Whitewater Forum: Request for wood report on Carbon River

Request for wood report on Carbon River

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URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13318
Printed Date: 01 May 2025 at 1:13pm

Topic: Request for wood report on Carbon River

Posted By: UpNOver
Subject: Request for wood report on Carbon River
Date Posted: 11 Jul 2013 at 10:10pm

Anyone been in there this year and have an update?

Replies:

Posted By: UpNOver
Date Posted: 14 Jul 2013 at 9:11pm

A group of us ran this section this Saturday, July 13. The river is extremely clean. We put in upstream of the bridge where the guidebook says. Adds a few miles of II then III then IV rapids till you get in the canyon. Not sure why everyone we talked to about this section brought up the word "rappelling". You can duck under the log that you can see upstream from the bridge. There was only one other spot that I entered wrong and had to eddy out and carry around because of a log. The rest of the group was able to go a different route once I waved them off. There was nothing in there we did not run and thought the level was perfect. We did not take out where the guide book says but paddled the 2 extra miles to takeout at rt 162. It was easier to hitchhike shuttle there vs the takeout the book uses. There was 3 of is our group and moved in an efficient manner, we put on at 9:30 and took of at 1:30 so about 4 hours.

All I can say is go get some goodness.

Posted By: rockarolla
Date Posted: 14 Jul 2013 at 9:53pm

Hey right on thanks for the update ! The rappell thing is for putting in below Ricks slide. Reduces the dificulty and comittment of run quite a bit and can also work well for uping the water levels too.

thanks again for the wood report. Last fall the last time I was in there the runout of the Classic Canyon rapid had a fully blocking log jam against both walls . You didnt see it till you were there at it.We were lucky the level was low enough (550) to stop at the head of the jam and walk over it.

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Dave Moroles. 253 241 8550.

Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 14 Jul 2013 at 11:14pm

Yeah, cool news to hear you got in there, and while I have no plans to go back in there during this (summer) season, I am glad you are giving us a report.

So does that mean you guys ran Rick's Slide and Lobster Claw? How was that? What was the cfs?

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Posted By: UpNOver
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 6:46am

I have never ran this section before so I do not know what is Rick's Slide and which is Lobster Claw. None of us had done it before so no one could point those out to us. The two that gave us the most pause is:

One was a boof slide off a rock on river right that fell into crevasse between two rocks that shot you out. It had a few small lead in holes. It went way better than it looked.

Second was one of the last major ones it had a large boulder dead center. You could go around it to the left or the right. It ended against the left wall with a width of about 4 feet so narrow. The ending had some weird cross currents and under water rocks. Two out of the three of us flipped here but rolled.

There might have been others that would have given us pause if we could have scouted but some of it you just have to best guess and run it.

I justed looked at USGS gauge for saturday and it was 404 cfs at 9:00am and 392 cfs at 1:58pm so 400 CFS. Not sure where the actual guage is in relation to the canyon. If you did more than 100 CFS lower than what we did the cobble bars at the end and the beginning would be miserable.

Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 7:41am

Thanks for the wood report.

Posted By: osmelendez
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 9:40am

Thanks for the report. I haven't heard much about this stretch but I think it's like a little over an hour out of seattle so it really perked my interest. Didn't even know it existed until about 3 weeks ago. That and the Puyallup gorge. Seems like the flow is dropping fast though.

Posted By: osmelendez
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 11:42pm

How do I post pics on a thread? I'm sure there are tutorials somewhere on Professor Paddle.
@UpNOver - Anyway, I drove out to the Carbon. It's only an hour and fifteen minutes to the take out from downtown seattle! Only about 20+ minutes to the put in. I took some pictures of the log jam below the high bridge. I just wondering how you handled that. I also found what I believe is the put in. There is a low bridge at the put in and from there you can look downstream and see a log and I'm assuming that this is the one you ducked under. No repelling involved. I figure this put in is ideal so you can get a couple miles of warm up. From the high bridge it looked like a deep dark valley/canyon. It looks really good! I was curious if there was a lot of flat water to paddle out of? How many miles of good whitewater is there in this nine mike stretch? Is it good enough that you would do it again and do you want to run it around the weekend of July 27th if it's still in?

Posted By: osmelendez
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 11:42pm

I had some pics to post but like I said, still trying to figure that out.

Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2013 at 9:40am

It's nice to see some enthusiasm for the Carbon. It is one of the most beautiful and special runs in Washington.
Sometimes I think people overdo the internet scouting before running something. However, in the case of this run I recommend looking into everything that's available.
Check out the information on this site (PP River details) and give this a read:
http://www.cascadeclassics.org/Kayaking/Carbon/Winter02/Carbon,Winter02.htm

Basically, downstream of the high bridge lies a rapid named Rick's Slide. UpNOver's experience may provide a perspective that Rick's isn't as big a deal as some paddlers makes of it. Fair enough, but from discussions and experiences with those that have been there, the consensus is that this rapid deserves a lot of respect.

Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2013 at 11:21am

Point taken, Fiddleyak. The flow has a lot to do with the difficulty of the run, too.

I seem to recall it was between 600-700 when I was in there, so the rappelle in made sense. None of us were interested in Rick (Williams)'s Slide.

And I recall getting corkscrewed through that R.Left Slot at the end of the run against a left wall w/ a boulder in the center- definitely got capsized and was glad to have flushed through. My spidey sense tells me that would be a great place for some wood to chock up in there.

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Posted By: osmelendez
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2013 at 9:01pm

If anyone is interested in getting on this run then let me know. PM me. It would be great to find a crew to run this stretch with. I don't have a problem rappelling down past Ricks Slide. In fact, I'm looking into some gear right now. It would also be awesome to capture some footage of the run and take some photos so others can see what's down there.
Next weekend would be the weekend to run it for me if levels hold. I also have one day off during the week. It's my birthday week so the company gives me a day off of my choosing for that week. Sweet!
@fiddleyak, thanks for posting that site. I think those fellas did a fine job of capturing the intensity of the run.
If I didn't get to run this stretch, I wouldn't mind at least rappelling down into that canyon. Anybody game for that? Speaking of rappelling, jP can you direct me to the spot that you put in? I'm assuming that there is a turn out before the Fairfax bridge? I didn't see any information on the rappelling put in. Maybe I missed it.

Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2013 at 8:58am

I remember a pullout where we parked downstream of the fairfax bridge, a breif hike thru the woods. But Rockarolla is the guy you want to hit up. See his above post with the satanic candle avatar. Watch out though- D1 is a good climber but he worships the devil!!

METAL!!

Just kidding- D-1 is not a satanist. He is a great climber tho and listens to lots of King Diamond. You could PM him for better details.

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Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2013 at 3:59pm

Yesterday Andrew McEwan and I ran the Carbon River. Andrew styled the line in Rick's Slide with his characteristic grace and confidence under pressure; I got stuck in the right eddy.

What I learned from the experience:
1. My previous post in this thread is correct in that paddlers should approach this drop and this section of river very cautiously.
2. Rick's is a much harder line to hit at 550 cfs than at flows of 300-400.
3. If you swim in Rick's you will eventually flush out.

When I have more time I might write more about my experience and post my headcam video.

Posted By: osmelendez
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2013 at 4:07pm

Lol! This is a must see head cam video fiddleyak,, especially since I'm chomping at the bit for this run.

Posted By: osmelendez
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2013 at 4:25pm

Glad you made it out safely.

Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2013 at 6:09pm

Oh yeah- the fiddler can take care of himself for sure

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Posted By: UpNOver
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2013 at 6:19am

I have not heard the name Andrew McEwan in a few years. My daughter use to race wildwater on the east coast when he did. I saw him at the start of a few races till poof, there was smoke and he was gone. Use to still see Tom out on the rivers back home.

http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/member_profile.asp?PF=2326&FID=1 - osmelendez - I don't think I am interested in coming back up but if I change my mind I will let you know.

Posted By: JD_G
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2013 at 9:53am

Ben - Glad you're okay. Think you're spot on about the difficulty/consequence of Rick's increasing significantly as the flow goes up.

Oscar - I've been thinking about a Carbon run. Not sure if this weekend will be the timing, since today's afternoon sun may make it jump a bit.

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