Celestial Falls: another classic PNW park n'huck

committing myself

Photo by Scott Baker

Fall here in the Columbia river gorge was better than I had imagined.  I guess I expected that I would miss all of the colors of fall, but the Pacific Northwest didn't fail me.  The many orchards in the area were a variety of brilliant colors and to keep me occupied my staple run, the Truss, was in at a low, but good flow.

Big Brother in the Fall

photo by Scott Baker

Although I do love the Truss, I was itching to get out and run something else.  Unfortunately not much else was in, but we got a little bit of rain and the White river in Oregon came up a bit.  There isn't an epic whitewater stretch of the White river, but what it does have is a nice park n'huck 40ish footer, Celestial Falls.

Lance Reif

photo by Scott Baker

Celestial Falls is a state park, and it is technically illegal to run the falls, so just don't get caught!  So early Halloween morning myself, Scott Baker, and Dan Laham headed out of Hood River and towards this classic park n'huck.  

Scott Baker looking like he is about to boof it

photo by Lance Reif

fading it down

photo by Lance Reif

We knew the park ranger was there, luckily Scott and Dan scouted out other put in options the day before.  So we put in at an alternate spot and paddled downstream towards the falls.  There are two falls, the top one is about 80 feet or so and lands on rocks.  So we portaged the top drop, seal launched in above the 40 footer and each gave her a go.  

Dan Laham

photo by Lance Reif

Dan went first and had is paddle knocked out of his hands at the bottom and was able to hand roll up.  Scott fired it up next with a similar line.  I went last, tried to melt it but my stern got kicked and I ended up with a not so perfect line, but no harm no foul.

Now the rains have come!  The Gorge is full of things to do, but unfortunately I am out with a bad back for a few weeks.  So I am working on getting better so I can get back out on the water.

Until then......

Cispus river: Scary moments on The Upper Upper

Looking back upstream at the 1st rapid

photo by Lance Reif

The Upper Upper Cispus is a great run that is in late season.  Of Coarse when you live in the Hood you run the classic Little White and Truss all spring and into the summer, but when the flows get low head up through Trout Lake to 23 and in a little over an hour you are at the take out for this great run.  These photos and trip report are from several weeks ago, but I currently have TONS of free time, so here it is.

 1st rapid, Lance Reif

Unfortunately for me most of my paddling buddies had already been on this run, but I was going to get my chance.  So myself, Trevor Sheehan, and WV Garrett loaded up in Trevor's truck, through a bike in the back for shuttle and off we went.  With shuttle set we put on the river to see what the Upper Upper Cispus was all about, and it was going to be a personal first decent for all of us!

Behemoth and the rapid after

It might look small here, but Behemoth is about 30 feet tall

After about 100 yards or less of class II and you get the the 1st rapid.  It is a sloping/cascading 15ish foot drop.  It looked like it would be hard to style it, but it dropped into a small pool that had some wood issues for the exit.  Luckily a week or so prior to us getting in here, our buddy Drew Austell climbed out on one tree and cut off some branches to make the exit runnable, but by runnable, you have to duck hard while in the exit rapid.  So I decided to go first, had an alright line, but plugged in and resisted the stern squirt.  I quickly paddled over to river right where I got out to take photos of Garrett while Trevor remained holding a rope.

Garrett in the 1st drop

photo by Lance Reif

Garrett dropped in, plugged like me, but had this epic looking blast out of the water.  He then missed a few rolls while Trevor and I looked on as he floated upside down towards the rock garden with trees.  He ended up swimming around the corner from my view and while I was trying to get back in my boat Trevor let me know that he had gotten into an eddy.  Turns out Garrett dislocated his shoulder in the drop and that was why he was not able to roll.  

So we hiked him out of there  and back to the car, which luckily for us was really close.  Trevor and I decided to continue on and look for the lost kayak and Garrett would drive to the take out and meet us there, or atleast that is how we thought it would go...

Garrett launching out of the water upside down at the 1st rapid

photo by Lance Reif

Well the next few miles are supposed to contain various low volume rapids and lots of tree dodging.  Just around the corner form the 1st rapid was a nice sized log jam, and in it, floating upright, was the boat that Garrett had swam out of.  So I climbed around on the tree pile and was able to hook a rope to the boat and throw it to Trevor whom pulled the boat out.  We hiked up upstream a bit to the same spot we hike Garrett out at and decided we would come back for it once we finished out run. 

After some small rapids and tree dodging, we came up to a small rapid that had a tree in it.  It looked good to go but I had remembered my buddy Curt telling me about a tree that he just barely made it out, and I pulled into the eddy for a second look.  The eddy was small and as Trevor approached the eddy he looked and decided to go.  I watched him enter the rapid and was about to pull out of the eddy and follow when I saw him get rejected by the tree, roll, and then suck under it. 

I quickly headed to shore, looked back downstream to see his arm in the air moving, his bow pointing upstream from under the tree, and his head was underwater.  A lot of things started flying through my mind.  I tried throwing him a rope, which he was only a few feet from the bank, but that didn't work.  I tried hooking my rope to his bow and pulling, but i didn't give.  So while I was grabbing gear out of my boat to try something else I could see his hand signaling me.  So I ran back to him and in a last effort jumped on the tree he was pinned under and tried pulling him up to breath.  My body made an air pocket big enough for him and I to talk and I asked him what he wanted me to do.  In the end I was able to provide him with a big enough pocket of air that he could breath and rest in between going underwater and pulling himself out of his own boat.

When he got himself out he was no longer wearing his skirt.  Turns out it was pinned between the cockpit rim and tree even though I pulled it for him.  We were able to get the boat un-pinned and as I was putting the break down together realized my paddle was no longer by my boat.  somewhere in the craziness my paddle floated down stream.

Within a few minutes of hiking out river right we came to a road.  We followed the road downstream and found some friendly campers who offered us a ride back to our truck.  I did get back on the Cispus several more times this season, even found both of the lost paddles.

By far this was the scariest moment I have had on the river.  Guess it was just one of the days, maybe we weren't supposed to be on the river that day.  I did learn alot that day though.  I am glad I have the training that I do for situations like that.  If your going to boat class V make sure you have proper training, so be responsible, take a class if you need to.  It will help!

Ecuador Video

This is an older video from a few winters ago when I got to travel to Ecuador.  I just figured I would post it up here so people can check it out.  Cheers!

Ecuador: A Glimpse of Its Waters from Lance Reif on Vimeo.

Mexico Video

Finally, after nearly a year of being too lazy to take the time and put this together I have finished!  So here it is, a video from my Mexico trip last December....enjoy!

Mexico 2008: Veracruz & San Luis Potosi from Lance Reif on Vimeo.

Who needs a backyard run when you got one out the front door?

On line at the lip of Big Brother

photo by Curt Joyce

So some town boast about having great backyard runs.  Asheville, NC has the Green.  Boise, ID has the North Fork of the Payette.  Crested Butte, CO has Oh Be Joyful.  I can't say I have been on all of the backyard runs, but I am fortunate enough to have the Little White as a backyard run, and to be correct, the Green Truss is my front yard run. 

Falling at Big Brother

photo by Curt Joyce

I have to admit that it is pretty sweet to have 2 world  class runs in my area.  Both the Little White and the Truss have easy access for put-ins and take-outs, and both of them run for the majority of the year.  The Little White is a little far, but I usually put up with the 15 minute drive to be able to paddle such quality whitewater.  The Truss on the other hand is about a 5 minute drive to the put in and I take out at my house (tent to be exact).

Curt Joyce at Big Brother

photo by the author

So here are some photos from this season on the Truss.  Unfortunately I still have no photos from the Little White, but enjoy these.

Curt Joyce at the 2nd ledge of Bob's Falls

photo by the author

upright and on line at the bottom of Double Drop

photo by Curt Joyce

Drew Austell getting the salmon launch at Double Drop

photo by the author

Tyler "fast-lane" Houck at double drop

photo by Curt Joyce

Drew Austell dropping into Lower Zig Zag

photo by Curt Joyce

Drew Austell at Lower Zig Zag

photo by the author

Stay tuned for the next post...a lot has happened recently.........

Eagle Creek, round 2

Waiting to take my stroke

Skoonichuk falls, Eagle Creek OR

photo by Nicki lynch

So I know that I already posted some photos from Punchbowl falls on Eagle Creek, but a group of us headed back up there to check out some of the other drops.  The group this time included: Heather Herbeck, Tyler Houck, Curt Joyce, Ryan Copenhagen, and myself. 

Skoonichuk falls from below

photo by Curt Joyce

This time up Eagle Creek the group stopped off and hiked to the lip of Metlako falls to check out the 85 foot beast.  We scouted the lip and entrance for awhile and decided to keep on hiking past Punchbowl and up to Skoonichuk falls.

  

Curt Joyce below Skoonichuk falls

The group scouted out Skoonichuk for awhile before sitting down to rest after the 4 mile hike. The drop looked to be about 35-40 feet with a small pool then off another 10-15 feet.  We talked about the drop for a bit before returning back to check it out again.  After several more minutes of scouting we again stepped back to talk about it.  By this point our friend Nicki and her dog had caught up with us, and people were making their decision on whether or not they were going to give 'er a go.

Tyler Houck tucking up for the plug off Punchbowl

After scouting the drop and walking away to think about it several times I decided to gear up.  Ryan and Curt hiked their boats down to the pool below to set up safety while Tyler held rope from the top.  Nicki and Heather grabbed the cameras and when they gave me the signal I dropped in.

Ryan Copenhagen firing up Punchbowl

It felt like a long time to wait to take a stroke, but I hit it right when I wanted to and resurfaced upright and headed towards the second part of the drop.  I was so stoked to nail the big part that I kinda forgot about the second drop and managed to kinda fall off it and roll up in the pool below.

Tyler Houck boofing into the high bridge canyon

I was stoked to nail my line off Skoonichuk, I had looked at this falls last year and it had been on my mind for a while now.  The rest of the group put in below and we headed on downstream.  There are several cool rapids after Skoonichuk and then the high bridge gorge.  This is one of the most amazing places of the run.  The water in the gorge is flat and there are these huge trees all in one stack stuck in about a 10 foot wide 200 foot tall basalt gorge.

Curt Joyce about to tuck up off Punchbowl

After the gorge there are several other rapids, 2 tree portages, and then you arrive to Punchbowl falls.  We scouted it for about 2 minutes before Ryan decided he had seen enough.  Up to this point the biggest falls Ryan had been off of was about 18 feet, and Punchbowl is easily 30+ feet.  So, I ran up with him and we got in our boats.  I had been off of the drop twice earlier in the season so I offered to go first.  I didn't hit my plug like I had hoped, but I did have a soft landing so it went well.  Ryan then followed, threw his paddle and tucked up.  He kinda twisted off of it, but managed to re-submerge upright and celebrating. 

The crew in high bridge gorge

Tyler fired off next with the textbook tuck and plug.  Heather also had a sick line off of it.  I guess she wasn't going fast enough because she paddled the whole way down and tucked up just in time.  Curt was the last in the group to fire off.  He got the highest up on the boil and tucked up nice for the deep plug.

Heather Herbeck making it look easy

At the beginning of this trip I kinda told myself I would consider running Metlako if I hit all my lines, but I didn't stick Punchbowl like I wanted to so I decided to pass on the big one.  I guess I will just have to return to Eagle Creek next year....

Owyhee River, OR

This Spring I got a chance to take a trip down the poor man's Grand Canyon, otherwise known as the Owyhee.  I, along with 2 other guides from Wet Planet Whitewater took the alternative high school from Hood River down this scenic stretch of river for 4 days.  The first day was by far the worst wind  I have ever experienced on a river trip, but the trip overall was great.  This high school kids were awesome, they cooked all of the meals and helped out around camp.  We did manage to wrap a gear raft early on day 3, but luckily we didn't loose all of our food.  So here are just a few photos to check out and I promise I have more  updates on the way!

PNW classic: Punchbowl Falls

Tucking up to go deep on my 2nd run

photo by Susan Hollingsworth

photo editing by Nick Franchi

Punchbowl falls on Eagle Creek in Oregon has to be one of the most photogenic waterfalls in the world.  I hiked the trail beside the creek last year to check out all the falls and haven't been able to get it out of my mind since.  There are 2 more big drops on this creek that will have to be run at a later date, but for now 2 laps of punchbowl with a bunch of people was pretty fun.

Jesse Shimrock approaching the lip while WCKA students watch from above

The World Class Kayak Academy (WCKA) had been in the gorge for a few weeks taking classes and firing up the goods in the area, when I got word that they would be hiking up to punchbowl.  This sounded like a great opportunity to hike in to the drop since I would get to watch several people go off the falls instead of just a few.  Normally the park n' huck style of boating is not my first pick, but sometimes your just in the mood to hang out with a bunch of people and huck off a sweet waterfall.

My first time off this thing

photo by Susan Hollingsworth

So Drew Austell (aka Drewguy), Susan Hollingsworth (WCKA teacher), and I loaded gear into good 'ol Linda and drove on out to eagle creek to join the show.  Unfortunately for Susan, she was nursing an injury so she was just along for the ride and to take some photos.  

 Eric Parker sticking his line

Head coach and teacher, Jesse Shimrock was the first to run the falls this day.  Jesse made it look pretty easy in his new baby blue Biscuit, but ended up taking a hard hit on the nose.  Next up were a few of the WCKA students.  Each of them had different lines, but all fared well in the end.

Drew Austell boofing the $#it out of it

photo by Susan Hollingsworth

After taking some photos and watching several of the WCKA students go off the falls I Drew and I decided it was our turn.  I felt really good coming off the lip and tucked up at the end but slightly over-pitched and took a small hit.  Drew then followed and decided plugging was not his thing, so he fired off a huge boof and stomped it down at the end.

Drew Austell trying the plug on round 2

photo by Susan Hollingsworth

The WCKA only hiked up a few boats for the 13 students so Drew and I both offered up our boats to some of the students and again watched and took photos.  Both of the students in our boats stuck their lines, which was pretty sweet since neither of them had paddled those boats before.

Nate Garcia proving that he might be the youngest brother, but he can still fire it up

Once we got our boats back, Drew and I hiked up to run it again.  Drew went first this time and decided to try the plug, which he stuck.  My 2nd line went really well.  I took a slight stroke at the lip this time hoping I wouldn't over-pitch, and it worked!  I plugged in pretty deep and shot back out stern first and upright.  

In the end it was a great day.  We got to watch about 16 people go off Punchbowl, and some ran it more than once.  There were many different lines, some landed on their heads, some on their sides, 2 paddles were broken, and no major injuries.  Watch out kayaking world, some of these WCKA students might be young, but they are solid.

Winter in California

Lake Tahoe

After a great trip to Mexico I headed north to Lake Tahoe for a few months.  Being that the economy is down and all, the ski/tourism industry is really hurting.  Thus I was only about to find work for a few weeks.   So what do you do in Tahoe with no job?.......Well yes, you do ski in tahoe with no job, but you also kayak. 

 S. Fork Yuba 

After some great skiing with lots of snow, I met up with Josh Hill for some California kayaking.  I was able to get a few runs on Shirttail creek (a tributary of the American River).  Shirttail is east coast style paddling.  Its steep, low volume, and full of scary looking rocks...but being for the east I thought it was great.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera that day, so I don't have any photos to share.

Upper Middle Consumnes, CA

The next river in California I checked out was the Yuba.  I was able to get on both the Purdons to 49 and the 49 to Bridgeport sections of the Yuba.  The two are pretty different in characteristics, but both are of high quality. 

S. Fork of the Yuba, CA

Purdons to 49 in my mind is the harder of the two.  It seems to have longer, more complex rapids with higher consequences for a missed line.  But that in my mind is what made this section better than the 49 to Bridgeport, it is just more demanding.

Upper Middle Consumnes, CA

The 49 to Bridgeport section may not have been my first pick, but it is an amazing stretch of river.  Beautiful scenery, cool bed rock, and a great variety of rapids.  It started off with similar characteristics to the Purdons section, but after the portage rapid it changed in characteristics and became more of a river than a creek.

 Upper Middle Consumnes, CA

Next on the list was the Upper Middle Consumnes.  The hike to the put took about 45 minutes and gave me some poison oak, or atleast I found out a few days later that it did.  But the oak was worth it to get on this run.  There were a few portages to be had, but it had some amazing rapids and was one beautiful canyon.

Josh Hill on the Upper Middle Consumnes

Well, like always, my time in California has come and gone.  After a stop in Eugene Oregon to get my Wilderness First Responder, I am now back in the Pacific Northwest working again for Wet Planet as a kayak instructor and raft guide.  Stay tuned for updates from the PNW as well as the Mexico video.  Until then, enjoy a parting shot of the night skies in the Northwest.