Summer Boating

I paddle all year round. Some of best months are October through December during the fall rainy season. Understand that "rainy season" is relative in the Pacific Northwest. It's July now and we just had a straight week of rain. But this was a warm summer rain. Believe it or not winter boating can get cold.


A snowy day on the Green River

But now it's summer! Off with the full gortex drysuit and on with the 6 year old drytop that leaks like a sieve. It's especially nice on the east side of the mountains. In a couple weeks Tumwater Canyon will be within my comfort zone and I can finally get some 90 degree boating in!

A sunny day on the Wenatchee River

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Cooper Creek - Part II

Just when you think the spring creeking season is over along comes another trip down Cooper Creek. Leif Kirchoff organized a trip last Sunday and I decided to go even though levels were marginal at best. It was a good time - a ledgy creek like the Cooper holds it's water well.



I had one little adventure. I broached and flipped in a shallow section between rapids. It was too shallow to set up and my paddle was out of position so I let go and pushed off the bottom (I know, I know. That's terrible technique, but it works). I reach for a rock to leverage myself up with when suddenly the creek gets deeper. I try a couple hand rolls (yeah, right) and spend some quality time upside down looking around for a rock outcropping to push off of. Shit, I'm going to swim and I'm not even in a rapid. Suddenly Ryan Akins rams me at warp speed for a picture-perfect bow rescue. Cheers, Ryan!

I also had a reminder of how little margin of error you have in a class IV rapid. At Wall of Voodoo I missed a final stroke intended to line me up for the final ledge. My paddle hit a rock and by the time I could recover I was somewhere I didn't want to be. Not a big deal at those flows, but it's good to keep in mind how fast things can go wrong while paddling.


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Cooper - The End of Spring

A lot of the class V runs in Washington State come down into the class IV range at low water. The Cooper River is one of them. I normally run this in late June/early July when the creeks on the west side of the mountains have dried out. 2007 has been a long, slow melt off year and it wasn't until July 1 that I made the pilgrimage out to the Cooper.

The flow was medium low, higher than I've ever run it before. This didn't make much of a difference. The ledges were pretty much the same - go right! They didn't form huge holes at this level, except for Norms Resort. The first lap went without incident. For some reason I was sloppy on lap 2. I wasn't alone - one guy in our group flipped above Norm's Resort. He rolled up just in time to drop into the hole ass backwards. After a good stay in the resort he swam, but only recirculated twice before flushing out.

This officially closes out the spring season for me. Next weekend I'm headed down to the White Salmon with some friends. This is a year-around run, and I only hit it in the summer. After a couple days getting beat to hell on the Top Tye and Cooper I'm looking forward to some class III!

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