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dinsdalw
Viener Schnitzel
Joined: 06 Jun 2011
Location: United States
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Posts: 15
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   Topic: clear fork cowlitz update
Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 6:53pm |
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my brother and i paddled the clear fork twice in the last two days and found it pretty clean and very much worth paddling. the cowlitz gauge was reading about 3000 cfs and we found this to be a very nice medium flow. i'd paddle it with more water but it is well padded right now. we portaged 4 times - around the first drop of entrance exam b/c of wood; at an obvious riverwide logjam; just after a mini-gorge rapid and a right bend in the river where some wood is just above the surface midway down; and at the landslide, which is clogged with wood. there was a marginal limbo log and some barely submerged pieces of wood that may require portaging at a lower flow. our first trip down took about 4 hours. second trip took about 2 hours. i found the hike-in to below entrance exam to be just as difficult as the portage around the top drop and it deprives you of paddling the double series just below.
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Ellingferd
McNasty
Joined: 21 Jun 2005
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Posts: 418
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Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 9:27pm |
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What!!!!!!!! Wow, that is awesome. Ill have to be getting out there soon then.
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SOPBOATER
McNasty
Joined: 29 Nov 2009
Location: United States
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Posts: 296
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Posted: 07 Jul 2012 at 1:02am |
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Sounds super promising. I mean thE clear fork is back. That is a very good thing.
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tiziak
Forum Moderator
Joined: 31 Aug 2008
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Posted: 07 Jul 2012 at 7:58am |
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How do you think 3500 would be? still good to go?
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If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.
Daniel Patrinellis
360.434.4616
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fiddleyak
McNasty
Joined: 26 Oct 2007
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Posts: 386
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Posted: 07 Jul 2012 at 10:00am |
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Yeah! I've been waiting 5 years for this. Thanks for the update maybe we'll get out there tomorrow.
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dinsdalw
Viener Schnitzel
Joined: 06 Jun 2011
Location: United States
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Posts: 15
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Posted: 07 Jul 2012 at 2:58pm |
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3500 is still good. we just paddled it again today and it was higher than thursday and friday but still nice. it's blisteringly hot in packwood right now so i expect flows will trend upwards.
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jP
Rio Banditos
Diddle Fuerte Diablo !
Joined: 15 Oct 2005
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Posts: 4404
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Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 12:03am |
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Great news!!! Thanks!
I really want to get in there very soon. It'll have to be a weekday for me, so for those of you who know me and are down thats my availability and I'd like to make it happen.
Been waiting for this run to clean up, but I never make it down that way otherwise.
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🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋
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fiddleyak
McNasty
Joined: 26 Oct 2007
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Posted: 16 Jul 2012 at 11:06am |
Originally posted by dinsdalw
we portaged 4 times - around the first drop of entrance exam b/c of wood; at an obvious riverwide logjam; just after a mini-gorge rapid and a right bend in the river where some wood is just above the surface midway down; and at the landslide, which is clogged with wood.
Dude you guys are pretty tough if that's true! We walked 3 times below the landslide portage: where the river divides and is super undercut on the left side (Lane chopped out a stick to make a tricky line on the right runnable), at the slidey falls that has two old growths sticking into the river on both sides in the landing zone, and right downstream of that at a waterfall formed by a logjam.
Andrew noted that the run has not cleaned up significantly since his run last year. Still worth doing I'm glad I finally got in there and did a couple runs.
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JD_G
Splat Wheeler
Joined: 23 Apr 2010
Location: United States
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Posts: 138
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Posted: 19 Jul 2012 at 6:44pm |
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Hey Ben. Thanks for the info. How many portages in total for you guys? I heard that last year it was over 10, so wanted to clarify. Thanks.
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WA-Boater
Big Boofer
Joined: 30 Jun 2005
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Posted: 19 Jul 2012 at 9:47pm |
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JD, I was in there with Ben and Andrew. Andrew did it last year and stated it's about the same. Maybe a few less portages in the non-whitewater stretches.
I lost count of the portages. But is was at least 10. I'd say more like 15. I was tired by the end of the day. If you were really brave the portage total could be single digit. It could also be your last run too, I suppose.
Extremely beautiful.
Darren
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JD_G
Splat Wheeler
Joined: 23 Apr 2010
Location: United States
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Posted: 20 Jul 2012 at 8:20am |
Thanks Darren. That's what I was looking for. The statement "losing count of the portages" is never a good one. That tiredness is from hauling that BIG boat around. :) Fine line between brave and stupid sometimes. Yeah, that canyon is phenomenal.....very special place amongst all the special places us kayakers get to see. Thanks again D.
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James
Admin
Sum Dum Guy
Joined: 31 Dec 2004
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Posted: 20 Jul 2012 at 8:35am |
Originally posted by dinsdalw
my brother and i paddled the clear fork twice in the
last two days and found it pretty clean and very much worth paddling.
Originally posted by WA-Boater
I lost count of the portages. But is
was at least 10. I'd say more like 15. I was tired by the end of the
day.
Originally posted by dinsdalw
...our first trip down took about 4 hours. second trip took about 2 hours. How many clear forks are on the cowlitz... it would seem as if different stretches are being talked about, although I know that is not the case.
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water wacko
Master Poster
Team Jackson
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
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Posted: 20 Jul 2012 at 9:49am |
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I'm curious what dinsdalw ran that D, B & A portaged.
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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman
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fiddleyak
McNasty
Joined: 26 Oct 2007
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Posted: 20 Jul 2012 at 4:10pm |
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I don't think it's quite as bad as Darren remembers. Probably 7-10 portages depending on your tolerance. Sounds like people are thinking about going tomorrow, I say go get it!
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swimswim
Viener Schnitzel
Joined: 20 Jul 2012
Location: United States
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Posted: 20 Jul 2012 at 6:44pm |
Originally posted by water wacko
I'm curious what dinsdalw ran that D, B & A portaged.
Hi, I'm the other paddler on dinsdalw's trip. We ran everything below the landslide. The three that fiddleyak mentions were definitely tricky and we had varying levels of success on each of our runs. Suffice to say that our respect for the navigational challenges of each of those rapids increased considerably over the course of our several runs. And I need elbow pads.
And there are definitely a couple places with marginal limbos or vaults that wouldn't look very appealing at different flows.
Vis-a-vis bravery vs foolishness: i pity da'foo
Ben
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