Ohane calling

Monday March 22nd 2010

Ohanepecosh River 900 cfs

Class IV-V

4.5 Miles

Sunday night after arriving back in Olympia from the Wind River Race I received a phone call while hanging up my wet gear in the garage. It was Kris and he was itching to get on the water, I was on spring break but he was coming up on finals week and felt the pressure and was looking to blow off some steam on the water. I had been taking about getting on the Ohanepecosh (pronounced Oh-Hanee-pekosh) river, a beautiful class IV-V run located near the base of Mt. Rainier. So after some chit-chat on the phone it was settled that Kris, Jared and I would be going to the Ohane the next morning.

Feeling small on the Ohane

Monday morning I met Kris near his house in Montesano and we started rolling south; one step at a time. We had to do some back tracking and errands before we could really hit the dusty trail, and by the time we arrived at Jared house it was pushing 11:30 am, a little later than I would have liked but we were still doing well on time. At Jared's we picked up him and his bike so we could run a bike shuttle to avoid taking two cars out there for just three people.

The drive out there was beautiful, mostly sunny, about 60 degrees with the occasional sun-shower. At the put-in we suited up and clambered down to the river. As I picked up my boat I started to get the pre-trip nerves, and had to do some breathing exercises to cool myself down a bit. Once in my boat I splashed some water in my face and began to float down stream behind Kris and Jared. Both of them have been down this stretch quite a bit before so I was confident taking verbal beta from them and following their lines down the river.

Feeling REALLY small on the Ohane

Shortly after getting on the water the Ohane rears its teeth, the river notches up and drops through a narrow slot and over a 6-8 foot ledge, that pushes up against the wall at the bottom. I charged from right to left and came flying off the lip, landing in the narrow turbulent pool below. By now I had worked out the pre-trip butterflies and am feeling good, the clean line at the first big drop gave me confidence.

After some boulder gardens we came to the next big horizon line, a cascading drop that consists of three powerful holes that threaten to surf unwitting paddlers. Kris and Jared led down, as I dropped into the rapid I saw Jared flip and begin surfing in the bottom ledge. Being already committed Jared became another obstacle to miss on my way to the bottom of the rapid. I had a good line all the way down and narrowly missed Jared with the bow of my boat. Once all clear we continued moving down stream.

Easy portage

The conditions couldn't have been better, the midday sun shined through the trees and pierced the crystaline waters. Even in it's deepest spots the riverbed was still visible, the water was so clean and clear that no fish would have survived, osprey and eagles would make short order of the fish population.

After many quality rapids we came to "summer creek ledge", a class III+ rapid that leads into a 10 foot river wide ledge, in all it's a IV+ rapid. "Just make sure your on the right side of the ledge" Kris instructed. From the eddy above I watched Kris and Jared go over the horizon line next to the river-right wall, I decided that I would try and find more water nearer to the center of the ledge, and did it pay off! After coming through the lead in I set myself up moving to the spot on the ledge I liked best, paddling with speed, planted my boof stroke on the lip and pulled the trigger. As I landed my boat made the perfect "Boof" sound, it was awesome. Some times in white water you run a drop that just puts a smile on your face, and this was one of them. So satisfying, everything went as I wanted it too; lining up, seeing where to plant the stroke, spotting your landing, and then airing it out like the Sunday wash on the clothes line. As I looked up and saw my friends sitting there, they were all smiles too. I gave an obligatory fist pump in the sky and we moved on down stream.

Below this rapid was a significant portage up and around an ugly rapid called "elbow room", a narrow boxed-in rapid with a fair portion of the river going underneath a slab of rock in the middle of the river. We approached this rapid with the knowledge that we wouldn't be running it, so scouting it was more fun because it lacked the nerves that come with scouting a big drop. The hike around it was manageable but hard, steep with thick underbrush and loose rock once back at the rivers edge. Once finished I was glad to have that piece of work said and done with.

Looking down on "elbow room"

On this trip I ran the biggest vertical drop of my paddling career; "Ohane falls". Ohane is a two tiered drop, the first a sliding drop with a mean hole at the bottom followed by a 15-20 foot water fall that is split, the majority of the current going down the left side and a trickle going down the right. Here we decided to run safety as we ran it one at a time, the prospect of swimming over the falls because of the first hole was a scary thought. Kris went first and had a really good line, flying over the hole and setting up well for the falls. Jared followed and had a less clean line at the first drop, getting wheelied by the hole, but had the best line at the falls. I ran last, and had a good enough line in the first drop, ending up a little closer to the middle of the hole than I wanted, but came out fine, the falls didn't go as well though. I got spun sideways by a rock under the water and went off the second falls completely sideways, landing flat on my ass in the pool below. I look up to see Kris peering over the ledge with a concerned look on his face, I gave him the all clear sign and looked at Jared who was having a nice chuckle to himself in the river.

Second drop of "Ohane falls"

The following drop Jared and I ran the sneak line because the meat looked a little above my pay grade; three large hole that were stacked above a significantly undercut rock. Kris ran the meat while I sat on shore with a rope, he came out of the second drop in an atomic wheelie. Once he put it down we looked at each other with wide-eyed-amazement that he hadn't backendered into the hole. The sneak was a bit low, but the third drop was really fun, a sweeping airplane turn that rides up on a rock and sweeps down into the river, super fun.

Enjoying a beautiful day in the Northwest

The rest of the trip was class II and flat water, a truly awesome river to run. We made our way down to the car and relaxed in the waining afternoon sun. Daylight savings time made our late start manageable, taking off the river with daylight to spare. It didn't seem like anything could go wrong until Kris got pulled over by a state trooper on the way home, 69 in a 60. Bummer.