Another new run in with new friends, Jason
and Daniel. We put on at 2pm Friday. The run was very short. It seemed like we
were at the first of the two more difficult rapids in just a few minutes. Since
the bottom could not be seen from the top we took a look to verify the best
line and no wood obstructions. The first we entered middle left and ran left
through the bottom two drops. Fairly straightforward Class 3+. The right side
looked to have some pin potential so we chose to avoid it at this level.
The next required a look as well. Nice entry
on the river right followed by paddling river left of the center boulder. Then
the object would be to angle the boat to the right and drop into the hole
sideways to avoid slamming into the wall. Then it will naturally surf you out
the bottom with a little assistance. All went well except I didn't get the bow
back to the right before hitting the wall head on...this was followed by
surfing the hole out the bottom upright. I didn't set a very good example but Jason
and Daniel both nailed it. Both these rapids looked like more lines would open
up and the difficulty may decrease with additional water...
The last good rapid was a 2 or 3 foot drop
with two slots to choose from. The right one is cleaner. After the drop is a
little slide followed by about 10 feet of boogie water culminating in a nice
easy slide. I ran the left slot and got caught on a rock that turned/flipped my
boat upstream to the hole sideways on my offside. I couldn't/didn't get in the
set-up position to roll so I bailed. Unfortunately my left leg got stuck in the
boat so I got dragged down to the short boogie water stretch with one leg stuck
in the boat. In hindsight maybe I could have switched hands and tried an
offside roll... I finally got the leg out when I hit the boogie water and let
the boat run the slide sans boater. Some fast boulder jumps and a short swim
later I got the boat and took it back up for another run. You just can't let
boats get away with that sort of behavior. :). The rest of the run was a long
tree slalom trying to follow the best flow.
We then went to Camp
Winnataska for a nice falls run. This is usually not possible due to the Ranger
who lives next to it (he was on a cruise). It's also good to know someone with
a key to the gate! This is a nice 30+ foot slide ending with some offset holes
on the bottom left. At 1400 the best route was RR down the tongue then up on
the rooster tail at which point the water shoots you left over an 8 or 10 foot
drop landing in some nice soft holes sideways. All had good runs; a truly fun
drop. It reminded me of the big slide on Johnnies but shorter.