Posted by Chris on December 10, 2008 at 1:26 pm | In
Trip Reports, Rivers | No Comments
So, basically the whole story about Dipper Creek has been told on TRL, but I still have some photos and probably even a couple more comments to add, so…
Starting out the morning recruiting our ground support. View from Jonavens home.
This creek provided us with ample technical difficulties, due to the whitewater in the creek being pinched between canyon walls that are tighter than a gnats ass. The task of scouting and sorting each and every rapid from the canyon rim necessitated putting to use most our climbing/billygoating skills. I for one love this kind of work, but, it takes up an ENORMOUS amout of time, hence the years it took to sort out the whole run.
¿Is that drop 8 ft tall or 18 ft? Hard to tell from up here?
The “Sidewalks” of the hellfuck!
Ratio of time spent climbing to kayaking: 5 to 1 at least.
The great looking drops and stellar scenery on and off the creek made all the monkeying around worthwhile, but damn, did we want to get in there and do some boating. It was absolute torment to walk away after so many 3 day weekends of scouting.
B.C. teacup. ¿Wonder what its like being in there?
Like this. Only your heart is pounding so hard you feel like you just drank 12 cups of coffee.
It was extremely satisfying to finally be putting on the creek after many weekends of hard-work…we really felt like we were going to complete our exploration of this creek.
Shane running a 30ish footer just below the put-in.
And after that, there´s this memorable falls.
Another aspect you don´t often think of is how one´s mind starts to create fear of a rapid you have not yet run nor will necessarily have to run. I was getting butterflys in my stomach in the middle of winter while thinking about the rapid “Rowdy Flatwater,” The fear definately did not help foster a decision to run the rapid.
Catching gear while portaging “Rowdy Flatwater,” and wondering if I should have run it.
Todd in some boogie below the “Flatwater.”
Shane styling this great rapid.
Smitty looking good through it as well.
Todd admiring the scenic run-out to the same rapid as above.
When dropping in to Dipper Creek a person should always realize that one, just one, misplaced log, could really put add a huge problem to the day, or his/her life. This is what happend to us. Thankfully, we radioed our wonderful ground crew and recieved their assistance witht the 8 or 9 pitch rope-assisted climb out.
Looking back at the rapid just above the un-portageable falls with the log in it.
After another day of necessary scouting in the lower gorge, and a whole lot of decisions as to whether we would commit to it, we decided to hike back in on sunday and go for it. This was definately one of the tougher decisions I´ve made in my life recently.
A little unsure that night at camp.
A new day and a time for optimism.
The final attempt.
Immediately the gorge was breathtaking. Aaahhh.
And the rapids were interesting.Todd cleaning it.
Bryan in some stout boogie water.
Bryan probing some deep S!%$T. Vertigo gorge!
Todd in the teacup above the pinch rapid. This rapid made me very uncomfortable before and during my run of it.
Shane below the exit falls of Vertigo gorge.
Shane in this great slidey rapid just above a big falls we ended up portaging.
Shane probing the last falls.
Bryan cleaning the last falls as well.
Heading to the take-out.
In a nutshell, Dipper creek is one amazing piece of whitewater, and will likely always be an exploratory style, difficult, commiting day -or two- for anybody who looks to dip their paddles in its water. Good luck to you!
Posted by Chris on August 25, 2008 at 8:56 am | In
Movies, Rivers | No Comments
I just want to express how much I enjoy paddling Tatlow creek. I’ve had numerous runs on Tatlow in the last 3 years, and every year just before it comes in I get a little nervous about all the falls, the commitment, and the work involved, but, by the time I boof off the 20 footer at the end of the triple series that fear melts down and all thats left is excitement. This creek is the S*$T! Get up there and run it!
Heres the Tatlow section from my movie Cascadia.
And heres a couple grainy pics from this weekend.
See you up there for another lap.
C.
Posted by Chris on August 7, 2008 at 7:58 am | In
Trip Reports, Rivers | No Comments
Hopeful scouting.
July 4th, 2008.
Since the bulk of our kayaking season is spent boating in the rain and/or snow here on the west side of the Cascades, many of us look forward to small outings in the hot, arid canyons of the east Cascades. Sunshine, sweet camping and the wonderful scent of pine forests creates a relaxing atmosphere in which to savor the mix of fast clear water in steep, granite-filled canyons.
After a few trips to run the usual Icicle, Lil’ Wen. and the ’snatchee I was getting the itch to check out something new, so, - still wanting to escape the wet-side - I looked to some possibilities of some east-side hike-in options that seem to escape most peoples radars.
With Justin Tatosian just in from Wyoming, he and Andrew Oberhart were up in B’ham, ande we were using some of their vacation time lapping Clearwater when we hatched the plan to make the 6 hr drive to check out this new section of creek that we had scouted on a previous mountain bike ride.
We started out the trip heading east on Highway 20. Most of the time when driving this stretch of road the conversation starts to flow to the de-watered section of the Skagit river. This amazing canyon - and one can only imagine what the canyons above it looked like before the dams filled them in - has been dewatered since some time around 1920. Of all the trips we collectively had taken across the pass we had never once seen water flowing down this riverbed, this was our lucky day.
Definitely lots water and lots of gradient.
We stopped in a few spots to scout and consider if this section would be worth running at these flows. Almost immediately we were sure that putting on was not going to happen. What looked to be between 5 and 10 thousand cfs was raging through the canyon creating some impressive almost unrunnable rapids. We enjoyed scaring ourselves for awhile but the light was waning and we had a few hours drive left ahead of us.
1st half of one of the decent looking rapids.
Second half of the same rapid.
I know what you’re thinking…I thought it too.
The next morning after a quick breakfast we headed for the trailhead to get started on our 4 mile hike. The trail was in good shape and we made good time getting to the put-in. It seems like the first hike of the year is always the worst; your pack isn’t dialed, you carry too much stuff, and you generally just don’t remember how bad it can hurt.
Ryan Bradley looking a bit uncomfortable. Andrew O. photo.
Anyway, we arrived at the put-in around noon and after a quick lunch we dropped in. The creek took off through some class 3 and 4, then almost immediately we encountered a tall looking rapid with a bunch of wood at the top. After quick scout by Andrew and a few hand signals we had a great line through the twisty, ledgy rapid. Below this the creek just kept on cruising through unceasing class 3-4 with tons of blind-corners, small eddies and the occasional 4+ drop.
On the hike up you have the chance to scout the crux mini-canyon with a few stout drops and a waterfall. At first glance the falls looks like a perfect 15′ catwalk type slide with a fun 8′ ledge above it, but, when we got there, and upon closer inspection it tuned out the ledge was beefy, and there was a bad piece of wood just below it. To make matters worse if you didn’t style the first ledge you would have a hard time making it to the left side of the waterfall where the only semi-acceptable line was, acceptable only if you were O.K. with the possibility of falling off the slide and getting an unpleasant stuffing into the undercut below the slide/catwalk. We opted for the pain in the ass portage on the wrong side of the river. Oh well, you win some you lose some.
Andrew scouting.
This boof incited feelings of joy for Andrew…
Justin Tatosian on a fun ledge drop.
Ryan scouting the big hole.
Justin about to fly on the great cross-current boof.
Chris from below. Andrew O. Photo.
Just downstream of this mini gorge is one more walled-in series of ledges. The first ledge is full of wood, the second is an 8′ river wide ledge with a BIG boof but an even BIGGER hole. Just below the ledge is the sweetest cross-current boof into an eddy, super clean. After the mini-gorge we were fired up for some more fun rapids, unfortunately we had used up our gradient, and thus only had one more long, fast, 4+ rapid before our take-out at camp.
Cayoosh worn out from a 15 mile bike ride.