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.

There's a put-in just below MP 5 that makes for an easy and quick but fun trip. Although it misses the Cougar Creek rapid, it also misses the 1 1/2 miles of flat water above. With 5.9 feet on the WASW1 gauge, it was good, both Saturday and Sunday. The little waves were surprisingly enjoyable, but I have to say, I wish there's been more water.

Molalla

Monday it was the Table Rock Fork put-in down to the Turner Bridge. It's an easy, fun run. With a pretty late start, I had to get out early and get to a meeting. A good thing it was, though, since I was coming down with a nasty cold and didn't need another hour on the water.

Hanalei River

One of the treats of visiting Kauai is paddling on their rivers. The Hanalei is practically in the backyard of our timeshare, and it's super easy to rent a sit-on-top and paddle up until it shoals out and down to Hanalei Bay, maybe to try a little surfing. This time we saw many Nenes (Hawaiian geese) in the adjacent wildlife refuge. Not much whitewater, though.

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.