Yup. Keep in mind that once you get down past that first hatchery structure you got a natural river bed and a man made hatchery channel alongside that. So depending on what they got going on it could have made it down either channel if you think it flushed past the,Lower Ici t.o.
The channel on r. Right has a nasty man made grate-like diversion dam structure that could have broached your stick.
Word of advice though, kids:
Yeah we are "all in between swims" but really thats a bullsh*t cliche at this point that gets regurgitated by a bunch of parrots. The real substance for me (as someone who isn't made of money, doesn't have health insurance, and has to try to get at least 1,000 river miles out of a paddle or boat) is this:
How much time do you want inbetween each swim? How many paddles are you willing to replace how often? How many injuries are you willing to sustain for EACH AND EVERY one of these swims? Because you can choose not to swim. But you cant choose too much after you swim.
Lower Icicle and rocky, continuous runs like it and Peshastin Crk, Ingalls, ect. are the kind of runs you
ideally don't want to capsize on, let alone swim on. Its cool to take your lumps willingly but its also cool to hone that skill and wait until you can put on a run like Lower Ici and boat it knowing you can crush it or as least squeak by without flipping. Some preach'n for ya, and this is just food for thought.
That's not any judgemental comment on your particular experience, Greg. After all, I wasn't there. "Choose Your Own Adventure", dude, I'm stoked you are working some Icicle into your whitewater diet. Stoked for you, Greg!
My 2 cents is just true wisdom based on my 41 trips on Lower Ici. I seen more peeps get fu*ked up on that (Class IV) stretch than the class v stretch upstream. Paddles lost, Boats chewed up by "Whitewater Rottweilers", and some blood. Who remembers the kid who showed up from Iceland in 2006? I think he put on in a playboat despite multiple warnings that unless your name is only three letters long, starts w/ an "R", has an "O" in the middle and ends w/ a "B", well maybe a playboat shouldn't be one's craft of choice for Icicle. Reasonable enough, huh? Needless to say that kid got WORKED OVER HARD.
Now I will say during this that I am somewhat current with my own bootie beers. Just drank one a few weeks back. I chose to expose myself to a swim, but it was calculated. It was a near guarantee I would lose no gear and I didn't. Gotta love Lake Jolanda! (Not to mention the good paddling buddy who is keeping an eye on you and/or your gear)
Continuous runs like Icicle, one oughtta show up with the skills to execute. Period. Again, I'm just taking this opportunity to inject that into the forum for the general public who has yet to put on Icicle for a run. Not trying to critique Greg or his actions. I seen Greg boat, he knows whats goin on out there. fu*kin hell yeah go for it, dude!
I hope you find your stick, and I believe it is quite a reasonable thing to hope for. The River is full of magical surprises like that
Edited by jP - 12 May 2014 at 12:16am