Upper Brice Creek (1.19.2011)

Brice Creek is one of my favorite runs in Oregon; it pretty much has it all: waterfalls, slides, ledges, and steep boulder gardens! After sky-high flows over the weekend I was pretty sure that the levels for the creek would hit the sweet spot by mid-week. Luckily for me it was my birthday, and so it wasn't hard to get the day off of work for some paddling.

The birthday crew (minus the birthday boy)

Brice is actually broken up into two runs, Upper and Lower, with each having a much different character from the other. The Upper has a gradient of over 200’ per mile. It’s very continuous and flows through steep boulder gardens, while dropping over a few slides and ledges along the way. There are really no pools to speak of (expect around the corner from Parker Falls), however small eddies abound depending on level. This run is a gas when the level is high, but it turns into a freight train which could result in a train wreck if you’re not on your game. Conversely, at low levels it’s much easier, but the trashy nature and sharp rocks just below the surface have claimed more than its fair share of boats.

The lower run is much different, and has more of a pool-drop nature. It is typically easier (~100fpm; class IV) but does pack a punch at higher flows. The first mile or so of the lower (to Lund Park) packs the most heat, and has four named ledges that can eat your lunch if you botch the line; the higher the level the meaner they get. Below Lund are some more good drops including Fun, Not Fun, and the grand finale, Laura’s. For a my trip report of the lower run at low water go here.

The river gods were smiling down upon me and offered up perfect flows for a birthday paddle on this gem. The night before, I was actually afraid it would drop into the low end of the range for the Upper, however, some rain the night before stopped it from dropping and even gave it a little bump!

We had ~6.3' on this day. Typically you want
between 5.75' and 6.5' for the Upper Run, and
between 5.25 and 6.25 for the Lower Run. It
should be noted that since this gauge
is actually on the Row River, these
figures will only get you in the ballpark.




On this day we had around 3,100cfs; I actually don't
like to use this gauge except for the forecast since
I don't find it to be as accurate as the Pitcher Creek one.
However, If I recall correctly, you want between ~2,200cfs
and 3500cfs for the Upper Run, and between ~1,500cfs
and 2,500cfs for the Lower Run.

The birthday crew consisted of Shawn Haggin, Roman Androsov, Eric Emerson, Bob Lee, and me. I was super excited to have both Bob and Eric joining us; I hadn’t seen or been on the water with them in a while. Bob was actually just coming off the couch from shoulder surgery, props to him jumping on Upper Brice for his reintroduction! After we all had met up we drove southeast headed toward Brice.

On the drive up we noticed that the fields had lakes in them and the rivers were filled to the banks. Wondering if the gauge was accurately reflected, we knew we wouldn’t be without water… A quick stop at the bridge gauge (~1 mile downstream of Cedar Creek Campground) revealed that the level was ~14”, a solid medium flow for the Upper and high for the Lower.

The bridge gauge. Reading ~14" on this day.

Since we initially planned to boat both Upper and Lower, we got changed and dropped a car off at Cedar Creek Campground. From there we drove to the put-in at Parker Falls while stopping along the way at several spots to look for wood (from the flooding over the weekend). For the Lower, the only new wood we noticed was in Lower Trestle, making the drop essentially unrunnable in its current state.

The new wood in Lower Trestle. Bummer...

As for Upper, both good and bad news, a couple of pieces of bad wood had been blown out, but a new one was brought in just above the entrance to Orthodontist’s Nightmare, one of the best drops on the run. Fortunately you can put-in just below the log and still run the drop.

The tree blocking the entrance to Orthodontist's Nightmare

Since we hadn’t run the very top part of Upper Brice in years (due to wood), we gave an extensive scout of this section (between Parker and the first bridge) prior to putting on. There was still some wood to contend with, but it would be fairly manageable to deal with from river level. After unloading the boats and putting on our last pieces of gear, we headed down the steep trail to the top of Parker Falls.

The lead-in to Parker Falls (as seen from the road).
Parker Falls itself is what drops out of site.

Parker Falls is one of the most exhilarating put-ins I’ve done. You basically pull out of an eddy into a flume of water, bust through a couple holes, make a sharp left bend down a slide, and drop over a waterfall! It should be noted that there are logs sitting at the base of the falls with water pushing into them on the right; this is definitely a good place to have safety setup. Another amazing thing is that I've never run Parker. This is because by the time I was ready, wood had clogged the gorge below, making it not worth the effort. There is still at least one wood portage and two maybes, but, after some recent storms Parker is now open for business once again! Since Bob’s shoulder was still in recovery he opted for putting in below, setup safety, and working the camera. Shawn and I were fired up to run it and Eric was still contemplating (also coming off the couch after not boating for a while).

Shawn adjusts his boat at the put-in eddy above Parker

Because it was my birthday, I had the honor of going first! I strapped into my boat, slid into the eddy, signaled I was ready, and dropped in. Immediately I was on my stick and powered through the first two holes. Next, I rounded the left turn as I dug for the inside corner to ensure a clean line off the falls and away from the wood. As I came over the falls I knew I was where I needed to be and caught flight for a brief second before landing in the boil below. What a great drop and helluva way to start the run! Soon after, Shawn and Eric came over the drop in similar fashion, each with an exhilarated look on their face.

The birthday boy firing off Parker Falls
(photo by Bob Lee)

Shawn goes for a more right-side line
(photo by Bob Lee)

Eric fires up Parker Falls
(photo by Bob Lee)

As we rounded the corner below Parker, we floated into a slow moving pool between cliff walls. This pool is new, and formed by a logjam at the end, which must be portaged easily on the left. Once over the small log dam, we were faced with a couple of more logs to either put-in above or below. The group went half and half, and the ones choosing to navigate the wood obstacles did so without issue. Between here and the first bridge we had continuous class III+ water with two wood hazards to deal with. Both could have been run but the lines were a little sketchy and we decided to portage for the safety of the group.

The pool created by the logjam just around the corner from Parker

The logjam ledge that creates the pool

Portaging the log dam

As soon as we passed the first bridge we were in familiar territory; this allowed us to start making good time, which was good since we had spent more time than planned up to this point and daylight was potentially a factor for completing both runs. After some fun steep boogie water, we reached the lead-in to the first major drop (below the first bridge), Bubble Trouble. Not only does this drop have a cool name, it’s also quite fun. A busy lead-in deposits you into a small fast moving pool before dropping over a low-angle slide and into a beefy hole. As long as you run the far right side of the ledge you’ll bust through no problem, however if you blow the entrance or don’t line up properly, you may face a beating you won’t soon forget. For this reason, and to take some photos, I jumped out of my boat and ran down to set safety.

After setting up, I waited for the others. And then I waited, and waited…

After growing impatient, I decided to hike back up to see what the hold-up was. Come to find out Shawn had just broken his brand new boat; his third one in about a year! At this point he had already started the hike back upstream to retrieve the car. I once again ran down to the drop to setup. Soon enough the crew came into sight, led by Roman who had a textbook line down Bubble Trouble.

Roman leads Eric and Bob through the lead-in to Bubble Trouble

Roman hits the line down Bubble Trouble

Bustin' through the hole. This thing is extremely
sticky on the left side, so stay right as Roman did.

Both Eric and Bob eddied out just above. Eric wanted to give it another quick look while Bob made the decision to take off, wait for Shawn, and prevent overworking his healing shoulder. While Eric gave the drop another scout, I ran up, got in my boat, and ran the drop, making the lines that I needed to. Eric dropped over soon after and we were on our way.

Eric and Bob in the lead-in to Bubble Trouble

The author drives for the right line on Bubble Trouble
(photo by Eric Emerson)

Dropping in...
(photo by Eric Emerson)

...and hitting the soft spot of the hole
(photo by Eric Emerson)

Eric runs Bubble Trouble

Since Bob was walking the road, he graciously offered to take pictures for the rest of the trip. After a short bit we were in the eddy above The Snake. This drop has gotten a little less sketchy since the log in the left slot has washed away. That said, it’s not a give-me drop, and requires dropping over blind around an airplane turn and threading a tight pinch between two boulders. We all made it through with some interesting lines and met up in the eddies downstream.

Roman lines up the pinch at the bottom of The Snake
(photo by Bob Lee)

Eric dropping into The Snake
(photo by Bob Lee)

The author goes for the airplane turn entrance
(photo by Bob Lee)

Holdin' on...
(photo by Bob Lee)

...and threadin' it
(photo by Bob Lee)

Between here and the next major drop, Orthodontist’s Nightmare, is continuous class III/IV boulder dodging. There is one horseshoe shaped ledge hiding around a blind right corner that we always sneak on the left. There is a generous eddy above it on the left, but you could easily blow it if you came in too hot and didn’t know what was below. As I approached this drop, I passed both Eric and Roman who had briefly eddied out higher; I then cut across the turn (above the horseshoe) and drove for the eddy. Unfortunately I hit it too low and flushed out backwards toward the ledge; all I could think at this point was, “ahh, shit”… There was no time to recover or turn around, and as I felt myself dropping over backwards, I plastered my face against my boat and hoped to pop through. I would not get so lucky. After plugging it, I immediately went into a high-brace side-surf. I held on for a moment and thought I was clawing my way out, but was soon drug back in by the backflow/boil. Not wanting to swim in the deep pocket, I pulled before it had a chance to drag me there. Amazingly, I was able to pull myself up the ledge wall and back into the eddy above it. I watched as my boat was getting worked in the deep part of the hole that I had wanted to avoid. After getting the “I’m alright” from me, Roman chased down my paddle while Eric got a line on my boat. Based on the above, we now refer to this ledge as the "Birthday Hole"! The described carnage can be seen in graphic detail here:





After my boat was emptied and paddle was back in my hand, we headed downstream once again, still burning daylight. The next eddy we caught was just above the large river-wide log blocking the entrance to Orthodontist's Nightmare. Both Shawn and Bob were there at roadside to greet us, and like the good chaps they are, they set safety and snapped some pics of us running the drop. I went first. After sliding in below the log I paddled down toward the drop. The best line on Orthodontist's is to cut river-right about halfway down the lead-in, then drive for the boof flake that feeds back to river-center in the meat of the drop. I hit one of my better lines and waited in the eddy below for the others to come down. Eric got a little bobbled in the lead-in but recovered nicely and hit a good boof off the flake. Roman had a great line as well.

The wood blocking the entrance to Orthodontist's Nightmare
(photo by Bob Lee)

The bottom crux section of Orthodontist's Nightmare

The author lines up for the boof on Orthodontist
(photo by Bob Lee)

and gets it
(photo by Bob Lee)

Eric hits the boof
(photo by Bob Lee)

Roman diggin' in at Orthodontist's Nightmare
(photo by Bob Lee)

By this time Eric was feeling the effects of not boating for awhile, and our crew had now shrank to 2, from our original 5. With spirits a little dented but still high, Roman and I continued to the next drop just downsteam, Le Mans. Le Mans is certainly not the biggest drop of the run, but it is one of the hardest lines to make. Basically it's an S-Turn that requires a precise left turn at the bottom to avoid getting blown into the junky mess on river right. Prior to the flooding the weekend before, wood had also shared the space with the junk, making the price of failure a little higher. Both Roman and I greased the drop and eddied out below.

Roman coming out of the first turn at Le Mans
(photo by Bob Lee)

The author makes the second turn at Le Mans
(photo by Bob Lee)

From here is a busy stretch that leads into "Hop, Skip, Splat" with the only real eddy sitting on river-right at the lip of the drop. This drop is almost always portaged due to pin hazards and a backed up hole at the base, and it just looks ugly in person. Not wanting to blow another eddy, we took out immediately below Le Mans and chose a little bit longer walk around.

Hop, Skip, Splat. This drop looks much worse in person...

Putting in just below the base of the falls, Roman and I were off again. This is actually one of my favorite stretches on Brice, it feels pushier than the stuff up above but has great flow and just keeps going all the way to the takeout bridge. I remember a couple of months ago when we ran it a stupid high flow, a buddy of mine asked what was below as we portaged Hop, Skip, Splat, I told him "boogie water", and once we got to the bridge (~1/2 mile below) he came up to me and said, "that wasn't boogie, that was one long class V drop". That said, be prepared for a ride if the flows are high.

A view looking upstream from the bridge separating Upper and Lower

As soon as we reached the bridge that separates Upper from Lower, it had been a long day already and so we decided to takeout. As we waited for the others to return with the cars we reflected on what a great day we had on the river. Even though we didn't do the Lower like we had planned to, we'd definitely had a full day. After loading up, we all headed back into Eugene to grab some dinner at one of my favorite eats, Papa's Soul Food. What a great way to spend a birthday, on one of my favorite creeks with my bros!

Some head-cam footage of our run:

Quick Setup Z-Drag System

Z-Drags can come in handy, especially while creeking here in the mid-Willamette Valley where most of our runs are centered around boulder gardens. I've made it a habit of bringing my pin kit on pretty much every run, as it always seems that you need it when you don't have one with you. As many of my friends will tell you , I love gear, and this only encouraged me to put together a quick-setup pin kit. Here is what I came up with:

1- Spectra Throw Rope
1- Anchor Sling (webbing)
1- Standard Pulley
1- Braking Pulley (Petzl Mini Traxion)
1- Ultralight Ascender (Petzl Tibloc)
4- Carbineers (preferably locking)
2- Prusik Loops (for backup)
1- Yates Rescue Clip (with paddle blade attachment)

A quick disclaimer: Both the Petzl Mini Traxion and Tibloc use "teeth" to stop the rope from sliding in one direction. That said, if used incorrectly they can damage your rope. My understanding is that the teeth really only grab the sheath of the rope. I realize that opinions vary on this subject. Furthermore, these devices are meant for climbing, so I can't imagine that they would compromise the rope if used properly; however, you should always inspect it before and after each use. I always carry two ropes, so this really isn't much of an issue for me.

It should be noted that a side benefit of the Mini Traxion and Tibloc is that they can be used as ascenders to climb a rope; this could also come in quite handy during a rescue situation.

OK, on to the setup...

This is just like setting up a standard Z-Drag anchor to a tree or rock with a sling. Instead of using a standard pulley at the anchor, use the Mini Traxion which will eliminate the need for a prusik, since it has a built-in brake. As a side note, this device can also be used as a standard pulley, by disengaging the brake. Another nice feature about the Mini Traxion is that the side plate swivels out of the way, allowing you to attach it mid-rope.

The anchor point. Sling, carbineer, and braking pulley.

Teeth engaged (braking pulley)

Teeth disengaged (standard pulley)

Mini Traxion swivels open for attachment mid-rope

After your anchor is set (with the brake pulley), hook the next bend in the line back to the rope with the Tibloc, carabineer, and standard pulley combo. Basically, you're just replacing the traveling prusik with the Tibloc.

Setting up the traveling pulley

Tibloc locked in with a carbineer
(locking bineer preferred, non-locking shown)

The traveling pulley setup

The traveling pulley setup (zoomed out)

That's basically it: you have your 3:1 mechanical advantage and you're ready to pull your buddies' boat out of the jam he got it in!

The quick setup Z-Drag in action (sort of)...

This makes for an amazingly fast setup which is super easy to readjust. I have had to use it twice now and it works perfectly!

Calamity on Sweet Creek (1.1.11)

Before I get into story mode I must mention that we have done numerous trips to Sweet Creek and had little or no issues; this trip would be different. My purpose for documenting this day is more of a reminder to myself (and anyone else who cares to use it as such) that complacency can be dangerous, and sometimes things just go wrong, especially when boating class V water.


Saturday morning started just like any other during the winter season, plans to go boating. The only differences were that it was the first day of 2011 and I was feeling a little bit under the weather. A big storm had hit our area earlier in the week, sending water levels sky high, however unfortunately most everything had dropped out by the weekend and we were left with only a few options. Our two staple winter runs in Eugene have become The Miracle Mile and Sweet Creek, and those were the two we had to choose from. Since the temperatures were relatively cold, we chose Sweet since it would be the warmer of the two.

After some phone planning (while traveling back home to Eugene from Boston), we set a meeting time of 11am just west of Eugene and on the way to Sweet Creek. We chose a later start so people would have more time to recuperate from celebrating New Years the night before. I actually went to bed around 10pm and missed the dropping of the ball, since once again I wasn't feeling well and I had been traveling all day. By Saturday morning, we had a surprisingly large group (8 kayakers) and went in two cars leaving about an hour apart from each other.

Just like every other time at Sweet, the exact level was still unknown. Once we got there and hiked up a bit it became clear that we would have a nice medium flow, and perfect for those that would be making their first time down the run. After a quick scout of all the drops, we hiked back down, geared up, and carried our boats back up the trail to put on.

The best gauge to judge what Sweet Creek would be at.
We had ~9' a few days after a 10' spike in the gauge.

Hiking up the convenient trail to the put-in

By the time I reached the put-in, Roman was already getting into his boat. Since we usually make runs solo or with one or two others, I decided to work the camera and set safety on the first drop. Since some of the others were downstream I had assumed that safety was also set on a couple of the other drops; this would be the first blunder, and moment of complacency of the trip. After taking some shots and watching him clean the first couple drops, I collected my gear and started down the trail to see if I could catch the end of his run. While doing so, one of the other boaters ran up to me and asked if I had my rope. I quickly ran past him to where I could see Roman clawing (literally) his own way out of the bottom hole by shimming down the left wall. His boat and paddle had ended up in the eddy just below the hole, which allowed him to gather his own gear once he had reached safe ground. There was really no excuse for not having proper safety set or not having throw bags in hand, as the episode that followed the swim could have been easily avoided. A little jaded by this lack of preparedness we would have people properly staged the next time...

The author assumes his usual position
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

Roman off to a good start on the first tier of #1...

...and the second tier of #1

Roman lines up for #2, which is complicated
by the new suspended log in the way.

Roman dropping clean over #2

Roman claws his own way out of the hole, with
no one around to help or unprepared to do so...
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

After watching one more boater go down (having super clean lines), I saddled up for my first run. I was feeling good and loose as I peeled out of the eddy and ran the first two drops with good lines on both. I pulled into a small eddy and took a quick breath before dropping into the crux section. I quickly came over the third drop (missing a stroke) and landed in the boiling punchbowl below. Next, I paddled out of the punchbowl along the river left wall and dropped down the slide section. Unfortunately, I didn't line-up properly and came down the slide a couple feet right of where I needed to be. Since it's shallow I had no way of getting back on line and just had to point it straight and give'r. By the time I reached drop #4 I was way too far right and came off the drop with a (unintentional) right angle. As I landed, my boat stopped abruptly and water started to pile up and over the back of my head. I was now in one of the most feared positions a boater can be in, a vertical pin with a small air pocket to breathe from. I took a quick moment to analyze the situation, and felt remarkably calm. My first effort was to wiggle back and forth aggressively to try and free the boat, which did nothing. I was wary of popping my skirt since I knew that it could actually make things worse, so I thought a bit more on what to do. It's ironic, I had told my buddy Shawn, who was setting safety at this exact spot that I wasn't worried there and preferred him to set safety at one of the earlier drops. Knowing this and not knowing if anyone else was close, I planned for evacuation.

The author in between a rock and a hard place on #4
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

Luckily I had an air pocket to breathe from...
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

Before pulling my skirt, I felt the boat starting to fold behind me. I set-up by digging my one heel into the front pillar ready to spring out of the boat as quickly as possible since my actions could collapse the boat around me. While still holding my paddle in one hand, I grabbed the loop with other one, counted to three, pulled, and kicked out of the boat only getting hung up for a brief moment. I was free, but still had to swim through the drop with the hole that held Roman forcing him to self rescue (described above). Not wanting to face the gut of the hole and possibly some extended down time, I did what I could to scramble on to the shallow slide to the right. I was actually able to get where I needed to prevent further beat-down and dropped into the downstream edge of the hole. From here I was able to paddle (boatless) to an eddy on the right and drag myself to shore. Happy to be out of my precarious situation I looked up to see some hikers staring at me in horror.

Clawing my way onto the shallow shelf
to avoid the gut of the hole at #5
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

Up S#$t Creek without a boat...
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

At this point I also saw that Shawn and Roman were trying to figure out where my boat had gone. As I ran up to meet them Shawn explained that he had felt around below the surface (with water up to his shoulder) and couldn't feel the boat. After about five minutes from when I was pinned, the boat popped up, folded and obviously quite damaged. The boat then broached against the left bank where Jay was able to get a rope onto one of the security loops. Once the line was on, Roman and Shawn roped the boat back to river right for further inspection. Basically the boat folded just behind the cockpit combing, splitting the plastic wide open on one side. This would be the last run for my faithful craft since it had been highly compromised and beyond repair. I took a few moments to reflect on what had happened and how I could have avoided the situation, aside from not screwing up the line. After these deep thoughts and since I didn't have a usable boat, I grabbed my camera and resigned to being photographer and bag boy.

Shawn and Roman looking for my pinned boat
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

Jay clips onto my boat on the opposite shore,
about five minutes after being pinned. Some
of the damage is apparent at this point.
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

Roman and Shawn drag my boat back to river right

Closer inspection of the damage

Sweet Creek - Vertical Pin from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.

About this time, the other half of our crew showed up and decided they were going to hike up a bit further to warm up on the stuff upstream. While doing this, some of the others in our first group ran additional laps without issue. Soon enough the others joined us at the gorge and formed up in their small group to start picking off the drops one by one. They all made quick work of drop #1 and pulled into the eddy above the next. At this point I was on the walkway directly above #2 (the auto boof ledge) looking down and ready with a bag to drop to anyone that got pulled into the cave behind the curtain. Both Aaron and Joni sailed off the lip and landed nicely below. I signaled the next boater that the coast was clear as he got ready to drop in. As he avoided the suspended tree in the lead-in he got bumbled by a couple of rocks and ended up going over the drop essentially sideways. As soon as he landed he was immediately pulled behind the veil and out of sight. I quickly ripped my throw bag from my waist and prepared to fire it into him. Luckily he was able to paddle out under his own power and join the others in the eddy. After breathing a sigh of relief I motioned to Bobby (the last paddler) that all was clear. With a somewhat puzzled look he lined up the drop and came off the falls nicely and drove into the now crowded eddy. As I was getting ready to head down and set safety at the drops below, I got the signal that their crew was going to get out and either scout or portage the crux section.

Drop #2, the auto-boof with the cave behind the falls

I was now itching to do another lap, and after getting the thumbs up from Roman that I could borrow his boat to do so, I prepared myself to drop in again. The decision to go again after my calamity from the first lap was a personal one that I felt I needed to do. Without getting too deep, I just felt I needed to get back on the horse and shake it off. At the same time, I didn't want to make light of the situation I was in, therefore I reminded myself that this was also about working for my lines and making it happen. After adjusting the bulkhead to accommodate my longer legs I hiked the boat back to the put-in where a couple of others were putting on. Lofty led us off and we quickly fired off the first two drops. From here we eddied out for a bit to give some space. I pulled out second and came off #3 where I needed to and rested once again in the swirly eddy below. This time I made sure to stay left as I exited the punchbowl. I was now facing #4 where I had gotten pinned on the previous lap. On the way down the slide I got bumped slightly by a shallow rock and came off the drop somewhat sideways but in the safety zone. As I landed I was spun around against the left wall where I quickly eddy turned back into the main current and dropped off #5, finishing up the crux section. I was pretty happy that I was able to remain focused and do what I needed to, even with the previous event in the back of my mind.

The author drops over #3 on the second lap
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

The author lines up a little better for #4,
where I was previously pinned.
(Photo by Yuliya Drobyshevska)

Although I was content and done running laps, the day's adventure would not end here. In the process of more runs by the others, Bobby also got sucked behind the falls on #2 and had to swim out, which he had to go deep to do. It took about 10 minutes for his boat to finally come out where it was corralled in the eddy below. We also had one more swim in the hole at #5, before continuing downstream to finish up the day on the last three drops. All of these went fine except for smashing my elbow while landing on #6. This gave me a nice little cut, even through my elbow pad!

Once we got back to the cars we reflected on the day's events and couldn't believe all the carnage we had been dealt, and everyone was pretty humbled by the experience. You can certainly blame some of the issues on complacency and lack of preparedness (i.e. setting safety), but once again sometimes bad shit just happens, especially in sports such as this one. To me it's all about what you can learn from days like this one, and hopefully limit your exposure to such accidents in the future. To remind myself, here are some (not all) of the takeaways that I have from the day:

1. Know when you need to setup safety and don't let complacency or the extra effort persuade you from doing so.

2. Before you drop into a run you think may need safety don't do so before you know it's set.

3. Once people are on the water make sure you have a throw bag on you. Two good ways to ensure this are with either a waist mounted rope, or one that fits into the chest of your life jacket.

4. Make sure your group knows how to work together to identify hazards, set safety, and deal with a rescue situation. Good group dynamics and communication are key.

5. Stay focused. Just because you've cleaned a line multiple times doesn't mean you won't slip up.

6. Whitewater kayaking has inherent danger, but that's one of the elements that drives our excitement and keeps us coming back for more. Some people will never understand this, but as whitewater enthusiasts, it's who we are.


Here are some other photos I took throughout the day during better runs:

Aaron sets safety at that nasty hole on #5

Roman staged to give the signal that a boater is coming

Jay grabs for a boof on #2

Jay drops into the lead-in to #3

Jay drops over on #3

Roman dropping into #3

Roman lines up #4 perfectly

Jay with a solid line off of #4

Lofty at #4

Jay goes for the far left line at #5

Aaron dropping over #5

Additional Info:
Another trip report I did for Sweet Creek can be found here.

Some videos I put together over the years:

POV - Kayaking Sweet Creek from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.

Sweet Creek - 2 laps on the crux section from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.

Sweet Creek from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.