It's always difficult to explain over the phone what I am doing on the river to my friends and family. So I have created this site for them so they can follow what I am doing on the river and my life in Olympia WA. It will mostly consist of Trip Reports and pictures from my river adventures, but also will include my other activities around the PNW.
Paddling to the take out in the fading November light. Photo by Nicholas Hinds.
On March 26th 2009 I went kayaking and had the most terrifying accident of my paddling career, and on November 19th 2011 I got my redemption. Since the accident on the South Fork Stillaguamish river (aka Robe Canyon) in 2009 my confidence has been shaken and my fear of more challenging whitewater has risen. Here is the story in short; I put on Robe with JP and Rob and was having a fantastic paddling day. I was getting all the good boofs, having clean lines and didn't need to use my roll, it was the makings of a classic day on the river. At a rapid called Faceplant JP and I got out of our boats on river left to scout; I didn't like this rapid, but I ran it anyway. I didn't listen to the voice in my head saying "walk this one, it's kinda a junky rapid anyway". As a result I ended up flipping in the top third, and as I set up to roll I went over a pourover and landed on a rock - or more likely a pile of rocks - injuring my back, neck, and smashing my helmet. As a result of this sub-aquatic blunder JP and I had to do one of the most terrifying hikes I have ever taken. At just about every point in the hike a slip would have resulted in a 100 foot tumble down a 50 degree rocky slope, landing on boulders at rivers edge, and then falling into a class V rapid. AKA Death. We got out fine, I got back home to Olympia and spent the next 2 months or so recovering, but it wasn't until June or July that I regained full range of motion in my neck.
During the last 2 and a half years since this accident I have continued to paddle year round and have not lost my passion of whitewater and kayaking, but I have always had the proverbial monkey on my back. When I would scout a tough rapid the monkey would be perched up on my shoulders and saying "remember last time Jed, that sucked. Just portage this rapid". The monkey wasn't just on the river with me, it was on the phone when I was making paddling plans, "what are y'all paddling today... Oh, you doing That.... no, That is a little above my pay grade I'll go do something else instead, have fun out there". The monkey was defining my paddling career, it was ruling out all the rivers that would challenge me too much and keeping my wish list of rivers to do in my lifetime much shorter and lacking the diversity than it deserved. The worst part about carrying around the monkey was that all of my paddling partners were nothing but supportive, they would try and remind me that accidents happen and my paddling skill were far better than I was giving myself credit for. They would invite me on challenging runs and tell me that I would love it, but I would decline simply out of fear. My friends would build me up only to have the monkey whisper in my ear "What do they know". The monkey and I needed to have a talk, this relationship was one sided and I needed more than I was getting.
The monkey and I parted ways on Saturday November 19th, and it was the happiest breakup of my life. This time when I paddled Robe I was able to finish the whole thing with the biggest smile I could muster. It was like the stars aligned, the water level was ideal, I was with a good group that consisted of some of my closest paddling buddies, and the weather was sunny and clear. The only complaint I could think of would be that it was way cold, so cold that our gear froze at the takeout. I had the best day of kayaking I've ever had on Saturday, my lines were spot on, and I got that monkey to leave me alone.
For those who might read this and are in a similar predicament, the best advice I can give is to surround yourself with a good group of supportive friends that you enjoy paddling with. Having a group of people downstream that you trust is one of the biggest contributing factors to regaining your confidence. My friends pushed me to get back on the horse, but never so hard that I felt badgered. Also asking yourself why you paddle is important. At that point I was in a place where I felt that class V was the natural progression, I knew plenty of paddlers who ran class V who were much less skilled than I was so "what was the worst that could happen"? I had something to prove as a paddler, not to myself, but to... well... I guess I had something to prove to the river. In the time since the accident I have really worked on honing my skills, timing, paddle stroke, and muscle memory in order to get back to a place where class V is less disorienting. Also don't be afraid to ask people you respect for help, they have a 3rd person perspective on how you paddle and aren't hindered by the self perceptions that muddy our self image.
Kayaking is a mental game as much as a physical game, and I'm glad that I was able to get my mind back in the game after all this time. See
Saturday and Sunday, April 16-17th, 2011
East Fork Lewis Class III-IV (3400 cfs) and Canyon Creek IV-V (2000 cfs)
This weekend was the 5th annual Northwest Creeking Competition held on the East Fork Lewis and Canyon Creek Lewis, 20 minutes north of Portland. This race brings people from all over the Northwest, mostly the Portland and Western Washington area and is a very cool event. It's likely the largest Whitewater race in the Northwest, with sponsors, free shwag, and several kegs of beer all for a $10.00 entry. Oh yeah you get a t-shirt out of the deal too. The race course is on two stretches of river, the E. Fork Lewis and Canyon Creek Lewis, the EFL is host to the longboat, tandem, and multiple other classes for racing. It's a place for everyone to race and participate, from the the Pro-Bro's to the weekend warrior. The Canyon Creek Lewis is host to the steep creek event for advanced and pro classes only.
So Saturday morning Taryn and I loaded up the big-wheel, revved up the internal combustion engine, and hit the road south towards Sunset falls campground. We met up with Jon on the highway and caravaned the rest of the way to Sunset falls. If only it were that simple. The long story is that we got lost on the way there and spent a good 40 minutes back tracking and trying to find our to the proper road. Around 9:40 am we finally landed at the park, a little delayed but not late.
Once arrived I registered and and began the waiting process. When I first saw the falls it became obvious that the river was high (a surplus of water if you will). It wasn't just a little high, or a wee bit high, it was stomping high. As Taryn and I wandered around looking for friends and listening to the buzz of people it became apparent that the race was going to be full-on due to the water surplus. This made me a bit uneasy because I hadn't run this stretch of whitewater in over a year, and the idea of a freight-train of water moving through the gorge with no opportunity to stop after the entrance was making me have to go to the bathroom, and not number 1.
So I geared up and continued waiting for the race meeting to start. As I waited I stared at the falls and watched boaters fly off it with varying degrees of grace and ... and ... the opposite of grace. At 10:30 the race meeting started outlining all the usual rules that need to be followed and observed, and bla, bla, bla. Continue to wait. While I continued waiting, the "safety crew" came back from their recon mission in the gorge and determined that the water was far too high to have a safe race, so they moved the race course up-stream to a class III-IV stretch of river. The course would be twice as long as the original course and with more continuous whitewater and finishing below Sunset falls.
Once the course was finalized and everything was a go, we headed upstream to the start line. I was racing in the longboat class (boats over 9') in my 10'9" corsica S. At the start line 3 other longboats started directly ahead of me, and 4 other longboats had already started in a previous heat. After a brief warm up I took my place at the starting line and waited for the 5,4,3,2,1,GO!
Having never seen this upper part of the river before I was a little nervous, but confident in my skills. I pulled downstream and started pacing myself, unfortunately that pace was too fast for me and about 7 minutes into the race I was getting a little gassed. What really did me in was when Tao Berman and Darren Albright passed me in their short boats, totally demoralizing. Granted Tao is a full time professional kayaker and Darren should be a pro kayaker, the last 3 years in a row Tao has gotten first place and Darren has gotten Second. Needless to say they're fast, real fast. So after getting blown out of the water by Tao and Darren I kept picking my way downstream. There were 4 or 5 good class IV rapids all of which all went well with the exception of one. I came out of a hole and shook off the water and was heading right towards a wall with my bow pointed towards and eddy on river left. So this forced me to choose between two options. A) Try to turn my boat to the right, hit the wall with my bow, hurt my ankles, get flipped and get pushed against the wall upside-down and the eventually roll up in the fast water, or B) catch the scary recirculating eddy on river left, then ferry out in front of the wall and move down stream. I chose plan B.
Now that I'm in the eddy, I have to get out, through a serious eddy line, and then avoid the wall. No problem. Done this plenty of times. Done this plenty of times for fun. Well it wasn't no problem, it took me three tries to get out of that eddy. The first two times I wasn't able to maintain my angle due to my arms feeling like they were made out of cookie dough. On the third try I took a few moments rest, analyzed the line and then charged out of the eddy with the conviction of a baptist minister. I gave a fist pump to the guy who had been filming me during this whole episode and then headed downstream to the finish. I came barreling into the pool above sunset falls, realized how tired I was and caught the eddy. After seeing footage of that guy during the green race nearly kill himself going over the falls because he was too tired and trying to get a fast time, I figured it would be prudent to catch the eddy.
After a moment of focus, I lined up and charged off the lip. I had a great line (thanks to the moment of rest) and when I landed in the pool I hammed it up, pumping my fist and yelling at the crowd. The crowd went nuts, but only because they were yelling at me that the finish was a little further downstream, a bit of information I was well aware of but I figured that since I was already having a slow race I might as well live it up.
After finishing I carried my boat up to the parking lot and drank water feverishly, breathed hard, and let Taryn shower me with compliments. I was super tired and spent the rest of the day drinking beer, eating food, and socializing. By-the-way, kayaking isn't always about the paddling.
The rest of the night consisted of party time. There was a raffle, throwing of free shwag (I got a DVD, which was horrible by the way), awards ceremony, food, beer drinking, fire burning, and general rabble rousing. Some folks brought dry wood, thank god because there was not a dry piece of timber for miles. Jon, Nick, Aly, Taryn, Hans, myself and a seemingly hundreds of others that came to and from our campsite hung out and drank, talked (about whitewater) and enjoyed each others company. An unfortunate part of having the sweet fire in you campsite is that it's where everyone wants to hang out. Luckily beer assists with sleep so all those strangers hooting and hollering outside my tent became characters in my dreams. I'm not sure Taryn even knew there were people around considering how hard she slept.
The following morning was beautiful, I woke up glad that I had drank half a liter of water before I fell asleep. The sun was shining, and the temps were mild, great day for a race. What? It's cancelled? Water too high? Bummer. Want to go paddling?
With the race cancelled we decide to go paddling anyway. As I made breakfast Hans approached me with the proposition of going rafting with him. "Sounds rad" I responded. So after a leisurely morning of drinking water, eating food, and re-starting the fire, we broke down camp and headed over to Canyon Creek. After getting lost (again) for a brief moment we found our way to the take-out. I geared up and Taryn made plans with Kim to hang out while the boyfriends were on the river. After blowing up the raft and getting all the players in place we carried Hans' green raft down to the river.
Once we were floating it was very apparent that the river was significantly higher than I'd ever seen it before. Hans and I got into a rhythm and moved through some fun class III before we came to our first rapid of consequence "Swizzle Sticks". Here the river gorges up for the first time, and picks up some gradient. Normally Swizzle Sticks is a tight steeper drop, but today with all that water, it was more of a flume that leads into the fast moving gorge below. A clean line through this leads into the infamous drop "Terminator". Terminator at this level had much of the water piling up on the left canyon wall, with a bad hole on the right and a class IV rapid 30 feet or so downstream. Hans and I scouted and watched some of the kayakers run it with a variety of lines, as well as several rafts from Oregon Rafting Team, or more affectionately known as ORT.
ORT had a variety of lines, several were clean, but several were also filthy dirty. And I mean that is the sense that they had lines that were not in their best interest. One raft got cleaned out, of the two passengers one swam the class IV and the other got out on shore above the drop and had to make a scary traverse along a high wall that was above rocks and in some places the river. Not a preferred line.
After seeing the combination of lines Hans and I decided to portage, the portage was easy, and there is no glory in swimming a rapid. Once back on the water we jammed down the river running the twin drops of "Prelude" and "Thrasher", on both rapids Hans and I had a good boof and a very clean line. It's very satisfying to lay down a big boof in a 13 foot long rubber raft.
At "Big Kahuna" Hans and I opted to portage again. Big Kahuna is a 15 foot waterfall, at this high water level it was looking ugly. Normally this drop is a gimme in a kayak, but today it was handing out a variety of carnage. ORT, with their typical grace, ran the falls, again with a variety of carnage, some scary. Hans and I shot video and set safety for the anyone wishing to give the falls a go.
Of all the drops "Champagne" and "Hammering Spot" was the scariest. These two drops are separated by a pool that is about 25-30 feet in length with swift moving water. Immediately below these two drops there is a class III+ rapid that leads into "Toby's", and it's the combination of these drops and their proximity to each other that made this combination of drops - that individually are straight forward - a scary proposition. Oh and don't for get the difficulty/impossibility of portaging.
Again Hans and I watched kayakers and rafters run the drops. All the kayakers had great lines wit no real issues, the rafts were not as pretty. The biggest problem was rafts were running the first drop and then getting pushed to the right into an eddy that made it very difficult to approach Hammering Spot with proper speed and angle.
After filming some rafting carnage, Hans and I loaded up. We lined up the first drop and plopped off of it into the pool above Hammering Spot. As we came off of champagne we twisted and upon hitting the pool below we spun counter clockwise and were facing up stream and being pushed to the left side of the drop (the bad spot). We corrected our angle paddled hard to river right, teed up on the ledge and both pulled on a big boof stroke. The boof was the saving grace, most of the other rafts plopped off the drop and ended up getting sucked back into the hole, but our run really projected us down stream and away from the ugly stuff behind us. In my opinion it was the best looking run of the day. We ran the class III+ plus rapid and then caught the eddy. Feels good to get that sort of thing behind you.
ORT took some videos and pictures, below is video of us running Champagne and Hammering Spot.
After this it was a leisurely paddle through the lake and back to our cars. After busting our asses hauling the rafts up a steep and loose gully we arrived back at the car where Taryn was waiting with a PB&J sandwich. What a sweetheart. All in all it was a really fun weekend, seeing old friends, making new ones, drinking beer, kayaking (not necessarily in that order), and enjoying the beautiful sunny Sunday weather.
Saturday, March 5th, 2011
White Salmon River, Green Truss section, 3.2 feet
Class IV-V
4.9 miles
This weekend there was a cool gathering of people, organized by my friend Hans. It was a collection of kayakers and rafters on the Green Truss section of the White Salmon river. The idea was to have as many rafters on the Truss as would show up, and we believe that it was the largest gathering of rafts on the truss ever (not for sure, but pretty sure).
In all there were 10 rafts on the river that day, and probably 50 people moving downstream as a group. Most of the rafts had two people in them, but due to an exploded floor Hans and I had to jump into some other peoples rafts to get down the river. It exploded because we launched the boats by throwing them off of the bridge that is easily 45-50 feet off the river bed. So, I ended up rafting with two others, they were both guides down in California and we had a great time on the rio. Initially I was nervous about rafting with two people I had never met before, but we quickly got on the same page and had a great run.
The idea was that we would race from the put-in to the eddy right above Big Brother, a 28 foot waterfall, and from below Big Brother to he take out we would have a leisurely trip down class IV and V whitewater.
The first several rapids were class IV in nature and fun, we got bounced around a bit but were always in control. The only rapid we were worried about on the upper stretch was Bob's Hole, a steep drop (about 6-7 feet) that has a very sticky hole at the bottom. Unfortunately we had to eddy out right above the drop to help out Fish and Franz (they needed our pump) and this set us up with a bad angle for dropping Bob's. Lucky for us we were all dialed in and had a perfect line that scooted us away from the hole.
We came into the finish line in good time, exchanged paddle high fives and got ready to watch some excitement at Big Brother. Several very talented kayakers ran BB and had great lines, a few people even ran it for the very first time. Five rafts even ran the Big One. The very first raft had the scariest line of them all. As they went over the brink one the paddlers either missed their grab or didn't try and grab onto anything and tumbled head first out of the boat into the water at the base of the falls. Both paddlers ended up getting stuck in the cave on river right for awhile with the raft on top of them. After some help from people set up near the cave they were able to get themselves out of the water and back into the boat.
I opted not to run BB but Matt and Orion wanted to fire it off. They didn't have as bad of a line but still ended up crashing and burning at the base of the falls. It was cool to watch people run it but, that is where the coolness ends, I think running it would have been nothing but pain.
Below BB is Little Brother, a 15 foot waterfall, pretty straightforward in a kayak. In a raft it's handed out many beatdowns, and Orion and Matt were on the receiving end of one of those beatdowns. Video footage HERE.
From here on down there are four more significant drops, Double Drop, Upper Zig Zag, Lower Zig Zag, and BZ falls. Double drop was really fun, in total you lose about 18-20 feet of elevation. The first drop is a green tongue that spills down into a a chaotic pool that plunges over a second drop into a significant hole. At the top of the drop you drift until the last moment, take a stroke, then hold on until it's all over. As we impacted the first drop Orion sort of landed on me, but nothing bad. We came out of the bottom hole full of water, upright, with everyone in the raft, celebration!
The next two rapids upper and lower zig zag went about as perfectly as they could have. The upper is a bunch of rowdy whitewater, lots of diagonal waves and fast moving water. As we rallied down the drop we had to throw in the occasional high side, but it all went really well. At Lower Zig Zag there is a significant ledge at the entrance, a short pool, then you need to paddle hard to the left shore and avoid the fan rock that will buck you around if you hit it. We boofed through the first hole, and cruised down along the left wall. Another stylish line.
Below this drop is fun class IV until you come to BZ falls, a very serious 15 footer with a powerful hydraulic at the base of it. All the rafts except for one portaged this drop, and the one who did run it had carnage. To portage we tied five rafts together and let them run the falls like a big happy family. Unfortunately due to some miscommunication there was no one ready to grab the group of rafts and they took off downstream unmanned. A group of people caught up to them before they got too far, but if they had gotten past top drop they would have gone all the way to Husum falls.
After we got off the water, Hans, Jeremy, and a handfull of other folks headed back to the put-in to retrieve Hans' boat from the riverbed. Hans and I clambered down and hooked the boat up to a rope and the rest of the crew hauled it back up the steep cliff face to the cars.
All-in-all it was a very memorable day on the river, lots of carnage, lots of laughs, and a bunch of new friends.
This Saturday was a beautiful day, the temperature was mild, the sun was out, and the north Fork Mineral Creek looked like it was going to be a good level. Unfortunately for Jon and I would never make it to the NF Mineral, on top of that we would never make it to the Little Nisqually either. It was a day of frustration, confusion, and above all no kayaking.
I've wanted to run the NF mineral for quite some time and the access to this run will make it very difficult to run in the near future. The creek runs through land owned by the West Fork Timber Company, and because of people using the land improperly they have put gates on all the roads leading into the land. Quite simply if people wouldn't litter and build meth production facilities on the property Jon and I would have added another Personal First Descent to our list, but because of these issues Jon and I ended up driving around for close to an hour attempting to find alternate ways to get behind the gate. We talked to several locals and they were kind enough to inform us as to why the land had been shut down to the public.
Jon and I left the local corner store feeling dejected and mad at society and corporate land owners for limiting access to land.
After a little bit of cursing we opted to try another run in the area, we thought that it would be a bit low, but worth a try considering we'd already put so much effort in coming out there. So we drove to Alder Lake and dropped a car at the boat ramp and made our way towards the put in for the Little Nisqually river. About 9 miles from our destination we ran into another gate. Needless to say Jon and I were collectively mad enough to power a profanity run generator. Initially we thought that it was closed for the same reason that the Mineral Creek gates existed but found out from some local dirt bikers that it was because of a washout that was just up the road from the gate. This made us feel a little better, but not that much better.
From here we moped back to the lake and changed out of our gear and drank a beer by the lake. It was a beautiful day and it seemed a shame to let it go to waste. Jon has recently bought a new house so I followed him back to the new property to check it out.
Jelousy doesn't really properly describe how I felt about his new place. It has a sweet shop/garage/barn, nice sized house, pond with a few acres of property, fruit trees, places for extensive gardens, and is close to Gig Harbor. I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out at the house, helping jon clear some alder trees that were threatening a levy, and watched football.
It ended up being a good weekend in the end, but I'm still a little butt-hurt about gates and closures. I'm gonna have to get a hold of the West Fork Timber company and see if we can come to an agreement.
