Wheels & Water

Sweet Creek (1.28.12)

2012-02-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

It's probably no surprise, either if you know me or follow my stories, that Sweet Creek is one of my favorite local runs. I have actually done a write-up on it once before (here), but since it's changed a bit since the last floods, I thought I'd do another. It seems that boaters in the area either love it or hate it, but one thing we can all agree on is that it's one of the steepest and most exciting creeks in Oregon, at least that is easily accessible. On the downside, it has a few trashy drops and is way too short.

This past weekend I had plans to hangout with a group of friends at a beach house on the coast, and since Sweet Creek is in the Coast Range and only about 45 minutes from where I was staying, I decided to see if anyone would want to meet up there on Saturday. In the end I was able to round up Roman Androsov, who in turn was able to enlist Matt Cline, a new transplant to the Eugene area and avid boater. Since we would be driving from different locations, we decided to just meet-up at the take-out at noon. From there we would hike up and run some laps on the crux section.

Considering that flow is always a bit of a dice roll, I was glad that we had a crew willing to take a chance. That said, I've actually had pretty good luck with hitting the window, which I attribute to a gained understanding of how the creek drains. Basically, it's a very short/steep drainage, so it only comes in after a few days of hard rain and doesn't stay in long. Since there is no flow gauge on Sweet Creek itself, you must use the Siuslaw at Mapleton gauge (here). The main thing you are looking for is a 2' spike on the gauge, which usually sets up a day or two of good flows. If you have a smaller spike, say 1 foot, you might be able to catch it that day. We were actually facing the opposite situation, the gauge had spiked a whopping 7' three days prior. To be honest I didn't know what this would bring us, but my gut told me it would be perfect, if not a little on the juicy side.

The gauge used for Sweet Creek, found here.
On this day (the 28th) we had ~9', coming
off a 7' spike three days prior.

Since I had a slightly shorter drive, I ended up getting there first, which allowed me to hike up without my boat to check flow and see how the creek fared after the recent floods (e.g. wood). The first thing that I noticed (other than having a nice solid flow) was the section below the last major drop had been shifted around a bit; although it was still shallow and rocky, some boulders had been moved around, which really made me wonder what changes, if any, lay upstream. As I rounded the next few corners of the convenient hiking trail, the crux section came into view. Immediately my eye was drawn to a chuck of log resting against the left wall just below the fifth and final drop of this crux section. As I moved in closer it looked like it was definitely in play, but at the same time appeared to be more of a nuisance than dangerous.

The new log at drop #5

I continued upstream and scouted the remaining drops along the way. The next change that I noticed was the lead-in to drop #3 (the punchbowl drop) which had cleaned up significantly due to boulders also being moved around in this section. From here the creek was relatively unchanged, other than a small tree that was blocking the normal put-in eddy. It should be noted that between Sweet Creek Falls (upstream) and this eddy, which we typically put-in at, is a series of shallow slides and ledges, which in my opinion, is not really worth running, although it might be fun at really high flows.

Looking down the crux section of Sweet Creek

Looking up at the crux section

This was taken on a previous trip (slightly lower flow).
Note that the log is not there.

As I started hiking back down to the car I ran into Roman and Matt, who happened to be checking out the log I mentioned earlier. After a brief discussion we decided that with proper safety set the hazard was manageable. Since Matt hadn't done the run before, we quickly discussed the other drops before heading back to the car to get geared up. One hazard that was worth mentioning is a vertical pin spot on drop #4, which got me last year. This was not the first incident at this location and probably won't be the last, so take it very seriously. For an account of my entrapment, go here.

Because of the well maintained hiking trail and spectacular scenery, Sweet Creek is a very popular hiking area as well, so back at the parking lot we got the usual assortment of questions/comments, like: "Are you guys gonna take your boats down that?!", or my personal favorite "Are you guys crazy?!" After confirming their questions and exchanging pleasantries, we headed back up for some fun.

Hiking up for some fun
(photo by Matt Cline)

Since I wanted to setup for some video and photos from below, I stopped at the drop with the log (#5) and told the others that I would set safety. Aside from the wood this drop is also a good one for safety due to the beefy hole that forms with higher flows, like we had on this day. With that, I seal-launched into the water and ferried across to get set-up -- while doing so the others continued the hike to get ready for their runs. I was actually surprised with how easy it was to set safety at the log, basically it has a nice little perch carved into the wall right next to it. I was also a bit surprised with how much stickier the hole looked from close up, the pile feeding back into the hole was much taller than I had interpreted it from the other side of the creek.

Before long I could see Roman dropping over the punchbowl (#3) and eddying out just below it on river-left. After a few more seconds he reappeared and dropped down the slide that follows. I quickly readied my bag and waited for his arrival. As he dropped over #4 he was spun around and thrown against the left wall (not uncommon). He quickly ferried back into the current and turned around at the last minute before dropping over #5, where I was staged. Roman went deep, and as he resurfaced against the left wall the hole locked on. Putting in a flurry of paddle strokes he attempted to paddle out, but unfortunately the backflow was strong and the wall was making it hard to take a left stroke. As I could see the hope leaving his face I waited for him to call for the bag. Then I came up with another idea and shouted at him to feed me the end of his paddle, which he did without hesitation. I quickly grabbed the paddle shaft and pulled him free of the hole, after which I guided him through the narrow opening between the log and wall. "Well, that was a close one!" Roman pulled into the eddy below with a big grin on his face, and after thanking me, took my place at safety so I could hike up for my turn.

Roman drops into #3
(photo by Matt Cline)

Roman at #4
(photo by Matt Cline)

Roman squeezes through the narrow slot between
the log and wall, after receiving the "hand of god".
(photo by Matt Cline)

When I got to the top I was greeted by Matt who was holding his camera. Since he was already set to take photos, I volunteered to go next. Still struggling with a head cold, I rested for a few minutes before dropping in. As I slid into the water I splashed my face and prepared to drop off the face of the earth -- well, with a gradient of ~600'/mile that's how it feels anyways. Drop #1 went fine, and after eddying out for a brief moment, I setup for #2, the Super Boof. I came off with a nice stroke and ran it pretty much as planned. Since the lead-in to #3 is now much cleaner, I didn't spend much time setting up and just kept moving. Next, I ran the Punchbowl along the left wall (like I always do), and headed toward #4, and #5, which are pretty much stacked on top of each other. Just like Roman, I was spun around and thrown against the left wall coming out of #4. The difference between our two lines was that I got flipped by the hole in number five and was forced to pull my skirt -- damn... Now out of my boat, I struggled to stay above the surface in my desire for air. Unfortunately I couldn't see Roman or a rope since my boat was smacking me in the face. After getting pulled back into the hole once, I frantically swam to the right side of the hole (where it kicks out) and was able to escape its clutches. Luckily I was able to get out in one of the eddies below where my boat had also washed up on a rock. My paddle was stuck under water where Matt easily retrieved it. At this point I was fairly pooped and figured I wouldn't be doing another lap (at least right way), especially with how sticky the hole was. With that I gathered myself and returned to my safety position at the log so the others could run some more laps.

Matt was next, which would be his first trip down -- I can only imagine what he was thinking after seeing both Roman and I struggle with that damn hole. If it did make him nervous, it didn't show, as he pretty much ran all the drops perfectly (at least the ones I could see). He was now headed straight into the dreaded #5 drop, and got in a nice stroke as he came over the lip, but this was still not enough to keep him from going deep. Basically it was a reenactment of Roman's situation, and I ended up giving him the "Hand of God" as well by grabbing his paddle and pulling him free (in his boat).

Matt runs the second part of #1

Matt lines up #2, the Super Boof

Throughout the next part of the day Roman and Matt ran another few laps with even better lines and no issues at the hole. There was also another group of boaters that had shown up and ran some laps as well. Between all the boaters, there were a couple more swims, one at the punchbowl (#3) and one at #4, which included a wild self rescue -- a little bit of a shit show, if you were judging.

Matt helps recover a boat from an unknown swimmer

Matt at safety on #5

An unknown boater rests below #2 before continuing on

Out of the blue our buddy Joe showed up, along with his dog Mackay. He wasn't sure if he wanted to boat or just go for a hike, but was more than willing to be there with a throw bag and a camera. By this time I was also starting to feel a bit more energized and decided I couldn't let the others have all the fun, and hiked back up to run at least one more lap and get some redemption. This time went much better and I was actually able to eddy out on river right between #4 and #5, which allows you to miss that damn hole. I love catching this eddy, but it's not an easy one to grab -- the only time I really go for it is if I'm able to come out of #4 with right angle, otherwise you run the risk of missing it and running #5 backwards, which I've seen happen far too often.

The author gets ready for lap 2, hoping for a better outcome...
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The author takes flight at #2
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The author at the punchbowl drop (#3)
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The author drops over #4...
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

...and goes deep
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The author glad to be clear of the
hole and at the bottom of the crux
(photo by Joe Brushyhead)

As Matt said, "Mennonites love them some kayaking"
(photo by Matt Cline)

Roman shows how much he loves setting
safety by sportin' off his newest dance moves

Now that we were done running the top five drops making up the crux, we headed down to the bottom three. The first of these is #6, a 10' to 12' falls that has a very narrow landing between a shallow rock shelf on the right and a rock outcropping on the left, both of which can inflict boat or body damage. I seem to hit my elbow at least 75% of the time, so if you decided to run it make sure you're wearing pads. Both Matt and I had decided to eddy out above it, while Roman decided to fire-it-up without doing so. I noticed that he seemed to be a bit right as he went over the falls, and as he rolled up at the bottom he grimaced and motioned that he had pitoned. I was actually planning to walk it anyways, but since we had just enough flow to sneak it on the right, I took that option, along with Matt. It should be noted that the lead-in to this one has also changed, so if you haven't run it in awhile, it's worth a look.

Roman sets up for his new nose job
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The author takes the sneak route
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The last 2 drops are some of the best on the run. The first of these (#7) is a slide into a good sized hydraulic at the base. Since you build up so much speed and there really isn't a hole, chances are you'll just right crash right through with a big smile on your face.

Roman drops into #7
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

Matt at #7
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The author takes his turn
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The author hits the pile at the bottom of #7
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The last drop (#8) is basically an auto-boof, assuming you hit the nose of it. This is also an easy one to lap by hiking back up from river-left, and I highly recommend doing so since this one is just too much fun. The three of us each took a couple goes at it before heading down to the take-out ~50 yards downstream.

Matt hits the boof nicely on #8
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

Hiking back up for another round
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

The author grabs the ape hangers at #8...
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

...and braces for impact
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

Roman finishing up with a nice boof
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

Mackay greets Matt near the take-out
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

Even with the swim, it was another great day on Sweet Creek. The recent floods definitely changed the run a bit, some for the better and some for the worse, but in the end it's still the same ol' run. A big thanks to Joe for showing up and helping out, especially with the camera!

Clover Point Waves (1.21.12)

2012-01-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

I've often been told that when the McKenzie River (OR) gets really high flows that Clover Point forms a series of huge surf waves, and is arguably the best play in Oregon. However, since I much prefer creeking, I seem to always end up on the steep stuff since the flows of Clover and the nearby creeks typically coincide with each other. This past weekend things were different, as most everything was blown-out except for Lake Creek and Clover. Since I’ve run Lake Creek many times before, I opted for the latter and made some phone calls to rally the troops. Soon enough, we had a fairly good sized group. Since it’s only about 45 minutes from Eugene, we decided to get some extra sleep and opted for a late start, leaving town around 1pm.

The gauge was reading just under 5’ and was dropping pretty steadily. My understanding is that the best flows are between 4.5’ and 5.5’, although I’ve heard it’s also good up to about 6’. As we drove past the waves, they definitely looked sweet through the car windows, and I was getting pretty fired-up to see what they had to offer.

The gauge used for Clover. On this day we had between
5' and 4.5' as it dropped throughout the day

As Roman and I pulled into the Mom’s Pies parking lot, we saw Lofty and Tyson, who were the first ones to arrive. While changing, Joe, Matt, and Eric showed up, rounding out the crew for the day. One-by-one we put-on and headed the 1/8 mile or so downstream to the giant waves. Since I had crammed a bunch of camera gear in my little playboat (not tied in of course), I decided to play it safe and skirt the waves before pulling into the staging eddy. Once there I quickly unpacked my boat and threw the gear on shore. After taking a few pics I got back in my boat, slid into the water, and got ready for my turn.

The Clover waves. Note that the one in front of Tyson and Roman
(just off the rock) is actually the entrance wave-hole that is used
to get on the main ones in the middle of the river.

Once again, Clover is actually a set of three waves that form at high water. The first two are stacked back to back with the third sitting back just a bit. The third is also more of a wave hole and can get pretty rowdy if you get into the meat of it. That said, the first is the most targeted with the second being a good backup in the event that you flush off. It should also be noted that getting onto the waves takes a bit of effort. Basically, one must surf a small, and somewhat sticky, wave-hole at the top of the eddy to get into the main flow; once there you will line up while floating backwards until the pile of the wave smashes against your back and shoots you forward down the face of the wave – this is probably my favorite part of the surf!

Joe drops into the entrance wave-hole to get to the main waves

The author drops down the face of the wave after droppin' in

Once you’ve settled onto the wave (the first one), be ready for a fun bouncy ride -- this wave is very dynamic. It took me a few rides to start feeling comfortable and relax my nerves a bit, as it’s a pretty intimidating amount of power. If you are a good playboater (which I’m not), you should be able to throw a pretty good variety of aerial tricks. I was just happy to carve and throw spins, which were remarkably easy thanks to the large pile at the top and strong shoulders at the edges. Once again, as you come off the top wave keep it pointed upstream to catch the one right behind it, which is also quite fun to surf, although not as retentive or clean.

Matt carves it up on the first wave

Tyson takes his turn on the first wave

Aaron (Lofty) works the first wave.
Notice the shoulders and pile -- Awesome!

Roman looks on as Lofty sets up between moves

Matt throws a nice blunt on the first wave

Lofty gets a nice bounce -- pretty common on the first wave.

Eric digs in for a nice ride

The author mid spin. The large pile made staying on pretty easy.

Roman on wave #1

The last wave, as stated above, is pretty burly, but at the same time, can really give up some good rides. To get on this one you really need to come off the second on surfer's right (river-left). There is one more small hole directly after the third – although it’s not really surfable, it could mess with you while rolling up.

Aaron tries out the third wave

Aaron gets some spins in the meaty
part of #3 as Roman drives for the eddy

Everyone in the group was having a blast, but getting pretty tired at the same time. It’s amazing how much energy it took to get out to the wave as well as stay in control once you were on it. This of course can make it tough to roll back up, especially since the water is so chaotic down below – even the swirly water blocking the eddy can throw you around a bit. We actually had a swim in the group, which ended up being fairly long but relatively safe, since there are no real hazards downstream other than the fast moving current.

All in all, I’m super glad I checked out these waves, and will certainly be returning from time to time. They offer opportunities for tricks way beyond my abilities, but even with my limited arsenal of moves it was great fun, albeit a little intimidating at first.

Footage from our session at Clover:

Camera Gear

2012-01-10T22:12:00.000-08:00

Recently I’ve had people asking me what equipment I use to take photos while kayaking and mountain biking, so I thought it might be good to do a post specifically geared (no pun intended) to this topic. First off, I am by no means a professional, or even an amateur photographer -- I’m simply an overzealous hobbyist that that also has a problem when it comes to spending money on gear, just ask anyone who knows me. With that out of the way, let’s get to the discussion at hand.

What kind of setup do I need?
This would be like asking, what kind of kayak or mountain bike do I need? Obviously it depends on what you’re looking to get out of it--there is no right answer here. Start by asking yourself “What features are important to me?” Life is full of compromises, and camera gear is no different. Here are a couple of considerations:

1. Cost: How much money do you want to spend? The sky is the limit here.

2. Weather resistance: e.g. A waterproof point & shoot (with which you can take pictures from your boat) vs. a non-waterproof camera (kept in a dry container with pictures taken from shore). One disadvantage of the waterproof camera used while in your boat is water droplets on the lens. I have seen a lot of photos, which could have been really good, ruined simply by this.

3. Compactness: How big of a camera do you want to lug around? I know many people that have bought a DSLR without considering this, and eventually it ends up collecting dust as a paperweight. That said, DSLRs are great (I have one), but once again, make sure you understand the bulk associated with them.

4. Photo quality: The reality is that you can take solid pictures with a point & shoot (P&S), but to really unlock your creative talent, you may want to look into getting a large sensor / interchangeable lens setup.

5. Features: e.g. Video modes, low light performance, manual exposure controls, live view (w/ histogram).

6. End use: Are you simply taking pictures to post on Facebook, using them for a blog (as I am), or planning to make money off them? Your answer here will greatly influence the first four considerations.

My gear list:
Okay, let’s get to what I shoot with. Based on my requirements/limitations of a median budget, high quality images, compactness/convenience, and end use, I opted for the following:

The equipment

Camera Body(s):
1. Sony NEX-5N (primary)
I went with a mirrorless, interchangeable lens system for my primary setup. Probably the most popular of this market are the four-thirds variety -- however, by the time I was ready to purchase, Sony had just came out with an ambitious offering by way of the NEX system. The NEX’s selling point for me was its relatively compact form factor and large sensor (APS-C sensor; the same size found on a majority of the DSLRs on the market). The NEX-5N can also capture video at 1080p @ 60fps, not bad for putting together some high quality flicks. One of my favorite features on the NEX system is the live view / histogram, which is really invaluable for setting exposure quickly and effectively. For a review/more info on the NEX-5N, go here.

This shows the size advantage of the NEX-5N over
a standard DSLR, in this case my Pentax K20D.

The 5N with the 16mm pancake lens. Fits in
the palm of your hand, or pocket for that matter.

It should be noted that all the NEX cameras, except the recently released NEX-7, do not have a viewfinder. That said, Sony does sell an external viewfinder (FDA-EV1S) which is specifically designed for and only fits on the 5N. At ~$350, it's considered the best electronic viewfinder made, and it shows. Another attachment that Sony sells is an Alpha Lens adapter (LA-EA2), which allows you to use Sony's entire line of Minolta/Alpha mount lenses. Further, it adds phase-detection auto-focus (via internal mirrors), essentially turning the NEX into a full fledged DSLR. Unfortunately, it's also very expensive at ~$400.

The NEX-5N with the Alpha lens converter (LA-EA2)
and OLED Viewfinder (FDA-EV1S). This essentially makes
it a true DSLR, and at the same time, all but eliminates its
compact size advantage. However, you add Phase-Detection AF
and the ability to use Sony's entire lens line-up.

2. Pentax K20D (bad weather camera):
A true DSLR, and what I go to when weather is going to be nasty, since it touts a burly weatherproof build, blocking both rain and dust from its insides. This thing is a beast (big) and actually has worse image quality / low light performance than my NEX, but it does have some additional features that are nice, including time-lapse capabilities and phase detection auto-focus. For a review/more info on the K20D, go here.

The K20D showing off its weather resistant
armor -- try doing that with your typical DSLR

Lenses:
NEX-5N:
1. Sony 18-200mm /F3.5-6.3 (e-mount) - This is my workhorse lens, which is amazingly sharp for a zoom that covers this large of focal range. However, it's also fairly spendy at $800.

2. Sony 18-55mm/F3.5-5.6 (e-mount) - This lens is actually pretty darn good for a kit lens. Not quite as sharp as the 18-200, but still a great range when I don't want to lug around the larger lens.

3. Sony 16mm pancake /F2.8 (e-mount) - This lens can also be purchased as a kit lens, and is incredibly small, making it great for mountain biking. It's pretty soft in the corners, but is actually quite sharp at F5.6 to F8. The other nice thing about it is its ability to accept the following two converters.

4. Sony 12mm wide-angle converter for the 16mm (e-mount) - This is a great adapter that really opens up the viewing angle. I love using this for shooting down on someone going over a waterfall, for it makes the drop look bigger than it is. This can be had for about $100, which is a real bargain.

5. Sony 10mm Fisheye converter for the 16mm (e-mount) - This is also a really fun adapter. I've been using this for super close-up shots of someone coming into or out of a drop -- it really creates a dynamic effect. This can also be picked up for $100, and should definitely be in your NEX kit.

6. Sony 35mm/F1.8 (Alpha Mount) - A budget lens (~$200), that has fantastic optics for the price tag; even when shot wide open at F1.8. This is a great mid-focal length that I pull out in low-light situations that are quite common during the winter in the Pacific Northwest.

7. Sony 50mm/F1.8 (Alpha Mount) - Another budget high-quality prime (~$150) which is almost identical to the 35mm in every aspect except focal length.

Lenses 1 thru 7, from left to right. Note the LA-EA2

adapter on the 35mm/F1.8 (second from the right)

K20D:
Pentax 18-135 WR (weather resistant lens)

I have many more lenses than this lying around the house, but I rarely pull from them for kayaking or mountain biking. Basically the ones listed here more than cover my needs for adventure photography.

Storage:
Kayaking:
The main requirements for storing your camera while kayaking is that it must be both waterproof and shockproof. If you don’t have a camera with these functions built-in (I’ve only seen them available in point & shoot) then you’re going to need a good container. I know many people that use drybags (e.g. Watershed) and love them, but I’ve always preferred Pelican cases for the ease of use (opening and closing), as well as superior shock resistance. Depending on the situation and gear I’m bringing, I have three that I choose from:

Pelican 1120 – This case can hold my NEX-5N with the 18-200, but it’s cramped and there is no room for any other lenses. This is what I prefer for self-support multi-day trips (based on its compact size) or runs I don’t feel I need to get too creative taking shots.

As you can see, it's a tight fit with the 5N/18-200mm combo.
Also note that you won't be able to attach the viewfinder.

Pelican 1150 – This case is my workhorse, it lets me carry my NEX-5N and a wide-angle setup. There is also plenty of room for a couple of rags, which are necessary for wiping water from my hands and the camera.

Perfect for the 5N/18-200mm combo + 16mm/fisheye combo

One of my favorite things about the Bliss Stick Mystic
is the storage compartment between the legs. It fits the
1150 perfectly, which makes me think that's what it was
designed for. The one addition I made was the buckle
strap, which I feel is more secure and makes it easier
to access than the bungee cord.

Pelican 1200 – This is the only case that my Pentax K20D DSLR will fit in – luckily it has enough of a footprint to also carry some accessories like those rags. I also use this case if I feel like bringing multiple lenses with my 5N.

Due to the height, this is the only case that will accommodate most DLSRs.
Unfortunately it's not as good of a fit under the knees as the 1150.

Mountain Biking:
Luckily with mountain biking you don’t really need a waterproof container, but it is advisable to have something that is both dust and rain repellent and protects from impact if you crash. Another big consideration is ease of access. If your camera is hard to get to (e.g. zipped up in your Camelbak), chances are you aren’t going to take a lot of photos. Based on these factors as well as what camera setup I plan to bring, I use either my Mountain Feedbag or my LowePro chestpack.

Mountain Feedbag:
This wonderful gizmo was developed by a gal in Oakridge, Oregon and has become a common fixture on the bikes of local riders. Most people use them to store food and tools, especially for racing where it allows you to get to items quickly. For me it’s the perfect fit for my NEX-5N with the 16mm pancake lens, making my camera easy to grab to fire off those quick shots. I can actually fit my 5N with the 18-55mm kit lens in the Feedbag, but it’s definitely tight.

The Mountain Feedbag conveniently hangs at the
handlebar/stem intersection. This makes for a quick
grab so you don't miss the action. One bit of advice
is to make sure you have a screen protector on your
camera, as it is prone to getting scratched while
pulling it out/putting it back in.

A good fit with the 5N/16mm combo

Another shot showing how good it fits

LowPro Chestpack:
This pack is quite large, I can even fit my K20D inside it. That said, I barely notice it when I’m riding. I’ve been told it looks kinda silly and like I’m transporting a baby, so if you're worried about fashion, this may not be the best choice. For me the benefits are the easy access and relatively protected location (I haven’t taken many chest-plants). The harness accessory I bought for it that keeps the bag stable, even when the trail gets choppy -- I was pretty surprised with how well it performed in this regard. My biggest concern is how hot it will be to wear in the summer, which I’ve yet to test.

Although the chestpack looks big,
you really don't notice it much while riding.

A self-portrait of the side view

So there you have it, a general overview of the photo equipment I use for Wheels & Water. Obviously this selection is based on my needs, and may or may not work for you. I strongly encourage you to determine your requirements and do your homework. Dpreview.com is a great place to get the info you need on specific cameras, with reviews on forums for each camera manufacturer.

On last bit of advice that I would give is to get your camera insured. I pay $17/yr which covers my N5 & 18-200mm lens with no deductible. A great peace of mind since dropping it in the water, theft, or some other foolish move would put me out ~$1,500.

Later, I’m planning to do a post on some of my recommended techniques, but once again, I make no claims of being a great photographer, I’m simply a hack that’s willing to share what works best for me. If you’re looking for additional advice (from a far better photographer than myself), check out Darin McQuoid’s blog and tutorials, found here.

Celebrating New Years on the Water

2012-01-02T20:24:00.000-08:00

It had been a tough start to the kayaking season in the PNW, fraught with a cold/dry weather pattern. Probably the most unfortunate outcome was for my buddy Jason who was up visiting for the holidays from Southern Cali. You see, Jason was one of my most dependable boating buddies while he lived here in Eugene, so I was hoping to get on the water with him while he was in town. The first week he was here we had nothing, although we still had a good time just hangin' in town visiting some of our old haunts. Just when we started thinking that boating would not be in the cards for this visit, everything changed...

The following week we got 4 1/2" of rain in the period of a couple days, which was more than enough to send the rivers and creeks sky-high, signaling the true start to the boating season. Overnight, the mood in the boating community went from depression to elation, with the message boards and social media sites lighting up with plenty of giddy chatter. With that, we had plenty of local (Eugene) options available for the New Years' weekend, and we ended up hitting two of our favorite class IV/IV+ runs, Brice Creek & Upper Quartzville.

Brice Creek, OR (12/31/11):
Saturday morning the flows on Brice looked to be perfect, and good enough to bring a few other local boaters out of semi-retirement, including Eric Emerson (who I hadn't really boated with in a year), and Roman Androsov & Shawn Haggin who for various reasons hadn't been boating much the last couple of months -- okay, mainly due to poor water conditions... Whatever the case, it was really good to have elements of the ol' crew together on the water once again! We drove ~1 hour southeast to the takeout, where we confirmed we'd have excellent flow for both the Upper & Lower runs. Fired-up, we drove ~8 miles upstream to Parker Falls, one of the best put-ins to any creek I've ever run. Basically you pull out of an eddy, make a S-Turn through some fun hydraulics, and then drop down a ~20' sliding waterfall!

Roman makes some last minute adjustments
before dropping into Parker Falls

Roman drops down the last pitch of Parker Falls

Jason at Parker

Shawn takes his turn

The run-out below Parker Falls -- Beautiful!

Below Parker the creek winds its way downhill with a gradient of more than 200' per mile. This "Upper" stretch lasts for 3-4 miles and is basically one long boulder garden with a couple of ledges mixed in for good measure. The "Lower" run drops with half the gradient, but has more water and some pretty stout ledges throughout its 4-5 miles. Here are a couple shots of some of the action. For full trip reports of the both runs , which I put together last year, go here (Upper) and here (Lower):

Shawn drops down Bubble Trouble

Eric boofin' over the bottom hole of Bubble Trouble

Shawn slides into The Snake

Jason lines up The Snake

Jason goes for the boof at Orthodontist's Nightmare

Roman grabs for the boof at Upper Trestle

Roman scouts Lower Trestle. The hole on this one
is nasty, you're gonna wanna keep your bow up...

Jason shoulders at Lower Trestle

Shawn does it right at Lower Trestle

That night we rang in the New Year at our buddy Scott's house, who is also a boater, so there was plenty of talk about what everybody had run that day and were planning to run the following couple of days, which we still had off of work (or school). After a quick check of the water levels via smartphone technology, it looked like another one of our favorites, Upper Quartzville, would drop in. Having banked this run back to back with Brice is almost unprecedented!

Upper Quartzville (1/1/12):
This drive takes a little longer, a solid 1 1/2 hours to get to from Eugene. This time Jason, Roman, and I would be joined by Scott Bridgham and Bobby Brown, for another good sized crew. It's actually a very difficult run to catch in the winter, due to snow, but the lack of water when it was cold, and the warm front that accompanied the rain made it possible to do without hiking in. Since we planned to do two runs, we decided to skip the last mile which would also cutout a portage and some water that isn't as good as the top four or so miles. Once again, we had perfect levels and I won't get into the details of the run, but here are photos of some of the action. Like above, to see a full trip report that I posted last season, go here.

Loading up for a day on Upper Q

The Quartzville crew
(Bobby, Jason, Roman, and Scott)

Roman takes the slot at Grocker

Bobby goes for the boof at Grocker

Scott resurfaces

Bobby rounds the corner at D.f.B.

Collision course at D.f.B.

Roman at Corkscrew

Jason readies for impact at the bottom of Corkscrew

Scott on line at Corkscrew

The Author gets ready to drop into Corkscrew
(photo by Jason Naranjo)

The Author runs Corkscrew while Scott looks on
(photo by Jason Naranjo)

The Author below Corkscrew
(photo by Jason Naranjo)

Boater talk between laps

Well there you have it, a great couple of days of boating to finish off the old and bring in the New Year with my paddling buddies. I only hope 2012 will consist of many other good days on the water -- Bring it on!

Best Photos of 2011

2011-12-15T18:06:00.001-08:00

So I figured it would be fun to post what I consider my best shots of the year (and one taken of me). It was hard to narrow them down, as I had many photos which I liked for a multitude of reasons, everything from composition to ones that brought back memories or just made me laugh. In the end I tried to narrow it down to just 10, but could only get down to the following 12 -- hey, one for each month, right?!

One a side note please feel free to comment or criticize, it's all in good fun and will hopefully make me a better shooter. Also, if you saw a photo in one of my posts that you thought should have made the list, let me know. Okay, without further ado, and in no particular order:

#1 - Chris Arnold on Punchbowl Falls (Eagle Creek, OR):
This photo was produced using three different shots and stitched with Paint.net (free program, here) during post-processing. Since I didn't use a tripod, the process took much longer than it needed to. Also making this shot difficult was the fact that I had just gotten the wind knocked out of me from running the same drop a few minutes earlier. The impact actually blew my skirt and ripped the paddle from my hands, which can be witnessed toward the end of the video, here.

1/250 sec @ f/8, ISO 800 (@55mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens

#2 - Shawn Haggin running Snakebite (Christy Creek, OR) :
After a 6 hour, bushwhacking scout mission the week before, we ventured into Christy Creek to enjoy the fruits of our labor. This creek had been run multiple times some years back, but after reports of wood in one of the best, and essentially mandatory drops (Balls Falls), it was all but forgotten. A trip report of our run down can be found here, as well as the scouting mission here.

1/800 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 1600 (@53mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens

#3 - Nate Pfeifer (me) on a lap down Sweet Creek, OR :
Sweet Creek is one of my favorite local runs (people seem to love it or hate it). It's only an hour from my house, runs often in the winter, and serves up a healthy dose of adrenaline. The run is only ~1/4 mile long, but has 8 drops packed into it. It also has a hiking path that runs along river right which can be used for running multiple laps. For my write-up on the AW site, go here. One of my favorite things about this photo is the moss covered wall, through the mist.

1/320 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800 (@51mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens
(photo by Joe Bushyhead)

#4 - Andy Carmicheal running Big Kahuna (Canyon Creek, WA) :
Canyon Creek Washington is one of the most popular creeks in the PNW, and so is this angle for shooting Big Kahuna. However, I'd been wanting to take this shot with a wide-angle lens, which works well when shooting down on someone going over a drop -- it does a good job of making it look nice and big. For this shot I used my 16mm with a .75 wide angle converter, making it a 12mm. My write-up of the run can be found here.

1/800 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400 (@12mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-5N
Lens: 16mm (E-Mount) + VCL-ECU1

#5 - Shawn Haggin buried in Laura's Thighs (Brice Creek, OR) :
A run down Lower Brice Creek never feels complete without a trip through Laura's Thighs. This drop was actually a waterfall some years back, but a flood event blew out a massive rock that was wedged in the crack (right where Shawn is currently at) giving it its current form. This picture captures a pretty common scene at this location, all your buddies rubbernecking while you roll the dice going through the slot. My write-up of the run can be found here.

1/1600 sec @ f/8, ISO 3200 (@18mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens

#6 - Eric finishing up Technical Difficulties (Quartzville Creek, OR)
Quartzville Creek might just be the best class IV/IV+ creek in Oregon, with quality whitewater from start to finish. The problem is that it's hard to get on since it's snowed in for most of the winter boating season. That said, when springtime comes and the snow starts to melt, it's on the top of my list. In this shot, the sun was behind me and beaming on Eric as he boofed the bottom ledge of Technical Difficulties, basically optimal lighting for whitewater photography. Having this lighting in Oregon is rare, so take advantage if it's given to you. My write-up of the run can be found here.

1/4000 sec @ f/10, ISO 800 (@18mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens

#7 - Cowboy TV (Deer Creek, CA)
Probably my favorite type of kayaking is multi-day self-support. One of my favorite parts of that is sitting around the fire at night talking about the day's events and what we have to look forward to the following day. This is one of those shots that brings back the memories of a great adventure with my buddies. This shot is also a fairly difficult one due to lighting -- luckily, the Sony Nex series of cameras have a anti-motion blur setting that quickly snaps 3 photos and combines them into one, which is how this one was produced. My write-up of the run can be found here.

.5 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 1600 (@18mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens

#8 - Chris Arnold airing out Big Brother (White Salmon, WA):
Probably my single favorite drop in the PNW is Big Brother, on the Green Truss section of the White Salmon. I still, vividly, remember my first trip over this 25'er, which I probably shouldn't have been running at the time. I have dropped off it many times since and it still retains its ability to excite, especially if you boof it out in proper form, as Chris does here. For my trip report of the run, go here.

1/640 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 400 (@18mm; cropped)
Camera: Sony NEX-5N
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens

#9 - Emily and Mount Currie (Pemberton, BC)
With all the kayaking photos you'd think I'd never have time to mountain bike, which Emily (my wife) might agree with. However, one trip I probably look forward to more than any other is our yearly anniversary trip up to BC for 9 days of MTB. This year happened to be our 10th anniversary, and was the best BC trip yet. We'd always concentrated our riding in the Squamish/Whistler areas, but this time we ventured out, including Pemberton where this next photo was taken. As I reached this granite pitch my eye caught the perfectly framed sight with Emily taking in the view of Mt Currie. For a my ride report, go here.

1/1250 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 400 (@16mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 16mm (E-Mount)

#10 - Shasta Boyz at Skyscraper (South Silver, CA)
Almost as soon as I started kayaking I dreamed of one day visiting the granite playground that is the California High Sierras, and South Silver was near the top of the list. It's hard to imagine anything on earth being more perfectly sculpted for class V boating than this. This year my dream would be realized as I finally made the solo trip from Oregon, meeting up with friends from Cali. This photo was taken during our scout prior to putting on, where the Shasta Boyz show the proper way to setup and run Skyscraper, the single largest drop of the 1.5 mile run. If you look closely you can see that the safety crew are actually anchored into the granite slab. For my trip report of the run, go here.

1/800 sec @ f/8, ISO 400 (@55mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens

#11 - Somewhere on Fordyce with Bill and Brian (Fordyce Creek, CA)
On the same trip I made for South Silver I also got on Fordyce, another High Sierra run that was on the top of the list. This one ended up being quite the adventure. We drove to the put-in and found out the road was blocked with a 6' wall of snow, and we still had 4 miles to go. Not to be deterred, we continued on foot, realizing that there was a good chance that we'd be camping out (without camping gear) since daylight was probably going to be an issue. Even with this setback, as well as a broken boat, we made it to the lake at around 9pm, where the lights went out. We still had some miles to paddle across the lake, but with the moon and stars it just added to the overall experience that I won't soon forget. For my trip report of the run, go here.

1/400 sec @ f/8, ISO 800 (@18mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-3
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens

#12 - Sahalie Falls during an Upper Upper Mac scouting mission (McKenzie River, OR)
Just a couple of weeks ago I was up scouting the headwaters of the McKenzie River, which has been run plenty of times before, but not by me or the crew I paddle with. By no means was I planning to run this beast or Koosah (another ~80'er just downstream), but was interested in seeing what the in-between stuff looked like. Basically I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the effort, but did come away with quite a few photos of the area. The lighting was pretty bad and so were the unprocessed photos. I decided, what the heck, let's see what we can do for them in Lightroom and Color Efex (e.g. tonal contrast, saturation, etc.). The following is one of the better outputs, where I feel a highly processed photo actually worked.

1/500 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 800 (@18mm)
Camera: Sony NEX-5N
Lens: 18-200mm (E-Mount)

Well, there ya have it, and now the best POV footage from 2011:

Neils - Mckenzie River, OR (11.24.11 & 11.26.11)

2011-11-29T19:14:00.000-08:00

As any of my boating buddies will tell you, I by no means consider myself a playboater; however, I do like to hit the local play spots from time to time to work on boat control and roll practice. My skills basically consist of front surfing, back surfing, flat spinning, and some crude cartwheels --even so, I seem to always have a good time regardless and typically paddle away feeling pretty pooped.

One of the best play spots close to Eugene (less than an hour away) is a wave on the McKenzie River known as “Neils”. This wave is in at a good level for many days during the winter season and is hardly ever crowded, which is pretty typical based on the relatively small boating community in the area. On this Thanksgiving weekend we had really good flows of between 3’ and 2.8’ on the Vida guage. It can be surfed as low as 2’ on the gauge, but it gets really shallow and isn’t that great. Much above 3’ it starts to gets pretty flushy and you really have to be on your stick to stay on while doing any tricks. That said, most agree that the optimal level is somewhere between 2.8’ and 2.6’.

The gauge used for Neils (found here)
(this report is from the 24th and 26th, 3' and 2.8' respectively)

To get to the wave we either put in at “Mom’s Pies” (an old, now vacant, pie stand) or at the bridge a ¼ mile downstream. For the takeout we usually use the Silver Creek boat ramp, located about 2 miles downstream of Mom’s. The wave itself is located about halfway down against the river-left bank and across from Eagle Rock Lodge, it should be pretty obvious when you get there.

After meeting at the Albertson’s on Hwy 126 at the edge of Springfield, we headed out for a quick session prior to our Thanksgiving Day plans. On this trip up we had Aaron Loft, Kristin Alligood, and me. When we got to the put-in bridge, we unloaded our boats and started to change into our gear. No sooner than dropping trou, a truck pulled up with a couple boaters who asked if we’d be interested in sharing a shuttle. The two boaters ended up being Macy and Amanda Burnham, both former Eugene residents who are now living in Reno. Apparently they were in town to be with family for the Thanksgiving weekend, and were itchin’ to visit some old boating haunts.

After gearing up we headed down to the wave. One we got there I got out to take some photos and setup for some video, and while doing this the others quickly settled into a groove. Before long I slid into the water and joined in on the fun. The level on this day was 3’, and it took some work to get on the wave, as well as stay on it. The real key is to paddle like hell and drive toward the pocket on surfer’s left, from which you can use to setup your next move. The far left shoulder is formed well enough to keep you on the wave, so long as you don’t edge hard against it. The main obstacle on the wave is the soft spot, located smack dab in the center -- this is where you will get blown off 90% of the time. You can work that area, but don’t hangout too long or you’ll be shown the door and sent to the back of the line.

As previously stated, I don’t have a large quiver of moves to pull out on the wave, so I basically just work on carving and flat spins, as well as chattin’ it up in the eddy while waiting my turn. I had never met Macy or Amanda before this day, so it was good to talk about the old boating community, as well as the current one. Eugene used to have a much more vibrant scene, and Macy was part of it and one of the top (pro) boaters at the time. This became very apparent from watching him on the wave, throwing blunts and backstabs with ease like it was still his backyard play spot. Here are some pics from all of us having a good time on the wave:

Macy prepares to drop in while Lofty looks on

Amanda digs in for the blunt

Aaron high on the pile

Macy works his way toward the pocket

Kristin sets up from the surfer's left shoulder

Macy sets up for a blunt

The author, mid flat spin
(photo by Aaron Loft)

Bobby (who showed up later) waits his turn

Bobby gettin' some wave time

After a couple of hours we all started to get pretty tired and needed to head out to prepare for our Thanksgiving dinner plans. After exchanging goodbyes with the Burnhams we headed our separate ways, but not before discussing the possibility of meeting up in the future for some more boating.

The following Saturday, Loft and I headed back along with Andy Carmichael, another Eugene local. This time the level was between 2.9’ and 2.8’. This small drop in flow made the wave a little stickier, which helped out quite a bit for staying on the wave. The soft spot was still there, but as long as you didn’t get too complacent it wasn’t too bad. Once again we spent a couple of hours on the wave and tired ourselves out pretty good. Here are some pictures of the wave at the slightly lower level:

Andy enters the wave

workin' the right side

Lofty driving hard

Andy takes the soft spot head on

Aaron digs in a rudder

Andy watches Loft from the staging eddy

Neils is good for back-surfing too!

If you enjoy playboating and you’re in the area when it’s at a good level, it’s well worth your while, and in my opinion, one of the best playspots in the state.

Here is a short video covering both days of boating:

O'Leary Trail (9.17.11)

2011-09-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

The O’Leary/King Castle Loop is a fantastic adventure ride that will kick your butt and reward you all at the same time. The variation that we chose equated to ~28 miles and ~5,700’ of climbing -- since our ascent was on a mix of paved and gravel roads it wasn't all that bad. When I say adventure, what I mean is that the trail is definitely overgrown and rough in spots, but this actually adds a bit to the charm, like some of the sections on Bunchgrass/Heckletooth, which it actually reminds me of quite a bit. One of best things about the trail is that it ends on King Castle, one of my favorite descents in Oregon and guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

The tracks from our ride, which can be
downloaded from Garmin Connect, here.

This was actually the second time I had ridden this trail. The first was last year, around the same time, with my wife Emily and our good friend Brad. I wanted to put together a ride report back then but I just got too busy and it slipped off my radar. This time around Emily and I didn’t have any other takers, but we were still committed and decided to just do it as a duo. On a side note, many of these pictures were from the first trip since I didn’t take too many pictures on this years' ride.

Our ride started out from the small parking area at the bottom of the King Castle trail. From there we rode east on King Rd, a nice paved warm-up with good views of the Three Sisters. After about four miles we tee’d into Horse Creek Road, where we headed southeast a short distance to NF 1993 where we began our climb to the start of the O’Leary trail. Luckily, NF 1993 is mostly paved (with some sections of gravel), which made the long sustained climb at bit more bearable. I know some people actually climb Olallie trail instead, which to me seems masochistic, but I guess it depends on how good of shape you’re in. Basically I just fired-up my iPod and took it slow and steady. At around the 12.5 mile mark we turned right on a gated gravel road that headed straight up the side of the mountain. Eventually it flattened out where we looked for our first opportunity to do a short bushwhack over to the Olallie/O’Leary trail intersection and the start of the singletrack -- a GPS is really helpful for this.

The spin on King Road

Starting the climb up NF 1993

Emily takes a quick break on the climb
to take in a view of Mount Washington

Climbing the last bit on the spur road off NF 1993

Even with a majority of the climbing out of the way, the hard part had just begun. The next 4.5 miles would consist of riding west along the ridge on a trail that has all but gone extinct, at least in some sections. It does open up in parts but never really gets “flowy”. Once again, this is what gives the trail its adventurous feel, and the wildflower and overall mountain scenery make it well worth the effort. That said, if more people would begin riding this trail (which they should), I don’t think it would take that long to clear a better path, making it much more rideable.

At the trailhead of the O'Leary Trail

There must be a trail through here somewhere...

Bearded trees on the O'Leary Trail

Lots of clover on this one

The brutal hike-a-bike climb to the top of McLennan (or Macduff?)

Bear grass too

The last bit of this tough part is straight up some pretty steep switchbacks, making it essentially a hike-a-bike section. We finally topped out at around 5,000' at the best overlook of the ride, Macduff or McLennen , depending on who you ask. Technically McLennen is correct, but a historical plaque for Nelson Macduff is located there, creating lots of confusion as well as some controversy. I'll let you decide what you want to call it, and if you're interested, here is an old newspaper article which goes into greater detail:

The scoop

Regardless of what it's called, it offers a great view for all your hard work. At this point we were both pretty hungry so we also used it as our lunch spot. With the high clouds hiding the sun, the temps were a little cool to stay for too long.

A quick climb to the overlook

Emily enjoys the best view of the ride

The misplaced plaque

From this point on the trail becomes much easier, with a nice clear path that contrasts with the first half of the ride. Furthermore, it's almost all downhill from here, excluding a couple of short ups. It should be noted that at one point you'll come out onto a road which you'll need to ride for a ways before you jump back onto the trail -- just keep your eyes open for where it drops off to the left. A couple sections of the descent are actually pretty steep with tight switchbacks and pitches that will have you sitting on your back tire. The last major pitch reminds me quite a bit of the ones on Eula, and is probably my favorite part of the O'Leary trail. Soon we could see Cougar Reservoir through the trees, signaling that we were almost to the Castle Rock intersection.

Starting our descent after a quick lunch break

Emily checks out the rock work by the CCC

More great mountain atmosphere

Some steep switchbacks on the descent

This section is a lot steeper than
this photo would have you think

A view of Cougar Reservoir through the trees

More descending...

...and great scenery

Once we reached the intersection we made a hard right onto the Castle Rock Trail. This is actually a 3-way intersection which is signed incorrectly, just make sure you head northeast. This trail was in great shape, and much better than last year, thanks to some young trailwork volunteers. It does climb gradually over its 2.5 mile length, but it's almost unnoticeable.

The Castle Rock trail intersection.
Don't let the signs lead you astray.

Somewhere on the Castle Rock trail

Soon we reached the road that climbs up toward Castle Rock and is used as an access road for the King Castle Trail, and as stated before, one of the best descents in the state. The only thing that stood between us and this beautiful piece of singletrack was "The Demoralizer", a name I've given to this steep section of the road which seems to beat me down a bit every time I ride it. I was pretty glad that we weren't planning to do the top section, which would have added another 800' or so of climbing. Don't get me wrong, it's worth it if you're not already too beat-down.

One last climb up The Demoralizer

The ride down King Castle only took us about 10 to 15 minutes -- in comparison to the earlier day's riding it felt like a sidewalk, with a buffed surface and banked corners to rail. You can build up some scary speed on this one, but it's fairly wide open so there is little risk of scaring hikers in most places; however, there are some blind corners to be aware of. By the time we reached the car we had been out for almost 6 1/2 hours and built up quite an appetite. We quickly loaded up and headed back to Eugene for some good ol' Thai food.

Conclusion:
This trail needs to be ridden more often to break it in. If not for the first part being so rugged it would be one of the more classic rides in the area. Even so, it's still a great trail, with some interesting history, amazing rock work by the CCC, and excellent scenery. Go check it out for yourself and be ready for a workout!

Pemberton (8.23.11 & 8.24.11)

2011-09-16T18:55:00.001-07:00

Although Emily and I have been going to Squamish/Whistler to mountain bike for our last five anniversaries, we had never before ridden in Pemberton. It was only within the last few years that I had heard that the XC biking was superb there and rivaled that of Squamish. With that bit of news we decided that this year we needed to check it out for ourselves. A quick search online uncovered a really nice pdf map of the trails in the area allowing me to do some pre-planning.

Trail map for Pemberton. You can find the .pdf here, but make sure you
purchase the printed one on waterproof paper once you hit the trails.
It can be picked up at Pemberton Bike Co. and is well worth it!

It was now the 3rd day of our nine-day trip. Day one had us following one of our favorite routes in Whistler, which combines the Lost Lake/Zappa Trails, Cut Yer Bars, Emerald Forest, and A River Runs through It. (my ride report from last year can be found here). We actually sat out the second day due to a big storm that dropped 2” of rain in the area, which I had no desire to ride in. This ended up being just fine since it allowed us to relax and tour Squamish a bit as well as get in a quick hike to Shannon Falls. One of our stops was to the Home Depot to pick up a large blue tarp (aka the Oregon Flag) to cover our other one that was erected to provide shelter at camp, but had saturated through. Luckily this would be our only day of rain, and the sky actually cleared up that night.

Shannon Falls

Sportin' the Oregon Flag

Starry night at camp in Squamish

With the new (3rd) day, the sunshine returned, which did a good job of rejuvenating our spirits. After packing everything we needed for a day’s ride, we headed north ~60 miles to the town of Pemberton for some good ol’ shreddin’. Before hitting the trails we decided to stop by and get some additional beta and ensure we rode the best of them. It was good that we did, since we had planned to ascend the gravel road, which would have been a mistake since supposedly the road was pretty rough and there were some really good climbing trails.

Once at the parking lot near the trailhead, we geared up under the shadow of Mount Currie, one of the tallest peaks in the area and quite a spectacular backdrop. There were also a few more groups getting ready to ride, who further provided us with some good local beta. Now that we were all set-up, we saddled up and headed out on our ride.

As recommended, we rode along a dirt road that paralleled the train tracks until we came to our first bit of singletrack, Happy Trail. True to its name it ended up being a super sweet climb with more rideable switchbacks than you could count. As we made our way up the hill we were also given multiple views of Mount Currie, lots of other mountains, and the Pemberton Valley.

The parking lot with Mount Currie partially covered in clouds

Somewhere on Happy Trail

Emily rounds one of many switchbacks

A nice view from Happy Trail

Soon we reached the intersection with the Waco Connector trail, which provided the legs with a little bit of a break before another steep climb on another trail called Nimby. Basically Nimby felt like an extension of Happy Trail, as the switchbacks continued one after another until we had literally rounded 95 to 100 of them by the time we reached the top -- no exaggeration! Along with the dizzying amount of turns in the trail, there were also lots of fun technical features to keep us entertained. We eventually reached another intersection with the trail “Let it Go”, which headed northwest toward a paragliding launch sight, and what we hoped would be a good view. As we got close to our summit goal, the trail began to fork multiple times with no markings. Although we assumed we’d eventually find our way, we decided we were done climbing and were ready to enjoy the fruits of our labor, a ~2,000’ descent!

A helpful cairn guides the way up Nimby

Bob Gnarly, one of the cross trails.

A ladder bridge on Nimby

More switchies

Another great view from up higher

Climbing toward the paragliding launch site on Let it Go.

The plan was to ride back down Let it Go, then ride a connector trail over to Mackenzie FSR to access Overnight Sensation. Once we had descended Overnight Sensation, we would review our options of getting back down to the car. The payoff for all our climbing didn’t last long, for after about ¼ mile of downhill, I was tossed over the bars by a root positioned at handlebar level that decided to grab ahold. The result was some minor bumps and bruises -- however, my bike did not fare as well and I ended up with a rim that looked more like a strand of DNA.

Is it supposed to look like this?!

After verbalizing my displeasure of the situation, I gave in to the inevitable and began my hike out. Luckily the connector trail to the road wasn’t too far away, and after a couple of miles of pushing my bike in the wheelie position, we reached Mackenzie FSR. Since Emily had the only functioning bike and she wasn’t too sure about her navigation skills, I saddled up the undersized bike, maxed out the suspension, and made my way down the rugged dirt road. It was actually a little sketchy as the dirt roads in BC are not nearly as smooth as the ones in Oregon. I pretty much felt like I was on the edge of control on a little clown bike. Finally I made it to the car without tweaking another rim, which I was sure was going to happen. I quickly loaded up the bike and drove back up to pick up Emily, which really tested the suspension the Suby.

At least there was a good view on the ride down the dirt road...

Since we had been coming up to BC to bike for many years now, I knew that 29’ers were not very common, so thinking ahead I had decided to bring an extra wheelset from home. Talk about forward planning actually working out and preventing a big trip buster! With that, we headed back to camp so I could setup the new wheel and ready my bike for the following day, where we would return to finish what we started in Pemberton.

A view of the Squamish valley on the drive back to camp

The next day we drove to the same parking lot as we had the previous day, although the sky was completely clear and the sun was shining bright. We had decided to only climb Happy Trail and Waco Connector, and instead of climbing up Nimby we’d head over to the trails by Mosquito Lake to see what they were all about. Once we got over to that area it became abundantly clear that my ability to put together a quality route using only the map wasn’t very good. Basically it felt like we were either riding the trails in the wrong direction or they were really overgrown, bordering on decommissioned.

We had started on a trail called Radio Tower which led southeast off the dirt road we had been on. This ended up being a great little trail until we reached a point were it started to climb up an unrideable series of pitches (at least for us). Next we went up Dark Forest, which ended up being more of the same. From here we took a quick traverse back to the dirt road we had previously been on. After a quick study of the map we decided to head up to Chair Traverse and Log & Rock, which were the overgrown trails and not much fun. My lack of map reading prowess then had us going up No Err, which is supposed to be a down trail. At this point we decided to cut our losses and start heading back toward the car. We had been told by locals that Cream Puff was an excellent trail and a good means of doing so. After a quick ride up another dirt road and Econoline, we reached Cream Puff, our descent back to the car.

Emily on Radio Tower

Somewhere on Log & Rock

Cream Puff ended up being a really fun trail, and I'm sure riding it in the correct direction helped out quite a bit. The trail was rated as a black diamond, which felt pretty accurate. I was able to ride a majority of it including some really fun granite pitches, but there were also spots I shouldered my bike to avoid destroying another rim (or myself for that matter). The views from this trail were also spectacular, with great panoramics of Mount Currie and some local farms. The trail finally deposited us at some train tracks, which we used to traverse along the base of the mountain back to the parking lot.

Cream Puff!

Emily takes in the view on Cream Puff

Finishing up a fun granite pitch on Cream Puff

The author takes his turn

A granite sidewalk

Emily rails the corner on Cream Puff

More good views near the bottom...

...and slickrock!

At this point is was still relatively early, and there was certainly enough time for another ride. We decided that we would head into town, get a quick bite to eat, fill up on water, and head over to the One Mile Lake trails. We'd actually gotten some beta on this area and were told to ride in a counter-clockwise direction following the signs for "Lumpy's". Located just south of town it was easy to find the parking area on the southwest side of the lake.

Even though I never saw it specifically signed, "Narin One Mile" was the trail we started on, at least according to our map. It was actually pretty technical with a lot of ups and downs along the way. I was starting to feel pretty pooped at this point and my legs were a little jello-y, which made the techie stuff a lot more difficult than it probably needed to be. Finally we reached "Lumpy's Epic", which started off with a pretty difficult climb, but luckily it wasn't too long. Once we reached the summit we had a choice between taking K2, the shorter route, or continuing around the backside along Lumpy's. We decided upon the latter hoping to get some more nice views of Mount Currie, and we weren't disappointed. This part of the trail reminded me a lot of some of the sections of Comfortably Numb, with a mix of technical features and fun granite slickrock along the side of a mountain. The trail eventually descended down to an easy path that we used to ride toward & along the lake, and back to the car.

Narin One Mile

A view of Mount Currie...

...and another

It had been a pretty full day, and I was super glad that we managed to get quite a bit of riding done in Pemberton, even with our slight setback the day before. I'm certainly excited to explore this area more next year, and hopefully we can become as familiar with it as we are with Squamish and Whistler, so we can put together a better linkup of quality trails.

South Silver, CA (7.17.11)

2011-07-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

What can you say about South Silver (CA) that hasn’t already been said or shown through videos/photos? It’s an ultra-classic, granite playground, and one of the most recognized runs on the entire planet! This is truly where kayak dreams come to life. It’s only 1 to 1.5 miles long, but it packs a real punch, dropping over 600fpm! This run is also much more accessible than other upper Sierra runs in both difficulty and logistics. That said, if it’s running at a solid flow, you better be on your game, and only the hardiest will run all the drops, including the famed Skyscraper & Off Ramp.

South Silver has a fairly small window of runnable flows, my understanding is one or two weeks at the most. It typically runs in late spring or early summer, but this has been a very odd season, with massive snowpack in the Sierras, and most of the west coast for that matter. It is this that put it on the radar as an addition to a planned trip on Fordyce, which had been in the works for months. With the possibility of bagging two new classics in one trip, the drive down from Eugene for a weekend of boating didn’t seem all that ridiculous, even as a solo drive.

Although I was the only one from up north, I had teamed up with buddy Bill from Sacramento, and we would be paddling with elements of his crew over the weekend. A friend of his, Brian, had joined us for Fordyce, which was awesome, but also an epic day that had us paddling to the take-out in the dark (trip report here). The next day we did a few miles on Lover’s Leap, which was also super good, featuring lots of juicy/technical drops stacked back to back to back.

By the time Sunday came around, flows seemed like they might have dropped into a reasonable level for South Silver. Supposedly, the best gauge to use was the “SF American below Kyburz”, looking for a flow of less than 1k, and 700cfs to 400cfs being optimal. On Sunday it was reading between 800 and 950, but since it can only be used as a correlation, we needed to check it out in person. With that, we put a group of four together and headed to the takeout. Bill and I would be joined by a fella’ named Anthony, and another named Gavin -- we were glad to have the company (and a small crew) for a run like this. Gavin parents had also come along to watch their son fire-up the goods -- since there is a fairly manageable hiking trail running the full length it was easy for them to get some good views of our descent.

The day we were there (7/17/11) the gauge was reading
between 800cfs and 950cfs.It was definitely coming up
throughout the day, which was quite noticeable when
we got to the Teacups.

As we hiked up the trail we made our way past the bottom mank section until we reached the last real drop of the run, Quadruple Bypass. It looked pretty straightforward, so we continued on. Next we got a peak of Plastic Surgery, which also looked quite manageable, after watching a group of boaters grease it one after another. The next big drops we came to were the dynamic duo of Skyscraper & Off Ramp. Words or pictures cannot describe the size of these two back-to-back monsters; I just stood there in awe looking up at them. Everyone in the group had pretty much made the decision that these two would be walks, although Gavin still wasn’t ready to write them off completely. From here we thought it best to hike to the top of Skyscraper, to see what the eddy service look liked between it and the Teacups.

Looking up at Skyscraper and the
top of Off Ramp, during our scout.

As we reached our viewing platform, we saw a group headed down, The Shasta Boyz. Without slowing down, they made their way through the Teacups with style, catching a last chance eddy on the left, at the lip of Skyscraper.

Dropping the third cup...

...and the last. The run-out at the bottom of the picture is Skyscraper.

A nice line on the last tier

One by one they climbed out of their boats and walked down the sloped granite rock to give a look. While they were doing so, we hiked back down to the base of Off Ramp to watch the show. After some time scouting and setting up proper safety, the first guy dropped in. He entered hard left, dropped off the flake and disappeared into the white. The next time I saw him resurface was at the lip of the last tier, where he dug in for a nice stroke and cleared the bottom hole. After a brief pause, he dropped into Off Ramp down the left, with right angle. After melting the hole at the base, he was taken with the flow into the undercut/sieve on the right, and underneath where we were standing. A few seconds later he came paddling out. It was a great line, but he didn't make it look easy. As much as we would have liked to watch the others come down, we were burning daylight and needed to get on the water ourselves. With that, we rushed back down the trail to grab the cars and head to the put-in.

The Shasta Boyz giving Skyscraper a scout

The Shasta Boyz showing us how it's done

Dropping over the last tier of Skyscraper

Off Ramp

Following the directions that we had from multiple sources (internet and guidebook), finding the exact location of the put-in was not easy. After more than an hour of driving around dirt roads and jumping out to search for foot paths, we finally decided to drop the gear (along with Bill and me) at “the clearing” while the others went back down to the take-out to drop off the car and ask the other groups for verbal directions. While they were doing that, Bill and I continued our search. After another hour, we finally found it after some bushwhacking down the hill. The other two soon arrived and we told them of our find. They were also able to get the directions from the other boaters, which would have required us to load back up and drive a short bit further. However, we were finally able to convince them that the hike from our current location was short enough and that there was no need to drive down.

After a short hike through the manzanita and down a short but steep hiking trail, we reached the water’s edge and the top of “Autobahn”-- it was now ~5:30pm. Basically Autobahn is a ~150 yard low angle slide, and as the name suggests, there are no speed limits. I would guess that by the time you reach the bottom you’re doing between 20-30mph, which is one hell of a way to start a run! As for difficulty it’s pretty much a no-brainer. You do have to brace off pillow/laterals in a few places, but it’s not too difficult to keep it straight and upright. The only real obstacle that is kind of in play is some rock at the bottom on the left, although it was pretty easy to avoid (at least at this level).

Autobahn. This is gonna be fun!

Instead of setting safety, we decided to go in groups of two, which was probably more effective anyway. Anthony and I would go first while Bill and Gavin waited for us to reach the pool below and give them the signal. Anthony started hard right down a shallow slide and dropped in first. Once I saw that he had entered, I went for the center-right boof, which was fairly shallow. Once I hit the meat, things started coming pretty quick, and after launching over a pretty big curler I landed in an eddy and caught a breath for a sec. I looked over to see Anthony who had also eddied out, but on the other side of the creek. We were only about a third of the way through and after getting the “good to go” signal from him I led the charge down the next section. As I hit the last pitch, with some serious speed, I could see the pool below and did my best to get some right angle coming into it. Upon breaking through the bottom wave-hole, I dipped my nose into the right eddy and made a dynamic 180 turn, stopping dead. “Holy %hit, that was crazy!”, I believe were the words that came out of my mouth. Soon after, Anthony appeared, as well as a couple of guys from New Zealand that had gotten to the put-in just after us. Everyone pretty much had the same response as me, in fact the Kiwis went up to run it again, which is pretty easy to do along the right bank. After giving the all clear to Bill and Gavin, they came blasting down with similar lines. It was really cool to see them come flying into the pool with big eyes and smiles on their faces.

Gavin and Bill enter Autobahn

Gavin lines up the bottom pitch

Bill gets airborne while blasting through a
speed-trap at the bottom of Autobahn

Just below was a fun little boof ledge that fed into a narrow chute, which led into a somewhat trashy boulder drop. We all made it through both in one fashion or another and regathered just above the next big horizon line.

One of the Kiwis gets in a nice stoke on the drop just below Autobahn

Gavin coming out of the same drop

With the others eddied out on river left, I ferried across to river center and peered over my shoulder to see if the drop below was boat scoutable. I couldn’t see the bottom, but did catch a glimpse of an undercut boulder with water pushing toward it. I quickly let the others know that it would need a scout. The drop was certainly runnable, but it was fairly trashy, especially the lead-in, and the undercut/sieve on the left concerned me enough to make the portage. Bill decided the same, and after setting safety for both Anthony and Gavin, who had good lines, we re-launched in the eddy below. This one is known as "Double Drop" and apparently gets better the higher the flow is, which stands to reason.

Anthony in the middle of Double Drop

Eddying out just below Double Drop

Next up was "Triple Slide", which is more of a double ledge with a fast run-out. The other two had already run it, and were down below scouting the next drop while Bill and I took our turns. I setup for photos and Bill fired it up using the recommended line hard river-right. After packing up my stuff I soon followed with a similar line.

Bill does it right (literally) at Triple Slide

Dropping the second tier of Triple Slide

Once I reached the eddy where the others were, I was told the drop below me was "Boof, Boof, Slide" and it deserved a look. I jumped out to see the creek drop over a 4' to 5' sloping ledge, then split around a rock outcropping through a narrow chute, with the right channel being the only good option. To be honest, I only saw one boof, but maybe this changes at lower water. Gavin was already heading up to his boat to give it a go. After seal-launching back in, he charged the drop and came over the boof with the proper right angle. After stalling out for a second, he dug toward the flume, dropped in, and crashed through the bottom hole without so much as slowing down.

Gavin makes the entrance boof...

...Then hits the slide

I decided to run it next. My only concern was the narrow crack on the left, which seemed fairly easy to avoid, however, we had safety set there to be sure. My line was a little more exciting: after cleaning the top part I dropped down the slide with too much left angle and was flipped trying to avoid the wall. I actually lost half my paddle grip, but luckily got it back in hand before snapping off a quick roll. Even with the sub-par line, it was still a super fun drop! Bill went next and got a huge back ender at the bottom, but recovered nicely. Anthony on the other hand, had the best line of the bunch and barely got his head wet.

Bill midway through

Bill goes for some style points

Anthony making it look easy

Below Boof, Boof, Slide were a couple of fun small slides that were both straightforward with little consequence. Since I was already out from taking pictures, I was able to give verbal beta to the others. From my perch, I could also see a pool, which I believed to be the one above the Teacups.

Gavin drives down the small slide just below Boof, Boof, Slide

Bill punches through another hole

Gavin heads toward the pool above the Teacups

After meeting up with the others in the pool, we got out and hiked down the granite slabs on river-right to scout The Cups. I was actually a little surprised by difficulty of this classic series of drops. It wasn't that they were over the top, just that I had expected them to be more of a gimmie. The first and last one were pretty straightforward, however, the second dropped about 12' into a crack (of sorts) where the creek exited at about a 90-degree angle, and the third had a nasty looking keeper on the right. Between here and the last cup was a 2' and a 3' ledge that were both good to go on the right, but the left sides of each looked like they could provide a good unintentional surf session. The crux for me was making sure I came off the 2nd in good form to avoid the hole on the 3rd; I was pretty good with everything else. To add to the excitement, it appeared that the flow had come up a little bit during the day, making the section a little more pushy and the eddies above Skyscraper a little bit smaller.

Scouting the Teacups

I was the last to go, and after watching the others style each of the drops on their way down, I was ready for my turn. It's amazing how slick that granite is, and I was finding it hard to find a stable platform to launch from. I finally decided on a spot just above the lip of the first falls. As I slid into the outflow of the pool, I didn't get as much upstream momentum as I had hoped, which unfortunately set me up poorly from the start. Basically I only had enough time to turn my boat 180 degrees, square up on the drop, and throw in a half-ass boof stroke. It was just enough to keep me upright and safely eddy out below it on the right, but it wasn't pretty. I took a few moments to get my head back in the game, then I started my ferry to river left to run the next. Once again things didn't go as planned. I thought I had lined it up perfectly, but upon landing I hit the rock outcropping with the bottom of my boat and was immediately flipped. I missed my first roll attempt and knew I only had one or two more before I dropped over the third falls. Luckily I held it together and pulled off my second, where Anthony (who was setting safety) begin yelling "You're good, you're good!". With just enough time to line it up properly I sailed off the lip landing on a deep brace and away from the hole I had been concerned about. I hadn't even had time to wipe the water from my eyes and I was headed toward the two small ledge holes. I drove hard and was able to make it right, plowing through both without too much issue. I was able to relax a bit while floating toward the final falls, as I drove for the line I had scouted, it became apparent (at the lip) that I was off by a couple of feet to the left. Once again I landed on a hard brace, far from styling it as I had imagined in my head. I didn't have time to think about it much since I needed to really dig in to make the right, one-boat eddy, just above Skyscraper. I was a little bummed about my line through the Teacups, and had we not been running out of daylight I probably would have hiked up to get some redemption.

Anthony runs the first Cup

Lined up nicely on the second

Looking good for #3. Note the pothole recirculator on the right.

Gavin making the move on #2

Gavin on #3

Gavin navigates the two small ledge pour-overs
between #3 and the last one. They both seemed
a little sticky, so the right line was recommended.

Since none of us had planned to run Skyscraper and/or Off Ramp (time wouldn't have allowed anyway), we quickly began looking for the route along the right bank. The trail was a little sketchy in spots but served us well, and with a little teamwork we finished our portage safely. Once again due to time constraints we skipped putting in above "Nose Job" and settled on a eddy below it. This next section was a series of three drops that were surprisingly fun, with the last having a sweet water boof, which I believe is called "Funk Falls".

We were now sitting above the lead-in to Plastic Surgery, where we got out once again to scout. The series of entrance drops were actually pretty big, with the hole just above looking pretty sticky, at least at this level. As for the main drop itself, it looked good as long as you entered in control and with left angle. The main hazard was on the right where the water smashes against a rock outcropping, and what appeared to be a deep pothole. I decided almost immediately that I wasn’t feelin’ it and prepared to shoulder my boat. The only one in the group that was giving it serious thought was Gavin, and after assuring him that we would have good safety setup, he decided to give it a go.

Our safety plan was setup to ensure that he didn’t go over the main drop upside down or out of his boat, which would be disastrous. Bill stood at the water’s edge secured to a safety line held by Anthony and Gavin’s Dad -- basically, ready to live-bait if necessary. After coming down the first tier of the lead-in he unexpectedly (both to him and us) peeled into a micro eddy against the left wall, which allowed him time to reevaluate his next move. After a few seconds he entered the drop once again and melted into the guard hole just above the lip of the main drop. Even though he went fairly deep, it didn’t slow him down much, which surprised me a bit. Coming out of the hole in control, he was able to drop into the grand finale perfectly and sailed down Plastic Surgery with a textbook line. It was cool to see him style it.

Gavin drops down the lead-in to Plastic Surgery

Melting the hole just above Plastic Surgery

Making the crux move

Gavin finishing up with a solid run

Just below here was Quadruple Bypass, and as the name suggests, is a series of four ledges. They all look good to go and a lot of fun, with the last one sporting a fairly sticky hole on the right. Gavin and Anthony were already down at the water and ready to go. Bill had run down to set bag at the last hole, while I did my best to get our two boats down to the eddy below Plastic Surgery. From above I could see both of them running the first couple of drops, and it looked like they had both gotten tripped up a bit in the entrance, where the current appeared to suck their sterns down. Soon Bill came hiking up the trail and told me that supposedly that what I had noticed was them getting pulled toward a sieve of sorts, and that one of them was slightly shaken by the experience. It was now getting pretty dark, and we had no time for a mishap, so both Bill and I decided it was probably better to just hike out from here, which I was somewhat conflicted about since it looked like such a fun series of drops -- oh well, next time.

Most people hike out below Quadruple Bypass and skip the last quarter mile since it’s basically a boulder bashing mankfest, which was probably better for us since we were out of daylight. Once back at the parking lot, we had a beer or two while changing and loading up. By the time we rolled into Placerville it was 10pm and our only real eating option was fast-food, so we settled on some good ol’ fashioned In-N-Out.

Conclusion:
South Silver is without a doubt one of California’s (and the country’s) Ultra Classics. I felt like our flow was a nice solid medium level, which was perfect for a majority of the drops. That said, this made Skyscraper, Off Ramp, and Plastic Surgery pretty stout and more than I wanted to bite off. I would love to go back at a lower level and run the big three to feel like I truly completed the run. Although, even though I only did South Silver “light”, it was still an awesome experience with super fun whitewater, especially Autobahn. It was really cool to be able to run it in combination with Fordyce over the weekend. I’ll definitely be back for this one, and would drive all the way from Eugene just to do multiple laps on it over a long weekend.

Fordyce Creek, CA (7.15.11)

2011-07-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

After a failed attempt to run Fordyce Creek down in California last season (based on PG&E not releasing as published), a plan was once again hatched by the Oregon crew to try again this year. After checking our schedules, as well as with our buddy Bill from Sacramento, we determined that the best bet would be to shoot for the weekend of July 16. As we approached the date, the crew begin to drop off one by one until it was basically me and Bill, which meant that I would have to drive to Cali solo. I had pretty much given up on the idea of heading down there by myself, but after confirming that flows would be good, I decided that the lone drive might be good for me (some good soul searching). To sweeten the pot, it also looked like South Silver would probably drop in, which pretty much sealed the deal.

Since Bill would be driving from Sac, the plan was for me to meet him and his buddy Brian at Lake Spaulding, our camp for a couple nights and the takeout for Fordyce. The drive down took me about 8 ½ hours, long but not over the top. The nice thing about a solo mission is that you can stop whenever and wherever you want, which I did on a few occasions. By the time I reached camp on Thursday night, it was ~9pm. I had beaten Bill there, but Brian (who I had never met before), had already secured us a site and was crashed out in this truck. He soon emerged, and after trading pleasantries I went to work setting up my spot and getting a fire started. Right at about the time I got the fire established, Bill showed up, ready for some beers and chit-chat before heading off to bed.

The next morning we got up with the sun, cooked breakfast, and lounged around a bit before loading up and heading to the put-in. Checking flows, it looked like it was holding nice and steady at ~360cfs, a little low but still in the recommended range.

Spaulding Lake at sunrise

Our flow for the day, ~560cfs

It’s been well documented that the road into Fordyce is a 4x4 only route, and not suitable for most cars. Brian had a big Suburban, so we had little worries about making it in, although when it was time to retrieve it (after our run), we hoped my Subaru would be up for the task. After about four miles on this dirt road we reached the pass, and unfortunately a roadblock of massive snowdrifts. The problem would now become available daylight -- Fordyce is already known for being a long day run, so the added hike in was an unwelcome surprise. After kicking ourselves for not getting an earlier start, we decided to continue our mission and make it happen.

The hike ended up not being all that bad, since it was downhill and the snow was pretty well packed, which allowed us to drag our boats most of the way. We only had to hike about 2 miles before reaching the start of Fordyce Lake, which we then paddled across ~1.5 miles to the dam and our put-in for the run. While paddling across the lake I spent time to take in the view of the granite landscape that the high Sierras are known for -- ever since I started kayaking I had dreamed about being immersed in it, and now I was finally getting that chance.

Bill starts the unanticipated hike in

Brain makes his way over the monster snow drifts

Getting close. Fordyce Lake in view.

And now for some lake paddling...

When we got to the dam, I was surprised to see that all 350+cfs was cranking out of such a small opening, although it was coming out with quite a bit of force. We still needed to scramble down a few steep pitches before we reached the creek. Conveniently, painted arrows (for better or worse) helped guide the easiest path down the exposed granite slabs. Once at the water we relaxed a bit and ate a snack before putting on.

Paddling across Fordyce Lake

The dam release

Finally to the put-in!

Looking downstream from the put-in

The first bit of the run consisted of continuous, shallow, low angle slides. Almost immediately we were confronted with a river-wide log that we portaged easily on the right. Brian was able to sneak around it down a scrapey channel on the right. Once past this log and just around the corner we reached a large horizon line, where Bill exclaimed, “This is Eraserhead, we’re gonna want to scout this one”. After pulling into an eddy on river left, we hiked down to give’r a look. What lay in front of us was a massive slide with a pretty straightforward line down the center left. Basically I was told to avoid the big kicker rock, sitting dead center in the second half of the drop. Although it would be the biggest slide I’ve run, it seemed straightforward enough, and after watching both Bill and Brian clean it up, I hiked up for my turn. Like the others I dropped through the entrance and headed toward river left. As I approached the second pitch I headed back to river center to catch the green tongue that led into it. Unfortunately this tongue also fed right into that rock I was supposed to avoid. While scouting, I figured that I would be able to break left just above it, but Eraserhead had different plans… Once I knew that I wasn’t going to avoid it, I squared up on it and sailed over without even slowing down, nice! As I hit the bottom hole I was surfed right of the split rock at the bottom, finishing up with a big smile. I hoped that there were more like this downstream!

Bill on the second tier of Eraserhead. This slide is huge!

Bill readies for the hit at the bottom

Brian enters Eraserhead

Brian finishing up Eraserhead

Below Eraserhead were a couple of class III/IV boulder drops and slides before we reached the next larger horizon line, “Old Man”. A brief scout indicated that the line was good to go down the river right. I had wanted to hit the sweet looking boof on the left side of the channel, but was blown right just above it, so I ended up running the drop using the same line as the others, which worked out just fine.

Brian runs a random boulder drop below Eraserhead

The bottom of the drop shown above

Brian at Old Man

Exiting Old Man

Bill takes his turn

As we rounded the corner just below Old Man, I was reminded why I had driven all the way from Eugene to do this run, the high Sierra scenery. With the sloped granite walls extending all the way to the river’s edge and sparse trees/brush dotting them, it reminded me of pictures I had seen of classic runs such as Upper Cherry Creek. The sound of thundering water and a large horizon line signaled that it was once again time to get out and give a scout. This two part monster is known as “Insanity Falls”, and is fully deserving of its name. The drop has been run, but with a high likelihood of a massive piton at the bottom (or worse), all but the insane will choose to walk it. We chose the route on the right, which was easy enough and sported a cool snow bridge along the way.

The entrance drop to Insanity Falls

Insanity Falls

The snow bridge during the portage

Looking into the gorge below
Insanity Falls, during the portage.

Putting in directly below the falls, we were now in the short gorge that it spilled into. Just downstream was a walled in ledge that dropped 6 to 8 feet, with a rather sticky hole at the base. I have seen this ledge referred to as Loco[motive Falls], and the beta I had heard (and read), was to run it center-left. I had eddied out above the drop and ran down the cliff to set safety for the others. Looking at the drop up close I didn’t really like the recommended line, the left side was somewhat “U” shaped and a good boof was a must. Bill was the first to drop in, and after getting a decent stroke at the lip he was back ender’d upon landing and narrowly escaped a severe beat-down, which only reinforced my thoughts of the left line. Brian went next, running it more towards the center, which he greased.

The lead-in to Loco[motive] Falls

Bill takes the left line at Loco[motive] Falls...

...hang in there Wild Bill!

Brian takes the center line...

Which works out nicely!

At this point I had decided I wanted to run it center-right, so I ran the entrance drop down that side, where there ended up being a sweet sloping boof that I took full advantage of. Coming off a nice flat landing I drove straight for the bottom ledge, and with a last minute stroke I sailed off the lip and barely got my head wet. Super fun stuff!

The stretch below Loco[motive] Falls

The next couple of drops were kind of a mank-fest, including the next one, “Bishop’s Balcony”. We portaged in this section as we felt necessary and made our way further downstream. Soon we came to a really fun mini-gorge with no real ledges but some good padding and a nice pushy feel. This basically led into the next major drop of the run, “Rotator Cuff”. Supposedly this drop gets its name from the violent hole at the bottom which does its best to rip apart the limbs of any paddler that it gets its grips on. To me, the line was kinda trashy and with the bottom hole's reputation, I didn’t feel the need to run it. Furthermore, it was clear that daylight was starting to become a concern, as we had only gone 2 miles and we’d been on the water for hours.

Rotator Cuff

As we put-in below Rotator Cuff, I got the signal that one of the others had cracked their boat. This was not good news and only added to our time concerns. After putting together a makeshift patch with bitchathane and duct tape, we continued on. Luckily, the next six miles were much mellower and went pretty fast, with only a few scouts/portages. A couple of the bigger ones that stuck out were “Big Squeeze” and “Where’s Berry”, as well as another monster drop called “Bad Seed”. Bad Seed didn’t appear to be that tough of a line (you basically line it up out of a pool), but if you erred to the right, the consequence would have been high with both pin rocks as well as a log. Even if you ran the drop where you needed to, it looked pretty junky -- I guess it’s run fairly often, so maybe it cleans up a bit with more water.

Taking a break amongst the granite landscape during the mellow stretch

Big Squeeze

Where's Barry

Bad Seed

Stellar scenery below Bad Seed

We were now at the last few miles of the run, I was told that some bigger drops were going to start stacking up, which I was happy for. We first ran through one called “Sidewinder”, which was pretty straightforward, but the bottom hole almost caught me off guard, and I had to throw in some deep power strokes to claw my way out -- it was actually a good wake-up call. A drop called Typewriter followed soon after, and although it wasn’t very big, it did require a couple of strong moves to make it through cleanly.

The next major horizon line was “Fordyce Falls”, a sweet 15’er with a somewhat tricky lead-in. At our flow I just didn’t feel like bashing down the entrance, so instead decided to start at a left eddy about halfway down and ferry across to center-right where I ran the falls. It ended up being more of a double step than a full vertical, but super fun none the less.

Brian lines up on Fordyce Falls

Not far downstream we encountered another big drop, “Split Falls”. Although I was the only one feeling the drop, I was told to just “Paddle down the tongue and tuck! You’ll go deep, but the hole is friendly.” With those words of encouragement, I ferried above the lip of the falls, spun around, and dropped in. As said, the entry was both soft and deep. As I resurfaced upside-down, I was pushed against the left wall where I rolled up, losing my paddle in the process. Luckily, I was able to hand paddle to shore and convince Brian to retrieve it from a recirculating eddy.

The author prepares to take the plunge at Split Falls
(Photo by Bill Riedl)

The author at the lip of Split Falls
(Photo by Bill Riedl)

Give'n it the old "Oregon Tuck"
(Photo by Bill Riedl)

Split Falls from below

By this time the sun had dipped below the canyon walls but luckily we only had less than a mile to go, although we still had some big drops to contend with. The first was “The Hole That Ate the Donner Party”. Once again, more water probably would have opened up a better line, but at this flow it was just too much of a dice roll for my liking. The others agreed and we walked this one easily on the right.

The last two drops we ran were a large double-tiered slide, and another called Ninja. Both were good fun, and a great way to end the run. We had almost completely run out of light after hiking the last ¼ mile around the sievey/pinny mess and reaching Spaulding Lake. Now all we had to do was paddle 2 miles across the lake to the takeout. The paddle across was actually quite pleasant in the dark, but it had been a long day, and I was ready to be done. When we reached the boat ramp it was a little after 10pm, marking a 12hr adventure for the day! We were all pretty tired, but still had some work to do. Brian and I drove my Suby up to retrieve his truck, while Bill hauled our gear up to camp and got dinner going. By the time I crawled into my sleeping bag it was after midnight -- I was really looking forward to a late start and easy day of paddling the next day.

More scenery near the end of the run

One of the last good drops, a fun double slide.

Phew, that was close...

Conclusion:
I had wanted to do Fordyce for a long time now, and I’m glad I did. The scenery was spectacular and it was a very manageable introduction to the High Sierras. That said, I would definitely like to see it with more water, say 500cfs. I think it would pad out the shallow slides nicely as well as open up better lines on some of the big drops. I’d definitely go back, and would love to do it every couple of years or so. Next time, hopefully the road will be open all the way and it will have a little more juice coming out of the bottom of the dam.

The footage from our run:

The Miracle Mile - 10" (6.26.11)

2011-06-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

The Miracle Mile is one of my all-time favorite runs, and one which I’ve logged literally hundreds of laps on. To me it feels like more of a training course than your typical kayak run. Since it’s essentially a mile-long boulder garden dropping ~250’, it’s a great place to practice steep creeking, with eddy catching and reactionary boating making up a majority of the curriculum. A couple of other pluses are its relatively long boating season and close proximity to Eugene (about an hour drive). All of these things have made “The Mile” the go-to run for class IV/V Eugene area boaters.

Although The Mile does have a long season, as stated above, it typically drops out by mid to late May -- however, because of the unseasonably deep snowpack, we were now boating it in late June with good levels. This was great news for our buddy Jason, who had moved to San Diego (for work) a few years back, and was making a return visit. I’ve done many laps on The Mile with him over the years, and I was looking forward to a few more. The plan was to get some of the old crew together for boat & BBQ festivities there on Sunday. The forecast called for sunny skies & 75 degree temps, and it looked like we’d have just under a foot on the bridge gauge, what more could you ask for?!

When Sunday morning rolled around, I was still pretty tired from the get together at my house the night before. After rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I went to the store to pick up some food for the BBQ, before Jason showed up at my house. Once he had, we loaded up our gear and headed to the meeting spot in Pleasant Hill. Only four of us ended up showing up there, but we knew that Dan and Kristen planned on joining up later, so we figured we'd still have a good sized group.

As we reached the takeout, we checked the bridge gauge and confirmed that we had 10”, not a bad flow for this late in the season! The sun was out and energized us as we setup the grill and our camp chairs before heading to the put-in, just one mile upstream.

10" on the bridge gauge

It's gonna be a good day!

After unloading the boats and gearing up, I quickly put on the river so I could boat down and setup for photos while the others were setting the back shuttle. This was pretty much the routine for the first couple of laps, so I could get photos of all the main drops on the run. Basically, as soon as they came down and eddied out, I’d jump back in my boat and head down ahead of them to take shots on the next drop. Even though The Mile is basically one long rapid, the named sections make it nice for communicating locations of potentially new hazards (e.g. wood, etc.) and/or meeting points during the run.

The first named section of the run comes just around the corner from the first road bridge you pass under, and is aptly named “Initiation”. Once you pass underneath a couple of overhead logs, the typical line is to run down the left side before breaking right behind a couple large midstream boulders. Below this move it’s pretty much read and run to the bottom of Initiation and a large river-left eddy. This is one of the easier (and cleaner) drops on the run, so if you’re feeling a little over your head you might consider walking off.

The entrance to Initiation

Roman and Andy enter Initiation

Jason, partway down Initiation

Making the move over to river-right

Roman runs the last stretch of Initiation

Jason finishes being Initiated

Now that we had been initiated and were warmed up, we headed down toward the next drop, "Ricochet". This drop can also be identified as the first island, with the only clean routes down the left side of the island. Once you’ve gone left of the island, you can either run left or center-right, with left being quite a bit cleaner. The line that I always take is to run the lead-in down the left, drop into a small diagonal hole, and drive down the main part of the drop toward river center. It’s a fairly bumpy ride, but usually goes better than expected. There is also a fun eddy to catch on river-right just below the drop, which is where I setup for the following photos -- however, getting back in the water was kinda challenging and required me to do a fairly interesting seal-launch.

Shawn drops into the crux of Ricochet

Workin' back to center

The run-out below Ricochet -- Confusion is just out of sight

Just below Ricochet is “Confusion”, which is the longest single drop on the run. There are two main ways to enter this drop, either over a 3-foot ledge in the center, or the more exciting flume to the right. Whichever way you decide to enter, the rest is pretty much read-&-run through a gauntlet of boulders, with some passages cleaner than others. I typically run the first half down the center and the second half down the left. It should be noted that there is some wood on both the hard left and hard right in the second half of the drop. Like most of the run, Confusion benefits from a little more water, and can be quite trashy at low flows (< 8”).

Shawn and Jason run the bottom of Confusion

Roman finishes up Confusion

At the base of Confusion is one of the largest eddies on the run, river left. We almost always regroup here before continuing down into “Shark’s Tooth”. Back in the day we used to run the drop off of "The Tooth" in the middle, but most people now run the right line off a 4’ ledge drop, which is a bit cleaner and sets you up a little better for the run out below. Speaking of the run out, it’s one of the pushier sections of the run and makes for a fun little boulder slalom.

Jason heads toward Shark's Tooth

Shawn gets a kick in the boogie water below Shark's Tooth

Roman finishes up nicely

Now at the second island, aka “Whoop-De-Do”, you have the chose to run down either side. The first is the main line down the left side of the island, which ends with a steep drop down a pile of boulders. The goal here is to continue driving right while trying to avoid getting pushed into the center of the river where it drops through a narrow slot with an undercut rock on the bottom left of it. The far left side (left of the island) really isn’t an option, since it’s basically a giant sieve. The other standard route is to run right of the island, it’s pretty trashy and has affectionately been given the name “Gutter Ball”. You basically crash your way down a narrow twisty chute that also feeds past an undercut boulder, however, it’s fairly benign. Hopefully a big flood will come though and clean this drop up a bit, but until then Whoop-De-Do continues to be the most unpleasant part of the run, at least for me.

Jason running the recommend line at the bottom of Whoop-De-Do.
This is one of the manky sections of the run.

Roman finds some mank

Roman in the run-out below Whoop-De-Do

Next up, “Silly Putty Slot"! My typical line here is to enter through a squirrely flume that seems to always test my bracing skills – this is followed by a fast run before dropping over a 4’ double ledge in the middle of the river. The actual “Slot” (which gives the drop its name) is located to the right of this double ledge on the other side of a large boulder -- this also used to be a common line, but a new piece of wood sits at the base, so it should be avoided.

Roman enters the squirrely chute
leading into Silly Putty Slot

Shawn melts the double ledge at Silly Putty Slot.
If you look carefully, you can the wood in "The Slot"
to his right and on the other side of the large boulder.

Jason drives for an eddy a little below Silly Putty

Below Silly Putty the gradient seems to taper off a bit, but the run remains action packed and has a more wide-open and pushy feel. There are basically two main straightaway sections separated by a boulder fence and large eddy on river right. Both sections are read-&-run with some great boofs here and there. The second section should be entered either hard left or hard right, to either side of the fence. This last straightaway also produces some of the biggest hydraulics of the run; if you run it down the middle – it’s quite a wild ride! We also call this stretch “Swimmer’s Alley” since this is where most people seem to come out of their boat.

Dropping into the straightaway below Silly Putty

Shawn exits the first of the two straightaway sections

Roman and Jason making the moves

Jason drops into Swimmer's Alley

Shawn makes the typewriter move at the top of Swimmer's Alley

Jason near the bottom of Swimmer's Alley

Shawn safely below

Once below Swimmer’s Alley, you are faced with two short stretches separated by the confluence with Christy Creek, a great class V run in its own right. The first part runs through a fun S-turn flume with banked corners. After this the river makes a sharp turn to the right and drops over a fun 4’ boof ledge, typically run on the right. A nice eddy sits on river-right just below the confluence, which can be used to setup for the final stretch of the run. Since you now have the added water from Christy, the river has some good push and fun hydraulics. With the bridge now in view, make your way to the takeout spot just above it on river-left and celebrate. Whew, what a great workout!

The crew heads toward the Christy Creek confluence

Ed gets ready to boof the fun ledge at the Christy Creek confluence

Gabe in the final stretch

Jason and Ed finish up
(photo by Kristin Alligood)

Just another lap on the ol' Mile
(photo by Kristin Alligood)

On this trip we did a total of 4 laps, pretty standard affair for a Saturday or Sunday trip to The Mile. We were also joined by Dan Dellwo, Kristin Alligood, Ed Fredette, and Gabe Flock for the last couple of laps and BBQ, which added to the fun. All of us felt pretty blessed with the bright sunny skies, warm temps, aquamarine water, and good flows. The boat & BBQ on The Mile has been a tradition for us the last couple of years, I just can’t believe that the flows and weather allowed it to happen in late June, what a crazy snowmelt season! I'm already looking forward to next year’s event…

Taking in some much need fuel

Shuttle logistics...

Some head-cam footage of a lap down The Mile at 10" on the bridge gauge:

*New Gauge*

The USGS has added a new gauge to the NFMF Willamette, which can be found here.

I've started to list to try and create a correlation between it and the bridge gauge:

Date:_________ USGS Gauge:___ Pat's Correlation:___ Bridge Gauge:

Rain Fed:

11/11/10__________2.7' __________ 825cfs _____________5"

11/27/10 _________2.87' __________980cfs _____________6"

12/04/10_________3.58'__________1450cfs_____________13"

12/24/10_________3.09'__________1130cfs_____________-9"

01/02/11_________3.55'__________1364cfs_____________13"

01/09/11_________-2.9'___________970cfs_____________-7"

01/22/11_________-4.4'__________2300cfs_____________24"

01/30/11_________3.08'_________-1054cfs_____________10"

03/26/11_________-3.4'__________1225cfs_____________11"

04/24/11_______-__3.6'__________1393cfs_____________14"

Snow Melt:

05/01/11_________-3.7'__________1600cfs_____________16"

06/11/11_________-3.65'_________1625cfs_____________-17"

06/16/11_________-3.35'_________1450cfs_____________15"

06/18/11_________-3.25'_________1325cfs_____________12"

06/27/11_________2.85'_________-1100cfs____________-10"

07/06/11_________-2.5'__________900cfs______________5"

Making a Breakdown Paddle

2011-06-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

After borrowing a homemade two-piece breakdown from my buddy Loft (for our Deer Creek adventure), I had the inspiration to make my own from one of my old worn-down paddles. Not only did that paddle serve as an additional backup for the group, the two halves were also used to pitch my tarp, and worked extremely well.

Pseudo tent poles on our Deer Creek multi-day

Step 1 - Choosing a candidate:
Since this was my first attempt, I decided to pick the most worn of my retired paddles, just in case. This also meant that the paddle was a little shorter than the others, so it would be more likely to fit in different boats. On that note, the finished paddle, like Loft's, would only fit in my Prijon Hercules, not my Mystic. That said, it would probably be possible to cut more of the middle section to make it fit, which I may try if I ever decide to make another.

Eenie, meenie, miney, moe...

Step 2 - Cutting the paddle in half:
This step was by far the hardest. Although there was only a slim chance I would ever need to dig into the bench three deep, we were talking about a ~$350 paddle, at least at one point in its life. Once I had come to grips with what I was about to do, it was time to cut 'er in half.

I ended up using a chop saw, which was probably the best tool for the job -- although if you don't have one, and you have a steady hand, you could probably do it with a handsaw. Since this was a bent-shaft paddle, I needed to use some blocking to elevate it as well as hold it off the fence, but still keep it square to the blade. Since I have a lot of scrap pieces of wood laying around, this wasn't a problem. Once I had the paddle shaft positioned correctly, the rest went smoothly, with the blade cutting through the shaft like a hot knife through butter.

Making the cut. Hope this works out...

Step 3 - Pre measurements:
Now that I had the paddle cut in half, I could measure the inside diameter (I.D.) of the shaft to determine what size sleeve I would need to join the paddle back together with. It appeared that Warner also uses a sleeve when they factory join the paddle into a one piece. Since you can't remove it, and since there really isn't a need to, I simply took the I.D. measurement of the sleeve. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was measuring about .010" over .875", so using a 7/8" tube would probably work great, without any modifications.

Taking the I.D. measurement of the shaft
(technically the existing sleeve)

Step 4 - Ordering parts:
Once I had the sleeve size, I went to my favorite website (from playing an engineer at work), McMaster Carr, who I knew would have everything I needed. I had already decided that I was going to use aluminum, for its cost, weight, and relative strength properties -- it also doesn't rust, which is certainly a requirement based on its use. With the specifications known, I quickly found what I needed and added it to my cart (part# 9056K733)

The next item I needed to order was a bit more difficult, since I didn't know what the heck it was called. "You know, that button thingy you press to lock/unlock the two halves together..." Well, this thing, according to McMaster Carr, is called a "Quick-Release Button Connectors for Telescoping Tubing", which I found for me after typing a couple keywords into the search box. Knowing the wall thickness and I.D. of the sleeve I had just ordered, plus the wall thickness of the paddle shaft, I was able to order the correct one, which for me happened to be part# 92988A530.

Step 6 - Wait for parts...

Step 7 - Preparing the sleeve:
A couple things needed to be done to turn the tubing into a sleeve for the breakdown. First I needed to cut it to size, and after measuring another breakdown that I owned, I determined that it should be cut to 7", for a 3 1/2" inset into each half of the shaft. The next thing I needed to do was drill holes in the side that would be permanently set into one of the halves; the reason for this is to strengthen the joint by giving the epoxy more to grab onto. After all the milling of the sleeve had been done, I smoothed over all edges with a file, sandpaper, and steel wool.

Drilling holes in the sleeve for extra glue purchase

The drilled sleeve

Step 8 - Epoxy the sleeve into one half of the paddle shaft:
Using a marine grade epoxy with a 2 hour set time, I set the sleeve into the end of the shaft ~3 1/2". Once it was in place, I removed the excess epoxy squeeze-out with a rag, and left it to dry for 24 hours. The nice thing about using the longer set time epoxy was that I didn't feel rushed during the process, plus I believe it also produces a stronger bond than the quick set stuff.

The epoxy that I used

Mixin' it up

A good coating on the inside of the paddle shaft...

...and on the sleeve

Note the epoxy "squeeze out" where the shaft and sleeve meet

With the squeeze out wiped off

Step 9 - Setting the blade angle offset:
With the sleeve/shaft glue joint properly cured, the two paddle halves were joined by telescoping the sleeve of the one half into the open end of the other. Now with the full-sized paddle in hand I rotated the halves until I had the proper blade offset, in my case 30 degrees (right-hand control). To do this I matched it up with my current paddle. Once the blade angle was set, I taped the shafts together to hold the proper offset while I drilled for the quick-release button (step 10).

Step 10 - Drilling the quick-release button hole:
Remember that part I didn't know the name of when I was ordering it? Well now it was time to drill the hole for it. With the two paddle halves together (at the correct blade offset), I clamped the paddle to my drill press using a homemade jig out of a 2x4 to center it below the drill bit. Once the paddle was aligned properly to the drill press, I drilled through one wall of both the paddle shaft and sleeve -- make sure you don't accidentally drill all the way through the whole shaft.

My homemade centering jig

Clamping the paddle in place

Drilling the button hole

Shaft and sleeve with button hole
(drilled through one wall only)

Step 11 - Waterproofing:
There is probably no way to completely keep water from getting in the shaft, but a few things I did to help prevent it from happening were:
1. Wedging a closed-cell foam plug down the shaft of each of the paddle halves.
2. Making a seam gasket out of a section of road bike tube (700c x 18-25), which could be slid over the seam of the assembled paddle halves.

My homemade seam gasket

Step 12 - Setting the quick release button into the shaft:
With the shaft drilled for the quick release button, I slid it down the shaft until it snapped into place -- pretty straightforward.

The "quick release button connector"

Inserting the button into the sleeve

The button snapped into place

Step 13 - Assemble the two paddle halves together:
Check your work by joining the two paddle halves together. You may need to do a small amount of sanding/filing to get them to go together smoothly. Once the halves have been joined, slide the homemade gasket over the seam. Voila, you're done!

Back to its original form!

Step 14 - Go boating:
Disassemble the paddle, throw it in the back of your kayak, and go boating!

Ashland Trails (6.11.11)

2011-06-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

The Ashland MTB trail system has been on my radar for some time, but the long drive from Eugene had somewhat dissuaded me from making it a priority. So when Brad and Michelle sent out the invite for Brad’s birthday weekend down there for some shreddin’, I was pretty jazzed. However, since both Brad and my wife Emily have been training for the Cascade Cream Puff, and I wasn’t sure how much riding the others had been doing, I hoped I would be able to keep up and not put in the hurt locker as this would be my first ride of the season. As for the crew, we would have a group of eight, consisting of Brad & Michelle Bassi, Randy Rimby & Kim McGovern, Sarah Marshall, Kristin Alligood, and Emily & me.

The plan was to drive down to Ashland Friday night after work, camp out, and bike both Saturday & Sunday. Since we wouldn’t have much time to pack on Friday, I spent most of Thursday getting all my stuff together. This was not an easy task, since I couldn't remember where I had stored some of my biking gear. Luckily most was recovered and staged in the garage, ready to be thrown in the car the next day. I also did a light tune-up on my Big Mama, to make sure she would be in top shape for a couple days of riding.

The Ashland trail network

As work on Friday came to an end, I quickly headed home to do some last minute packing before Emily showed up. Once she did, we loaded the dogs in the car and headed south. It’s amazing that two people and two dogs with gear for a weekend can fill a whole Outback, including a giant gear bag strapped to the top of the car. By the time we reached the campground where most of the crew had already setup, it was 10:30pm -- enough time for a beer or two before heading off to bed.

The next morning, Emily awoke at the crack of dawn to start her ride with Brad, who would be doing 3x the riding we would be doing, ~70miles and 12,000’ to 15,000’ of climbing! This really goes to show how training for a big race like the Puff, is just as much work as fun, if not more. A couple hours later I woke up to the dogs lickin’ on my face, obviously ready to eat and do their business. When I climbed out of the tent, most of the crew was already making coffee and preparing to cook breakfast. After taking care of the dogs, I jumped in to lend a hand by cooking up a dozen eggs and sauteing up some veggies.

After we had all filled up on food and coffee we drove to Lithia Park to start our ride. Just about the time we parked the cars, Brad and Emily came riding into the parking lot, after completing their first lap. We quickly got word that the uppermost trails were pretty unrideble due to snow, so starting the descent at the top of "Missing Link" was advised. After hanging out for a few minutes, we wished them a good ride as they sped away for lap #2.

Gearin' up for the day's ride

Believe it or not, we had more girls than guys on the ride!

The first half of our ride consisted of both paved and gravel road climbing up toward Mt. Ashland. Since we had fairly diverse fitness levels within the group, we took a nice mellow pace, which I was certainly fine with. As we made our way up the hill I was surprised that I wasn’t hurtin’ too bad, which I can only attribute to all the bike commuting to work, and the more adventure-style kayaking I’ve been doing lately. For most of the climbing I was by myself, with some of the group either in front or back. Often I would stop to take photos for just take a quick rest, and our crew would regroup from time to time at obvious stopping points.

Starting the long ascent

Michelle still with fresh legs

Some of the climb goes through a neighborhood of sorts

Still climbing

Randy enjoys the "Gun Show" at Four Corners

Getting close!

By the time we reached the trailhead for Missing Link, I was ready for some singletrack -- it had been way too long since I’d ridden the dirt ribbon! I quickly opened up my suspension and lowered my seat, before jumping out ahead to find a good spot to setup for some more photos. As I weaved my way down, I could tell that my biking legs and balance were gonna need some warm-up. This first trail section was full of fun technical spots, banked switchbacks, and little kickers to get some lift off of -- really fun stuff! I was able to stop in a few good spots to snap off pics. After the last person had passed by, I’d jump back on my steed and giv’er hell trying to catch back up. All too soon we reached the road, signaling the end of Missing Link. I only hoped that the remaining trails would be as good.

Suiting up for the descent

Randy rails a corner near the beginning of Missing Link

Sarah gets some air early on

More banked goodness

Sarah was having a hard time keeping
her wheels on the ground...

Sure enough as we were regrouping, Emily and Brad came screaming down the trail and joined us for a quick break. While the others were talking and grabbing a snack, I decided to play around on the short log ride nearby. Once again I was reminded that I would need to get my biking legs back…

Regrouping at Four Corners
(photo by Randy Rimby)

Exit, stage right
(photo by Randy Rimby)

For some reason I'm leaning toward the side I'm falling off of...
(photo by Randy Rimby)

The next trail on our agenda was Catwalk, and it also didn’t disappoint. It didn’t have the fun techie bits, but it did have lots of fun switchbacks and jumps. There were also a couple of places where you could really open it up, to the point of, “should I really be riding this fast?!” Eventually Catwalk intersected with "Toothpick", a fun traverse that dropped us into a parking lot that we had ridden past on the ride up the road.

Emily enters into Catwalk

Why can't all switchbacks be this smooth?!

Sarah, all smiles on Catwalk

Kim rides toward the waning forest

Next up was Caterpillar. After a short climb up some singletrack, we were once again bombing down a fun flowy trail with more high-speed switchbacks.

Randy changes direction, again.

Speed zone

Deeper into the darkness

Kim, enjoying the ride!

As Caterpillar ended at the road again, I crossed over to hang a left onto Upper White Rabbit and toward the Wonderland trial. Before I could get too far Randy suggested that we do the trail down the other side of the road, which would also take us to the bottom. He said it was a fairly new trail called Jabberwocky, and that he remembered it being pretty fun. “What the heck, why not, they’re all new to me!” With that, we dropped down the steep entrance into a small creek drainage, where the trail traversed alongside it. This trial ended up being the most difficult of the trails we had ridden, and still very fun. There was one spot with a sketchy angled log-over that we all walked, which was also kinda sketchy. Before long, Ashland Creek came into view as well as the intersection with the bottom of BTI, so I knew we were pretty much done at this point.

Sarah builds up some speed on the Jabberwocky traverse

Randy leads the pack with Sarah in hot pursuit

Randy drops down a pitch near the end of Jabberwocky

Sarah on the final stretch

Almost to the beer!

When we reached the car, Michelle and Kristin (who had taken a different way down) were already having beer and some chips... "Ah yes, time for a cold one!” After changing into some comfy cottons, we headed into Ashland for a taco at Agave, and for a few more beers at Caldera Brewing. That night we BBQ’d up some meat and made a big batch of pasta, and afterwards sat around the fire to discuss all the great riding we had done. The best part was that we still had another day of riding, so after the fire died down, we headed back to our tents for another night’s sleep -- Man, I slept like a rock!

Michelle readies herself to drink
some of the best brew on the planet!

Relaxin' after a sweet day of shredding

Cupcakes for Brad the birthday boy

More bike talk

The next day we hit the trail again. Randy and Kim had left to bike with some friends who lived in the area, but Brad and Emily would be joining us, keeping our riding party at six. Another difference would be that we were planning to shuttle, which actually took longer than it was probably worth. Regardless, we had another great time on the trails. This time we rode the bottom stretch down Wonderland and BTI, instead of Jabberwocky. Wonderland was essentially a superfast double-track with some jumps here and there. BTI on the other hand was a lesson in switchbacks down tight steep singletrack, a super sexy trail that I enjoyed quite a bit. The following pics are from our second day of riding:

Michelle finishes up a fun technical stretch in style

Brad, getting close to the camera guy

Sarah goes for more air

Hey who put this log here?! The author makes the best of it.
(photo by Brad Bassi)

Sarah, still rockin' & rollin'

Brad drops a rock slab near the start of Catwalk

Emily takes the more technical route

Brad chases down Michelle in the leaning forest

Kristin lovin' the trail and new bike!

Sarah on Toothpick

Michelle on Toothpick

Looking good so far...
(photo by Emily Pfeifer)

...D'oh! Yes, I went over the bars, and have the scar to prove it!

(photo by Emily Pfeifer)

Emily goes big on Wonderland

Michelle rounds one of the many corners on BTI

Brad descends BTI

Brad hits the corner with some speed

A typical view on BTI. Does it get any better than this?!

On our way to the end of a great trip

After one more stop in Ashland for food & drinks, as well as some time at the local dog park, Emily and I headed back home to Eugene. What a great trip! I’ll definitely be back to Ashland for more riding. Hopefully next time we can combine it with other rides in the area, since I'm sure there must be other great trails.

Upper Opal Creek, OR (6.4.11)

2011-06-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

With warm temperatures and sunny skies forecasted for the weekend, I was looking forward to getting on the water, even after coming off a week of boating in California. I wanted to stay somewhat close to home, and was actually hoping that Upper Quartzville would come in to a good flow, which it unfortunately didn’t. The backup plan ended up being Opal Creek, which I was still excited about since I hadn’t done it in a while. I wanted to get a full day of boating in, so I pitched the idea of doing an Upper/Lower Opal combo, and in the end I got two bites, Roman Androsov & Anna Herring.

Opal Creek is one of the, if not the most, popular creeks in Oregon to kayak. If flows are good, you can expect to see at least one or two more crews at the put-in or takeout. Lots of great class III/IV rapids in a pristine canyon with crystal clear water and untouched forests are the draw to this very special place. The standard run is from The Mines put-in down to Three Pools, with boaters rarely venturing into the creek above this stretch. This is really a shame, since it shares almost the same flow range, has some high quality drops, and adds quite a bit more whitewater when done as a combo with the lower. It should be noted that it’s definitely a step up in difficulty, and although very manageable, it does have a couple of committing drops that can be somewhat intimidating. The only downside is that it adds 1.5 more miles to the hike-in, but I'd say it's still worth it.

Roman, Yulia (Roman’s wife, who offered to run shuttle after hiking) and I met Anna at the Swiss Village, and we drove up to Three Pools to use the restroom and check to see what the flow looked like. The internet gauge was reading ~1150cfs, which in the spring and early summer equates to a nice medium flow, since most of it is coming from the top. A quick look at the takeout drop confirmed this, and soon we were on our way to the start of the put-in trail.

The hike into Upper Opal is about 2.5 miles if you put-in at Sawmill Falls (aka: Cascada de los Ninos), which is what we did. Both Roman and I rigged up our NRS Sherpa packs, while Anna cobbled one together out of camstraps. The sun was out, but the temps weren’t too hot, which was nice for the hike. As I made my way up the trail, I stopped a few times to readjust my load and talked to a few hikers that were very inquisitive about what we had planned. One of them warned me to be careful because there was a big waterfall upstream. When I told her that was one of the main reasons we were hiking up there, she just gave me one of those looks, and said, "You guys are crazy."

Roman, still happy after a few miles of hiking.

Almost there!

Before too long I heard the roar of the falls and knew that we had reached the put-in. I dropped the boat from my shoulders and scampered down a short trail to get a look at the falls and choose my line. Soon after, the others showed up to do the same. I offered to go first while they watched and took some photos. After quickly gearing up, I hiked about the trail a bit more until I knew I was above the falls, where I bushwhacked to the creek and put on. Almost immediately after putting on the water, I was confronted with the lead-in drop to the falls, a ledge drop that I ran center left. Just below this was some slack water and an eddy on river right that can be used to setup for the falls. It should be noted that there is a shallow shelf that sticks out center-right at the base of the falls, so err to the left and/or make sure you get a good boof. Without too much delay, I pulled out of the eddy and dropped down the sloping entrance. Once I saw the lip I grabbed for it with a big left stroke and went airborne -- what a great way to start off a run!

The author below the lead-in drop
(photo by Roman Androsov)

The author digs in
(photo by Roman Androsov)

As I eddied out in the pool below the falls, I saw that Anna was heading up to take her turn. Since the hike back up the hill was pretty easy, I decided, “Heck, why not run it again!” After taking my second plunge, I traded places with Roman so he could have his turn and I could get some photos. In the end we all had good lines, which set a nice tone for the rest of the run.

Anna takes flight

Roman takes his turn

Not far below "Cascada de los Ninos" and a fun S-turn drop, is the first significant rapid of the run, “Harvey Wallbanger”. This drop runs though near vertical walls, and would be extremely difficult to portage. Further, scouting anything other than the first part of the drop would be equally as torturous. Basically the drop starts off with a class III boulder slalom that funnels down against the right wall though a series of tricky hydraulics. Below this is a fast moving pool that then drops through another slot, with a fairly sticky hole. If you’ve not run this before, it’s definitely best to eddy out on the left above the hole and give it a scout, since lining it up properly is important, assuming you even want to run it.

After a quick look at the entrance to Mr. Wallbanger, Roman jumped in his boat and signaled that he was dropping in. While shooting photos I could see him getting pushed around a bit in the first slot as he dropped out of sight. I was pretty relieved to see him reappear in the pool between drops and eddying out, since he wouldn't have had safety if something went wrong.

Roman in the middle of Harvey Wallbanger

Roman prepares to drop through the first slot

Next up was Anna, who had a similar line to Roman but was flipped in the first slot -- after a quick roll, she joined Roman in the eddy below. Now my turn, I hiked up to my boat and dropped in. Everything was going well in the class III entrance until I hit a rock just above the slot. With no speed I was flushed through, got spun around, and flipped almost immediately. After a violent couple of seconds under water, I was able to hit my roll and eddy out just above the hole. I remember thinking, "Wow, that was a little close for comfort.".

Anna enters Harvey

Anna just below the slot that flipped the both of us

After pulling up to shore and jumping out of my boat, I started to walk down the bank to take a look at the bottom hole. By this time Roman and Anna had already scouted and decided on their lines. I once again brought out the camera to take some shots while they took their chances with the hole. Roman went first, and after taking a big left stroke while dropping through, he was flipped by the boil feeding off the right wall. I quickly grabbed for my rope, but luckily he was able to roll up and paddle away, with some effort. Anna went next and had almost the same exact line and outcome. I put my rope and camera away and went to finish giving the drop a scout. To be honest I didn’t like what I saw. It wasn’t that the hole looked all that threatening, it was more that the entrance move was thin and seemed somewhat like a roll of the dice. With that I decided that it was just as easy to shoulder around it, which I did along left bank.

Roman prepares to take on the bottom hole

Droppin' in

Anna meets force, with force.

Looking back up at Harvey Wallbanger,
including the bottom hole.

Now that we were below Harvey Wallbanger, we proceeded carefully downstream so we didn’t stumble down the lead-in to “Coyle’s Boil” without realizing it. Before we got there we came to another horizon line, where large boulders blocked the view of most of the drop. Roman, who had remembered the line from a previous trip, entered down the center between two of the boulders and headed left. As he dropped out of sight, I turned and said to Anna, “Guess that’s the line”, and quickly followed. It ended up being a pretty fun two-tiered drop, with a somewhat busy run-out.

After a short bit we reached what we knew to be the lead-in to Coyle’s Boil. The drop is notorious based on a class III lead-in with a must make eddy just above a ledge with an underwater sieve and undercut wall. Since I’ve not seen the drop at low water I can’t verify the hazards, but we still wanted to play it safe. I made the decision to eddy out above the lead-in on river-right, where I could walk down to set safety. Roman and Anna had already run about half the lead-in and were held up in a left hand eddy. I motioned to them that I had a bag, and both came down making the eddy above Coyle’s without issue.

Roman and Anna eddied out partway down the lead-in to Coyle's Boil

Roman finishes up the lead-in to Coyle's

Anna heads for the must-make eddy

Ferrying back to river-left to do the portage
around Coyle's Boil, which is directly below her.

With safety now set for me, I boated down and caught the eddy as well – although I got slightly knocked around in the lead-in which certainly got the heart pumping. After ferrying from the river-right eddy to river left (the only side with a portage option), we gave Coyle’s a quick look. I was surprised to see that it actually looked quite runnable. It was certainly not clean, but not all that bad either. If I had decided to run it, I would have kept my speed from the lead-in and not eddied out. Since this was no longer an option, none of us seriously considered running it and made the easy portage down the left.

Looking back up at the lead-in

Coyle's Boil

The portage

Immediately below Coyle’s is a fun 8’ vertical ledge, which would be even better if you could build up enough speed to really air it out. We all ran center-right (avoiding the piton/pin rock hard right), which appeared to be the best line option and worked well for us.

Anna runs the ledge just below Coyle's

Roman runs the same line.
Coyle's is the drop in the top of the photo.

Just around the corner from Coyle’s and the ledge drop, I could see that we had reached the put-in for the normal Mines to Three Pools run. I knew from both reading and witnessing, that the ledge just above the put-in is extremely sticky on the left side. I would highly recommend that you give this one a good look before running the “hero line”, since the hole can trap a swimmer, make for a uncomfortable experience, and create a difficult rescue situation. They call this one "Hypoxia Hole" for good reason.

Since we pretty much bombed down this lower stretch and I didn’t take any pictures, I won’t go into any more detail other than: Big Ugly went really well down the left, and I almost paid the price for missing my boof on Big Fluffy, which luckily let me go after holding me briefly.

Anna runs the fun seal-launch around Big Fluffy

The author about to probe the depths of Big Fluffy
(photo by Roman Androsov)

Shot of the same line taken from below
(photo by Anna Herring)

If you want to see my account of Lower Opal at lower flow, go here. You can also see our run from this day in the head-cam footage below.

A POV of our run down Upper & Lower Opal:

NF American - Giant Gap (5.30.11)

2011-06-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

After getting off of Deer Creek and heading to Chico for some Thai food, it was time to decide where in Cali we were going to head next. With guidebooks in hand, we pulled up Dreamflows to check water levels. As I scrolled through the list on my Droid, it appeared that most things were sitting a little high, which was to be expected based on the unusually high snowpack. Luckily, California has a plethora of drainages coming off the Sierras, so it didn’t take me long to find one that was at a nice medium flow, the NF American. The runs on this stretch of river have been high on my list for some time. Since we were only planning to get in one more full-day of boating, the obvious choice was to do Giant Gap, which the others fully agreed with. Now that the plan was set, we finished our meal and found a cheap hotel in Chico for the evening.

We had between 1,450 & 1,400cfs on our run, a great medium flow!

The next morning I awoke in the hotel room to the smell of wet, bacteria infested, boating gear clouding the room. Outside was much more pleasant, where the sun was shining and air was a lot more pure. We had originally planned to go to a laundromat to dry out our gear, but since it was so nice out, we just decided to push the limits of our checkout time and cover the parking lot with our wears. Once we had some breakfast and our things had sufficiently dried out, we headed toward the town of Colfax, the takeout for Giant Gap. Since we would be car camping for the next two nights, we stopped at the grocery store in Colfax to load up on supplies before heading to camp. I had been told that there were free camping options at the put-in, as long as you were willing to deal with the sound of the trains passing by all night -- not deterred, we headed there to setup camp.

The first order of business was to find the trailhead that would lead us down to the river in the morning. We figured that by doing this, we'd save some time putting on. Our guidebook led us straight there on the first try, pretty amazing since there are quite a few off-chutes along the way. From the parking lot near the trailhead, we got quite an impressive view of where we would be venturing into the next day. All the literature I had read warned of the committing nature of this run, and looking into the canyon confirmed this immediately. To be honest, this was one of the major draws of the run for me. After taking it all in, we headed back up the road on a search for a good place to bed down.

Looking into "The Gap" from the lookout near the trailhead

Jason decides to get a birds-eye view

Shawn, Bob, and Chris had gone out ahead of the rest of us, and by the time we caught up, they had already established basecamp right off the road on a grassy shelf, overlooking the canyon, and just up from the train tracks. It just so happened that a train was going by at the time, which we all scrambled down to get a closer look at -- we would be tired of seeing them by the end of our stay. Shawn “Machete Man” Haggin, went to work carvin’ up a good stack of firewood for the evening while most of us setup our tents and/or drank beer. By the time he was done, we already had the fire well on its way, and ready to serve as the night’s entertainment. The stars were out in full effect, while I stared at them, I thought about the place we were at, and looked forward to the following day’s adventure.

Gonna be noisy in camp tonight...

Feelin' like an Amerikin on the NF American

Setting up camp

Another look into The Gap, this time from camp

Ahh, the good life!

The next morning was full of sunshine and a sub-par breakfast of instant oatmeal. After dropping the others off at the trailhead, Shawn and I ran the quick shuttle down I-80. Upon our return I rigged up my boat with the famous “Gap Strap” system before heading down the trail myself. For the first half mile or so of the descent I was shouldering my boat, trying to save it, to some degree, from having a hole rubbed through it. I finally relinquished, lowered my boat, and began the dragging process. The trail surface was actually quite good for this, which was covered in a nice layer of fallen leaves. It was also fairly easy going and kept a sustained, fairly gradual gradient -- not what I had expected after reading some of the descriptions. I soon caught up with the others and we made our way down as a train rumbled by similar to the ones that had passed by our camp the night before, although not quite as loud. When we finally reached the footbridge that marked the put-in, we relaxed in the sun a bit before changing into our boating gear. I probably would have spent longer lounging on the rocks, but the mosquitos had other plans, hurrying me onto the river. As I slid into the water I took in the rock walls and crystal clear water, looking forward to what lay downstream.

Gap Strappin' down the put-in trail

Roman and Jason hanging out on the put-in bridge

Go time!

Looking downstream from the put-in

Upon rounding the first bend, the first drop of many to come presented itself. Chris immediately dropped in while the rest of us eddied out. Shawn, Roman and Bob dropped in soon after, and as I lined-up for my turn, I got the boof signal from Chris, who obviously meant the water ramp directly in front of me. As I crested the lip I dug in for a stroke and went airborne. What a great way to start the run! Directly below this the walls tightened up a bit and we ran a few very fun class III/IV pool-drop rapids. Way too soon the walls dropped back a bit and the run settled down for a few miles.

Eventually the river started to gorge up once again, and judging by the high walls, I knew that we were approaching “The Gap”. For some reason, during our Cali trip my Prijon was taking on lots of water, so I pulled over before dropping into the gorge to empty it out, for what seemed like the hundredth time of the trip. When I rejoined the group, half were sitting at the top of a horizon line while the others had apparently already dropped in. After getting the beta from Jason from an eddy behind a midstream boulder, he dropped out of sight and joined the others below. It ended up being a pretty straightforward move down the left.

The next stop was one I was pretty sure I recognized from the pictures, Nutcracker, reported to be a large but relatively friendly drop. Chris eddied at the top of the drop on the left and jumped out to give it a scout. After confirming that it was good-to-go on the right, we all dropped in one by one. My line actually went really well, and I was able to use the large water features to guide my path downstream. There was a decent hole at the bottom, but it was kicking out pretty good and I had built up quite a bit of speed to break through.

Based on beta (both trip reports and people), I had assumed that the drop just below Nutcracker was Locomotive, A nasty river-wide hole that might be a portage, at least at this flow. I had gotten out above to confirm whether or not it was Locomotive, and finally determined that it was not, although the right side at the bottom did appear to be somewhat sticky. It ended up being a long but friendly rapid with a good line down the center-left, which everyone ran.

Shawn enters the drop just upstream of Locomotive

Roman takes his turn

Roman halfway through

Just below this drop and above the next horizon line, I eddied out on river right, and noticed a line bolted into the wall, so I was confident that we were right above Locomotive. Chris immediately jumped out in the knee deep water to give it a look. As he waded down against the cliff wall he rounded the corner and was soon out of sight. By this time there were five of us out of our boats and standing in the water against an overhung wall, waiting for the report. The first news to come down the line was that “It doesn’t look all that bad”. However, after hearing and reading the horror stories of this notorious hole, I wanted a look before committing to running it. Unfortunately this was easier said than done, and although not impossible, it would have taken some time due to the scramble required to get a look. I finally decided it wasn’t worth it, and shuttled my boat forward so it could be partially lined around the drop. In the end everyone else decided the same, and with some good teamwork and a bit of mild rock climbing we were all safely around the drop. Now with a good vantage point, I was pretty glad I had decided not to run it, since it looked pretty horrible. There was a thin line on the far right, but even it was pulling back into the hole a bit. There were also a couple of rocks in the run-out which may have further complicated things.

Getting cramped in the eddy above Locomotive

Locomotive is just around the rock and a little downstream

Looking back at the eddy from just above Locomotive

Looking nasty. Note the rocks in the run-out on the right.

Regrouping below Locomotive

Feeling somewhat relieved to be below Locomotive, I pulled up to the next horizon line, which appeared to be read & run, after dropping over a ledge at the top. Unfortunately I dropped over and fell right into a giant seam, flipping me instantly. After many failed roll attempts and mashing my head on rocks (also knocking my head-cam off my helmet), I pulled the pin. I really hate swimming, especially when it’s due to missing rolls, really makes you feel like a chump -- although at this point, all I cared about was getting to shore and not losing any gear. I was able to hold onto my paddle while the others corralled my boat and helped get me to shore. The only thing that was lost was a bit of pride...

After emptying my boat I sealed myself back in and we continued downstream. As we approached the next horizon line I was still a little dizzy from the adrenaline and cold water in the ears. This drop consisted of a large, right breaking curler, that deposited you down and through a pair of holes at the bottom. What I did not account for was the second hole (I hadn’t seen it), so I was once again tossed upside down. Again I struggled with a few rolls and smashed my head against more rocks, but this time I refused to swim. I finally rolled up with my helmet-cam dangling from the lanyard that I had tied it to, setup for just this type of event. As I pulled into an eddy I took a minute to catch my breath and recalibrate.

Doing my best to shake off my performance from the last two rapids, I gazed in amazement at my surroundings and forced myself back into a positive mind frame, before continuing on. Just around the corner we arrived at yet another sizable drop where both Jason and I got out to look (from opposite sides of the river). After seeing a nice clean line down the right, we gave the signal to the group who ran it without issue.

Chris enters another fun drop in The Gap

Roman drops in

Bob busts though the bottom hole, which are quite common on Giant Gap.

Before too long and after a couple more class III/IV drops, we reached what was described as the largest one on the run, Dominator. After getting out on the right to scout, it looked like there was a pretty straightforward sneak on that side, with a nice boof at the bottom, center-right. Everyone used this route to some degree with similar results, upright and smiling at the bottom.

Bob runs the right line at Dominator

Shawn waits for his turn

Jason at the start of Dominator

Once below Dominator we were faced with lots of fun read & run class III/IV drops before the river finally mellowed out to class II/II+ with flat stretches in-between. There was one drop I had been on the lookout for, based on reports of a boxed-in hole between boulders that claimed the life of a paddler some years back. I believe this to be the drop shown in the following pictures, which we all ran down the left, moving center below said hole.

Jason waits for beta at the top of the drop

Jason joins the others halfway down

Shawn takes the recommended left line.
To the right is the boxed-in hole.

Bob goes left as well

We decided to take a quick break and eat a snack before the paddle out, which was about 6 miles long. It ended up not being too grueling, other than the headwind, which was really bad for some stretches. Just above the takeout was one last III+ drop that almost seemed out of place after all the flat water we had just paddled. I was pretty lethargic at this point, so when we finally beached ourselves under the takeout bridge, I was pretty relieved, and looking forward to another night relaxing around the fire.

The takeout -- Finally!

It was now about 5pm, and we quickly packed up and retrieved the shuttle vehicle, so that Shawn and Bob could start their voyage back home to Oregon. I was not envious, but also knew that we’d be doing the same the next morning. I never feel ready to leave Cali after our trip has been completed. Although my boating excursions have only included Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California, I have a hard time believing that there is any better place to paddle than the Sierras, and I'm always counting down the days before the next time.

One last night under the stars!

Head-Cam Footage from our run down Giant Gap:

Deer Creek, CA - Memorial Day 2011

2011-06-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

I was starting to lose faith that I would ever get on Deer Creek, CA. For the last couple of years the flow never really came into the runnable range, and earlier this year we were forced to walk off due to higher than recommended flows (see here). My luck would change Memorial Day weekend (2011) when historically high snowpack would set us up perfect for a late May, multi-day, self-support trip through the Ishi Wilderness area.

Since the MF Feather wilderness run, our first choice, was too high, it wasn’t hard to turn the group’s attention to Deer Creek. We would have a team of 6, which in my opinion is the max recommended size for an adventure like this. From Vancouver (WA) we would have Chris Arnold, from Eugene we would have Roman Androsov, Bob Lee, and myself, from Roseburg Shawn Haggin, and last but certainly not least, Jason Naranjo from San Diego (formerly from Eugene).

The plan was to head to the put-in on Wednesday night, run the back shuttle Thursday morning, and be on the water that day by noon. With some minor delays getting out of Eugene, we ended up back on track and reached Potato Patch campground (the put-in), at around 11pm -- just enough time for a beer or two before setting up our tents and bedding down for the night. The next morning Jason and Shawn offered to drive shuttle, which allowed the rest of us to take our time breaking down camp and loading our boats for our 3 day trip down Deer Creek. While we were getting ready, a couple others who were sharing the campground came over to quiz us on what we had planned. They all seemed very intrigued, but as any boater knows, it’s hard to present what the trip would be like to non-river folks.

The put-in

Getting packed up for our adventure

Before long (about 2 ½ hours later), Jason and Shawn returned. After some last minute preparations we were all on the water and headed downstream. The flow (at Vina) when we put on was ~900cfs, which would slowly drop to ~775cfs by the end of the trip.

Day 1 - Potato Patch CG to Polk Springs CG (11 miles):

The first part of the run consisted of one wood portage and lots of fun read-&-run class III drops, with one class IV about 1.5 miles into the run. This class IV was the one that had convinced us the flows were too high at 1,500cfs. At this flow it was far less stressful but still featured some nice hydraulics, including a big entrance hole to skirt.

Looking downstream from our launch location

Shawn early on in the run

Chris relaxes just above the log portage

Roman skirts the hole at the top of the class IV rapid

Bob gets ready to drop into the second part of the class IV rapid

Not far below this we encountered the bridge where we had hiked out before. As we floated underneath I knew that we had just passed the point of no return, and I was feeling pretty happy that I was finally going to do the full run this time around. Class III rapids continued for another couple miles until a more distinct horizon line presented itself, a III+/IV rapid above what appeared to me the entrance to Fish Ladder Falls, the only mandatory portage. I quickly jumped out of my boat and scouted from the left bank. At our healthy flow the rapid just above the lead-in was quite pushy with only a couple of small eddies to catch between the two. It should be noted that the lead-in rapid itself feeds right into the falls with no eddies, so it should be considered unrunnable as well. Everyone but Chris had made the mistake of eddying out and scouting the falls from river left, which was basically not a portage option. This required us all to make a fairly easy, but exciting ferry to the small eddy on river right -- basically if you blew the eddy you were running the falls. Once we were all safely on the right bank, a brief scout confirmed that the falls were a death trap, with a terminal hole feeding off the right wall. The hike around was somewhat strenuous with a loaded boat, but before long we had all regrouped below the falls, where we decided to hang out for a bit and enjoy the scenery and a quick snack.

Bob lends Jason a helping hand just
above the entrance to Fish Ladder Falls

Portaging Fish Ladder Falls

The nasty reversal at the base of Fish Ladder Falls

Getting a bite to eat below the falls

Just below the falls was a fun little class III/III+ mini-gorge that was way too short and left me wanting more. I had decided to head out in front so I could snap some photos of the others coming through.

Looking into the gorge just below the falls

Jason finishes up the gorge below Fish Ladder Falls

Bob and Shawn exit the small gorge

More fun class III water continued for some time before the creek pinched down between narrow vertical walls, signaling another short gorge section. Within this gorge we found a couple of technical class IV drops with some interesting hydraulics (seams, holes, etc.). We all bombed through with minimal issues and continued down the creek until we encountered an obvious horizon line. We all jumped out to scout, where we determined that this was the class V known as Big Boulder Bar. None of us saw a great line option, since it was littered with pin/piton potential -- we all made the fairly easy portage down the right side.

Bob runs the right side of a fun, technical, class IV

Shawn and Jason continue downstream

The entrance to Big Boulder Bar

The middle of Big Boulder Bar

Not far below this and a couple of drops later, Shawn pulled over and jumped out of his boat, only to discover a really nasty crack in the bottom of it -- not a good thing to have on the first day of a committing three-day self-support. After a couple of expletives, we all gave it a look to determine the prognosis and how sea worthy it was. After some thought it was decided that we would drill out the ends of the crack (by hand), and boat down to camp, which was estimated to be about 2 miles downstream. We had also agreed that the best plan of action would be for a couple of us to go out in front and scout the rapids ahead of Shawn, so that we could hasten the pace a bit. We still had a few more class III and IV rapids, where Shawn would get out occasionally to empty his boat.

A group huddle to discuss the situation

The crack...

Before too long we passed under a deteriorated foot bridge, which would mark our camp for the evening. A brief scout by Jason indicated that the river right would be the best for camping, so we all eddied out and climbed up the small cliff band to explore our accommodations. We quickly went to work setting up a clothesline, collecting firewood, and setting up our sleeping quarters. Before long we had a fire going and all sat around discussing the day’s events and cooking dinner. Darkness fell soon after, and one by one we headed off to bed. The next morning while the rest of us were getting ready, Bob and Shawn went to work on making a duct tape patch for Shawn’s boat. The toughest stretch of whitewater lay downstream (Bandito Canyon / Maxi Gorge), but we knew if we got past that we would be able to make it to Ponderosa Way road, an access point and the separation between the Upper and Lower Deer Creek runs. From there we could reevaluate the patch job and hike out for supplies if necessary.

Supper time!

My abode for the evening

Shawn and Bob go to work on patching the boat

Day 2 - Polk Springs CG to Ponderosa Way Bridge (5 miles):

The clouds had moved in and some light sprinkles were falling. It was cloudy and cool, but not frigid. I jumped out ahead and started through a nice rhythm of class III rapids. Every once in awhile a wave would break over the top of my boat, knocking the remaining sleep from my eyes. I was still feeling pretty lethargic, but by the time we had reached the beginning of Bandito Canyon, I started to wake up. Soon, large lava rocks began to dot the river and the walls started to tighten up a bit, and I knew that we had reached one of the crux sections of the run, Maxi Gorge. As we cruised down through the first boulder maze, I broke left, away from the group. Unfortunately the eddy situation was grim, and I ended up running a really narrow chute hard river-left, which deposited me into a swirling half-boat eddy. Luckily, I was able to climb out of my boat and get to shore to scout the horizon line just below me. After a quick glance I was pretty sure that this was a rapid known as “Log X”. Basically it was a two ledge drop, with the first backed up by a midstream boulder, and the second a fairly sticky hole. The trick on the first was to drive to the right of the boulder backing it up. On the second you could run it about anywhere as long as you got in a good boof, although right was probably the softest part of the hole. Everyone in our group was able to make it through nice and clean.

Bob eddied out above the first ledge in Log X

Shawn breaks through the first ledge.
Note the rock backing up the left side.

Jason waits between tiers on Log X

Chris runs the bottom ledge in Log X while the others look on

Below Log X were a couple of fun drops, Kitchen Sink (Class IV) and Blind Faith (Class III) respectively. Kitchen sink was a fun boof between a large midstream boulder and the right bank, followed by a fast run-out that slammed against another large right-hand boulder, which was easy to avoid. Blind Faith, just below, was a pretty straightforward, short ledge drop that deposited you into a sizable pool.

Looking upstream at Kitchen Sink and Blind Faith

On the other end of the pool lay the largest drop we had seen so far, Coffin Trough. I had studied this drop from the pictures of previous adventurers, but at the higher flow that we had, it was almost unrecognizable. This was a sizable class V, with a couple of mean looking holes to grab hold of any boater with a missed line. At first, most of the group was set on portaging, but sketchy portage options and watching Chris run it cleanly convinced us otherwise. I was the fourth boater to drop in. My plan was to boof the top ledge (as Chris had), and then navigate the holes below using an S-turn type move. Things went badly at the very top where I lined up poorly and hit a mediocre boof, landing in a seam and flipping instantly. I then proceeded to run the rest of the drop either upside-down or on a deep brace -- luckily this helped me flush through the holes and I was able to roll up at the bottom with some assistance from Shawn. (Thanks buddy!) Soon after, the other two came down, with some interesting lines and a couple of good hole rides.

Looking into Coffin Trough

Chris hits the top boof of Coffin Trough...

...and gets a little vertical

Chris finishing up Coffin Trough

Bob mid-way through Coffin Trough

Bob surfin' the trough

Just below Coffin Trough is “Stay Right and Flip”, another large class V, which splits around an island of sorts. Most of the flow went right of the island, although the top part of it was still pretty junky, and the exit fed directly into the worst part of the bottom, extremely sticky, hole. The left side of the island was more or less a sneak, but still proved to be pretty exciting. In the end, we all chose the left side, and made it through without any problems.

Chris gives "Stay Right and Flip" a scout

Below Maxi Gorge the creek mellowed for a mile or two before coming to a series of tougher boulder drops, “Antepenultimate”, “Penultimate”, and “Ultimate”. I had not been boating well on this day, and these three drops would be no exception. Basically, I was flipped, temporarily pinned, and generally beat-up; luckily I was able to stay in my boat through them all. By the time the Ponderosa Way Bridge came into view, I was pretty pooped and ready for a break. At this point it was also time to decide how to proceed with Shawn’s broken boat…

Upon inspection it appeared that the patch was holding up extremely well, thanks to Bob’s incredible first aid skills. However, even with it holding, most of the group thought it would be unwise for him to continue downstream since we didn’t have any more patching materials on hand. Further, this was an access point in an otherwise inescapable run, or at least not without extreme difficulty. The plan was for three of the group to hike out of the canyon via the road and bring back more duct tape, preferably of the Gorilla variety. Shawn, Jason, and Roman volunteered to make the journey while Chris, Bob, and I stayed with the gear and setup camp. One of the first orders of business was for us to setup clotheslines to dry everyone’s gear out. For this task the road bridge made a great anchor point, and soon we had a spider web of line running back and forth across the bridge, essentially creating a road block.

Roadblock

Our three adventurers go in search of repair supplies

Since we knew that it would be awhile before we reconnected with our fellow boaters we took our time setting up sleeping quarters and collecting firewood, most of the time was actually spent lounging around in the sun and taking a nap. After some time had gone by, the faint sound of a vehicle could be heard, and soon after it came into view. I can only imagine what they were thinking when they pulled up to the bridge and saw it completely blocked off with our laundry. When we ran onto the bridge to start disassembling our roadblock, they climbed out with big smiles on their faces and pleasant introductions. They were a couple good ol’ boys and locals from Chico, who were intrigued by our means of navigation through the Ishi Wilderness. They said they had seen us from their campsite while we were hootin’ and hollerin’ down the last set of rapids. What they also told us was not good news for our hiking buddies, for apparently the hike out would be about 20 miles on dirt road just to reach the paved, far more than we had anticipated. With that they told us they would pick up our crew when they found them and drive them to at least the top of the hill. About an hour later we heard the sound of the Jeep returning to the bridge, this time with our fellow companions on board. Amazingly they had acquired a 1/4 roll of duct tape from a guy who lived in a house at the top of the hill. It wasn’t a lot of tape, but we figured it would be enough to get us to our originally planned takeout more than 20 miles downstream.

Working hard while the others hike out to search for supplies

Sleeping quarters for night #2

Later that evening another couple 4x4s came down the road, and also hooked us up with a half roll of tape -- we were all pretty amazed at the availability of patching supplies, the kindness of the locals, and our overall good fortune. That night we built another big fire, ate well, and crashed under the starry skies. The next morning we discussed our plan of attack for the day. One option was to camp another day on the river about 12 miles down, the other was to paddle the full 23 miles out to meet our original finish date. We were fairly split on the decision, so we decided to reevaluate once we had reached the potential camp.

Adding another patch to Shawn's boat

Melted duct tape ought to do the trick!

The reason we go camping!

Day 3 - Ponderosa Way Bridge to Takeout (23 miles):

Not far below the Ponderosa Way Bridge, we hit one of the steepest parts of the run, “Amazing Race”, which dropped about 160ft within a mile. It was actually pretty straightforward and could pretty much be boat scouted the whole way. Once below here, the water mellowed out quite a bit for many miles. It should be noted that about 4 miles downstream there is a drop that splits around a large boulder that has a very dangerous piece of wood in it. Instead of me re-explaining it, your best bet is to read the description and look at the pictures here, which is what we did and it served us well.

It was kind of nice to have the water mellow out a bit since it allowed us to take in some of the dramatic scenery -- although I knew that we had another set of bigger drops not far downstream, which I was also looking forward to. Supposedly a drop called Lava Dome is the first drop in this second crux section; however, Ishi Falls is the first one that I recall of any significance. The entrance to the drop is blocked by some rather large lava rocks, making it difficult to see what waits downstream. I was the last one on the scene and had come through the entrance on the hard left side of the river. After hearing a yell of “hold up!”, I peeled into a tiny eddy against the left bank, trying to determine where the voice was coming from. I quickly jumped out of my boat and climbed up some rocks to see what was below me -- “hmmm, this must be Ishi Falls…”. What else became clear was that it was a pretty straightforward drop, with two main ledges and a fast, semi-technical, run-out. Since I hadn’t taken any photos of this lower stretch, I decided to take advantage of my perch and snap a couple off. Once Shawn and Chris had run it (cleanly), I told Jason to hold up so I could boat down and setup for some pics from below.

Shawn enters Ishi Falls

Shawn gets some on the first ledge of Ishi Falls

Dropping into the second ledge

My run was actually pretty good, and I was able to hit both my boofs and clean the rest, joining the others below. After eddying out I climbed onto the rocks with a bag and my camera to wait for Jason. Once he slid into the water he went for the hard left side of the first tier and came through cleanly. Unfortunately he was not so lucky on the second, coming out of the hole in a huge back ender. After dropping the nose back down and going for some side surf action, he eventually worked his way out and finished up the drop in good form. I later learned that Roman had accidentally probed the right side of the whole drop without scouting. Supposedly his line ended up being pretty exciting, which I can only imagine.

The author makes his way down Ishi Falls
(photo by Shawn Haggin)

Jason gets a view of the sky on the second ledge of Ishi Falls

Below, Ishi falls were a couple of other big drops, the two most notable ones being Double Drop and Single Drop. Double Drop was basically a bouldery lead-in to a broken ledge at the bottom. The middle of this broken ledge was pretty sieved out, which convinced both Roman and me to do a partial portage. Much to my comrade’s entertainment, I made this decision seem much worse than just running the drop from the top, as I pinballed my way down and eventually flipped at the bottom. As soon as my head came out of the water from rolling up, I could see that they all thought it was pretty funny.

Single Drop worked out much better for me, and for the group, as it was basically a straight forward boof off a 5’ ledge drop. There was a little hole at the bottom, but nothing too sticky. A couple more interesting drops followed before we reached another calm stretch, lasting for a few miles.

Some powerlines above signaled that we were at the next gorge. Other trip reports rate this section as class IV, but I remember it being pretty straightforward class III and not too eventful. Soon after this gorge we reached what would have been our camp for the night. Since we were all feeling pretty good and energetic, we decided there was no need for us to camp another night. With that we all blew past and continued on. Below this section was some of the most amazing scenery on Deer Creek, and rivaled that of any other river I have done. It actually reminded me a lot of the Jarbidge, with rock columns and dramatic cliff walls. At one point the creek narrowed down to about 10’ though a lave rock slot, and we were pretty happy to see that it was free of wood.

Some of the dramatic rock formations on Lower Deer Creek.
Pictures do not do scenery on this section any justice.

More of Lower Deer Creek

After one last snack stop, we started the ~6 miles of flat water to the takeout. We passed both the gauging station and a small dam (which we snuck on the left), that signaled that we had reached the Sacramento Valley. This stretch consisted of braided channels and shallow gravel bars. Fallen trees here and there acted as strainers, but since the water was moving pretty slow, none presented that much danger. I was starting to get pretty tired out from all the miles of paddling, so when the takeout bridge finally came into view, I was pretty relieved, and I’m sure the others were as well.

Getting to the flat stuff

One last break

The takeout bridge at Leininger road

Once back at the car we got changed into some dry cotton, and celebrated our successful adventure with a couple of beers. After that Shawn and I headed up to retrieve my car at the put-in, and by the time we returned a large squall had moved through drenching the rest of our party. That night we drove into Chico, had dinner at a Thai restaurant, and tried to determine what we would do with our vacation for the next couple of days.

The calm after the storm

Deer Creek ended up being everything I had hoped for and more, not quite as good as the MF Feather, but still a multi-day classic in its own right. I had heard from one person years ago that the run was pretty trashy, but this was far from the case on our trip, which I would probably attribute to the relatively healthy flows we had. I would definitely do this run again, and look forward to getting on its sister drainage, Mill Creek, which is supposed to be even more spectacular.