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James
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Sum Dum Guy

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  Quote James Replybullet Topic: Thunder
    Posted: 25 Jul 2013 at 8:16am
Could I talk someone into going up and running Thunder creek.

My wife and I are tossing around camping options for a family trip and this was one of those zones that popped into my mind as a possible compromise of family time with a quick dadventure.

Only thing is I don't want to be the one to hike 4 miles to find out the run still sucks, so could someone please go do all the leg work for me. If you are willing I will provide the beta and a machete so you can clear the devils club out which would be helpful. Then as an added bonus you can come back and do it again with me once we nail down a date that is going to work.


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water wacko
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  Quote water wacko Replybullet Posted: 25 Jul 2013 at 4:26pm
I think it's still a bit high?
"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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theim
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  Quote theim Replybullet Posted: 25 Jul 2013 at 6:30pm
I was out there last weekend hiking and it was pumping!!!
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smcboating
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  Quote smcboating Replybullet Posted: 25 Jul 2013 at 6:42pm
Grafton, myself and my friend bear ran it in the middle of last week. It was 1000-1100 on the gauge and pretty pushy but good to go. I think we made only one portage because of wood. I believe its the same drop that has had wood in it for a while now. Unfortunately the moving side walk we ordered to replace the hike in never came so that part is the same. The hike down to the river where we dropped in wasn't terrible(right after the 4th-newly rebuilt-foot bridge over a creek. I call it the fourth because its after-(300 paces) a small foot bridge over a boggy area. We all walked away saying it was a fun mini mission and worth doing.
If 6 Was 9
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chipmaney
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  Quote chipmaney Replybullet Posted: 25 Jul 2013 at 8:09pm
A couple of clarifying responses from the core boaters would probably be in order:

Did you see any other wood that may require portaging, particularly at lower flows?

When you say a little pushy, do you mean that you could see rocks or just water?
sitting all alone on a mountain by a river that has no end
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James
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  Quote James Replybullet Posted: 25 Jul 2013 at 8:33pm
1100 would be in the healthy flows for sure, not massive but not low or medium either. I think I have been in there from 500 to 1200 and remember not needing to go back higher than 1200.

Good to hear about the wood. Did any one look at the mega drops a mile above that put in? what about the big slides just above the putin?

Also curious if there was anyone in the group that had done it before and could comment on how the various rapids have changed..... or better yet, maybe I should go get some myself... be about time.
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smcboating
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  Quote smcboating Replybullet Posted: 25 Jul 2013 at 11:30pm
Originally posted by chipmaney

A couple of clarifying responses from the core boaters would probably be in order:

Did you see any other wood that may require portaging, particularly at lower flows?

When you say a little pushy, do you mean that you could see rocks or just water?


I think we made two portages due to wood. The first was chopstix because the bottom log was at river level. The second was(I believe) the drop above dim sum. It has wood clogging the left side which looks like it would be a sweet 8ft boof. It also has wood clogging a pocket on the far right of the run out that it looked like you could be pushed into if you ran the main channel. I saw this clogged pocket two years ago in a low water run down and on this most recent trip it looked like it was still there. We portaged left.

I could see the tops of big boulders but it was mostly just water. I would say that the flow info provided in the write up was spot on. For ruff comparison I would say it felt like robe at 6ft as opposed to robe at 5ft.Looking at the recent graph I think we were in there the day it was spiking and pretty sure when we got off it was 1000-1100

Two years ago I made a run at the min flow. We over hiked the trail and put in on the double drop ledge listed on the run description. That went great, we then ran the next slide rapid without problem. It has a log at the bottom but you could duck it reasonably. From there I just remember a junked out slide with some wood and big boulders in it that we portaged right. Then the flumy style rapid that I believe is the normal put in. We ran that on both trips. I don't think we saw the mega drops above the put in. Ive only done this run in the past two years and it had not changed in that time.I think Grafton had done it 4 years ago and he did not mention any major changes.

I tried to insert a pic of the drop with wood, but cant figure it out. In my albums it name is DSC03173-crop.jpg

Edited by smcboating - 25 Jul 2013 at 11:53pm
If 6 Was 9
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