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


I saw some of this wood just downstream but some of it has moved all the way down to Boulder Rapid. Boulder is the toughest rapid to portage and scout so it really sucks to have wood there. Right now there is wood in all 3 channels. There is a really thin line through the far right channel but it looks bad from above and the consequences could be significant. There is a log partially blocking the middle channel which can’t be seen from above. Use extreme caution if thinking about running this channel. The left line is partially blocked by a log which forces boaters uncomfortably close to the undercut/sieve on the right of the channel. I wouldn’t recommend this line.

Boulder Rapid

Today I was able to sneak the first part of the left channel by staying against the far left wall of the river (just to the left of the photo) and then coming back into the channel below the log. It is also possible to portage on this side. Definitely scout this rapid carefully before committing.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Rasp Rock was wide open and I ran the right slot with no issues.

Rasp Rock (the far drop)

Drainhole has also cleaned up and I ran this one with no problems. Note the high water line!

Drainhole

Revenue Bridge Rapid was also a little bit cleaner. This picture shows the far right line which seems to be getting better. There are also a couple options down the middle and one on the far left.

Revenue Bridge Rapid

Great afternoon as usual on the Sandy Gorge. I only saw a couple other boaters.

Written by peteg - Visit Website

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Kayaking, Rafting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.