Warm days on Yellowjacket Creek

Saturday, May 15th 2010

Yellowjacket Creek 1660 cfs.

Class IV-V

8 miles?

After many weeks of waiting, Yellowjacket creek came into an ideal level to run for the first time, only one issue; all of the regulars "had other plans". So Friday night I was making the frantic phone calls to everyone in the phone chain, and before I got a chance to call Jared, he called me. What a relief! Jared and his friend Jerry, who is from Seattle were going to meet me in Morton and were excited to run a cool section of whitewater.

We were going to run a uncommonly run section of Yellowjacket creek by putting on upstream of the typical put-in. The upper section includes more class III and IV rapids, and a class V waterfall, adding an additional 3+ miles to an already quality section of whitewater.

We park our car at the bridge that crosses Yellowjacket on FR 28 rd and loaded up to head to the goods. Once ready we drove 7+ miles before we reached an obvious triple fork in the road and decided that we had likely found the alternate put-in. We were able to park just seconds from the river, which is much better than the traditional put-in which utilizes a class V hike down a steep hill over loose gravel that takes the better part of an hour, but all we had to do was jaunt down to the river.

The put-in had a monster old growth tree laying in the river and the remnants of a bridge that had washed out years ago. I took a long time stretching because I had spent the better part of Friday weed-wacking and was more sore than I cared to be. And thankfully I did. The description I had read stated that there was only class III rapids above the waterfall, but the rapid directly below the put-in was definitely a class IV. The put-in rapid was a boulder garden with a line that zig-zagged down the middle.

Below the put-in drop was read-and-run class III shoals and ledges, and woody rapids. From the put-in to the traditional put-in there was a fair amount of annoying wood. None of it was very dangerous, and much of it we could paddle through or around, but there was also a bit that needed to be portaged at river level. All easy portages, but were obscuring the exit of several class III drops with no eddy mid rapid to catch so we would be forced to portage the whole drop.

After a bit of this we came to our next big rapid, which had some wood in it. But this rapid was also above a significant horizon line, with a narrow line in it. If this rapid didn't have wood in it it would still be a serious rapid because it was in very close proximity to an unrunnable drop. We portaged around the entrance drop and the log-choked-falls. The falls required downclimbing to a small eddy, and lowering the boats down the cliff. The rapid below was cool because there was wood spiderwebbing overhead that we paddled under before making a move to the right to boof a ledge at the bottom, really fun.

Entrance rapid to unrunnable Log Choked falls

Spider webbing logs in run-out

Pondering the improbable Photo by Jerry Palushock

After this we encountered a class IV+ maybe V rapid that had a ugly looking entrance drop that had a slide into confused water that eventually pushed you far left against the wall before you had to paddle hard to the right through a boulder garden to the bottom of the drop. When I looked at the drop it made me uneasy, but when I saw Jared run clean I figured it must be good to go. I ran second followed by Jerry, all of us had clean lines.

After a few more wood dodges we came to the waterfall that we all came down here for, which for now I will call Upper Yellowjacket falls. Initially Jared scouted from the left because that was the side we eddied out on and it ended up being a nuisance. Jared tried giving me verbal beta, but it wasn't matching up with a picture of the falls I had seen, so I walked back to my boat and paddled across the river to scout from the river right side. This ended up working out for the best for us because I was able to take some shots of Jerry and Jared running the falls, and then Jerry was able to take some shots of me from below. Which I was excited about because I rarely have any pictures of me. Jared ran first and had a clean line and so did Jerry.

Jared in entrance rapid to falls

This drop wasn't even the hardest rapid we had ran yet today, but it was definitely the most consequential, and the tallest I have likely ever run, from pool to pool I would guess 20 feet. The entrance rapid was pretty significant, and the current coming out of the entrance rapid was all pushing to the right side of the drop which is a 15 foot fall onto bedrock. I gave them the signal that I was going to run, and then it started. My heart began to pound, and I got butterflies in my throat, and I needed to take deep breaths every so often. It's weird running big drops, I always feel like a spring in a watch that someone keeps winding and winding, and then you get in your boat and put your skirt is on, and everything changes. I splash some water in my face and make the decision that the time is now and the heart stops pounding, my breath becomes normal and you start paddling. Make the first move into the eddy, start paddling out the back of the eddy with a right angle, one, two, three strokes, boof stroke, and BOOF, landing flat in the water, and that spring that was formerly wound so tight just broke and now you yell. It always amazes me how the body reacts to stress like that, the anticipation is the worst, and then when it's time to face the challenge something in the reptilian brain kicks in and there is only focus, no thought, just reaction to your paddling instincts.

The fun big waterfall. Photo by JerryPalushock

BOOF!

Flyin'

All of us were ecstatic, I spent a few minutes paddling around below the falls just checking it out, so fun, and in reality not the hardest thing I've done, funny how the brain plays tricks on you.

Below the falls was our next portage, this time due to a 30 foot waterfall that landed on a bedrock shelf that protruded from the left shore. Again we scouted even though we knew we were not running it, it just feels cool to stand on the edge of something that big. We opted not to jump into the pool, but if I run this again, I definitely would jump rather than walk around the drop. The portage wasn't difficult, just hot and steep, I must have sweat an ounce of water during the whole thing. We decided that we would carry our boats to a bluff then I would climb down and the others would lower them to me. Easier said than done. The boats would get stuck half way down, and then with some slack out would come loose and come rocketing out of the woods like some sort of plastic missile, heading straight for me before catching the end of the rope and slamming against the wall. Each boat had it's own particular way that it came flying out of the woods, only announced by the breaking of branches on it's way down.

By the time everyone got back to river level I had scouted the next drop and was ready to go, all the sweat was cooling me down and I didn't want to get cold. So I paddled around in the pool while Jared and Jerry cooled off from their hike, and then I ran the slide while Jerry took photos. It was a fun slide very fast and straightforward. I caught the eddy and took pictures of the other two coming through and gave directions for the next part of the rapid.

Standing on the edge

Below the big one

Fun slide below big unrunnable drop. Photo Jerry Palushock

Now that we were below this rapid we had started on what is the traditional put-in. The first rapid was covered in wood and Jerry and I portaged down the right, and Jared portaged down river center on the log, he had to get a bit creative but he made it work. The rest of the river was class III and IV read-and-run. Really fun drops, and nothing scary. Lots of continuous boulder gardens and ledges and other fun features. We were able to make good time on this part because all of the wood had gotten hung up in the first drop. We meandered through several vertical walled gorges, and took in the scenery in the afternoon light. Eventually the river opened up as it came close to the confluence with the Cispus river.

By the time we reached the take out I was exhausted and reminded to bring a snack on the river with me. This section of whitewater was the super fun and I would definitely run it again. This was also the first day I had paddled in sunny warm weather on the west side of the cascades, a nice change from the regular season. All in all it was a super fun day, it took be all of Sunday to recover, but it was still super fun.

Bushwacking on the Duckabush

Saturday May 8th 2010.

Taryn and I spent this Saturday hiking to, along, above, and in the Duckabush river. The Duck is located about an hour north of Olympia, and flows from the Olympic National Park into Hood canal. The river itself is relatively small in volume and had a blue/green tint to it.

Ranger Hole Trail

The weather was beautiful, it was the first real nice weekend of the spring, and because of this everyone was out and about. The fishermen had their boats buzzing up and down the canal, divers were donning their gear in pullouts along the road, and every family with 2.67 kids was dotting highway 101 from Skokomish to Hoodsport. It was the first day that I felt compelled to take off my sweatshirt, I even broke a significant sweat.

We left Oly around 9:30 am and made it to the trailhead around 10:30-11:00. I was concerned that the trail would be crowded because it is short in length and easily accessible. But to my relief most people only went as far as Hoodsport, easily distracted by the roadside attractions.

My main motivation for going to the Duck was because there is a gorge that is described in the guide book, but the only information is that it exists and that access to it is difficult because it is waaaaay down in a steep gorge. So I was compelled to take a weekend away from boating and scamper around in the woods and see what sort of river ran through the heart of the gorge.

Taryn and I hiked down the easy and short trail to where it meets the river. The trail ends on a bluff that looks over a ledge called "ranger hole" (because of the ranger cabin at the trailhead), and a pool that was the best color of blue/green. Here we sat on the bluff in the sun for a bit and enjoyed the sound of the river. Soon the sun began to overheat me so I began scrambling over the shore and other bluffs so I could get a good look at the rapid above "ranger hole".

Pool below "ranger hole"

The upper rapid was a fun looking class IV rapid that lead into "ranger hole", a boulder garden with two ledges that ran down the river left side, with a bit more water they looked like they would be fun. After seeing this I got excited and wanted to see what was further up stream, so Taryn and I bushwacked around and over a bluff that could not be climbed at river level. Above the fun rapid was a disappointment, flat water stretched for about 150 yards before a bend in the river obscured my view.

Rapid above "ranger hole"

So we took a few minutes to soak our feet in the freeezing water before 'shwacking back to our bags at the trail. Once back at the trail we started back up in search of several small trails that led to the river. The use of the term trail is misleading, because they were more like animal paths, but enough to notice and follow until they branched off in multiple directions. The first trail led us up onto a flat ridge and then down a steep hillside to the canyon rim.

We came down on top of a canyon wall that was 60 to 80 feet above the river. It was too sketchy to look over the edge but I could see up-stream well and a boulder garden that was fairly long and continuous, about 100 yards long before it went out of sight. What I was able to see looked quality and it motivated me to find more spots to access the river.

View through the trees from high on canyon rim

We hiked back to the trail and Taryn noticed a second trail just slightly further up the trail from where we exited the woods. This second one was littered with remnants from the logging that had gone on in these parts years ago. But this trail was a jack-pot. We were able to get right down to river level above where I had lost sight of the river from the bluff. By now rain had come and we weren't ready for it, so I was trying to be efficient with my time. I scrambled down a loose bank and was able to climb onto some boulders on river left and look up and downstream.

River level looking downstream. The second ledge had a serious hole.

river level looking upstream

The water level was a little low, but a lot more water would make this gorge a class V stretch. Everything I saw looked runnable at this level and class IV, with eddies and ledges, anything that couldn't be scouted from shore looked like would be boat scoutable. I tried to get upstream further but was blocked by another bluff, and the rain was on its way down so we headed back to the car. There was one bluff I climbed up on on the way out and was able to see what I believed to be the entrance to the gorge. According to beta on the American Whitewater page there is a boulder that blocks this entrance and make it an unrunnable drop. There was defiantly a significant loss of elevation in this spot but I was not able to visually confirm the boulder blocking the river. A bluff stuck out into my line of sight so all I could see was the shore and what I think is the lead-in to the canyon.

What I believe is the entrance to the canyon and where the boulder obstruction is

I'd like to go back in and scout the lead-in and the spot downstream of where I initially was able to see the gorge. The canyon is short but it looks quality. If I paddled it I'd run it at lower flows to determine what the drops were like. the guage said on this day that the river was at 1.65 ft. and recommended flows for the rapids above and below the gorge is 2.00 ft. That much water in the gorge would be big so it's hard to say what it would look like.

There is also a trail that I believe is the "portage trail", it is the most obvious of all the trails and has a sign that says "no hunting no trespassing" and a log and sticks placed there to block the path. This is likely the best way to see the boulder obstruction.

We ran out of time and weren't able to go down this last trail but instead went back to the car and ate our sandwiches. On the drive home we stopped at a park and Taryns car battery died and I asked a nice trio of three who were barbecuing in the sun and increasing wind. They were nice and helped us no problems. Were didn't want to ask the young mom in the car next to us who was yelling at her kids, and talking about her "baby daddy" (her words not mine) loudly with her friend.

The mission got me excited about going back and taking a look at what is down in all the places I wasn't able to see. But that will have to wait until next time.

Map