Happy to have escaped a beat-down below/behind the falls

It seems like a long time ago when I first ran Nohorn Cr. It was back in 2001 when I’d really only started poking around looking for some new runs in the area. Nohorn was a surprise and in hind-sight, we got pretty lucky the first time we did it. I’d only scouted the put-in and the take-out and didn’t have any idea what was in between the two. We put on with no real beta and had a pretty good time with relatively manageable wood and some fun rapids. As is usually the case, I did a flurry of runs after the first and then moved on to look for other runs and kind of forgot about Nohorn. Of course, it didn’t help that the last time I ran Nohorn, the best drop on the run was choked with wood.

Over the last couple years, Nohorn had crept back into my consciousness and I began to wonder whether high water over the last couple winters had cleaned out the wood in Nohorn. Ever since the first descent, I’d wondered what lay upstream and this finally inspired me to get back up to Nohorn.

My first goal was to look at the upper section above the usual put-in and I was pleasantly surprised to find a sweet 10 foot waterfall at the beginning of this section. This was enough for me, so, on May 8th I headed back out to run a new waterfall and try my luck on the rest of Nohorn.

View from the put-in

After a short hike through snow to get to the put-in, I scouted the falls and while it looked a bit more powerful than at low water, I figured at worst, I’d get pushed over into the eddy on the left bank. I figured I had about 10 warm-up paddle strokes before the falls so I spent some time visualizing my line, splashed some water on my face and pulled out of the eddy. Everything felt good lining up and I waited to put in a boof stroke. Well, that didn’t seem to happen or it didn’t make a lot of difference as I took a good hit at the bottom, felt the kayak start to stand up on end and flip over. I had a brief panic when I thought I was getting pulled behind the falls but I felt some resistance on my paddle and rolled up as I was flushing over to the left bank. I didn’t realize until I got over there that my skirt had blown and I was quickly sinking. Never the less, I was pretty excited with my run. There is something special about running a drop for the first time by yourself.

After emptying out my boat and taking a couple pictures, I headed off downstream and quickly made it to the regular put-in. From here I remembered enough of the run to boat-scout most of the rapids for wood and to remind myself of the lines. I quickly realized I had a great, medium water level and was surprised at the quality of rapids and scenery. Maybe I hadn’t noticed either on previous runs because we were busy dodging wood, but I was starting to have a lot of fun.

Little bit of rapid, little bit of wood, little bit of gorge

Good Stuff

As I progressed further downstream I was hoping I’d recognize the eddy above Cookie Monster. In the past, we used a one boat eddy on the right to portage this big slide but as I recognized the corner before Cookie Monster, I looked over and didn’t see any eddy on the right. Well, there were a couple eddies but they were very small and were directly above the quickly accelerating water above Cookie Monster. I quickly decided there must be a portage on the left or I’d make one. I wasn’t going to try and catch one of those small eddies and maybe get the un-intentional first D of Cookie Monster.

Cookie Monster

Surprisingly enough, I found the portage on the left much easier than what we used to do in the past and there is a very big eddy to get out above Cookie Monster. Happy with myself, I headed downstream knowing that the next biggest rapid on the run is just below Cookie Monster. This drop was completely messed up with wood the last time I’d been done here but I was hopeful it had cleaned up over the years.

A quick eddy on the left after seeing the clean lead-in, a short scramble up under some rocks to get a look at the bottom of the rapid and I was happy but disappointed to see that while there wasn’t nearly as much wood as last time, there was a huge log right in the middle of the last drop of the rapid. There was a pretty clear line on the right that I contemplated for a long time and knew I could make but….the chances of self-rescue if I missed the line were pretty slim. So, with much regret, for once, I erred on the side of caution and resigned myself to the crappy portage. This was pretty exhausting.

A little bit of wood but it all goes

Below this rapid are a couple other good rapids and then I was above the lead-in to the last ledge at the take-out. After a fast lead-in, most of the water pushes to the left and drops about 10 ft. onto some rocks with wood wedged into them. Not a good place to be. The safe move is to run the lead-in and then quickly move to the center where the ledge is clean. The water is pretty shallow at the top so it is a bit hard to get any traction with a paddle.

After a short scout, I pulled out and accelerated into the lead-in. As I turned to the right I hit a hole and got stopped for a bit. Not part of the plan but as it turned out, the hole surfed me to the right where I was able to line up well for the ledge. Pretty exciting stuff to finish the run.

View from above

There are a couple Eagle Creeks in Oregon. There is the Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge that has been featured in a number of kayaking videos with big, runnable waterfalls and dramatic gorges. This Eagle Creek flows into the Clackamas River about 6 miles west of the little town of Estacada and contains lots of Class 2-3 rapids and a few easy waterfalls. Eagle Creek flows south out of the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness and was ground zero for one of the most contentious anti-logging protests in Oregon back in the late 90s and early 2000s.

The upper section of Eagle Creek has been on my radar for a long time. I’ve done the middle and lower sections many times over the years but for some reason, never ventured up to the upper section. The description in the guidebook doesn’t exactly make it sound like an outstanding run and there is the hike to the put-in….maybe I’m just getting old and less adventurous.

View from the put-in

Finally the day arrived and what a day! Sunny and close to 70 deg. Really the first real spring day we’ve had this year. When I tried to get to the put-in earlier this year there was too much snow on the road but today, there wasn’t any snow in sight. We stopped a bit early on the drive to the put-in and decided to hike because I wasn’t all that excited about getting my car beat up and stuck. After a hiking probably 2 miles or so we could see the river and started to look for a way down. We were in some really nice old-growth forest so getting down to the river was pretty easy. Once there we found a low but o.k. flow and got geared up to do some rock bashing until the creek picked up more water.

Paul bashing some rocks early in the run

After quite a bit of rock dodging, rock bashing and one portage around a log, the creek finally started to consolidate and some nice, small rapids appeared.

Paul at the beginning of the good stuff

Most of this section was boat-scoutable but we stopped every now and again to check for wood and take some pictures. The scenery was excellent and the rapids were very classy and fun Class 3.

Paul in the middle of the good stuff

More nice stuff around the corner

With the change in the geology and the fact that it seemed like we’d been paddling for quite a while, we knew we must be getting close to the waterfall at the end of the run. As we rounded a corner it was obvious that we’d arrive. The falls really wasn’t anything like what we both expected from the guidebook description. I was expecting a friendly falls similar to the ones on the lower sections. Maybe it cleans up with higher water but it was a bit ugly at the flows we had. Very runnable but a bit ugly. It’s too bad because the man-made features of the falls really made it much harder to run safely.

Fish Hatchery Falls

We both chose to portage along the structure on the right and after hanging out for a bit, ran the small weir in the run-out of the falls and headed downstream. We decided to run all the way through the hatchery and hope that the electrified fish barrier wasn’t in play before the take-out. I probed and wasn’t electrocuted so Paul came through and we took out at the put-in for the middle section.

I hopped on the moped for the shuttle and Paul took a nice nap in the sun. I was pretty satisfied with the run after waiting so long to do it. I think it makes a great mini-exploratory run for those interested in a mild adventure off the beaten track. With higher water levels the upper section would be fun, the rapids above the falls would be great, and the falls might be more runnable. Definitely worth checking out, particularly on a sunny, warm spring day.