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....
