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.

Stebbins Video

Stebbins Creek: First raft descent from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.

Stebbins Creek debacle AKA whose idea was this?

We have had our eye on Stebbins for a while after seeing some tempting photos of Tsunami and some other drops online.  Last weekend we were getting a good amount of rain and things seemed to be coming in, so we decided to give it a go.  I had reservations about running this one as the pictures didn't make it look too raftable besides the big drops, and the two mile hike in seemed like a bit much. Dan assured me that kayakers said it would be good, and that Tsunami would be epic, so we were off. As we got near the trailhead we realized that there was a lot of snow. This is a bad sign as it can mean a lot of the water is locked up and not in the creek.

At least this meant we could drag the rafts instead of carrying them the whole way. We parked a little ways from the trail head under a tree so we could pull out at the end of the day.  We knew we had a pretty big day ahead of us so we made haste in getting our stuff together.

Jon showing us how everyone would feel by the end of the day

We decided to strap the kayaks to the rafts so we would be able to have three people dragging each boat. The system worked pretty well but it was still a log ways to the creek. We spent a lot of time dragging the boats up hills, being dragged by the boats downhill, slipping into hidden holes, getting the boats over, under, and around trees, and other such fun activities.

 

After an hour or two we made it down to the tiny creek. This sign was a very welcome sight.

 

Oh yeah, did I mention the creek was tiny? Like not really raftable tiny? Like a nice three mile boat drag to compliment your two mile boat drag only this time with cold water and slippery rocks tiny?  The first quarter mile was awful for the rafts and kayakers. In the raft we were forced to get out at least every fifty yards or so. Finally we made it the first waterfall, and got out to scout and have a discussion. Ryan was of the opinion that the rafters should hike out and come back early in the morning to finish the run, or we would be spending the night there. We decided that the water would be even lower tomorrow and we might as well push on. We didn't get too many pictures as we were trying to make time, but Jacob got some video which I will be posting later. Within the next mile or so there are three or four bedrock ledges up to ten feet high. that are kind of entertaining, but mostly mediocre plop and drop affairs. There were still quite a few bouldery sections to deal with and boat dragging was more common than actual rafting. I should mention that we had more water than either of the Oregon Kayaking reports. We made as good of time as we could and soon got to Lethal Injection, which has always been a portage due to wood. Surprisingly, all the wood was gone and so we got to run the 7 foot bedrock ledge.  The next rapid is Tsunami, the biggie for the trip. One of the logs from Lethal Injection was blocking the entrance, but we figured we could just launch off of it into the first Drop. The kayakers each had their own plan, with Jacob seal launching from a rock directly into the first falls, and Ryan launching from a small island. Everything worked for everyone, but it made the best rapid of the trip into more of a pain in the ass than it needed to be.

Scouting

The rapid consists of a 18 foot falls/slide which drops onto a less steep slide into a six foot drop and over another steep 15 foot slide. Its kinda sweet but hard to paddle on as it is so shallow. We got spun by a rock in between the first and second drop but got it straight for the third and dropped off the fourth sideways. The other raft didn't spin but did get stuck and wound up dropping the last one pretty much on the bank. Both kayakers had good lines.

Ryan dropping the third tier

 

The rest of the creek went back to boulders. All the wood from Lethal wound up in Zoom Flume, necessitating a portage, though it didn't look too runnable anyways.  We wound up running Mad Dog Falls backwards in the dark, and taking out in pitch dark. It was not a good day.  Conclusion: Don't raft Stebbins creek. Even with twice the water we had it would still be not that great, especially for the amount of work involved. Hopefully I will get the video up soon.

Truss time again

Okay, so I'll make this one short as it was a one boat trip and we didn't get any photos. Dan and I had plans to take a run down the Little white on sunday. We had heard that it was on the rise but showed up and the gauge was out of the water, not a good sign. Since we were already out there we decided to take a quick solo run down the Truss.  The gauge at husom was at two feet, a bit low, but we decided to put in anyways. It turns out two feet is still plenty of water to make it a good raft run. We were worried about meatball but we took the left side chute, executed a nimble low side, and made it through without slowing down. At Big Brother, the center line was too good to pass up, even without safety. Dan unselfishly volunteered to hold a rope while I r1'd the beast. I had not run this one in the many times I have done the run so I was a bit apprehensive but it went super smooth. You can find pictures of the falls at the oregon kayaking website, White Salmon, Green Truss run.  Little Brother, Doulbe Drop and the Zig Zags went really smooth and we soon found ourselves at the top of BZ Falls. Now this drop has always scared me more than others on the Truss, as everything you read indicates that it is the most dangerous drop.  We were scouting and I didn't want to do it at first, but the more we talked about the line and looked at the drop, the better it looked.  We finally decided to run it, got a good head of steam in the lead in, and fired off the right side.  We caught the water coming off the left wall, got a little pushed into the right wall, and came rocketing out the bottom, it was awesome.  Overall it was one of the smoothest Truss runs I have had, which made it a good one for a no portage descent, even without safety.  Our lines more than made up for the sloppiness of Opal, and I feel a lot better about some of the harder stuff we have planned.  Also, it reaffirmed my love of that run. I have done it for 1.7 (in an IK) to 4 feet, and it is always fun, beautiful, and has the potential to go pretty damn big for a raft.

Opal Creek and Gorge

Put in for Opal Creek


So, we decided last Sunday to run the lower Opal Creek run on the Little North Fork Santiam and continue on down to do a (probable) first raft descent of the Opal Gorge and Salmon Falls.  We got a little bit of a late start leaving Portland due to indecision on where to go and getting stuff together. We made it to the trail head by 11:30 or so, dicked around with gear for entirely too long, started hiking and made it to put in by 1.  Dan and I hadn't boated together for a month or so and felt a bit rusty through the admittedly easy rapids. Robbie and Jon were doing fine in the Super Puma and we made good time down to Big Ugly. After a quick scout we decided to run right at the bottom to avoid an undercut looking slot on the left. This required a quick turn after the initial drop which both boats made fine.
(All Photos by Jon Watkins)
Entering Big Ugly


Making the cut right



After good lines we made our way down to Big Fluffy which looked good to go
Jeff, Dan, and Robbie scouting from the logs


Dan and I ran first. We were angled a bit left at the lip so I put in a power stroke and Dan dragged a bit


It caused us to over rotate and land a bit sideways. Dan missed his grab and bounced off me into the water and I wound up dropping my paddle, which we later found. It was a bit of a shit show for a pretty easy waterfall.

He made it back in quickly


Robbie and Jon had a great line but Dan's Camera ran out of  batteries so we missed pictures, sorry guys.  The gorge below Big Fluffy is a truly beautiful, special place.


Below Big Fluffy we made our way down to Thors playroom with no rapids particularly standing out. We were beginning to realize that the hour we lost the night before might have a bit of an effect on our day and found ourselves wishing we had gotten an earlier start.  Thors went well for both rafts. We took the first door but would have taken the second  had we scouted as it looks more fun.  The last drop was super fun and would be incredible with a bit more water.

Going down past the normal take out was awesome, knowing we were most likely the first people to try it in a raft. We were a little worried about time so we hauled ass down to the first boulder garden, which we ran without scouting. The pool above Mystery is a truly amazing spot. The moss covered  walls rise directly from the clear river, a steep boulder garden blocks any upstream egress, and the horizon line ahead of you gives little clue as to what comes next. Unfortunately we didn't get pictures here as we were low on time.

Based on beta from Jacob Cruser, we ran right at Mystery heading left with left angle.  We had to low side at the entrance then had two strokes to start heading left. The main drop was really fun, plowing over a big drop into a narrow hole that filled the boat. Looking back upstream there was enough water that we could have easily gone left, showing that we had a higher flow than Jacob thought we would.  Just after Mystery is The Undertaker, a mandatory portage.

Looking up from The Undertaker portage


The portage went incredibly smooth. The Oregon Kayaking website said not to do the left side portage in the rain, but the right side didn't look like an option for rafts, even though it was definitely raining.  We came up with a plan quickly, and carried the rafts to the exposed slab, then roped them one at a time with two people in front and two in back over the most exposed part. We worked well as a team, went slow enough to maintain safety, and finished in about twenty minutes(guess, no one had a watch).  We could not have done it more efficiently or safer in my opinion, and it was totally doable in the rain in my opinion.
Robbie and I roping the boat


The next boulder garden went fine and was one of my favorite rapids in the gorge. We had a quick scout of Henline, which we ran without incident on the left. The falls coming in here is beautiful. Sierra slot went fine, but was a little annoying in a raft, with both boats taking a big hit on the right followed by a small high side. We got to fishladder around dusk. The main line looked horrible as expected, but Dan and I thought we could run the middle drop then squeeze through the undercut slot. We plopped over the drop, and immediately got plastered into the undercut. We high sided, which caused the boat's nose to start disappearing into the undercut. We quickly scrambled to the back, clipped the throw bag to the back d ring, and climbed the slick rock. We then got a good angle to pull from and vertically extracted the raft. Had we reacted any slower or things happened much faster it could have been a very sketchy situation.  Robbie and Jon portaged left.  Dan and I knew the hazard was there, and decided to run the rapid anyways. I don't regret the decision but would not run the rapid again.

It was much farther from Fishladder Falls to Salmon falls than we expected. By the time we got there it was almost completely dark and we scouted from the right instead of left. Jon and I both decided it was too dark to safely run the drop especially since we couldn't see the entrance on the left side.  Dan really wanted to run it, and Robbie was quickly and easily convinced. They wedged in the entrance and almost flipped, but were unseated and went over the main drop practically hugging each other. They stayed in the boat and logged another impressive first d. I would love to run this rapid in the light sometime. Jon took a video but it was so dark you could not see anything.

By the time we got the boats it was pitch black and we were surprised to find it was only 5:45... daylight savings strikes again.

Overall it was a great day. Opal creek was every bit as beautiful as they say. I would go back for sure but would want more water. I think we had 750 or so and I would want at least 11-1200 next time.  I have mixed feelings about the gorge. The portage to good rapid ratio is very high, and the rapids aren't that great for rafting. On the other hand it is an incredibly beautiful canyon, and the sense of adventure is awesome. The teamwork and problem solving aspects I feel added to the trip, but I feel like that would fade with too many more trips. If you are thinking of making the  run, combine it with the upper, and do it, it is definitely worth the effort. You'll be happy you did but might not go back (in a raft). As it stands if I'm doing Opal Creek again with more water and time I'll probably try and convince whoever is with me to do the gorge again, but I wouldn't try really hard to get people to go down there again.  Stayed tuned for the next post, my personal first no portage Green Truss descent, no pics though, sorry.

New Blog

Okay, so this is going to be a blog that chronicles my rafting adventures, mostly in the pacific northwest. It will also include other whitewater adventures when they come up, but will mostly be dedicated to class V rafting. As my r2 partner and I tend to push thigs pretty far, there should be some good photos, epic stories, and funny carnage. Enjoy!