Whitewater Forum: Cispus Levels?
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Cispus Levels?

Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11724
Printed Date: 01 May 2025 at 5:30pm


Topic: Cispus Levels?
Posted By: tiziak
Subject: Cispus Levels?
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2012 at 5:50am
I know that theres a huge difference in levels on the Upper Upper Cispus depending on what time of year it is and whether the sourse is snow or rain.
 
Anybody have ideas on "fun-factor" of the UU Cispus this time of year when it's over 1000cfs? Pretty burly or not that bad?


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If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.

Daniel Patrinellis
360.434.4616


Replies:
Posted By: water wacko
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2012 at 8:57am
Like any higher elevation run, it depends on the freezing level and how much snow is on the ground. If there's snow that wasn't put there overnight, the level is likely to be much lower than off snowmelt. Freezing level is pretty low now.

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"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

Posted By: BIGWATER
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2012 at 10:56am
i would imagin you cant even drive up there because of snow on the road  right now ... but thats just a guess... was 6 inches of snow at the Tilton put in last weekend and the UU Cispus is much higher elevation

Posted By: Travisimo
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2012 at 11:08am
I'll say this, I've never been as scared as I was standing at the lip of Behemoth when the gauge broke many moons ago.  It was reading wrong.

We knew it was gonna be high, and we all thought the whole rest of the run cleaned up and was great.  Maybe even better.

Too bad you have to run Behemoth when you see it. 

Nobody got caught in the hole, but it looked worse than almost any hole I've ever seen...  I wish I could tell you how high it was, but the gauge was re-done after that and my memory of events from 8ish years ago is not so great.


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H2O please

Posted By: Travisimo
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2012 at 11:23am
Oh wow, I had forgotten that Ben did a writeup of that trip!  Here are pictures...  To be honest it doesn't look as scary from below at Behemoth!
http://cascadeclassics.org/Kayaking/Cispus/UpperUpper/Winter03/High/UpperUpperCispus_Winter03.htm - http://cascadeclassics.org/Kayaking/Cispus/UpperUpper/Winter03/High/UpperUpperCispus_Winter03.htm
I think a lot of the paddlers here would love it at high water.  I wish we had video of Behemoth though.  That punchbowl moves a LOT faster and the hole looks a LOT more retentive.

You can kind of see how filled in Island drop is as well...

As I said before though, the rest of the run seemed easier.  Hardly any of the usual pin spots are there.


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H2O please

Posted By: WA-Boater
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2012 at 10:07pm
The guage is hard to interpret in the winter. And unreliable. The PDX crew gets out there often, if they have been and can give you a "feel" for the cfs reading then you are probably good to go. A true 1000 in there is big. A cold winter 1000 is sometimes low. Partially freezing level, partially a bad gauge placement.
Also, Mike Nash, his brother Andy and I took a March trip out there last year. We hiked 6 miles in the snow just to get to Isalnd Drop then had to hike 2 miles from the take out downstream back to the van. Lame.
 
Darren


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Posted By: Fish
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 9:16am
The last time we all went out there this winter i think we had around 750 cfs on the guage.  Snow level was around 3000 feet,  and we had what felt like 500 cfs in the summer.   A low/med flow.
 
So, i would guess that 1000 cfs  with a lower snow level,  would feel like 650-700+  a healthy medium.
 
This is totally a guess :)

Posted By: wallyworld
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 1:49pm
The road is usually plowed to the put-in. I think there's a snow park up there.

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let's go get it


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