Otra Vez

So what if I've paddled the Washougal 3 times in the last 5 days? Saturday I wanted to check out the portage at Big Eddy. Sunday we did the OKCC Intermediate Trip as described in the post at http://okccinfo.blogspot.com/ Check it out for the video if nothing else. I'm learning more about the best way to use my Pentax Optio. It is great but, like most everything, not perfect.
Sunday I ranged far afield and paddled from the Bull Run powerhouse to Oxbow. Bull Run was pretty big at 1,150 cfs. Fun, but Swingset had BIG waves. The Sandy was, well, Dodge to Oxbow.
Today, we just boated down from MP 7. At 5.29' on the WASW1 gauge, it's starting to feel low. There was still action at the Helicopter Wave, but the most fun was all the eddy hopping. Russ is recovering from his wrist injury and is looking good.

Tomorrow I leave for a John Day weekend. I'm rowing and the kids are canoeing. It should be exciting, with almost 8,000 cfs in the river. I'm looking forward to hiking during a layover day and just plain relaxing in the sun. Maybe I'll see again how much fun it is to solo my Explorer.

Rain Adds Water

Last night it rained, and the river came up more than 2 feet, to 7.70'. I had to look at Big Eddy, but we did not run it. The right hand line looked fine but powerful. We put in at MP 7. Flow was about 2,000 cfs.

There were a number of nice green front-surfing waves, typified by the one in the video, in front of the horse corral about mile 3 1/2.

I took a center-to-left line entering Cougar Creek, and I have to admit that it wasn't nearly as clean as I thought it would be. There's always next time...

Spins

Monday we paddled with 5.60' on the WASW1 gauge. Big Eddy was exciting - it seems like it always is for me - but we had good runs, basically following the flow down right of the Twin Rocks then down right of center.
The little play wave below the bridge was at a good level for spins. I've always found that it's easier to spin to the left than the right, but at this level, 5.60', I could spin both ways. My guess is that it'll be good down to 5.3' or so. Upon reflecting, I recalled that some of us ancient boaters refered to this feature as the "Helicopter Wave". It's been there for years. Although it is just a little wave, it is a good place to practice spins.
Ah, sunny weather!

Remix Rendezvous

Friday 4 of the 6 boats were Liquidlogic Remix's. Our crew was playful and found lots of interesting little spots. The wave right at the Mile 8 1/2 put-in was good for a few spins. I ran down the right side of Big Eddy - was easy getting down to the slot but it was pretty bouncy once I passed through the marginal eddy below the right hand rock outcropping. At the bottom of Big Eddy rapid the ender spot gave folks a chance to have some retro fun.

The class 2 rapid above the Mt. Norway Bridge was particularly playful this day. The bridge was a good vantage point for video. With the gauge at 6.44', the little wave below the bridge was not retentive, although it was fine for front surfing.

In Cougar Creek gorge, the wave above the creek was nice, but not easy to stay on. Then the reversal at the Rock Island was in, although it was not too retentive. Here, you want to be sure of your roll, because the rapid is right below.

Another Nice Day

Tuesday found 5 of us paddling the Washougal in sunshine at 6.25' on the WASW1 gauge. Alex boofed between the Twin Rocks and Matt went down the right at Big Eddy, but the rest of us put in at MP 7.

The little wave below the Mt. Norway (Vernon Road) Bridge was not retentive enough to spin at this level, but it was okay for front surfing. Like most days on the Washougal, it was pretty easy. We found another good wave below Cottrell Dam (below MP 3). This wave was pretty washed out when I ran Thursday at 6.9'.

Dee to Tucker

How many favorite runs can a boater have? Dee to Tucker on the Hood River is another. Last Sunday found 7 of us paddling down in wonderful sunshine, at 5.0' on the Tucker gauge, estimated to be 1,700 cfs.

We were glad we put in at Dee rather than Iowa Drive. There're some pretty good drops in that first half mile, uncompromised by wood problems these days. Cyclops is a straightforward run after the flood a few years ago. Pipeline was pretty fun. The river isn't quite pushy at this level, but things happen faster than they would at 4.5'.
We did scout the Island Drop and were glad we did. Although the first 3/4 is pretty straightforward, there's a regular golf course of holes down toward the bottom. Most of us caught an eddy on the right and finessed our ways down, but Denny choose to punch a series of holes. Action picks up after Island, but at this level it's easy to sneak down the edge of a couple of the longer rapids.
And to complete the trip, I enjoyed a huckleberry milkshake at the berry stand.

Salt River - Arizona!

Ever since I tubed the Lower Salt 20-some years ago, I've had a hankering to paddle the Wild and Scenic white water section of the Salt east of Phoenix, up past Globe. By a lucky coincidence, I was able to join Alan on a trip launching April 17th.

After rendezvousing in Phoenix, we camped at the put-in, on the Apache Reservation. Cold it was that night, but it warmed up with the Arizona sun in the morning. Due to the tight, shallow rapids in the first 5 miles, our 4 rafts had to put in at Camp #3, but Alan and I kayaked down from the upper put-in, which was bonus fun but also a necessary part of shuttling the vehicles. Most of the class 3 rapids through here are pretty easy and fun, but I found some big holes in the Mescal Falls rapid.

The outfitters take out shortly below there for their day runs, at Hoodoo. We continued down past the Salt Banks, which are very distinctive and also very verbotten.

We camped at Mile 11. This delightful camp, obscured by tamarisk, was just below the Ledges rapid. There was a long narrow strip of sand that worked perfectly. It was sunny but cool, and a cold wind came up about 4 a.m.

Rat Trap rapid comes up soon enough. It's got a tricky curler on the main left hand run, so I snuck it on the right. Everyone else did fine.

It was pretty uneventful, with a series of class 2 rapids. One had a rock just in the worst place, and our big raft ended up wrapped on it. It took a little work, but we got a z-drag set up and pulled it off, with little damage but to the oarmen's ego. Below here is Gleason Flats, a slow shallow area, not bad for kayaks, but a chore with rafts.

This second day is a busy one. Eye of the Needle comes up soon enough. It's a really tight run for rafts, but there is a smaller Eye sneak for kayaks, although I dragged mine around anyway. Alan made the sneak look easy.

Soon enough we came to Black Rock, a steep drop into a mess of white water. Both Alan and I dragged our boats around to the left, but the rafts did well, although the anxiety clearly showed. We camped on the left shortly below Black Rock, a very nice sandy spot, not too big, but plenty of room for the 11 of us.

The third day was pretty busy too. After the wrap above Gleason Flats, I was particularly concerned with how the rafts would do in The Maze, a boulder garden rated class 4. It is reminiscent of The Maze on the Jarbidge, but we all did very well - it was fun. Scenery is great in this section. Soon we came to Quartzite Falls, which was blasted back in 1993. There is a very congested entrance rapid that leads to a pool with a large gravel bar (at our level of 740 cfs) that provided the rafters a good scout point. Alan and I eddied out on the left, dragged our boats over, and set up safety. The Falls itself had a narrow, diagonal slot entrance, some turbulent water, and a big hole on the right bank toward the bottom, into which most of the water flowed. The oar rafts made it through fine, but the lighter paddle raft was carried onto the downstream rock of the entrance slot, where the paddlers spent many tense moments freeing themselves.

That day we camped at Cherry Creek. Russell had remembered a nice sandy spot to camp and set up the kitchen, but a flood had changed the beach a lot. It was mostly coarse gravel with little sand. We stayed anyway, but decided not to lay over. I hiked up the creek a ways in the afternoon. One objective was to get a close look at the giant saguaro that line the hills. There wasn't much of a trail, and what there was seemed to be more game trail than human trail. I again became aware of how stiff, stickery and pokey practically everything that grows in the desert can be.

The saguaro are big!

With a short day ahead of us, we planned to hike in the morning and get on the water at noon. I hiked up to the top of a little rocky knob above the camp, which is visible in the background. Around the knob, there was clear evidence of early habitation and there were three separate groupings of pot sherds. The easy route to the top had cut footholds in it, almost certainly from long, long ago.

The last night we spent under magnificent cottonwoods trees just downstream from Coon Creek. I found a nice spot right by the water and slept out, as I did the night before. The weather was really wonderful - warm, but not hot, during the day and cool in the evening, with little wind.

The next day found us soon at the Highway 288 Bridge, the normal take-out for this run.