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
The hike was pretty easy with good firm snow and all downhill. When we got to the river Jason and I were both surprised to see that the river wasn’t very high at all. I think all the water was coming in from lower elevation tribs where there was some snowmelt. It’s been a very tough year trying to predict water flows.
Jesse navigating the snowy upper section
The upper section went quickly and wasn’t too rocky. Pretty soon we were at Teakettle Falls which seemed to have a pretty good amount of water in it. Jesse fired it up with a nice center line and we moved along down to the big 20′ falls.
Jesse dropping into Teakettle
None of us were really feeling this one today. I don’t like the extremely turbulent run-out through a narrow pinch so I’ve never really considered running it. One of these days maybe. Today the seal-launch at the bottom of the rapid felt a little more unstable because of the snow on the rocks. I got the joy of going last and was muttering under my breath the whole time about how I didn’t like how it felt while Jason laughed and snapped pictures of my discomfort. That’s what paddling buddies are for!
View from the lip of the big falls
Me CAREFULLY trying to get into my boat on the seal-launch
After this point we bombed the rest of the river. The water kept rising with every trib coming in and by the middle of the run we were on a great flow with big waves and holes all over the place. I got stopped trying to punch a big hole and had the fun of watching Jason come through the hole on my left and Jesse on my right just before I pulled a huge cartwheel in my creekboat and flushed out upside down. That’s me, always ready to provide entertainment. There were some fun surf waves near the take-out and we all did some old-school, creekboat surfing. Good stuff! We finished with sun and warm weather which was a welcome change from all the cold weather and snow we’ve had lately.
Sunday
Jordan Creek
Kim and Trev suggested a trip on Jordan Creek on Sunday. Flows looked pretty good and I haven’t been on Jordan Creek for probably 5 years so I was pretty happy to see it again. Jordan Creek got hit pretty hard by high water the last couple years and was pretty un-runnable because of wood in the river. This year it seems to be pretty clean with only a couple logs that require some careful maneuvering. Jordan is a really popular beginner/intermediate creek in the coast range and I’d forgotten just how much fun the creek can be at a good water level. We decided to hike upstream of the road closure to get a couple more rapids. Just downstream from where we put in is a funky ledge with a narrow chute on the far right and a decent line down the middle. It was at this point that I realized I only remembered/recognized the rapids when I was in the middle of them. That made it even more fun trying to figure out the rapids on the fly.
Kim runs the first ledge
Below this ledge the creek continues with a number of really fun rapids and a fun sequence of rapids set in a small gorge. The river is really pretty and eventhough things got a bit hectic for the group here and there, we were all having a great time. The biggest rapid on this stretch occurs just above a road bridge on a sharp left turn in the river. Here boaters must punch a sticky, river-wide hole and then dodge some holes and funky currents through a narrow exit under the bridge. This rapid definitely was bigger than it looked when we scouted it from the road. Trev gutted the middle of the hole; subbing out for a second before surfacing clear of the hole. There is a good recovery pool below the rapid to sort things out if something goes wrong.
Biggest drop on the run
Below this rapid things started to calm down a bit but there was some surprisingly good play spots even with a creekboat. The last mile was fast and exciting through a pretty gorge and then we were on the brown, high flow of the Wilson. Great trip on a classy Oregon creek.
Kim dropping into some fun waves on Jordan Creek
