N.F. Clackamas

Jacob took Neil and I down the N.F. of the Clackamas on the first of June. It's a shame that this was the first time I'd been down it, because despite all the portages it was a lot of fun. I didn't get too much footage but the stuff I did get was mostly of Stairway to Heaven. Anywho, enjoy the clip! Oh...and thanks for letting me post on your blog Jacob, this is my belly flop into the blogisphere. ~Theron

Carnage run

I did the carnage run for the first time Wednesday. It was a good level at 3300. Nothing special to report except Toilet bowl is big! Like I don't think I saw anyone go straight into the gut of the bottom hole and go through. People where trying to surf it but it was throwing people around. I think Neil had the best luck in there and was putting on a good show. I got my first rodeo creeking session in this hole. I worked my way up the eddy so I could run it a second time. I dropped in with very little speed and didn't climb the pile enough to get through. I got stopped, pulled back, and threw a few ends before being pushed out the right side. It was a fun experience for me and I'm glad it happened, I was happy with how I reacted. Joe Bob's was reportedly a lot of work but again Neil lead the charge and was on the wave every other time I looked over there. I now have a hole in the bottom of my boat from Rock Creek that I need to fix. I apoxied it for the carnage run but it got scraped off, should be a fun fix. -Jacob

Rock Creek

Nick, Alex, and I ran Rock Creek(Stevenson) last weekend at low flows. EF Lewis at 900 and Clackamas at 3700. Nick was doing his first creek in a hardshell and his second time in a boat in almost 8 months. Alex was in the Aire which was leaking and we had to pump it four or five times on the trip but it was worth it. Nick hit a solid combat roll then worked his way out of a hole in the interesting section of class III bedrock that lead up to the first drop, an 8 foot ledge into a gorge. Alex and I cleaned it while Nick had his first swim when he hit his head on the right wall as he flipped. Next was Heaven and Hell, both drops looked good to go with the top one being a tough double boof, first away from the right wall, then a rock on the left. I ran this and came through fine. We scouted the main drop of Heaven and Hell for awhile before Alex and I decided to run it. Alex wanted to go first. He hit pitoned into the left wall after the first drop but recovered in time to get far enough left to miss the death rock which wasn't in play at this level because of a strong boil pushing hard left. He managed to stay in his boat and fight his way off the rock at the bottom to have a succesful run of his first class V drop! I went next and was a little worried about a second piton so I didn't hit the boof perfect but it worked fine and it was a super fun drop. Below here was a short manky class two stretch then the bridge. It had taken awhile to get to this point so we started making up time. We had heard that Three Swims falls sneaks up on you and is pretty close to the bridge so we where a little on edge but after a mile and a half we realized we had been mistaken and the boredom of low water rocky class two without extrordinary scenery set in. Eventually we made it to Three Swims and began the portage. I seal launched below the falls to tackle the final boulder garden. I had my only wobble of the day in the final hole which I dropped into with no speed and almost got stopped, but I made it through ok. Below here was one dangerous log that is hard to see before you are in the rapid, we all made the eddy on the right though at the right water level this may be a very interesting spot. The weird thing is there is no portage route. The walls are vertical, so the only way to do it was to swim to the log, get up on it, then pull our boats on and try and balance on the log or get in below and make an eddy on the right like Nick did. This spot would be awful at medium or medium low flows when the log is unrunnable still but the water is swifter upon getting back in the water or getting to the log. Be carefull next year because that log looks like its staying for awhile. Below here was one more fun slidey drop before the take out finally came into view. After this we headed to money drop to check that out. It was very big but very clean. I didn't realize what kind of a horizon line a seventy footer would make but its scary enough to make me certain I will never drop off something that big. We then checked out the upper falls and it looked better. At Money drop we saw one of the strangest things. Where the mudslide has been, the walls have become pretty vertical, and halfway up on a little ledge was a deer. It was stuck with a 20 foot drop to not vertical ground and no escape above him. We felt bad but there was nothing to do. Chances are he will be there until the ground beneath him caves in or he dies, sad. Well it was a great day and I cut the report a bit short, the video got ruined but oh well. Great day and I will be back next year when there is water in there again.

-Jacob

Clackamas River Festival 08'

A great festival with tons of boaters, 90+ degree weather, 9,000 cfs in the river, and well organized events, as well as a great after party complete with complementary food from Next Adventure and Ryan Scott's new video Local Scrapbook VI showing made for a great day at the river. It was so much fun. There was too much going on to right about so I made the video as usual. We found a fun playspot on fish creek with great eddy access that some people where asking about so that is in the video along with the big air ramp and some fun in the big ledge at Carter's. -Jacob

Upper Opal Creek

Collawash

The plan was to get an early start and run Rock creek, the water was too low. Next option was the Truss, I wanted to run something new. Next option was the middle Collawash, the road was closed. Next option was the Hot Springs Fork and possible park and huck of Blister Creek falls. We got snowed out a mile and a half out. Instead of doing fish to bobs. We decided to do a roadside run that looked interesting enough with a couple interesting-ish rapids(good idea Neil). This turned out to be a decent fall back but I think I will just settle for a well known classic run for the next couple weeks. The run was interesting with one drop that was an easy class four with a nice hole on the bottom right. The run was very pretty and had clear water. There was some fun play and we made the best of the mile long run. I will let the video do the rest of the talking.

Eagle Creek in kayaks

I finally ran Eagle Creek in the gorge in a kayak at the beggining of spring break. I had run a variety of the drops before in an innertube, K-mart raft, and just swimming off the falls. I was there with Eagle creek veterans Theron Jourdan and John Jansky. The hike in was not fun, I don't know how people deal with the eleven mile hike into Cherry Creek when four miles was this difficult! The run was awesome, but I don't have the time now for an entire report. The drops where all great, very high quality. I was the only one to pass on Skunichuck with two others cleaning it and one roll between the two drops. Two drops above Punchbowl there is a log in the near vertical log making a portage the recomended choice by way of seal launch on the right. Punchbowl was great, my line was to drive high onto the pillow and hold a right draw stroke into my tuck as I came off and this worked great. Everyone rolled at the bottom which made sense given the type of drop it was. There was one broken paddle and one accidental freewheel that made for some excitement. Punchbowl seems to have a much lower "clean it" rate than Skunichuck from what I have seen both in video and in person. The last bit of info I will add is that I chose to hike back down to the river at a spot just past the second cliff as you are hiking out. The trail is on the far side of a rock slide and is not a difficult hike back down to the creek. This makes getting out of there much more enjoyable and the creek is moving along class II-III from here to the take out and it also saves a lot of time. A thanks to Theron and John for showing me down the creek and Alex for hiking along and videotaping and carrying food. Nice to meet Rick as well. Here is the video -Jacob