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.
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