Professor Paddle: Shelly's Skok TR

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I just re-read Shelly Becker's TR from the Skok run last weekend.  I think she's a member here but I've never seen her post so I thought I would share with the group.  I'm still stoked to have done this run in a catboat!!  This is a great TR...very entertaining!  Even today, I'm still experiencing a new shade of green, purple, brown and black bruises from my ride with Mr. Toad.

I can't wait to see the videos.  Thanks for the Yakker support!

By Shelly Becker:

Dave and I want to thank Fish, James, JP and Ned for the kayak

support - even if it was provided from midstream boulders :-)

Without their help this run would have taken over twice as long and

I'm still not sure how we would have scouted some of those drops.

There was absolutely no way to see/scout the rapid at the entrance

to the second gorge in a cat.

I wrote up a little TR:

Sunday morning Dave and I got up very early and drove out to the

South Fork of the Skokomish. The run is out on the Peninsula near

Shelton. We were hooking up with Fish and 2 other kayakers as well

as Mike Horner and Aaron Williams in cats. At the time, Fish

thought it would be a 1'st cat descent but we found out later that

it had been run at least once by a pair of catboaters -- anybody we

know ??? Another kayaker showed up and asked to join our group so

we had 4 kayaks (Fish, JP, James and Ned) and 4 cats (Dave, Mike,

Aaron and myself).

I had done my homework and was familiar with the layout of the run

and where the FS roads were located in case we needed to hike out.

Hiking out was not a realistic option in a lot of places and even if

you could climb out of the canyon you were miles and miles from

anywhere. There are 2 canyon sections on this run that contain

numerous Class IV and V rapids - the second canyon is the more

difficult of the two. Dave and I got to the put-in early and waited

over an hour and a half for everyone else to show up. We both knew

that daylight was going to be an issue, we knew there were at least

5 major scouts and 1 mandatory portage.

The run was a lot like the MF Feather, only steeper and much much

tighter in places. It was more committing than Robe Canyon and I

think the hard rapids on the Skokomish are as difficult as the hard

rapids on Robe. That might not be true for kayaks but I think it's

true for cats. Canyon Creek (Stilly trib) has some very tight

places for cats and this was tighter.

We were tested on the very first rapid, a tricky entry to a slot

narrower than the boat. You had to finesse/lowside and hang on over

about a 6' ledge into a beefy hole. I probed the catboat line --

the catboat line all day long was the same as the kayak line -- I

was a little too cautious in the entry and got spun around, not

happy with myself, I got Catalina straightened out ASAP and had a

nice clean line through the chute. Dave and Mike ran without

problems but Aaron pinned and flipped in the chute. JP had safety

set and got a rope to Aaron. I was able to get out of my boat and

climb upstream with a 2'nd rope and we were eventually able to free

Aaron's boat.

We read and ran and followed the kayakers through the first canyon.

One of the final drops is a huge steep multi-ledge Class V. The

kayakers knew the run and would get ahead to look for wood in blind

drops and eddy out and shout directions. Dave and I took

turns "probing the catboat lines". This one was my turn and I could

tell it was huge. I got through the entrance ledges, Fish was

eddied out yelling to go left "row hard!" he said - and then I

dropped off the edge of the World. I could see what was coming in

enough time to line up well and push hard but I knew the front of

the boat was going to come up fast and instinctively dove to the

front of my frame. Catalina skyrocketed out of the hole, probably

the biggest ride of my life but I was able to keep the front down.

At that point I was the lead boat and there was another blind

horizon line directly in front of me, I was very happy to be right

side up. I gave Dave the "highside" signal and he did the same move

I did but his cat came down for a brutal landing on a flat rock but

he stayed on the boat. Mike's boat subbed out through the hole

because of his asymmetrical tubes. Aaron got the biggest air I have

ever seen and was ejected from his cat. Luckily, both landed in a

good eddy and he was quickly back on his boat.

Next up was an unexpected log portage that took a fair bit of time.

By then, you are mostly out of the first canyon but it was already

1:30 and dark comes quickly this time of year in deep canyons.

The only way I can describe the entrance to the 2'nd canyon is

ominous. The walls are completely vertical and the entire river is

almost completely blocked by 2 huge boulders - portage would be

impossible and the runnable slot on the right looked impossibly

small. This is the entrance move to a large, blind, complicated,

very technical, must-run Class V rapid. The kayakers went first and

all we could do is see where they disappeared to and go that way.

Dave went before me and when I got past the point where I could see

where to go I saw kayakers eddied out, people yelling to go left. I

was on the oars and in control and still, getting left looked

hopelessly impossible, the alternative looked worse. I made the

move -- everyone did well there - another huge horizon line was

right in front of us and Fish said this rapid was bigger. We did

the same thing with the kayakers eddy hopping/scouting in front

yelling directions and pointing. There were so many moves where you

had to just let go of the oars and lowside / body english the boat

to make a move and then get right back on the oars to pull a must-

make move.

We were not yet down to the named (i.e. hard) rapids. I looked up

and saw the tall bridge that marks the entry to High Steel Falls.

There are some tricky lead-in rapids above the main Class V drop.

The kayakers had gone ahead to scout a very narrow slot going over

about a 7' ledge (we couldn't tell how big the ledge was or what was

below it). At some point, Ned's kayak slid into the river and was

carried downstream. James gave chase but Ned was upstream above

some really gnarly Class V in a walled-in canyon without a boat.

While Ned was contemplating his situation, Aaron asked Dave for a

screwdriver so he could move the oar collar from the cataract shaft

he had snapped in half in the previous drop to his spare oar which

did not have a collar. Fish and Ned were trying to figure out the

best way for him to hike out. I looked at Ned's face and I knew

that hiking out wasn't an option. All he was wearing was his river

gear, it was going to be dark in a couple hours and even if he could

climb up the mostly vertical walls, we were miles from anywhere. "I

can take you" I told him. I knew that the three remaining big named

Class V's were portageable, maybe his boat wasn't very far

downstream. I was running with my flip thwart so there wasn't a ton

of room for a passenger but we made it work. I asked Ned if he knew

how to highside and he said yes. I said that was good because I had

been doing a lot of it that day. I was also thinking I had no idea

how I was going to run that kind of water with a passenger/loaded

boat and majorly tail heavy but Catalina and I would find a way. I

made the first technical Class IV move and lined up for the

hopelessly narrow slot against the right bank into a ledge I did not

know how tall it was or what was below. Fish was yelling

encouragement from the rock where he was scouting. I knew I was

tail heavy - I had a good line and hit the slot perfectly. I could

see the bottom (this was good), we took a big hit but stayed right

side up. Ned got knocked off the boat but stayed with the frame and

was instantly back on. Everyone was hooting and hollering - there

was another large ominous horizon line right below us and then we

saw -- Ned's boat!!! James had made a heroic effort to chase it

down. We were all very happy, especially Ned. The next 2 rapids,

High Steel Falls and Bobbing for Butler are the 2 biggest Class V's

on the run. The kayakers scouted for wood and then described the

line. We read and ran the next 2 drops based on verbal instructions

only. High Steel Falls is a series of stacked up 4-5' ledges.

Aaron fell off his boat halfway down the rapid and did an amazing

swim back to the boat and climbed on.

Below Bobbing for Butler is the mandatory portage - there is still a

lot more river left including Class V Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We did

not have much daylight. The best way to describe the portage was an

amazing team effort. James figured out how to portage at river level

saving a brutal hike up hill and tons of time. We got the portage

done as quickly as humanly possible. There was a burly ledge

directly below with a lot of water feeding into rock outcropping.

Mike's tube got shoved under the rock causing him to be pinned for

quite some time. There was no way to get a rope to him and no other

way to run the ledge. He was eventually able to free his cat. Dave

went next and didn't get stuck. I went 3'rd and immediately figured

out what happened to Mike and it looked scary. I stayed far right

of the outcropping and banged my way through the slot and around the

corner but bent my left oar blade in half. The quickest thing to do

was have Dave jump on the blade and try to straigthen it - we got it

good enough and boogied down river. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was

exactly that, it was at least as tall as the Helicopter drop on the

MF Feather. Fish said start right and drive left. I found it

amazing that it really is actually possible to drive a cat while in

the vertical position. You can still use your oars and the pillows

on rocks to change your angle enough to keep bad things from

happening. Dave and I successfully ran Mr. Toads Wild Ride. Mike

came down and his cat went airborne into a spectacular back flip at

the bottom of the drop. Mike stayed with the boat and got it re-

flipped and Aaron ran the drop without incident.

That is the last difficult drop - the river is Class II for the

final 3.5 miles. What is usually a relaxing float out became a full-

on race against the clock. It was getting dark fast and we all knew

it. We pushed hard the entire way - I don't think I have rowed that

hard for that long, ever. We were losing our battle with daylight,

it was now too dark for me to see the boat behind me. My night

vision is virtually non-existent and there were lots of shallow

places, there was wood, and we had no idea how much further the

takeout was or even if we could find it in what was now dark. I was

rowing on autopilot, I realized the small half sandwich I ate for

breakfast before we launched was long out of my system. We rowed on

through the dark - Dave said he could smell cows, that meant we were

now in the valley and getting close. Eventually we saw the lights

of houses - that meant we had less than a mile. Finally, out of the

blackness came hoots and hollers from the kayakers that they were at

the takeout. The takeout is mercifully easy - the river is about 10

feet from the road. All that remained was to wait in the dark and

the cold for the shuttle (which we estimated would take an hour).

Dave and I went prepared to spend the night out - we had extra food,

dry clothes and some emergency gear. Still, it was not a pleasant

proposition. We also would not have made as good of time as we did

on the river without kayak support. In the end, we (the catboaters)

only scouted 2 rapids. If you go with a group of all cats without

someone who knows the river be prepared for a long day. Many of the

scouts would be difficult but not impossible to get to in a cat. Be

prepared to shore scout most of the first canyon and every drop in

the second canyon.

We tried to take pictures and video as best we could given our time

constraints - we did get some video.

Edited by franzhorner - 24 Nov 2008 at 12:31pm