The Whole Kit and Kaboodle

Saturday, January 16th 2010
Upper, Middle, and Lower Matheny River 15,800cfs On the Queets river guage

Class IV+

13.2 Miles

This Saturday the guys and I were able to run a section of river that has been on the Hit List since the first day of the winter season. The upper section of Matheny Creek, a class IV+ section of whitewater that consists of bedrock ledges and rapids. We have paddled the Middle and Lower sections of river already this season and were anxious to paddle the upper so we could have a complete run of all the navigable sections of Matheny.

To access the river we would have to paddle a steep, narrow, continuous, and wood choked tributary that I believe is called Hook Branch Creek. After a quick scramble down to water level

we scouted the first bend and began our way

downstream. I peeled out first and began to bump, scrape, and push my way down the low flow creek until I could find the next eddy and wait for the rest of the group. We all took turns leading and scouting our way down the creek, I portaged once on this section due to a tree that because of my height would have given me a nasty case of missing teeth, but the rest of the group was able to duck there way underneath. After more boogie-water and boat scraping we arrived at another wood obstruction. A 15 foot tall logjam that obscured the left side of the river, with a narrow slot around it all. The line was kinda sketchy; paddling from left to right in front of the jam, then taking a 90 degree left turn around a lincoln log sticking out of the side, then staying right away from the mess. Initially I was planning on walking the rapid but Brian informed me that the portage was likely just as dangerous. So I took a deep breath, and made the move, it all went fine and we had clean lines.

After this jam we came to the confluence with Matheny proper. We had several hundred yards of flatwater before we came to our first rapid, a class IV ledge with a significant hole at the bottom. Arron scouted the drop and pointed us toward the left hand side of the drop, "with speed, and Boof". I went first and had a solid line, Brian, Chris and Arron followed and also had clean lines. Further down stream we arrived at another class IV ledge called "log boof". The ledge is created by two large trees that have blocked the channel and created a uniform ledge. We all charged it and came out clean.

Beyond this rapid we had about a mile an a half of flatwater through a pristine and picturesque gorge, sheer walls surrounded us on either side covered with moss, ferns and large trees that are destined to end up in the river. After the flatwater things started to get steeper, this is also where I have trouble remembering the chronology of events.

We approached a rapid that was created by large logs that had fallen in the river, a root-wad, and other detritus that had become clogged in the tangle of wood. Brian scouted and pointed to the middle slot, Chris and Arron had clean lines because they had caught a high eddy and were able to come into the drop with speed, but Brian and I had caught a low eddy and entered slowly. Both of us had the same thing happen, we were slowed up on the root wad and wanted to pin but somehow slid off of it.

The last big drop of the day was a 8-9 foot ledge that was split into two channels, the right had 5/6th of the water going over it and the left had the remainder. Arron and Chris were on the ledge and pointed for Brian and I to run the left slot. "Hit the middle of the roostertail" Chris instructed. Meanwhile I was sitting in a squirrelly eddy jockeying for position while trying to look at the drop. Once I got my bearings I peeled out and lined up for the slot. As I made my move to

the lip, I hit a small hole that slowed me down and surfed me to the right slightly, at the same time the eddy line grabbed at my right stern rail and attempted to flip me. I braced hard, righted myself, and was pushed into the rock outcropping that created the two channels. I pushed off with my elbow and lined up for the slot, slid over, plugged the hole at the bottom and did a nuclear tail stand out of the hole (Tailstand: bow pointing in the air, stern pointing toward the briny deep), braced and kept it smiling side up. I looked back at Chris who's eyes were as big as mine.

Brian went next followed by Arron, Chris came last and plugged the hole and caught a surf at the bottom for a few moments until he was able to find some green water and paddle out. From here on the rapids changed in characteristic, they became more like rapids than ledges. We paddled and scouted our way down the river, surfing the occasional wave and taking in this beautiful spot that we had all to ourselves. Our own personal playground in the middle of the Olympic Peninsula.

Once we passed under the first bridge we entered the middle section of the Matheny, mostly class II and III rapids. This section also had the only mandatory portage of the day which is a miracle in itself for the OP. We paddled hard to make mileage and ensure that we would have enough light to complete the lower section.

At the bridge above the lower we stopped to ensure we all felt good to do the remainder of the river. It's only a 2.5 mi. section but it also has the biggest rapids with the most volume. During the upper section of the trip there was a small tributary spilling into the creek around every corner, at some points there were creeks flowing in from both sides.

For the past several days I had been coming down with a throat sickness of sorts, but it hadn't been affecting my paddling. But by now we had already covered a solid 11 miles and I was starting to feel it, but I felt good enough to keep going. We dropped into the lower and made it through the first of the two gorges without any trouble. As we entered bowling ball I was in the back of the group and trying to catch up. Bowling ball is full of reactionary waves that hit the walls and create these diagonal walls of water that push toward the center of the river. I entered and was doing fine, but at the bottom third of the rapid I was slapped by one of the large reactionaries, I braced, but to no avail. I set up for my roll felt my boat go into a hole and was peeled back, set up again and rolled. I rolled up panting and off line, as I attempted to get back where I wanted to be I lazily dropped into a hole and the next thing I new I was side surfing. "Not now, I'm too tired for this" I thought to myself. I leaned hard on my downstream paddle and began to get my bearings and attempt to find a way out of this inconvenience. After some wrangling I managed to get my bow in some greenwater that pulled my bow downstream and away from the hole that was trying to swim me.

From here we were almost done, all that was left was paddling past the wall of death (a 40 foot tall crumbling sedimentary wall with trees and bushes threatening to fall into our laps). At the take out Arron's girlfriend was waiting with the car. We undressed, loaded up the boats, and drank a beer to a good day on the water. Chris couldn't stop talking about how we only had one mandatory portage. We all joked and talked incessantly about the river and what had unfolded during the day. I felt bad for Arron's girlfriend for having to listen to us.