Salmon Creek Gorge (12.04.10)

After an extended email thread on what to boat on Saturday, we decided on two options: 1) Lake Creek Slides/Sweet Creek combo, or 2) Hills Creek/Miracle Mile combo. We ended up choosing the latter. Since we would have boaters traveling from both the Portland and Corvallis area, I wanted to make sure we got in as much boating as possible to justify the drive for them, plus I wanted to show them some good whitewater in the Upper Willamette drainage. From Portland/Vancouver we had Stephen Cameron, Chris Arnold, and Pete Giordano. From the Corvallis area we had Jacob Cruser and Jesse Coombs. I had boated with everyone on the list at least once except for Jacob. I was looking forward to boating with him since he also has a blog documenting his boating adventures (mostly in the PNW), which can be found here.

We first decided to go check out Hills Creek and get in a run on that before heading to the Miracle Mile for a few laps. However, once we got there and scouted the main drop, we thought it looked pretty junky and decided maybe a better bet would be the seldom run Salmon Creek Gorge, not far away and back toward the town of Oakridge.

The first drop in the crux gorge of Hills Creek -
A slot drop into a nasty hole

The second drop in the crux gorge. This broken
ledge is a lot trashier than this photo portrays.

Salmon Creek Gorge should not be confused with The Salmon River Canyon run, which flows into the Sandy River (Columbia River Gorge), and is exponentially more difficult (and I've not done). The reason I mention this is due to the questions I get when mentioning the run featured in this write-up.

As for flows, the best internet gauge is Pat Welch's correlation, which can be found here. Supposedly this gauge has some accuracy issues, but can give you a rough idea (along with recent weather) of whether the creek is running or not. According to the Oregon Kayaking write-up here, you want at least 400cfs on this gauge. We had ~500 to 550cfs which correlated to a solid medium flow (see the following). For further reference, the Miracle Mile was just over one foot on the bridge gauge, which was after a rain event.

The gauge the day we ran it (12/04/10)

On the drive, we decided to only run the first 1 ½ miles, which makes up the gorge section and is rated at IV/IV+. You can extend this run down to Salmon Creek Falls (and beyond), but you have to deal with some miles of relatively flat water and the falls really aren’t that great (in my opinion). With that, we dropped off my car at NF 2408 bridge, and drove up the road a short distance (~1.5 miles) to the put-in, which required a short scramble down to the creek. Once we had geared up, we bushwhacked down and put on just below a river-wide log and the start of the gorge. I had only done this run once before so I was excited to get reacquainted with what was downstream, especially with a little more water this time.

The crew gears up at the put-in

Chris and Stephen make their way to the creek at the put-in

Chris and Stephen puttin' on below the river-wide log

The sharp right-hand bend that marks the
beginning of the gorge (taken from the put-in)

As soon as we made a sharp right bend (a couple hundred yard downstream), we were faced with the first rapid, a class III that ran along a moss covered cliff wall on the left. The drop was pretty straight forward, but it did have some wood to contend with. Basically, a large log spanned river-wide but was broken in the middle which allowed passage over the top at that point. Once below this we immediately eddied out above the next drop and the biggest one of the gorge, "Holy Terror".

The first rapid. If you look carefully you
can see the broken log mentioned above.

Holy Terror is a fairly long and complex boulder garden, especially with the miscellaneous pieces of wood scattered throughout. The drop gets its name from the large holes that form when levels are high. We had a solid medium flow so they weren’t too bad, but the drop as a whole still feels pretty big. I actually got out at the top of the drop and walked about halfway down to scout and take some photos of the rest of the group. Most people eddy hopped down and either waited for beta or just ran the drop. The wood situation was pretty avoidable but a couple of strong moves were required to run the drop cleanly. There were also a couple of line options near the bottom (and steepest) part of the drop. The first was right down the middle which included a log limbo and some hole avoidance/punching. The second was to ferry over to river left just above the limbo, catch an eddy on that side, then head back to the middle to finish the drop.

Chris gets ready to limbo halfway down Holy Terror

Jacob waits his turn a little ways through Holy Terror

Jacob goes for the ferry option...

...then heads back to center to finish up

After watching most of the crew run the drop, I headed up for my turn. Not liking the middle line I decided to go for the left eddy. As I ferried across I was tripped up by some squirrely current which threw me into a deep low brace; for a few moment I thought I was going over but was able to pull it out and eddy out next to the log limbo as planned. From here, I moved back to the center with a boof over a small ledge & through some pushy hydraulics before being deposited in the pool below.

Holy Terror from below (wood here and there)

Jesse relaxes below Holy Terror

Chris and Stephen in the pool below Holy Terror

The next drop (just below) was a fun little ledge with an easy move on the right, which we all greased without issue. There was a deep pocket on the left side which probably could have provided some nice rodeo action, but none of us decided to venture there.

Chris enters the next drop just downstream of Holy Terror

Chris digs in on the right line

Then decides to get a better look at the left hole,
as well as get in some cowboy time...

Jesse, same drop from below

Just like above, the drops just kept coming in quick succession. The next major one was a multi-staged drop that started off where the creek pinched down the right side of the riverbed over a 4' to 5' ledge into a small hole; from here the rapid continued a short distance before resting above the second largest (and last) single drop of the gorge.

Pete digs in on the entrance ledge

Jacob follows hot on Pete's tail

Chris gets a nice boof on the same ledge

Jacob hangs just below the ledge

Jacob relaxes in an eddy between drops

Once again, multiple line options and some wood presented themselves. The hero line was against the right side and through the meat, which some of the group chose. I took a more conventional line of working toward the center and finishing on the right, which was still plenty exciting.

Chris eddies out at top of the last big drop

Jacob enters the last rapid

Jacob finishing on the right side

Pete moves left halfway through

After the last drop in the gorge it was a fairly short distance through class II/II+ drops back to the car. The sun started to poke through the clouds which generated the needed motivation to head to The Mile for some more boating. On the way, a couple of us picked up a burger (a.k.a. rectum rockets) from DQ for some extra fuel in the tank.

Chris and Jacob catch some rays at the takeout

In summary, Salmon Creek Gorge is a high quality run in the Middle Fork Willamette watershed which should certainly be on every local boater’s radar. It’s even worth a long drive (e.g. from Portland) if you combine it with another run like we did. It would even be fun to do on its own with multiple laps. It should be noted that there was a ton of wood on the banks and in some of the drops. There was one spot that may warrant a portage depending on level, but it was in a class II drop so it wasn’t much of an issue; even with all of the wood, all of the major drops had clean lines available. That said, this could change at any time, so be careful about dropping into something blind. For this reason alone, I wouldn’t recommend that tentative class III/IV boaters or people that have a strong fear of wood (as I once did) venture through the gorge at this time.

Topo map of Salmon Creek Gorge

NF Washougal (11.20.10)

I’ve wanted to do Hagen Gorge/NF Washougal for years now, but seem to always get skunked every time I’ve made an effort to get on them. Now at the beginning of the 2010/2011 winter boating season, I decided to give it another shot. After talking with Chris the night before, it looked like there might be a good chance of it coming in. Even if it didn’t, we could once again use the Upper Wind, Panther Creek, or the Truss as a backup; you gotta love the Columbia River Gorge!

Why we love the Gorge!

Saturday morning, Shawn drove up from Roseburg and picked me up before heading north to meet with the fellas up there, Chris, Eric, and Nate Bell. We drove through Portland and across the Columbia before turning east and up the Gorge on Hwy 14. We pulled off at one of the exits to meet-up with the others before heading to the Washougal to check water levels.
The NF Washougal drains into the main Washougal, which is the first major drainage to the east of the Portland/Vancouver area, on the Washington side. Even with the relatively close proximity to the city, it’s quite a drive up the drainage as you leave the urban environment and enter into a rural setting.

As soon as we reached the takeout for the NF Washougal run, we walked down the road to check the flow. Hmm, it looked a little low and Hagen was definitely not in. We debated for a bit before deciding what to do. Since we had already driven all the way up the drainage and Nate confirmed it was still a fun level to do just the NF, we decided to give it a go.

We left one car at the takeout before heading to the fish hatchery (about 1 mile up the road) to change and use the facilities. After gearing up, we headed to the put-in. To be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention on the drive, so I don’t specifically remember how we got to the put-in. I do remember that it was about a mile or so upstream from Teakettle Falls and it was at a small bridge crossing.

The crew finishes gearing up at the put-in

Nate takes in the scenery at the put-in

Between the put-in and Teakettle it was pretty scrapey, although with some more water you could see how this section could be pretty fun. Even so, it was enjoyable to be on the water in such a beautiful location. Soon the steam made a hard left bend and over an obvious horizon line, and Chris indicated that we had reached Teakettle Falls.

The write-ups I’ve seen for this drop call it a class V, and I could see that at higher flows, but I wouldn’t call it that when we were there; more 4/4+. The drop is broken down into two parts, both of which are more of a slide than what I would consider a true waterfall (obviously this is subjective). The first can be run a multitude of ways, but our group chose center-right and hard right with me doing the latter. The more centered route had a small hole to punch through, but it wasn’t much of an obstacle. The hard right was a shallow scrapey slide. Either way, it spit you into the center of the river and above the second and harder/more consequential drop.

Chris enters the first drop on Teakettle

Shawn blasts through the center hole

Nate opts for the hard right line

This second ledge could also be run a couple different ways, but for the most part you wanted to stay away from the right side which was a hole backed up by a rock. It might go at higher water, but looked bad in its current state. The preferred line was either angling high up on the left side of the banking ledge and boofing into the eddy, or dropping down the left-side tongue. We split these options in half between the group, and I chose the eddy boof, which was great fun!

Chris lines up the left side of the second tier

Eric drives for the eddy boof

Shawn goes for the center left line

Nate eddied out between the two ledges of Teakettle

Nate digs in...

...and busts through the left (softer) side of the bottom hole

Below Teakettle there were some more fun rapids, but once again we were wishing for more water. Before too long we reached another horizon and everybody got out to scout. In front of us was the “double falls”, which I’m not sure if that’s the actual name or just a description. Either way, it’s a great looking (and intimidating) drop that I had been excited to run. Before I contemplated the entrance, I wanted to check out the narrow exit slot and undercuts. After a prolonged inspection it looked good to go, and we moved onto looking at the first part of the drop, a 12’ to 15’ waterfall. Once again, more water would have been nice as the flake was very shallow and stalling out was certainly a possibility. Further, the left side of the flake slopes down into a crack against the wall, and did not look like a pleasant way to start the drop. Even with the less than optimal entrance, the consequence didn’t look too bad so Chris and I decided to give it a go, while Eric was still on the fence.

Chris went first. Starting high he flew by and drove hard toward the right side of the flake. He came off centered where he needed to be, and got a good boof, although he did slow up a bit on the shallow flake. He finished the drop up through the narrow slot without issue and joined Nate and Shawn down below. After watching Chris’s line I also decided to put in a bit further up to build up speed.

A good view of the top drop of the "double falls"

The bottom slot, complete with undercuts...

Chris nails the line off the top drop

Eric uses the seal-launch platform to re-enter below the slot

As I slid into the current I was carried further right than I wanted to be. Since the entrance was shallow, I struggled to get back on line so that I could come off the center of the flake with the right angle. Basically, I forgot how to kayak for a moment, which lined me up perfectly for the crack I was trying to avoid. Once sucked into this path I had no choice but to give’r and hope for the best. Miraculously I came through the crack and landed the drop nice and flat. Pleasantly surprised, I drove for the bottom slot and came through textbook style! Even though I had made it through the drop fairly clean, I was not at all happy with my line, and indicated so through shouts of frustration. Not letting the botched line get me down, we continued down the river, enjoying our surroundings and the fun drops along the way.


My botch line at double falls:

POV - Double Falls on the NF Washougal (plan B)

The river carried on through class III water until we came to the next horizon line, a nasty slot drop called Bowey Falls. None of us even considered running this drop as the narrow slot is extremely undercut on both sides with the water flowing back and forth underneath them. We quickly shouldered our boats and used the great seal-launch/slide to enter the river below the falls; this option seems to be more fun anyways.

Bowey Falls

Nasty!

Shawn mid slide on the fun seal-launch

The crew gathers below Bowey Falls

Below Bowey Falls the river steps up a bit and a couple of drops verging on class IV keep you entertained. One was a stepped ledge that was pretty benign at this level and was easy on the left side, avoiding the hole on the bottom right.

Shawn enters the stepped ledge

Nate about halfway through the stepped ledge

After this were some fun mini-gorges that also were pretty mellow at this level, but I could see them being more exciting at higher flows. Once again, we came to another ledge where I got out to take photos and give it a look. The hero line for this one was a slot against the right wall, but it didn’t look very clean and you might get punished in the hole. The line of choice was the shallow slide on river left which fed back into the main current. Everyone in our group ran this line without issue. While taking photos of the group, I turned around to see an awesome cliff wall with colorful moss lining it; what a beautiful place!

Chris runs the left side slide

The colorful cliff wall

Directly below this drop, Chris pointed out a sweet eddy boof against the right wall. You had to skirt the corner of a hole to get into it, but Chris made it look pretty easy. By the time I was sitting above it, Eric had joined him and the eddy was getting a little cramped. I motioned for one of them to pull out so I could come in, but they just motioned back to me to join them. As I cut across the current I didn’t have the proper angle and hit the hole a little further left than I wanted to. This blunder got me some surf time in the top hole, much to Chris and Eric’s amusement. Fortunately, with minimal effort I was able to surf out on the opposite side and head downstream.

Chris drives for the eddy...

...and busts through the hole to catch it

Between here and the fish hatchery was more fun boogie water, but nothing too memorable, however, there are a couple of hazards. The first is a river-wide log around a right-hand bend that snuck up on us but was easy to eddy out above on the left. The second is a man made weir just above the hatchery that also sneaks up on you, so be aware. The hole that it forms is a deathtrap that has caught at least one person that I know; luckily he was able to get out of it. That said, there is easy passage on the far right.

There is one more significant drop below the hatchery. This one was once again a sliding ledge drop. The shallow left side looked like the only sane option as the right side flume fed into a nasty looking hole. I once again got out to take photos and look at the drop. I hiked all the way down to the bottom where I noticed the left wall at the base of the drop was extremely undercut with quite a bit of water going into it. The drop itself was actually straightforward, and as long as you lined it up correctly it would shoot you toward the center of the river and far away from the hazard. Nonetheless, I signaled to the others about the undercut before they dropped in. Undeterred, they fired it off one by one with everyone having great lines. For some reason I just didn’t like the look of it and made the decision to do the easy portage around it.

Shawn lines the final ledge up perfectly

Nate follows in similar fashion

Once below this final ledge, it was a short distance to the takeout and our awaiting vehicle. After changing into some nice dry cotton, Eric and I waited for the others to round up the other two cars. On the way back home we stopped at a nice little grill in Stephenson for some grub. From here, we parted ways as Shawn and I headed back south.

I have to say that even with the low water, the NF Washougal was a pleasure to paddle and I’m glad we decided to do it. That said, I'm really looking forward to getting on it with more water and adding in Hagen, as I’m sure it would be a true classic. Thanks to the local boys for showing us southerners down another great run!


Head-cam footage of our run down the NF Washougal:

POV - NF Washougal, WA