Winter Paddling
Well, we are finally back to normal winter weather after one of the craziest stretches of weather I’ve ever experienced in Oregon. Portland was virtually shut down for several days around Christmas because of snow. We had over a foot of snow in some parts of the city and because plowing is pretty spotty, it’s pretty interesting trying to get around town. All the water in the rivers was locked up in snow as well and just getting to the put-in of many runs was impossible. Once things started to melt a bit, we had a couple heavy rain storms which raised river levels to flood levels. The combination of snow, rain and high winds snapped trees and caused mudslides. Once we were able to get on the rivers again we were constantly wondering how bad the damage would be and whether new dangerous features were present. Thankfully, all the rivers I did were none the worst for the storms and I had some great days on NF Washougal, NF Clackamas, and TRF Molalla.
I also got a chance to run the Devil’s Lake Fork of the Wilson which I haven’t run for probably 6 or more years. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the rapids and scenery. Of course, we had snow at the put-in which is extremely rare for this coastal river.
Snow at the Devil’s Lake Put-in
We had a great group of paddlers. Most of us did a quick run on Jordan Cr. and then met up with Brian for an afternoon trip on Devil’s Lake Fork. There are a couple really nice, technical rapids at the beginning which gradually open up into some fun rapids with bigger features.
Heading downriver
Elk Cr. Rapid is probably the biggest drop on the river. With the river at a great medium flow, this was a fun plunge through a good hole. We had a couple back-enders but everyone kicked through the hole just fine with smiles all around.
Elk Cr. Rapid
Breitenbush River
I’ve been wanting to get on the Breitenbush River at medium water level for awhile now. The Breitenbush has a long season but I mostly seem to hit it at pretty low levels. Despite all the snow we knew would be along the river, we decided to gets some boats out and check it out. The Breitenbush is one of the classic intermediate rivers in Oregon so I was pretty excited to get some new people on it.
Gearing up in the snow. Brrrrr…..
I hadn’t heard of anyone running the Breitenbush for awhile and with all the snow, wind and high water recently, I was worried there would be a bunch of new wood in the river. Most of the time wood in the Breitenbush is pretty easy to deal with in a kayak but is a royal pain in the ass in a raft. I’ve done trips where we had to stop the raft up against a log, stand up on the log, pull the raft over the log, and get back in on the other side. Needless to say, this is a real pain and not OHSA-approved. We were hoping for the best.
After scouting Barbell on the way up, we got geared-up and launched. There was a log above the river just downstream of the put-in that had some branches we had to dodge but it wasn’t too hard. Next up was the Slot which is usually considered the most consequential rapid on the run; particularly at medium and high water where the hole gets very retentive. A low-water picture of the Slot can be found here. Matt fired it up right away and had a great boof over the hole and didn’t get his head wet. He ran the rest of the rapid and got out to take some pictures. The rafters decided to portage the ledge and Nate decided to fire it up. He was a bit off-line and didn’t get quite the boof he wanted. He plugged the hole and immediately started to get hammered. I knew there wasn’t really a way to paddle out of the hole but Nate put up a valiant fight. Once he pulled out of his boat, he was sucked deep and kicked out downstream where he was able to swim to shore before the second half of the rapid.
We put-in quickly and chased down his paddle and boat about a half mile downriver. Nate wasn’t too fazed by his swim and we proceeded downstream through some great, fun rapids. The river was at a great flow with all the rocks covered and some nice waves and boiling eddies. We were pretty cautious on any blind turn in the river, expecting wood, but everything was clean. I was beginning to think it was going to be a lucky day.
Rafters drop into S-Turn Rapid
Matt surfs out of the hole in S-turn
Rafters exit S-turn Rapid
More cleans lines and fun rapids continued all the way through the upper section of the run. It was so much fun I didn’t even mind the cold weather. The second section of the run includes a few big rapids that are really fun. At Barbell Rapid the river splits around a house-sized rock in the middle of the river with the right channel dropping over a 6′ ledge and the left channel sliding down a fun ramp. Matt greased the right channel and the rest of us ran the left side.
The last rapid of the run is Woo Man Chew. There is a great, big wave train above Woo Man Chew and then a short pool before the river drops over a 6-10′ ledge. The left side is the standard line and punches directly down into a big hole before squirting boats through. This side is pretty easy for rafts at this level and the rafters came through with no problems.
Rafters drop Woo Man Chew
The right side line at Woo Man Chew is usually pretty rocky so I’d never run it. After hearing about a fun, higher-water line from Jason, I really wanted to run that side. It’s really hard to see the line and I was having a hard time picturing the drop in my head. Matt ran first and did a big brace at the bottom as he squirted through a fast hole. That got my blood pumping! I eddied out right above the drop to take a look but couldn’t see anything. Matt gave me a signal not to go too far right but I had no idea why. As I dropped in blind I was surprised to see that the ledge was really narrow and twisty. I just dropped in and hung on as I accelerated down and through the holes at the bottom; hanging on a big brace in order not to flip. Great fun and a great way to end a great trip!
Pete drops into Woo Man Chew
