The secret about Ernie's Canyon

Sometimes the time comes to stop talking about something and actually do it. Dan and I have been talking about Running Ernie's Canyon on the North For Snoqualamie for about as long as we have been rafting together. Pretty much every kayaker we talked to about it said either it would be impossible or that it was dangerous enough that we would be stupid to try. It is definitely a run with a serious reputation. To quote the guidebook, "You can slice every one of 'em and walk away thinking this rivers just another challenging class V trip, or you can miss your line by two feet and get permanently stuffed into an undercut."  So it wasn't without at least a little trepidation that we arrived at the take out on a cold December morning.

The kayakers hadn't shown up yet, so we got dressed, got the boat pumped up and waited. They showed up around 10 am and told us that the gauge was reading 350 cfs; a little low for kayaks but probably good for a first try. We loaded up the raft on the truck and drove to the put in, where we found a locked gate about a mile from the river.

 We start getting ready in the parking lot.

 Right as we are finishing up, a car comes up from the river with a key. We ask if we can drive our boatsdown and they happily say yes. Dan and I start down the river and the kayakers go to set shuttle, so we can get down to the first rapid and scout.

The first rapid definitely made us both a bit apprehensive. Not because it was particularly large or hard (it was), but the nature of the sieves and the narrowness of the slots made us think it might not be a great raft run after all. Soon the kayakers get there and we run it. It was the kind of drop that has multiple hard moves backed up by dangerous undercuts and one short toss over the narrowest channel. Just downstream the rapids started getting better.

Drop above Raft Catch

Next up was a rapid interestingly named Raft Catch, though I don't think this stretch has been rafted before. I tried to r1 the right slot which was obviously too small for a raft.  I got stuck, jumped around a bit, climbed out, and we roped the boat through. it flipped.

Showing that Raft Catch is appropriately named

Below here the rapids  just kept getting better. The kayaks did an awesome job routing us through rapids they could and telling us when we should scout for ourselves.  One rapid we ran had a big hole at the end backed up by a very close boulder. We messed up in the entrance and wrapped.  We were right above the biggest feature/move of the rapid and were full of water. The best way to unwrap would be to deflate the thwarts, but it would put us sideways, full of water, and without thwarts above the worst part of the hole. Fortunately Brad was able to get to a rock where we threw him a rope. We unwrapped and he pulled us in. There weren't enough tacos and beer in North bend to properly thank him for this.

Leaving the eddy below wrap

Brad or Joe in a rapid Ben called Big Water Creekin

Raft in same

I'm not sure on the order of everything we did as there are so many rapids, but somewhere we all had to portage a rapid that had a sketchy piece of wood in it. Eventually we ran a double drop that may have been what the old timers call Room of Doom and Cluster.

Maybe Room and Cluster?

After this there was a half mile or so of boogie water. We could relax enough to realize how truly scenic this run is. There were tons of waterfalls coming from the side. The price of admission is high, but those who can make it will be richly rewarded in terms of whitewater and scenery.

The next major drops Ben called the big three. Number one is just called cool drop, and boy is it!

Raft in Cool Drop

The next one was split falls. I think it was expected that we were going to portage, but the line looked good enough even with the big rock that was in a perfect position for flipping rafts.  We ran the big drop and got plastered into the rock. The left side went up and we did a huge high side. It was the type where both of your bellies are over the top tube and your feet are dangling.  We made it, but the camera got put down as Ben was getting ready to set safety if we flipped.

Split falls

The last of the big three was toilet bowl, which we had to portage on the left. It was ugly. A tough move, to a melt through a narrow slot, and if you roll you better roll up fast as half the river goes into a sieve shortly downstream.

Brad in Toilet Bowl

From here I think it went back to some boogie water. Honestly I'm not entirely sure, so much was going on. Just when it seems like you are almost out of the canyon you get to Jacuzzi. We portaged without scouting as we were getting low on light. The next two rapids the kayakers routed us through and they went well.  We did a quick scout at Manky Mannequin and liked the line. It involved getting intentionally  stuck in the middle as you need to start left and finish right, but there are no slots big enough for a raft that go from right to left.   It felt so good once we made it and knew we were done. We continued through the paddle light in rapidly fading light, finishing in the dark (this is getting to be a theme for our first descents).

So what is the secret about Ernie's Canyon? As Ben Hawthorne told me when the trip was over, "If you can handle the rapids in there, it's actually pretty fun." The reputation is well deserved, it is difficult and dangerous, but there are fun drops and boogie water, incredible scenery, and a great sense of accomplishment when you finish it.  The other secret is that it was surprisingly raftable, although I would not recommend it to friends or loved ones. I would in fact hesitate to give it any sort of endorsement, but there might be a few other rafters out there who would have interest. If you do it, get an early start and make sure you are straight with yourself about your skills and the amount of risk you are willing to accept, this river is anything but forgiving.

Huge huge thanks to Ben, Joe and Brad for coming with us, setting safety, giving info, and keeping the faith. We absolutely could not have done it without them. Extra special thanks to Ben Hawthorne for all media on this post, and believing we could do it when no one else did.