As we neared the end of our 2008 Guide training for Blue Sky Rafting, everyone was itching to run something other than the Clackamas River; our home river. After a really cold April, the first weekend of May was warm and sunny so we thought it would be fun to fire up the first West Fork of Hood River raft trip of the season. The West Fork Hood is a small river which requires significant snowmelt or rain to bring the river up to raftable levels. Although the river was rising, it was still below a good rafting level but everyone was up for a little rock bashing so we decided to run it anyway.

The crew at the put-in

I hadn’t been on the WF for quite awhile so wasn’t sure what a good water level really looked like at the put-in but I figured it was enough to get down without too much trouble. After we got on the river I realized it wasn’t really that low and started to remember the lines through most of the rapids. For the most part the first half is pretty mellow with a really nice, narrow basalt gorge with a couple fun drops and lots of small boulder gardens. The river feels pretty remote. The upper and lower sections of the run are separated by a river-wide fish-ladder where there used to be a nice waterfall.

After the short portage around the fish-ladder, we boated down to scout the biggest rapid on the run; Boulder. Boulder is aptly named as it is a hundred yards of boulders scattered across the river. The main problem for rafts is low water; particularly at the top of the rapid. A smooth line requires some tight moves and it’s pretty likely the raft will get stuck at least once. Jesse’s raft fired it up first and briefly got stuck on the crux rock before spinning off and continuing down the rest of the rapid. Dave just about fell in as the raft tipped while spinning but the rest of the paddlers were able to keep him in the boat.

Jesse’s boat doing a dynamic rock move

My boat was pretty confident we could improve on Jesse’s line as we walked back upstream to the boat. We had a good entrance but got bounced to the right just above the crux rock and couldn’t make the move back to the left. We ended up going over the rock on the right and then heading down the rest of the top half of the rapid on the right. This worked out o.k. except for a brief stick on some small rocks. We finished the rapid by bouncing down the right side through some nice waves. Not exactly my best line but it worked out o.k.!

Jesse’s boat heading down for the final drop in Boulder

After Boulder the river gets steeper and the rapids pick up with some nice drops spaced pretty consistently down the river. After one more manky boulder drop, the rapids clean up and we were able to enjoy some nice drops and some waves. The scenery is exceptional in this section with steep walls on either side of the river.

Jesse’s boat heading down into a nice gorge section

The final gorge on the West Fork

Just above the confluence with the EF Hood River, the WF drops over Punchbowl Falls. I’ve kayaked this drop once but we usually line the rafts past it. Before the trip I thought that some of the young guns would fire it up on this trip and I was right. After a quick scout Jesse, Sarah, Sarah Junior, and Dylan hopped in the bigger raft and fired it up with no problems. This inspired Dave to hop in for the second run in the smaller raft. They back-loaded the boat a bit (maybe a little too much!) and got a huge stern ender at the bottom but still paddled away without carnage. Pretty cool to see 2 successful runs after years of wondering whether a raft would get trashed. Maybe I’ll run it next time.

The second run in the smaller raft

Showing off for the camera

Below Punchbowl Falls, the West Fork joins the East Fork and becomes the main Hood River. We finished the day with warm weather and sunny skies. All in all, a great day on the river.