Cooper River Gorge, WA (7.6.12)

 

For years now, our buddy Chris has been telling us that we need to plan a trip to the Cle Elum & Cooper Rivers. He had traveled there a few times over the years and continually bragged about great whitewater, as well as some of the best camping spots found anywhere. Itchin’ for another road trip, we hatched a plan for the weekend following the 4th of July. The boating crew consisted of 6 -- Jason & Joe from Seattle, Chris from Portland, Shawn from Roseburg, and Roman & me from Eugene.
From Eugene, it’s a solid 7hr drive, but with Jason now living in Seattle, we had a nice way of breaking it up a bit. Everybody but Joe and Chris met up at Jason’s house on Thursday evening, and we’d finish off the remaining 2hrs of driving the following day. We planned to meet Chris at Salmon La Sac Campground on Friday afternoon, which is near the take-out for both the Cle Elum (China Gorge section) and The Cooper. Joe had to work so he wouldn’t be showing up until Friday night, missing out on the first day of boating.

Driving up the I-90 corridor out of Seattle, we stopped at the pass to scout “Fall in the Wall”, which we planned to run. From what I had heard and read, it’s very similar to one of our local runs down south, Sweet Creek (OR), which had me pretty excited, since that’s one of my favorites. Upon scouting, we found more of a mixed bag. The top half had some unfortunate wood and trashy drops, and although the second half looked a lot better, it still looked like a lot of boat abuse. Based on the internet gauge it was considered to be on the high side of good, but I certainly wouldn’t want to run it much lower, and more flow may have convinced us to run it. With that, we stayed in our street clothes, and hit the road once again.

Shawn takes in the view at the pass on I-90

By the time we got to the campground and met up with Chris it was ~2pm, plenty of time to get in a run on the Cooper! Since we were at the takeout, we hiked up the river to make sure the level looked good – This would also allow us to scout Wall of Voodoo, the last drop of the run. Although the correlation gauge was reading a couple hundred CFS above the recommended range, it still looked like it was good to go, probably on the high side of good. Fired up to get on the run, we headed upstream to the put-in, only ~1.5 miles upstream from the take-out. The put-in was not super obvious, but luckily both Shawn and Chris knew where it was at, so we found it without issue. After suiting up, we shouldered our boats down the hiking trail, to the base of an unrunnable 50’er, the put-in for the Cooper.

Our flow for the day, estimated at ~1,900cfs (gauge here)

The unrunnable put-in falls

The crew saddles up

The river dropped quickly right out of the gate, and almost immediately we were greeted with a large sliding ledge at a sharp right hand bend in the river. The hole at the base in the middle looked pretty stout, so we all ran down the right side, skirting that side of it.

Shawn eddies out below the slide, just downstream of the put-in -- all of us ran the hard right side

Immediately below was a ledge that Chris was scouting, where he gave us the signal that it deserved a look. We all scampered up onto a large rock overlooking the drop. What lay before us was a ~6’ ledge with a decent hole at the base. As long as you got in a good stroke it looked good to go, especially if you ran it far left or right. One by one we ran the drop, most boofed the right side, landing in the eddy behind the rock we had been scouting from.

Chris blasts through the hole after running the center line

Jason goes for the right-side boof...

...landing in the eddy below

Just below this ledge the river tore down through a juiced up rapid before dropping through a constriction in the canyon walls. Eddying out above I could see Chris, who was once again out scouting between two ledges in the middle of the pinch. His hand signals indicated that you wanted to go center on the first ledge and hard right on the second. As I got out taking photos from above, the rest of the crew dropped in. As the first boater dropped over the second ledge, I could see Chris scrambling down the rocks with his throw bag in hand. After a few minutes of boat retrieval, he gave us the all clear. As I dropped in for my turn, I took the first drop center-right off a nice little kicker flake, and then drove hard for the right line on the second. Coming over the lip of the second, low angle ledge, I pulled a delayed stroke and sailed into the eddy below. Looking back up at the drop, I now knew that this was “Norm’s Resort”, which I had planned to scout, due to the notorious hole at the base – oh well, you only get to run something blind once, right?!

The crew eddies out just above Norm's

Shawn entering the first drop of Norm's

Jason dropping over the second tier

Chris digs in for a boof at Norm's, running center-right

More fun drops followed Norm’s, and we soon came to another large ledge, where Chris, who was on shore, was signaling to run right. Once again he started running down the rocks with his rope after the first boater had dropped over. He relayed that the boater was safely on shore, but also to start chasing the boat, which was headed downstream. Without hesitation, Shawn tore past and dropped over the ledge as Chris was getting in his boat and heading down. By the time I had run the ledge and ran a few more rapids, I could see them below another large horizon line emptying out the runaway boat. Before long, boat and boater were reunited.

Chris runs the drop just below Norm's

The ledge immediately above where the boat had been recovered was about 8’ to 10’, with a fairly straightforward line anywhere right of center. I decided to take a more exciting line near the center. After pulling a left stroke, I landed in the seam with right angle, where I spun around and flipped in a recirculating eddy that fed back into the hole at the base. Luckily the hole wasn’t too sticky and I was able to roll up and paddle away. In hindsight, I probably should have pulled a right stroke…

Jason drops over center-right

The next big drop was a juiced-up, low-angle ledge, which was a real hoot. Basically, as long as you pointed it straight and were ready to brace if necessary, it was a no brainer. The only concern was that the recovery below flowed quickly over the next ledge, which had a tree in its run-out. Everyone in the crew had great lines, and we were soon below both ledges and the log limbo.

Jason drops in

Roman takes his turn

Shawn carrying some speed out of the drop

Chris eddies out above the ledge with wood in the run-out

Said wood

Chris warned us to be on the lookout for a pretty big drop that was coming up shortly. Soon after, we reached the drop, where we pulled out on river-left to take a look. What lay before us was a broken ledge with a fairly meaty hole on the bottom left. Although it looked pretty violent, it also didn’t look like it would hold you unless you dropped into it sideways. That said, the move was tricky and there was a good chance you’d do just that. There was a right-hand sneak, of sorts, but it would require a strong stroke to drive up and over the pile that guarded it. Whether you chose to go right or left at the bottom, the key was to enter right of center to avoid some rocks. Shawn went first and drove onto the right pile, where he then worked back left and hit the hole at a soft spot, sailing right through. Roman also decided to play with the hole, and although he hit the gut, he kept it straight and also blasted through, only slowing down slightly. The rest of us ran the right line, which ended up being pretty straightforward, although there were some low branches to contend with.

Shawn battles through the first part of the drop

Shawn breaks through the bottom hole, using the soft spot on the far left

Jason drops the right line, staying well clear of the hole

Roman enters stage-right

The Author digs in to clear the pile guarding the right line (photo by Chris Arnold)

We soon arrived at one of the only boulder drops on the run, apparently called “Shark’s Tooth”. The only real concern here was potential for wood, but we soon confirmed that it was clean. It turned out to be a great drop, with a fun couple of moves on the way through.

Shawn, partway through Shark's Tooth

Jason, playing catch up

Roman runs the last pitch of Shark's Tooth, while receiving beta from below

After Shark’s Tooth, the river mellowed a bit before dropping over a series of relatively small ledges, which ended abruptly at the grand finale, “Wall of Voodoo” . The real hazard on this one was that most of the water was driving right and straight into an undercut wall with one particular nasty rock that was waiting to take your head off. I believe Shawn summed it up best when he said with a smile, “If you blow the line, you’re gonna want to roll over before smashing into that thing…”. The move required you to drive aggressively from right to left over a diagonal hole, to ensure safe passage along the left and past the head- hunting rock – basically if you don’t clear the pile, you’re going into it. Chris went first, and made it look easy (as usual). Shawn went next, starting left. Unfortunately, this did not allow him the angle to get over the diagonal, and as predicted, he was sent immediately into the right wall and the dreaded rock. Knowing his fate, he did just what he had said and rolled over right before making contact. Once passed, he rolled back up with his head still intact. The rest of us that decided to run it, made the right to left move without issue and joined the others below.

 

Chris does it right, by going left

Shawn drive over the pile with slight right angle...

...and prepares for the inevitable

The author runs the lead-in to Voodoo (photo by Jason Naranjo)

The author, making the move (photo by Jason Naranjo)

The author slips past the nasty bit (photo by Jason Naranjo)

The last drop of the run (immediately below Wall of Voodoo) exits the gorge over a small ledge. The right side looked like it could be a little sticky, so we all opted for the straight shot down the left. Once passed this, it was a short hike up to the parking lot and our awaiting cars.

The author, above the last drop of the run (photo by Jason Naranjo)

After a couple beers, we loaded up the rigs and headed up to our campsite, near the put-in to the China Gorge Run on the Cle Elum. Chris had already claimed it the day before, so luckily we didn’t have to try and find one in the dark. Speaking of the campsite, it was one of the best ones I’ve ever had – complete with river access and an amazing view of a waterfall cascading down the mountain on the opposite side of the river -- the best part was that it was free! About a half an hour after we had gotten setup, Joe showed up (whith Pop-tarts & PBR), bringing the boating crew to six strong. It was going to be another good time on the Cle Elum the following day…

Our view from camp -- amazing!

Joe, Jason, and Roman, gettin' settled

Joe, making Idaho proud

The end to a pretty sweet day

To summarize, I would say the Cooper is a total classic. It’s short, but you can run multiple laps in a day if you so choose. I wish we could have, but we didn’t get there until late, so we only got in one. At the flow we had it was pretty pushy, but still good to go, but I wouldn’t want to do it much higher. Overall I would give it a IV+/V-, but my understanding is that it mellows out quite a bit as the level drops. If you're in the Seattle area in the summertime, and you don't mind driving a few hours east, do yourself a favor, and bag this run!

The footage from our run:

POV - The Cooper (WA) from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.

Interlude 2012 - Creeking Compilation

Interlude 2012 - Creeking Compilation from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.

Follow-Up Review - Bliss-Stick Tuna (multi-day self-support)

As a follow-up to my first impressions (here) of Bliss-Stick’s newest creeker, the Tuna, I'll give a quick synopsis of how I felt it performed during our recent multi-day self-support trip down the MF Feather (CA). Keep in mind that this was only one trip, and like any other new boat, it takes some time to get used to its performance, especially when loaded down. That said, let’s get into it!

Prior to the trip I wanted to load up the boat with all the gear I was planning to bring. From experience, I know that trying to determine your packing arrangement at the put-in can be quite frustrating, especially if you're the one holding things up. Before loading up the boat, I always slide the seat/bulkhead all the way forward to offset the weight in the rear – knowing of course that final adjustments may be required in the field. Next, I started cutting away parts of the mini-cell bulkhead, in the stern, to make more room for gear; this included the two little wings running widthwise (new in the Tuna), as well as a large portion just behind the seat, so that I could fit my Ocoee Watershed drybag, for day use items. For reference, here is a list of the gear I was planning to bring:

Hmmm, I hope it all fits...

• Sleeping bag
• Sleeping pad
• Tarp
• Bivy
• Stove
• Head-lamp
• Water purifier
• Cookset/utensils
• Food (4 days/3 nights)
• Beer (as many cans as I could fit)
• GPS/Spot Locator
• Maps
• Boat repair kit
• First-aid kit
• Pin kit
• Throw rope
• Breakdown paddle (see how I made my own, here)
• Toiletries
• Camp clothes (cottons + rain gear)
• Crocs
• Camera gear
• Misc items (e.g. batteries, sunscreen, screwdriver, etc.)

First off, I fit the breakdown into the stern. Conveniently, the slot between the seat and the side of the boat allowed me to slide the blades between them, saving some highly valued space.

A nice spot for the breakdown

Next, I went to loading up my Watershed Futa stern floats with anything I wasn’t planning to access while on the water. Making sure to load the stern bags evenly, I also did my best to load the heaviest gear toward the top, which would end up being the stuff closest to the seat. Another recommendation is to ensure that any fragile items, like a sleeping pad, are not loaded next to anything sharp, for obvious reasons. After packing the bags full, I shoved them into the stern of the boat, with a little persuasion from my foot.

Drybags packed and ready to be put in the boat

The stow floats shoved all the way to the back of the boat. As you can tell, I still had room for the rest of my gear, especially after cutting a small portion of the rear bulkhead.

Next I loaded the Ocoee drybag up with day gear essentials (e.g. maps, GPS, sunscreen, snacks, etc.) and fit it right behind the back-band, where I had cut away the foam. Finally, I positioned my Pelican case (with camera gear), just in front of the seat in the pre-formed holder – as trip photographer, this is one of my favorite features of Bliss-Sticks outfitting!

Locked and fully loaded!

Now that everything was loaded, I decided to weigh the boat, which I was a little nervous about. After standing the boat on end, I looked down to see the scale reading a tad over 80lbs, I was actually a little surprised I was able to keep things so light. As anyone who knows me can tell you, packing light is just not my thing – hey, I can’t help it if the kitchen sink is so damn heavy…

A smidge over 80lbs

Okay, enough about loading up the boat, let’s talk about how the Tuna performed on the river! The first thing I did after sliding into the water was paddle around the slow moving pool to get a very basic feel for how the boat differed with all that junk in the trunk. I still felt like I sat high in the water and that the trim seamed about right – a good first sign. Next, I threw in some power strokes to see how she got up to speed, and then drove into a couple of eddies to see how the edges engaged – so far so good. The last pre-test was to fire off a couple quick rolls, which it flipped right over with hardly any effort.

After everyone had launched, we headed downstream through a couple miles of class II/III water. Once again, I went to testing and getting used to all the basics with the boat. Some things that stuck out in this section were how fast the boat was and how well it stayed on the surface. That said, I did need to make moves sooner than I would have if it had not been loaded, and I blew a couple tight moves here and there.

We soon moved into some pushier water and larger ledge drops. Again, the boat attacked with speed and stayed very stable, although I did catch an edge slightly once or twice, which was somewhat expected, since I was used to the Mystic's less aggressive ones. The Tuna exploded through holes better than almost any other boat I had paddled in the past -- probably equal to the Prijon Hercules, but I could actually lift the bow as needed with the Tuna. It also seemed to boof pretty darn well, even with the additional length.

Seein' how she boofs! (photo by Jason Naranjo)

After getting used to the boat for a couple days on the water and running some much bigger drops, I started to really fall in love with this boat. Its speed and hole punching abilities were quite impressive, as well as how well it maneuvered (ferried, caught eddies, spun around, etc). The only thing I seemed to struggle with from time to time, was changing direction once it got up to speed; although, I've had this problem with every loaded boat on multi-day trips.

Testing the Tuna out in bigger water (photo by Roman Androsov)

My only other gripe, and honestly the most annoying to me, were those damn grab loops. Portaging with such a heavy boat was agony if I was dragging my boat with the loops – basically the flat metal strap is not comfortable to grab. However, I’m guessing the reason was that they wanted to create a low-profile design so things wouldn't get hung up on them, like your paddle. Believe it or not, this actually happened to me in the middle of a rapid last year while paddling Fordyce Creek (CA). If you don't believe me, see the following footage, around the 4:45 mark:



POV - Fordyce Creek, CA from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.


I’d never had this happen before or since, so I decided to take my chances and modify the grab loops myself, making them similar to that of the Mystic’s. Please note that this mod will reduce the holding power of the loops (metal plate vs. webbing only), and by modifying the grab loops, you'll be taking on the liability for any negative performance issues with doing so. My personal feelings are that unless you plan to use it as a point for Z-dragging the boat out of a pin, they'll be plenty strong enough. Okay, with that out of the way, here are a couple pictures of the new grab loops:

The old bow loop

The new bow loop

The old stern loop

The new stern loop

In conclusion, the Tuna is a solid multi-day boat, which is one of the main reasons I wanted one. I’m really excited to have a boat that performs so well both loaded and unloaded, essentially giving me a one-boat solution for all my creeking needs, which I didn’t feel I had before ( I would use one for standard runs and a different one for multi-days). This will certainly help with adjusting back and forth, as well as be a little easier on the pocketbook!

Once again, head over and check out the Tuna at the Bliss-Stick US website, here. If you any questions you can also contact them directly by email at kayaks@bliss-stick.us, or by calling (423)619-4680. Feel free to ask me any questions as well; if I can't answer them, I'll send you to someone who can.

McCoy Creek, WA (6.3.12)

McCoy Creek has long been considered a class V classic, with big waterfalls, slides, and a bitch of a portage around an unrunnable 45’er. This creek had fallen off the radar of most paddlers in the area, after a few flood events brought piles of wood into the creek. Stories broke of 20+ portages, which made me think I’d never get the chance to run this gem. Fast-forward to earlier this year, when a group of friends decided to go see for themselves, with the hope that more recent floods had cleaned it up a bit. Sure enough, word came out that it was down to 5 wood portages – it was time to make plans for a trip up north!

About a mouth later, a text I sent to my buddy Chris simply read, “Interested in McCoy this weekend? Looks like it’s at a good level!” Since we both had things to do on Saturday, a tentative plan was set for Sunday, and we quickly tried to put together a crew. In the end we would have 5 strong, besides Chris and me, Roman Androsov, Brandon Bloomquist, and Alex Kilyk where up for the mission. Leaving Eugene around 7:30am, Roman and I headed north, meeting the rest of the crew in Portland, before finishing the drive to McCoy. The drive took between 4 ½ to 5 hours (one way), which honestly, was more than I wanted to put in for a day trip – what can I say, apparently I've got it bad for kayaking…

By the time we had dropped off the car at the take-out (on Yellowjacket Creek) and reached the put-in, it was almost 2pm. Since we had three miles on McCoy (solid class V) and 4 ½ miles on Yellowjacket (class IV), we knew we needed to be efficient on the water to ensure we got off before dark; plus Roman and I wanted to get back to Eugene at a reasonable hour. Once creek side, I was a little surprised with how small the creek bed was – very narrow, with what I’m guessing was about 200cfs or so. For reference, we had ~2,700cfs on the “Cispus at Randle” gauge, which supposedly correlated to a solid medium flow. Since I had not done the run before, I really couldn’t tell, but was about to find out.

Our flow for the day (around 2,700cfs on the Cispus gauge)

The take-out bridge

Looking upstream at Yellowjacket Creek, from the take-out bridge.

Brandon, all geared up and ready for some serious action!

Looking downstream from the put-in

The first part of the creek dropped through a series of class III rapids in a tight mini-gorge setting. Moss was covering almost every surface, and it truly felt like a scene out of a fantasy movie – I was half expecting a fairy or two to buzz by overhead, and I could tell almost instantly that this was a very special place. There was also quite a bit of wood in the creek, most we were able to bump over or limbo, but we did have to portage a couple as well. Even with these early signs of wood, we weren’t deterred, based on the info from the previous trip a month or so prior.

It starts off a pretty small creek

One of the bigger wood portages near the start of the run

The first major water obstacle we came to was a short, somewhat trashy, lead-in to a ledge with an airplane turn against the left bank. It looked like you could either cut the inside of the turn with a boof, or simply round the corner using the water berm. I watched as Alex and Chris went for the boof, both having good lines. I opted for the latter and had decent success, although I didn’t get high enough on the turn and ended up plugin’ it a bit.

Alex in the lead-in

Alex goes for the boof line

Chris lands on the pile after a nice boof, similar to Alex's line

The next drop we came to was quite large, "Tom’s Slide". Although big, it also looked pretty straight forward -- enter center-right through a couple small holes, bank off the right-hand shore back toward river-center, and throw in a boof at the bottom. All of us ran the drop with pretty much the above mentioned line, and had good results. You gotta love big/low consequence drops!

Alex busts through the entrance hole at Tom's Slide

Alex, boofing off the bottom ledge

Roman finishing up Tom's

Downstream of Tom’s, the creek mellowed out again with some more wood to deal with here and there. Soon we were faced with a short boulder drop, which exited over a rather large horizon line. After eddy hopping down to the last one above the final pitch, we awaited instructions from Chris, who was out scouting. He indicated that it was a double-drop and should be entered with speed, starting left off the first pitch, and finishing right off the second. Alex went first and dropped out of sight in front of us. Soon after Chris gave the all-clear, and then Roman dropped in. This time there was bit of pause before Chris said, “Hit it with more speed”. Hmmm, I wonder what happend to Roman? With that in the back of my mind, I dug in and headed for the lip. It was actually a little difficult to get in a good stroke at the top, because of some squirrelly current and a tight entrance. Even so, I came off the top tier in good shape, but not so much on the second, which sent me deep into the bottom hole. After carping a roll, I was able to get’er over and dig out of the hole. Between the group, three of us probed the depths, but luckily, we all were able to work out while still in our boats.

Part of the crew waits below the double ledge

Chris drives for the right side of the bottom tier

Before long we reached the biggest runnable drop on McCoy, Chinook Falls. Dropping 30’ to 40’. Chinook is a fairly complex / multi-tiered rapid, with a couple opportunities to blow a line and/or get flipped. The biggest concern of the drop was the hole at the very bottom, which most of the water funneled into. When the previous crew had run McCoy (at higher flow) this drop wasn't even a consideration, but this time, it looked about as good as it would ever get. After some sketchy and prolonged scouting, we all had decided we didn’t want to tangle with the bottom hole, and decided to portage. To make a long story short, the portage sucked, with rope work required to get up and around, far above the drop on river-left. In hindsight, I definitely should have run the drop – now below, the hole looked like much less of an issue, and in the end, the portage was probably more dangerous.

Looking up at the entrance to Chinook Falls and the sketchy scouting opportunities

Looking down into Chinook Falls, near the entrance

Alex finds it easier to swim between platforms than scramble along the cliff wall, during the scout.

The bottom hole that convinced us to portage

Roman looks back up at Chinook Falls, wondering why the hell we just didn't run the damn thing...

By this time, I had burned a bit of energy and had completely gone through my water. Luckily there was a springs feeding in from river-right, which I was able to refill from. Soon after we reached another ledge, which we partially snuck along the left, to avoid a hole located center-right. It was pretty uneventful, but probably still worth mentioning.

Chris running the left side to avoid said hole

Not far below, the creek made a sharp right bend, where Chris was once again out scouting. Since I had been taking pictures at the previous drop, I rolled up last. Essentially what he told me was, “Run the short lead-in and boof the bottom ledge anywhere you wish”. With that, I dropped in and did just that, boofing a sweet ~8’ ledge at the bottom. I wish I would have taken pictures here, as I thought it was one of the better drops of the run.

Just around the corner the creek dropped out of sight, with spray rising up just beyond the horizon line. I figured that this must be the big runnable waterfall, which Chris quickly confirmed. For this one, all of us got out to scout, which is easily done on the right. The guide book had called it a 20’er, but I’m here to tell you that it was that plus some, maybe 25’ to 30’. Since I really like running waterfalls, I was pumped to fire it up. The line looked pretty straight forward, basically run it off the flake in the center with left angle to avoid the wall/pocket sticking out on the left. Chris went first, and dropped in further left than I was planning to. After spearing in, he resurfaced upright and paddled away from the base. I volunteered to go next, partially because I wanted to get photos from down below. I quickly packed up my camera and hiked up to my boat to prepare for my turn. Setting up from a river-left eddy, I pealed into the main current and waited for a delayed boof off the sloping lip. Before I knew it I was airborne. On the way down, I could feel my stern dropping lower than my bow. Not wanting to land stern first, I dropped my knees and entered with a more appropriate angle. Paddling away and happy with my line, I voiced my excitement for all to hear – really, I try not to celebrate too often, but that was just way too much fun!

Chris prepares to probe the falls

Chris enters, stage left

Droppin' the falls, from my perspective

Alex with a great line

Roman drops in

Brandon, also with a good line

Immediately below the falls was a bunch of wood that had piled up at a sharp left bend. A quick scout revealed a ~10’ ledge with a really nasty pocket hole at the base. Even without the wood, I would have certainly carried around it. The write-up on Oregon Kayaking (here) goes into detail of a pretty serious beat-down here, and from looking at the hole, I can understand why. From the the scouting platform you could see the creek drop out of sight, some 25 to 50 yards downstream. This was obviously the 45’er that would require another strenuous portage, and I could see the others already starting the process.

Roman portaging the ledge with the terrible looking hole

Just above the 45'er

Before starting the portage myself, I took a quick glance over the lip of the falls, it was truly awful looking. The creek dropped into a backed-up hole just below the lip, where it then diverted both left and right down an equally ugly cascade and free-fall. It was pretty impressive to look at, and maybe it cleans up with more water, but I can’t imagine it ever looking good enough to run. If someone hasn’t already, I’m sure there is someone out there crazy enough to try, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it.

The 45'er

Looking back upstream from the lip of the class VI falls

The portage itself did suck pretty bad. We didn’t use ropes, which in hindsight, probably made it harder and certainly more sketchy. On the way back down, I lost my footing and fell about 30’ before stopping myself against a tree. I don’t even want to know how many pin holes I put in my brand-new drysuit from all the thorn laced vegetation. When we finally made it back to the creek I was pretty tired, and popped my 3rd energy Gu of the trip. Looking upstream, there was a sweet looking slide between us and the waterfall, which would have been fun to run; although it required a hike upstream, and we were already tired out, running out of daylight, and still had ~5 miles of river to go.

The sweet slide just below the 45'er

Putting back on after the portage

Just below where we had put back on was another 6' to 8’ ledge that we boofed off the center of, pointing left to avoid a log in the landing. Between here and the confluence with Yellowjacket was a short section of class II/III water, as well as a couple more logs to portage and/or navigate. Make sure you scout carefully in this section, as one log snuck up on us as I was lead boating. Luckily, I was able to pull into a small eddy above it and signal to the others who were yet to drop in.

Once we reached Yellowjacket, the flows increased by quite a bit, maybe threefold. With 4.5 miles to go on this class IV creek, we didn’t stop much, pretty much bombing though all the drops. Most everything was straight forward enough and boat scoutable, with the only possible exception being Godzilla, just below the confluence with the creek we had just come from. This drop is a multi-tiered and ends in a hole that can be snuck on the right, or taken head-on with speed. Most in our crew chose the latter. For the record, Yellowjacket is a worthy creek in its own right for class IV boaters, and the beautiful canyon setting makes it almost worth doing the run for that reason alone. I really wish I would have had more time to go slower and take some photos, but I guess that just leaves me with a reason to go back.

Just about the time my arms felt like they were ready to fall off, the bridge came into view, signaling our take-out. It was now ~8pm and the sun was starting to descend below the horizon line. After retrieving the top vehicle, we headed back toward home, making a quick stop in Morton for some food, and another in Portland to transfer gear and cars. By the time Roman and I got back to Eugene it was 1:30am, quite a long day trip, especially since we had to work the next day…

Leaving the take-out at sunset...

In conclusion, I would say that McCoy is indeed a classic, especially if you end up running Chinook Falls. That said, it’s a lot of work and has an exploratory feel to it, which I kinda like. I’d probably only head back if I knew I was going to run Chinook (which I’d like to), or if it had more water to spice up the rest of the run. The only caveat with more water would be the wood situation, since it was already a little precarious in spots -- we probably had 8 to 10 portages between McCoy and Yellowjacket. Once again, we had ~2,700cfs on the Cispus gauge, which I felt was a good medium to medium-low flow. This of course is only a calculation, and since I only have the two data points (this trip and the previous mentioned trip), it’s hard to say how accurate it is, or how much it changes between the seasons. If you end up running it, feel free to send me your findings, which would help to put a correlation table together.

Some footage from our run:

POV - The Real McCoy from Nate Pfeifer on Vimeo.