of course, shortly below this rapid was another short log portage. Just after crossing under the highway things seemed to pick up a bit with a nice long rapid. After this Trev got out to scout a log-dam which looked runnable to me but the runnable side forced you to run the next rapid with a log in it. Trev was nice enough to move some logs in the log-dam and then moved the log in the next drop so that I could stay in my boat and run both drops. What a boating partner!

Trev in the rapid below the log-dam

Shortly downstream Camp Creek entered and our flow doubled making things more fun. I came into a log a little fast and did an unintentional roll underneath it which was pretty exciting. Trev wisely came in a little slower and didn’t have any problems. From here it was a fun ride down to the take-out with some pretty nice, continuous rapids.

All in all, I’m glad I finally got on a boat on this section. If it had a lot more water and less wood, I’m sure I’d be back again. As it is, it will probably be awhile before I find myself on this one again.

Not bad for exploratory boating

Jesse, Jason, James Bagley and I got lucky a couple weeks ago and got a good run down Panther Cr. With low snow levels all year and only a modest amount of rain, I wasn’t really sure Panther would have enough water to make it fun. When we got to the put-in and looked at the gauge it was about 17". I couldn’t really remember what the level was the last time I did Panther because it was 4-5 years ago, but Jason seemed to think it would go. Well, he knew it was below the 30" level he last did it last time and was pretty sure we’d have enough water. I figured even if it was a bit low Panther would be better than the other alternatives.

James running the first big rapid on Panther

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This weekend we got just enough rain and snow melt to bring some rivers up. Saturday Jason and I rolled the dice and tried to get on the NF Clack. First time of the year for Jason I think. I checked the flow in the morning and found it to be at a pretty respectable 3′ so we suited up and hiked down to the put-in.

I haven’t been on the NF since we had several low elevation snow storms so I was curious to see the condition of the creek. Pretty soon we started seeing lots of trees bent over the creek with branches in the river. I kept hoping that it would clean up as we progressed downstream but it never really did. I think the weight of the snow was too much for a lot of the alder trees and just pushed them down into the creek. We portaged one small log early in the run and had to dodge a couple more in rapids. Overall the trees didn’t block any of the rapids but they sure made some spots more stressful and added a level of difficulty to a couple rapids.

The water level on the upper section was sweet and we stopped to take some pics and scout for wood every now and again. We bombed the 1/4-mile rapid through the upper gorge. Really fun but tiring! Jason’s in way better shape than me so I don’t think it fazed him. I’ve been struggling with the outfitting in my boat lately which I think has been making me work harder than I should.

Jason dropping into a fun rapid on the upper section

Pretty soon we were at the big portage around the 50′ falls. There were also a lot of new branches down on the portage trail so the hike was harder than normal. After looking at Stairway to Heaven we both opted to put-in below it. I haven’t been feeling particularly confident with my kayaking lately so I’ve yet to run this super fun waterfall. Maybe a little in the spring.

Below the waterfall it’s game on again as the river careens down through some fun rapids with a some mank thrown in to keep you honest. We both had good lines down to above Piledriver and got out to scout for wood. I ran first and preceded to piton at the top and the bottom of the rapid! Not my best run so I decided to hike back up and try for a better line the next time. Jason came down and greased his line and I did pretty well the second time around.

Jason cleaning Piledriver
 

Below Piledriver is currently "The Portage Section" with a new logjam just downstream, new wood that you can sneak on the far left and then the sketchy sneak around a log right above Storm Drain. I just about took my head off on the log when I didn’t boof very hard and then preceded to miss the first 3 scouting eddies above Storm Drain before clawing my way into the 4th and last eddy. Jason corrected off my flailing line and caught the first eddy. Storm Drain looked pretty good but neither felt like running today so we did the quick portage on the left. Below Storm Drain there is a really fun stretch with some good holes and boofs.

Jason near the bottom of the stretch below Storm Drain (the rapid continues upstream around the corner)

Below here the river rips through a fast, narrow chute and then charges down through Blind Date; the last big rapid on the run. Just before I got back into my boat from taking pictures I looked downstream and noticed a river-wide log in the lead-in to Blind Date. This log was hard to see and completely blocks the river so I’m pretty glad I looked downstream before committing to the drop above it! There was some water flowing over the top so we both boofed over it with lots of speed. Kind of a sketchy move but it worked. As I was getting out of my boat to scout, my backband broke again. This was the 3rd time in three trips so I was pretty frustrated. I thought I’d fixed it the night before but I guess I didn’t do a very good job. Jason scouted Blind Date while I rigged up a temporary system that would hopefully get me the last few miles to the take-out.

Jason exits Blind Date

From this point its about a mile of fun, easy rapids all the way to the lake at the take-out. All in all, even with the new wood in the river, we had a great day. It was even more enjoyable since I didn’t expect the NF to have any water and we were lucky to get on it after a last minute decision to check it out.

More details on the run can be found at:

oregonpaddling.northwest-rivers.com
oregonkayaking.net

Well the snow has finally settled down and I had some good boating this weekend. Still can’t get access to a lot of runs so river choices are a little limited. There has been some warm weather this week so when I saw the Washougal at a good high level that seemed to be the best choice. Saturday Jesse and Jason joined me for a run down the NF Washougal. We all thought the NF Washougal would be at a nice juicy level and provide some fun, low stress kayaking.

We were super happy to see that the road to the put-in had been plowed all the way to the top of the hill. Without the plowing, we would be forced to put in at the lower put-in; missing some nice stuff up top. On the way up to the put-in we’d noticed a few other boaters along the road and sure enough, while we were getting ready to hike down to the creek we met some other boaters that were planning to hike through the snow to Hagen Creek. Turned out this was one of about 5-6 different groups up in the Washougal area. Pretty cool seeing everyone out on the river!

Jesse hiking through the snow to the river

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With cold dry weather for the last couple weeks, I was really happy when we finally got a bit of rain and it looked like there were a couple possible boating options. All the low elevation snow we’ve had this year has really limited the options as a lot of runs are inaccessible right now. Megi wanted to demo a boat in Hood River so it seemed like the Farmlands would be a good run to do. As I drove into Troutdale I was surprised to see that I84 seemed to be shut down. I made a call to my sister to find out what the deal was. She confirmed from the ODOT website that I84 was indeed shut down but SR14 in Washington might be good option. I called Megi and we decided the Farmlands was probably out as it was going to take us too long to get there and the roads where probably pretty bad up there anyway. We decided the Wind might be a good 2nd option so we called everyone and changed to the Wind. As we were getting changed at the take-out it started dumping snow and didn’t let up for the rest of the day. I’m used to kayaking with snow at the put-in and along the banks but this was a bit different.

The roads weren’t too bad getting back to the put-in but we had to chain up Megi’s car after it couldn’t make it up the hill from the take-out. I just about fell down the hill at the put-in because of the slick conditions; dropping my kayak on the way down. The Wind was just beautiful with huge icicles along the walls and snow on the banks. The river was at a fun, technical flow so I tried to catch as many eddies as possible; keeping warm in the process. Everything went smooth and we eventually made it back to Portland where it was just raining.

Wind River put-in

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With low water all week, I decided to get out for a quick run on the Sandy Gorge. Since the removal of Marmot Dam, the Gorge has higher flows than in the past which should extend it’s season longer in the spring. Today it was a good medium flow of 1250cfs. The dam removal created a fair amount of debris (logs primarily) that has been migrating downstream every since. Today it was interesting to see that a lot of the logs that were piled up in ‘64 Logjam Rapid have moved downstream.

‘64 Logjam Rapid

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The NF Clackamas is one of my favorite runs. It is only about 10 minutes away from my house, runs often during the winter, and is just hard enough to be exciting but not hard enough that I’m uncomfortable taking some solo trips. The NF Clack is a small river (only about 15 miles from headwaters to end) so it is tough to tell what the water level will be any given day. Big storms can easily bring up the river too high, but it also comes down fast when the rain stops. Finding that perfect medium level can be a real art.

Today I awoke to hard rain falling on my roof and immediately started wondering if it was enough rain to bring the rivers up. By 9am it was still raining really hard and I began to think maybe the elusive NF Clack would come in. When the Clackams gauge at 10am showed the river was rising, I decided to make the move and try an afternoon run. Yesterday our group got stuck in the snow trying to access the Table Rock Fork of the Molalla and ended up doing an easy run on the Copper Cr. section of the Molalla. I was itching to get on something a bit harder and the NF Clack would fit that bill.

I stopped for a quick check of the level at the take-out and it looked good. Water is brown, check. Rocks covered, check. Sediment plume in the lake, check. All the makings of a healthy flow on the NF Clack. On the drive up to the put-in I start wondering if it will be high. Last time I did the NF Clack at high water I was by myself and almost got worked in a hole right above a tricky drop in the crux of one of the steep sections. That experience totally blew my confidence for the rest of the run and I felt like my tail was still between my legs as I finished the run. I didn’t really want to repeat that performance.

There is plenty of time to think about these kinds of things on the 1/2 mile hike down to the river. My first glimpse of the river looked good with water covering the shallow section at the put-in. Shortly downstream I’m was still thinking it was a good medium level. The first big rapid starts on the left, drops fast through a flume in the middle, and then drops 5 feet into a turbulent gorge with a couple big holes. I was reasonably sure it was clear of wood since I’d scouted it last week so I plunged down the first drop and took a quick look at the runout to make sure it was clear before hitting a sweet boof and blasting down through the holes. Great stuff!

I was now starting to think the level was a bit higher than I first thought. It certainly seemed to have some juice but was manageable. There are about 6 sections of the creek that I worry about screwing up. Usually I mentally check each one off as I run them and also check how my boating is going. First rapid check is the S-turn which I just passed pretty well. Next up is a narrow plunge just downstream which also goes well. By this point I’m sure that the level is high; maybe just below the highest level I’ve ever done it. Hopefully I can stay on my game.

Next up on my mental list is a super fun set of ledges that ends in a short gorge and a 5 foot river-wide ledge. I got pushed around these a bit but nothing too bad. At this point there is nothing big until the big portage. I took my time on the portage; stopping to hang out at the Off-Ramp, drink some water and catch my breath a bit. Off-ramp was really stomping. I’m not sure I’d run it even with other people with me but I’m sure not interested when I’m by myself.

Below Off-Ramp the creek changes from the ledge drops in the upper section to steep, congested boulder gardens. The trees close in on either side giving some parts a very claustrophobic feel. Right off the bat is a steep drop through a big hole at the bottom. Then there is a long boulder garden that ends with a zig-zag through 3 off-set ledges. Then the bottom drops out with a wild ride through multiple ledges and holes and cross-currents that end in a riverwide hole right above Piledriver; a fast flume that piles straight into a big rock with a hole on either side. This is the section that got me last time at high water.

I took a big breath, started the plunge and hoped things weren’t bigger than I expected. I got pushed too far right after landing the first ledge which put me in uncharted territory. I made a quick attempt to get back to the middle of the creek, didn’t get there and got pushed up against a rock sideways. I spun and went through the next ledge backwards, hanging onto a high brace knowing I really didn’t want to get upside down. I continued to high brace as I surfed the hole at the bottom of the ledge but was able to pull out of it and get pointed downstream just in time to punch a hole right above the last ledge. I was in good position to boof the last ledge but landed a little crooked and got stopped briefly before I was able to paddle out and catch an eddy just downstream and above Piledriver.

After all the excitement I decided to get out and scout Piledriver. More than anything just to take some time to let the adrenaline subside a bit. It was exactly this point last time that I lost my nerve and started to get a little bit freaked out so I wanted to just calm down and see if I could get my nerves together again. I knew I only had two more significant spots to get by and they were just downstream a bit. I decided to sneak Piledriver down a small channel on the left which turned out to be really rocky with some overhanging branches. Bouncing down this didn’t exactly get my confidence back up.

Not too much further downstream lies Storm Drain; a nasty ledge backed up by a rock and a log with a shallow landing and a stomping hole. When I caught the portage eddy above it I knew I just had one more rapid to check off and I was home free. After Storm Drain the river careens down through some fast current with holes and rocks all over the place. After getting a bit sideways and backwards I got it together to boof the biggest hole. Now all I had to do was catch the scouting eddy just above the last big drop; Double Blind Date. At DBD the creek drops through a fast chute and then squeezes through a narrow slot, bounces off a vertical log and then drops through several holes before dropping over a final rocky plunge. Last time at high water I did a gruesome portage around DBD because I was too freaked out to run it. This time I was determined to run and deal with whatever happened.

I took a couple deep breathes to relax, looked around at the scenery and pulled out of the eddy into the fast current and down into DBD. I got pushed too far left in the first drop, scrambled back to the middle, but was too far right going through the slot. This pushed me up on a wave which pushed me back to the left so that I had to paddle back to the middle to avoid the vertical log. I punched the next couple holes trying to get to the right for the last rocky drop. I was just barely able to get there and when I did, I knew I’d made it. I didn’t start celebrating until the bottom. Oh it’s nice to be alive and in one piece!

After this it was a fun ride to the bottom and the lake where my moped shuttle was waiting. All in all, a great day on a great creek.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad. Quote of the day from Trev.. “Well, that was fun, in a kinda masochistic way.”

Trev running the “bonus” rapid

A week earlier Trev, Jes, Paul and I had run the NF Kilchis and explored a mile of the SF Kilchis.
We had hoped to check out the Little South Fork of the Kilchis after hearing about it from an old PDXKayaker post but ran out of light. Paul and I were able to scout some of it before it got too dark and thought it looked possible so we started working out the logistics. We were hoping for high enough water but there isn’t a gauge on the Kilchis so it’s really a crapshoot until you get to the river. When we saw the river we immediately realized it was going to be a scrap-fest. Oh well. That’s what you get a lot of times with an exploratory run. I’d rather have it too low than too high.

At the put-in bridge, Paul and Trev decided to run a couple drops above the bridge as a “bonus”. Trev went first and preceded to get pinned 3 times in about 10 yards. I found it hard to take pictures while laughing. Paul corrected off of Trev’s line and actually had a pretty smooth run. I decide to put in just below where the river looked like it got a little bit deeper.

Small creek, little water

The first 1/2 mile was a little bit rough. A lot of the creek was runnable but it was a lot of banging, pushing and scraping. Plus we had some relatively easy portages around logs. We did get a couple nice sections with small ledges and boulder gardens which would be fun with more water. Then it was back to portaging wood. At one spot, Trev was leading and got out above a mess of branches and logs blocking the river. He was out of his boat on the shore as I came cruising by and thought I saw a way through so preceded to keep going. I heard “You’ve got to be kidding me!” as I disappeared into the tunnel of branches. Thankfully there was a way through and I stopped downstream to see first Paul and then Trev work their way through. Yea, it was a little bit ridiculous. Below this the creek got noticibly better with a nice boulder garden and a couple good drops in a small gorge. One drop I pitoned so hard I whiplashed my neck and left a good gouge in the nose of my boat.

Very shortly after the good stuff we met up with the main fork of the Little South Fork of the Kilchis and finally had water! What fun to actually be floating and not banging our way down the riverbed. Some nice scenery and fun rapids led up to a big boulder garden we saw from the road while driving to the put-in. We all scouted this long rapid for a while and then I fired it up first so I could get in position to take some photos. This is a great rapid with several good boofs and tricky moves. I went deep in the last ledge and got pushed towards the left wall but finished o.k. and set up to take some pictures.

Trev dropping in

Trev was up next and got thrown around a bit on the top and then almost got sucked back into the hole below the big ledge before paddling out and downstream. He decided his run wasn’t up to his standards so he promptly hiked his boat up to the top again and did another run. This was followed by a third run as well. Meanwhile, after a long scout Paul fired it up. He got pushed to the left before the big ledge and ran the chunky slide on the left. I thought he looked pretty good but he told me afterwards that it wasn’t his intended line. All in all, a great rapid. We all wished there was a few more like it as the river gradually got flatter and flatter before the take-out. We did see a bald eagle and a few steelhead to spice up the run out.

Paul finishing up

With all the rain we got last week lots of rivers were at good levels. However, low elevation snow made me concerned about being able to get to the put-in on Cascade and Gorge rivers so I started to look at Coastal options. Paul and I did the main Kilchis last year with some rafting folks and where surprised just how scenic the river was. We hadn’t been able to do the upper 2 miles where the guidebook said most of the whitewater located. We thought about trying the Trask River which I hadn’t done for about 17 years but in the end picked the Kilchis. We thought we’d knock off the main river and then poke around some of the other forks and see what was up.

Allen at the bottom of the big rapid on the main Kilchis River

The flow was a little lower than we wanted but still plenty of water in most places to get down. From the put-in bridge the river has some pleasant small rapids and nice scenery. Mostly Class 2 stuff. Just when I was wondering if this was going to be all the rapids on the upper section, I saw a bigger rapid just downstream. I ran the first drop and then caught a small eddy above a boulder-choked drop. It was really difficult to see the bottom of the drop so I moved around a bit but couldn’t get a good view. There was also no place to get out and look at the drop. I knew it wasn’t too big but still, it is always nice to know if there is any wood or something unexpected in the drop.

Just as I was thinking of committing to one of the slots between the boulders, Trev came barreling downstream and ran the middle slot. Right behind him came Jes. Aren’t probes wonderful? Having seen both of them come out at the bottom just fine through the middle, I thought I’d probe the left slot. I dropped into some swirly water, got spun backward and dropped into the pool at the bottom. Not my finest moment.

Below this rapid was another nice boulder garden and a rapid past some wood in the middle of the river. Soon enough we were at the confluence with the SF Kilchis which is where Paul and I put-in last year. We ran the fun rapid at the confluence and then a fun slide just downstream. These rapids where juicy last year with higher flows but with lower water they were pretty mellow fun.

Paul exits a fun boulder garden in the upper 2 miles

Jes and Paul watch as Allen runs the fun rapid below the SF confluence

Nice scenery on the main Kilchis River

The rest of the run is pretty flat with nice scenery and some rapids 2-3 miles below the SF confluence. We wanted to scout the SF Kilchis so we crammed 5 boats and people into Paul’s pickup and headed back upstream to the SF. After moving a few trees off the road, Paul was able to make it about 3/4 of a mile up the SF until the road ended at an old bridge site. I looked upstream and saw a small ledge and immediately knew I wanted to see what was upstream. Everyone else agreed so we paddled across the river and started hiking upstream. Along the way we could see down into a small gorge with what looked like a pretty stout rapid.

The big one (Chunky Monkey) on the SF Kilchis

I got briefly pinned in a small boulder garden near the put-in and knew I had to shift gears a bit and get a little more serious before the stuff downstream. Once we got out to look at the big rapid, we all realized it didn’t really have a good line. The right side lands in a pothole at this level and the left side has a very thin line to miss a rock in the landing. With more water I think the right side would be good but we all opted to walk around and put-in at the bottom.

Just downstream is a fun, tight boulder garden with a couple good lines. I did well on the first slot drop but got pitoned on the second drop and got pinned for a two-count before the boat moved downstream. Not my finest boating by a long shot. Everyone else came down with varying success.

Fun boulder garden just downstream of Chunky Monkey

Jes about to drop into the slots below Chunky Monkey

Just downstream of this rapid was the small ledge drop I saw from the old bridge site. Fun. Below the old bridge the river enters a very pretty gorge with some fun good quality rapids. Similar to Jordan Cr. in the Wilson drainage. Soon enough we were at the confluence with the main Kilchis and climbed up to the road just as it was starting to get a little dark.

View from the take-out bridge

The boys at the take-out