Late fall of 2006 brought heavy rains to western Oregon and Washington making for near perfect boating conditions every weekend.  I had spent several weekends in my kayak so I decided it was time to get back into a raft.  After talking with Tim Brink, we decided to attempt a raft descent of the Opal Creek section on the Little North Santiam River.  This run is rarely rafted with the first known raft descent being on November 21, 2006, just over three weeks before our attempt.  After some calling around, we recruited Dave Sacquety and Doug McLaughlin to join us in a second raft and Kenny Kiley to run safety in his kayak. 

About a month before our trip Oregon had its strongest wind storm in several years.  Driving to the put-in we worried about the danger of new trees down in the river while slaloming around the limbs littering the road.  Amazingly, the river itself turned out to be completely free of wood.  The road was another story.

Both the take-out and put-in roads were blocked by large trees that had fallen across the road.  Luckily, both were within a few hundred yards of the normal parking areas, so it just meant carrying our rafts a little further.  Or, in the case of the put-in, dragging out raft through the snow.  The closer we got to the put-in, the deeper the snow got until we finally found about 8 inches of fresh snow at the final log.  From the log, it was about a 3/4 mile hike down an old road to the river, which was made far easier by the snow, and that the slight downhill grade.

Dave, Kenny, and Doug prep the rafts

After putting on the river, we made our way through several small ledges and boulder gardens, stopping occasionally to scout for wood.  After each drop, we would eddy out to set safety for the second raft, which also gave us plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful scenery along Opal Creek.

Tim, Paul and Dave scouting on Opal Creek

Dave and Doug run a rapid on Opal Creek while Kenny paddles downstream

We continued downstream until we came to Big Ugly.  Big Ugly is a super fun rapid in a raft.  The rapid starts with a pour over, then pushes into the wall on the left with a rock in the middle of the rapid.  After a quick scout, Tim and I hopped back in our raft, had a clean run, then caught an eddy below to set safety for the other raft and Kenny.

Tim and Paul run Big Ugly

While Dave and Doug scouted Big Ugly, Tim checked for wood in the next rapid, a narrow chute on river right, that leads out of the recovery pool.  Tim and I ran first through the chute and had a clean line, then hiked our raft back up and ran it again after everyone else had come through.

Shortly after this slot is the biggest rapid on the run, Big Fluffy.  We all eddied out to scout Big Fluffy, which is a 15 foot waterfall with a difficult leadin.  The waterfall itself is intimidating, dropping into a sheer walled gorge, making safety difficult to set.  There was a definite line for a raft over the falls but missing the line, even by a little, could lead to an unpleasant swim.  After looking at the falls and the landing zone for a few minutes, I decided that I’d rather walk around that day.  Tim and Dave, however, decided to give it a shot.

We all worked to get one raft portaged around the falls, then Dave and Tim walked back to the second raft, re-scouting the leadin as they did.  While Doug set up with the camera, Kenny and I discussed possible rescue options should we need them.  After several minutes of waiting, the raft finally came over the first ledge in the leadin.  After coming through a narrow spot just above the falls, Tim and Dave were able to get in a couple strokes before grabbing on and plunging over the falls.  The whole raft submerged, then resurfaced with Tim almost getting sucked out.  Dave helped him stay in as the raft slowly floated downstream and away from the base of the falls.

Tim and Dave drop over Big Fluffy

The river mellowed out a bit below Big Fluffy before coming to Thor’s.  Thor’s is a long, fun rapid that is right at the end of the run.  With several options at the entrance, Tim and I decided to take a narrow chute toward the left side.  After waiting for Dave and Doug, we peeled out of the eddy and ran the middle part of the rapid, then lined up for the final two ledges at the end.  We charged down the final two ledges and eddied out at the take out beach, celebrating a great ending to an amazing stretch of river.

Dave and Doug run the final two ledges with Thor’s Hammer behind them