I'll be away from the computer till late tonight, anyone that wants to join can call me:

too oh 6 nein tree won 6 for ate 6

Ditto. I would've loved to come too but I was heading back from my road trip that day. Looks like it was fun. Thanks for the vids.

I wish I would have seen this earlier!!!


Definitely keep posting about trips, I just moved out here from the east and am a upper Yough/Bottom Moose Class 4+ boater and I'm pumped to paddle out here...  even in lower water


and I agree too much ego out here...  Do it cause its fun, not to be a better than everyone

Fourth or is it fifth ditto... think your invitation was awesome.... and I love low flows! The drops look fun, thanks for showing the vids

(Chuckle) yo Travis- it really is great to see you so fired up defending the ELF approach to river running.

Variety is certainly the spice of life and yes, many runs in this state are actually quite geologicly suited to the "ELF" approach. The Ohanie is one such run. Nice and channelized as it drops down between large boulders.

For those of you out there who are relatively new to the sport, or even new to the region, though, here's my 2 cents:

Many other creeks in Wa simply don't share this type of "user friendly" or "ELFable" geology. Creeks with sustained gradients pool up less than the Ohane and/ or have lots of smaller, freshly strewn about (freshly on the geological scale) rocks, rubble, and cobble. You simply want to cover that sh*t up to "smooth out" the lines. Boats are expensive. Save some wear n tear and minimize hip shots.

Fortunately for all of us fanatics of the frothy goods: WA has so much variety we can pick and choose. And yeah, Travis, the river may have a "rule book" for us to study and abide by, but it doesn't specify which flows we choose to boat w/ it. That's entirely freedom of choice.

I will remind everyone encouragingly though that our sport is called "whitewater kayaking/rafting", not "rockwater kayaking/rafting". Those wonderful fall rains are on their way, folks.

    Class IV boaters should put The Foss on their fall radar. Especially the greater Seattle Boaters. Add enough water to cover all those rocks except the big boulders in Ken n Barbie. Ain't nothin to hit but water, so alls you really need is a solid roll. Just a plug for the push.

VERY true, that gauge includes the Muddy Fork as well... in fact the Ohane is harder to measure level on than most think by the reading.

I respectfully have to disagree with JP as well, I think a class 4+ boater can probably "experience" but not "run" almost any run in Washington state...  The caveat is that they NEED to be good at climbing and have sense.

IMHO many of the "harder" runs get easier with low flows as long as you do the basics:

1   )Never over commit, if you can't see the next eddy AND way out of a canyon, don't commit.
2)   Never bite off more than you can chew and trust your gut.  I have walked drops that everybody else in my group has run, because I have learned from experience that even if I see a troop of girl scouts in open canoes run a drop I have decided to walk...  I'm gonna get trashed because so much of boating is a head game.

The issue I think some excellent boaters have with the aspiring class 4+ crew is that they slow down expert trips and are a liability when they run things they shouldn't...  I just haven't met any crews like my old one and miss those days.  I was hoping to rally one and spend all the time it takes to get down a personal first decent on my favorite canyon in the world... and nobody came.

I love that river, it is nothing short of magical... at any level.

Yes I have run it near 3K on the gauge and when Ohane falls is a river wide nearly unscoutable ledge... with an easy but terrifying "sneak" on the right.... its different than it was on Monday!...  I don't think that should keep responsible boaters from trying new runs.  It still counted as an awesome day in the sun with crystal blue waters... even if jackass Travisimo doesn't count it since he ran it at 3k...  That's my point.

Just a couple of quick level questions for reference purposes:

1) What level was the Ohane at on Monday?
2) Any suggested references for the Foss in the fall? Sky at XXXcfs from rain, etc? No problem with combining a bank-scout with some fishing to get my own sense of things when the flows are low, but if you (JP) have a frame of reference that you'd care to share I'd be glad to add that to the mental database.

 

Travis, as you can see there are a ton of us who are getting into creeking and really really appreciate it if people take the time to paddle a river at a comfortable pace and water level. I for myself love scouting and scrambling around in the dirt with my boat, and really spending time studying the river. That's my way of developing confidence, as opposed to bombing down stuff and hoping for the best (which has never gone well for me). Just so happens that some folks have to work on Mondays...