Salmon River Canyon

-There are no paragraph seperations in this post. For some reason blogger condensed everything so if there are any English teachers out there reading this, try not to be offended :) I finally got to run Salmon River Canyon this last weekend. It was everything anyone has said it was. Just as committing and full on, and the drops live up to and exceed the expectations I had going into the canyon. My first trip down was under unusual circumstances. I was with an R2 team who had been wanting to run the drops of the SRC for some time now. Hiking the raft in the day before it was obvious why this doesn't get done. After the dolly broke as it did on Eagle Creek (obviously not the way to hike rafts in) Dan he-manned it and cam strapped the raft to his back and hiked it the next mile to the meadow turn off for split falls. At this point I gave him the backpack I was using for my kayak for him to use as the cam straps were destroying his shoulders. He went down the sliding bushwack/trail with it on his back until the last hundred yards were he sent it barrelling down the hill right at me! I hid behind a tree as the raft/missile came barrelling down, but stopped just short of me. We made it to Split falls and pumped the raft a bit and started rigging it before heading back out. After two days of hiking (Dan and Shane had hiked the raft the first half mile the day before), a river crossing, lots of pain, little water and food, and a great sense of accomplishment, Dan finally had his raft into the SRC. There was only one way to get that boat out now, paddling it downstream, he was committed. As was I with my kayak. We hiked out and drove home anticipating the adventure waiting for us the next day. The next day we hiked in from the bottom to avoid a shuttle at the end of the day with Luke Spencer as Dan's R2 partner and our support group, Dans girlfriend Lydia, Shane Conrad and Christina. The hike was a long one that took its toll, sapping precious energy and taking time. We made it to Split falls and within half an hour I was dropping over in order to set safety as the runout from the falls filters through a sieve after a short pool. I got a good boof then got out on a rock and waited for the rafters. After a few more minutes they came down. The raft didn't fit... We had figured this might be the case though so Luke jumped out right at the lip and pushed and yanked on the raft until it was only a little wedged. Then he jumped back in and they rocked the boat until they dropped over, a perfect line and they came up upright but the falls was landing right on them and ripped them out of the boat. They self rescued and we made quick work of the portage below. After this I took off to catch the group ahead of us who had the climbing rope we were planning on using at Final Falls. I also wanted to catch them for safety reasons. We only had one throw bag, and that was in my boat so I was going to have to run everything without safety if we didn't catch the other group. I arrived before too long and there was no trace of the other group. By my watch I had made it by the meeting time(which was interpreted differently by the different people in the two groups), so I must have missed them by less than five minutes. I didn't feel safe dropping into the unknown (for me) without anyone else so I waited for Dan and Luke. When they arrived we had a short pow-wow. Were we going to try to catch the group ahead of us before Final Falls or hike out? We came to a draw because Dan and my vote was to keep going, but Luke counted as two votes in this situation since he had been there before and favored hiking out. In the end optimism prevailed and we set off in an attempt to catch the group ahead of us (who also had a raft). Little Niagara went really well and was a super fun drop. This is when it started to set in that I would have zero safety the entire day as I had the only rope. I cleaned it and set safety for the raft. Who stuck it. In the throw and go around Vanishing falls Luke hit bottom and sprained his ankle. This was to be a factor the rest of the day. We regrouped and got ready to drop the next ledge, a boxed in 8 footer with a sticky hole. Because of our situation I was forced to run this without even an illusion of safety. The raft would see me drop over from above but wouldn't see me again until I was 30 yards downstream and clear of the hole. Luckily I got a good boof and signalled all good while I set up the camera. They cleaned up on this as well and we headed downstream. There was one more class 4 ledge drop, then Frustration falls presented itself. This drop was really committing, especially knowing we were not even trying to pretend I was going to have safety. While we were scouting Luke caught a glimpse of something unnaturally colored downstream, hoping it was the other team we headed down and could see them. They signaled for us to head down, we had made it! We were elated that we had done so and were going to be able to repel around Final Falls, but we had our work cut out for us first. There was a lot of discussion about how we were going to do this. The end result is what is important, so what we did was I lowered Dan down to a ledge right above the final 40 footer, then he counter waited the raft down to where he was. Because of Luke's sprained ankle, Dan would be R1ing the drop. We felt it was safer for Dan to R1 the drop than to risk Luke injuring his ankle further. That left me to be Dan's safety, for this to happened I had to run the drop first. I put in below the first 20 which had some wood. The second drop is tricky. I had seen lots of blown lines there. My plan was to not even attempt a boof and just plug it and brace. As I dropped over the lip I hit something weird and I was thrown into a freewheel type of thing. I was upside down and trying to roll against the current, I did make it up and instead of being inside the eddy of the ten footer, I was looking over the edge of the left side of the final drop! This drops into a pothole of sorts that Luke had mentioned earlier had a rock in the landing and no one had ever run before. Had I taken a forward stroke it would have been a boof stroke, that is how close I was. Instead I took two super quick backstrokes. Then stopped right by the raft and set up for the bottom forty footer. I wanted a bit of left angle but it was far enough that it probably qualified for a little sideways, but I was tucked forward with my paddled where I needed it and more of a boof that helped me stick the landing. The hit was pretty hard, my left leg popped out of the brace, but I was upright so I put it back in and started paddling against the current pushing into the undercut. I brushed it at the end but then I was into the clear and setting up for footage and safety for Dan. He took his time preparing, then I saw some yellow, then I didn't, then here he comes! He dropped over straight and dove for the back of the raft and hung on. Then he was below upright and elated. We were all so stoked that he had just cleaned this drop! He was pushed against the wall which wasn't big deal in a raft, but being an R1 he couldn't get off it so I through him a rope and reeled him in. Then Luke jumped in and they tried paddling out of the room of doom. After 3 unsuccessful tries Luke hopped out with my rope and pulled Dan through as Dan paddled. This worked and we were then above "In Between", the final drop above Final Falls. We pulled onto the shore and saw... no one. This was not the site we had hoped for. After commenting on how unpleasant this situation was we started figuring out what to do. Luke was certain the other group would not have left without at least leaving the rope and thought he might have seen it so I ran the twenty footer and eddied out above the 70 foot Final falls. I walked down to the repel point and there was no rope... I signaled this back to the rafters and we discussed what to do. We regrouped again below the 20 and discussed our options. The last 4 people to jump the falls had all hit bottom, so that was iffy at best. Dan offered to lower us down on my throwbag and then jump, take the hit and just hope he didn't get injured to the point he couldn't hike out. In the end we decided to use Luke's plan and hike out on the left side, then cross the river when we could get back to it (it would be hours of bushwacking before that point), then climb up to the river right trail and hike out. Estimated arrival time at the take out bridge=1am. We geared down and started looking for a place to get up the cliffs. Luke thought he saw a draw that would go, but I wasn't really down with rock climbing and Dan was adamant that Luke was sure to hurt himself if he tried that. We looked around for another hour and finally came to the decision to head back to the river and have Dan lower us. We were a bit solemn as we headed back and got geared up. We got to the platform above Final and a new idea entered the scene. Why not have Dan jump first since he was going to jump anyway, and if he didn't hurt himself we would follow. Probably less sketchy than the other options actually. As Dan lept into the air I pushed the thought that if he hit bottom we would have no other option than to jump anyway into the back of my head. Luckily he didn't, we shoved the boats off then followed suit, all of us minimizing our depth into the pool by filling our dry suits with air and planing our bodies once we hit the water. Then we were together at the bottom and we were a happy set of boaters. We took some time to eat and drink, then took off downstream. We ran a couple more boulder gardens, then portaged some sieves, then we were in the class 2-3 runout. It was a great feeling. I took off ahead to let the people at the takeout know we were ok, the raft joined us half hour later, with an hour of daylight to spare. In the end we were all ok, but coordination on a trip like this needs to be bomber, it was not on this day. We were definitely 3 unhappy people at the top of Final Falls feeling like we had been left to the dogs by our fellow boaters. I don't want to get too into that, it sounds like they had their reasons for what they did (daylight concerns mostly), but if you are counting on others for gear, don't, have your own. But if you are the ones who have the gear, try and think about how lonely it would be to be the other group, I know if I had been in the other group and found out Dan had hit bottom and broken his leg, I would instantly regret my decision. The good news that came out of this was that it is safe to jump Final falls again. Here is how to make certain you don't hit bottom as long as pool depth doesn't change. Don't jump from repel point, there is an obvious point to jump from 20 yards upstream. It is a natural point at the lowest point you can get to without rope on the river right side. Jump as far as you can and land in the middle of the boil. Things could change but that worked for for us. -Jacob

Zigzag River

           After a low water run on the West fork Hood (3.7 ft) that included two laps each on Punchbowl, Nate Merrill, my dad, and I headed over Lolo pass in order to run the Zigzag river on the way back.  We put in where highway 26 crosses the creek the second time if you are coming from Sandy.  We had low water but it was floatable.  Nate had one scary pin mid creek, but was able to work his way free.  The creek was really fun and going from this bridge to the lower highway 26 bridge is a good section of very difficult class III.  It sounds like an oxymoron but if you ever run it you will understand.  I feel comfortable on low end class five and such, but this was still keeping my attention, and Nate (who is plenty capable of much more difficult than class three water) had two pins.  My dad also pinned his IK on a rock that was actually under the water within the first ten seconds of the put-in, but cleaned the rest of the run, so the IK's will do fine. We only had one super easy portage and some minor log-dodging, which isn't always the case for this creek, or any creek of this size for that matter, or really any obscure creek in Oregon :) That was a pleasant surprise.

            I think it is a very worthy stop if you are in the area.  It is very similar to the majority of streams coming off Mt Hood, such as the upper Sandy, East fork Hood, White river.  It is just smaller and steeper.  It would be a great run to do before the Sandy Gorge, definitely more focus required, but no individual rapids are harder than Revenue Bridge, but you might feel right at home pin-balling your way down the upper part of that rapid if you have just come of the Zigzag.

            My verdict-worth doing.

Sandy at Brightwood should be between 1000 and 2500 cfs.  It would be super fun at high water but logs would start to get very scary in a hurry.  I don't know if I would be willing to run this creek when it was at bank full but it would be very very fun. 

      - It runs from snowmelt mostly.

a picture of the zigzag river at flows too low to boat

Yellowjacket Creek (upper put-in)

                                 all photos by Matt King                  

            Matt King and I ran Yellowjacket creek last Wednesday.  The ride to Randle was longer than we had expected from Portland, but eventually we made it there and after one wrong turn we made our way to the learning center to hopefully find a guy named Drew we had heard of on the internet, and maybe secure a shuttle.  Drew wasn't there, but one of his co-workers, Layla, was kind enough to offer help on the shuttle afterwards.  When we drove over the take-out bridge we both took a deep breath, the water was looking a lot lower than we had hoped for as it flowed across a flood plain.  We decided it would hopefully consolidate upstream, and we could float down this last section, so we would at least make it down even if it was low.  

          We drove upstream about five miles to the normal put-in and took a look.  It did not look pleasant at all, but that was OK because we had already decided to use the upper put-in recently rediscovered by Dave Hoffman and group.  We continued up the road another 2-3 miles until we started catching glimpses of the creek and a short, dirt road went off to the left.  We took this turn and got dressed in a bit of rain while Matt's dog Oakland took care of some business.  Then we followed the short trail down to the river and got ready for the adventure.

          The first rapid was a steep boulder garden right off the bat with a small seive on the right,  Matt eddy hopped his way down, then signaled me on through.  After this the creek was class two for awhile with some wood, but I don't think we portaged any wood between here and the first big drop.  I was actually amazed there were no portages with all the wood.  Eventually we came to the first real rapid since the put-in rapid.  We saw some wood so we scouted.  It was a 3 foot ledge with a wierd hole, but all the water pushed into some wood on the left.  Below here were two small eddies on the left, then a really nasty falls with wood.  Matt found a path on the right, so instead of running the marginal lead in drop and catching one of the little eddies on the left, we portaged both on the right pretty easily.  We ran a short drop right below, followed by a couple more fun boulder/ledge drops in the class four range, then before we knew it we where scouting another larger drop.  This one was so sweet.  It had an easy sliding lead in, followed by a moving pool, then it split and the right side was pretty manky, but the left side excellerated down a 15 yard long ramp, then dropped off an 8 foot auto boof into a deep pool.  Matt went first on this oh so fun drop. Then I went while Matt took photos.  The exit was a short slide, then I believe the creek went back to being pretty easy with some more wood and I know we portaged at least once here.

               I don't remember there being any rapids between here and the next big drop.  We knew there was a 30 foot falls right above the normal put-in, so we where on the lookout for that.  Eventually we found it as the creek started to consolidate.  It is a weird place for a falls because it goes from gravel bars right into the falls.  We got out on the left and at first thought it was good to go, then we saw the boulder on the left that the majority of the falls pushes towards.  It is totally runnable, just hard, with high consequences.  Low water would be the best but we commented on how the rock probably gives it a V+ rating.  Getting injured here would be horrible, because the "class five put-in" described in the guidebooks, would become the "class five take out", the take out might deserve that + on the end as well with an injured person.

               We did a throw and go, which was really fun.  Then we scouted the next couple slides which were pretty fun.  Matt probed, then I went.

                             The second slide                      all photos by Matt King                            

                     Then we where on the guidebook section.  The first drop was wood infested and manky.  We did a creative portage along a log to the center of the river.  Be careful at this spot if you go in there with more water in the creek.  Next was a series of ledges then McCoy creek came in.  Godzilla was benign at this flow.  There are a few more ledges, but it peters out for awhile before coming to the final rapid against the wall, which was class 3 at this flow.  Then it peters out for good and there is a long paddle out that will probably keep me from coming back to this creek.  Somewhere in a short class two section I boofed right onto a piton rock which launched me onto my head causing my only roll in a shallow section which caused some hits to my elbow, a good reason for me to get elbow pads.                     Then we came to the flood plain after what seemed a long time and then dealt with two more logs, one of which would be a portage at higher flows.  Finally we came to the bridge, ready to be off the long uneventful section.  Then I waited while the shuttle took place.  

                If anyone is going to do this I would recommend the upper put-in a 100% if you have a drysuit for the throw and go. These are my reasons

1) The best rapid is on the upper section, and the slides below the falls are also good

2) The lower put-in looks like it sucks

3) The wood is manageable on the upper section

4) the throw and go is fun

            The run was totally worth doing but I probably won't be back because of the paddle out (but I thought that about Canyon Creek WA too).  It would be better with more water.  Use the upper put-in.

I think I ruined the tape so no footage from this one.

         -Jacob

Eagle Creek teaser video

Here is my footage from Eagle Creek.  We are trying to compile more, but it may take awhile.  This is a fun little video though.  

Also, check out Ryan Scott's site CRG productions at www.gorgehits.com to see what he has put together from the trip.

Eagle creek 09 from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.

and here is a helmet cam version of Robert Shingleton running Punchbowl

just raw footage of punchbowl falls. from Robert Shingleton on Vimeo.

-Jacob

Eagle Creek

We had an epic day up on Eagle creek saturday.  This mission was about the first raft descent of Eagle Creek.  The day was led by Hans Hooman who did all the legwork and made the calls to get this together.  He was kind enough to share his descent with the group and we all had a super fun day.  Everything except Metlako and the narrow cascade below it got run.  Here are some teaser pics, I will have more up this week including the full report, video, and pictures.

     -Jacob

all photos by Paul Thomson www.ptnature.com

                                            myself probing Skoonichuck                 First known raft decent of Skoonichuck falls in a raft.                      First legitimate raft attempt at Punchbowl falls.

all  photos by Paul Thomson www.ptnature.com

Opal Creek

We ran Opal creek again with about 1,000 cfs. We had a good time with no real carnage, and everybody ran everything. We scouted Salmon falls afterwards, but we were already dressed and low on light so saved it for another day.             Driving to the put-in(All pictures by Robert Shingleton)

                                Getting Ready to go at the Mine Put-in.                                Myself escaping the left wall at Big Ugly.                               The raft crew coming through the right line smoothly.                                         Looking back up at Big Fluffy.                                 Playing/scouting at our lunch spot.                                          The crew above Salmon Falls.                           Hans attempts to get a closer look at the top left chute.                                                Salmon Falls. Here is the video

Opal Creek 2009 from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.

Quartzville video

Here is the video from Quartzville creek.  Hastily thrown together between classes.

Quartzville creek from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.