Washougal Kayaking and Catarafting!

Sooner than I thought I was back on the river. Today we had a cataraft with us and it turned out to be plenty high enough to get down, but there didn't seem to be many playspots for the cat. I snuck Big Eddy and have to say that the sneak would not go on much lower water. WASW1 was 6.80', and my flow estimate is 417 cfs. It's pretty fun, but things happen pretty fast for a while once you get to Big Eddy.

The little spin wave below the Mt. Norway Bridge was pretty in. I got a few rounds before kicking out. Cougar Creek rapid was fun too, but otherwise it was pretty much a cruise at this flow.

A Ham I Am

What a nice sunny day it was - I had to go boating. The rapids right above the Mt. Norway Bridge was exciting fun at this level, 7.25' on WASW1. Then I had to set my camera on a rock and get a clip of me on the little wave below the bridge. It was nice easy front-surfing, but it turned out to be too flat to be retentive enough for me to spin. Oh well, there's always next time.

Washougal Today

Today I paddled down from MP 7 again. Although it was pretty cloudy, the rain held off. This was another chance to pick up trash - it's easier when I'm going on my own pace. I finally packed off the balloons across from the put-in.
What stood out today was all the beaver sign - a twig chewed here, a root gnawed there. Judging from the roots being gnawed, the beavers are ranging pretty widely on the river. My fear is that soon I'll see a beaver carcass. Some landowners just can't bother to put netting around their trees.
As I was picking up trash, I saw people picking up litter at the MP 3 access. It was probably an offender work party. I thanked them. At least for now, we're on the same page.
Something else I noticed was the alien invasion. The Japanese knotweed is sprouting. I'll devote a blog entry to it in a couple weeks, but suffice it to say, this invasive weed requires our efforts to control.
I checked out Big Eddy before turning around. It looks like the sneak would barely go at this level - 6.75' on WASW1.

What's Missing?

So what isn't there? A pair of plaid shorts and a couple of sheets of white plastic film. I finally decided that if I didn't start picking up junk along the river, it would simply stay there. My kayak was actually pretty full by the time I finished, but it was only about 1/3 of our garbage can. Of course, some of the trash could be recycled. I left a motorcycle wheel and tire, a car door, and a piece of carpet. Maybe when I canoe down I'll be able to pick up some of that junk.

Wilson River

Yesterday it was the Jones Creek run on the Wilson River. Snow was around on the ground, and brief showers of hail came down between the briefer glimpses of sun. We used the put-in at the Smith Homestead parking river left, which is much nicer than the parking across the bridge that we used to use. I opted to put in right below the class 3 drop, so it gave me a good chance to do a little video segment.

I'd been on this run so much when the gauge was in the 1,000 to 2,000 cfs range that the 3,000 cfs made it seem big. My notes show that I've boated it at higher water several times. It would have been a great level for the Devils Lake Fork run. As it was, things were pretty wide open and clean.

Washougal Boating

Yes, I've paddled the Washougal 3 times in the last 4 days - and it's really low. But not too low. Wednesday we did Big Eddy and found that it is still pretty interesting at 5.79' on the WASW1 gauge. Today there were several nice very small but serviceable surf waves. The sunny weather and clear water is the frosting on the cake.

Revenue to Dodge Again

So, I hardly know where to start. Curt and I boated Revenue to Dodge again, and, believe it or not, it's still the enjoyable easy class 3 run that I remember. I'm going back, partly because it is such a short drive from my house. For those who may be heading down here soon, I have to say that there is a tree fallen from the right bank about 1.6 miles below the bridge. We easily passed under near the right bank. But watch for it.

Three Bears Again

Saturday I paddled the Three Bears section of the Molalla again - it is such a great run - in my Remix. It really felt good. I'd paddled my Prijon Athlete on the Little Nestucca estuary Thursday and again on the Washougal Friday. The Athlete, in case you don't know, is a slalom cut plastic boat. It's fast, but edgy. Sometimes the water and the boat conspire to do things I don't expect. And I'd paddled my Animas on the Presidents' Day Rogue trip. I still like it, but it requires so much more effort to maneuver.

The lines through the Three Bears are almost traditional now. I boogied through, only to look back to see my younger compatriots eddy-hopping down. Still, it is so much fun. Sometimes I think of it as following a raft line - to find the line with the most flow, in the deepest water, going where you want to go. And then get there. Like O-Nami.

There is a tree with a trailing log between Teen Bear and Baby Bear that we avoided completely by taking the right hand channel. The exit is pretty bony, but I usually hit the top of it because there's not as much drop yet.

We all walked the gnarly part of Baby Bear - it is really ugly at this level, which was 1,420 cfs. I stopped too late and needed some help to get into the little gulch on the left. BTW, the left hand entry on the first part of Baby Bear dropped into a sort of hole. It washes out at higher water, but next time at this level I'm going to enter more right.