Crew: Stephen Hunt, Joe Box, Koby Trinker, Garrett Quinn, Heather Buckingham
Written by Heather Buckingham
Photos by Koby Trinker
It was an overcast morning as we drove south on the highway toward the river. Our kayaks in the back of the truck were still covered with droplets of water that froze during the night. As we drove past the put-in for the regular run, there seemed to be a buzz of excitement in the air at the anticipation of adventure, the unknown, the challenge that awaited us ahead. We drove deeper into the mountains, past lakes that I’d never seen before. We crossed over many little side-streams, and they all suggested that perfect flows awaited us ahead. There was still frost on the ground when we arrived in convoy at the put in.
The creek was small. Looking upstream from the bridge, the water looked clear and beautiful, snaking its way with just enough flow to look manky but runnable between granite boulders. Flows looked prime. We dropped our boats and drove the 2km down a steep hill toward the takeout to set shuttle. Google Earth would later tell us that this section of river drops about 100m in 2km.
The water was cold. We all wore our pogies that day, but somehow the excitement seemed to keep us all warm enough. Before we arrived, I had considered whether or not I should be paddling this section. I had read the descriptions online that other paddlers had posted, and heard only a few stories of missions that have descended down this section. From what I heard, it was a technical and challenging section of whitewater, considered in the class IV+ to V range, with serious consequences for mistakes, and stories of past near-drowning experiences. While I felt like I am fairly competent on class IV, this would be a challenge for me. I’ve made mistakes in the past pushing grades, but today I felt good. I felt nervous but ready. I pushed the “stories” from my head and looked at the river step by step, evaluating moves, risks, my ability, and always scouting for possible downstream egress if needed.
The river dropped steeply. The first rapid was only 100m or so downstream from the bridge. We all got out to scout. There was a small spout of water leading into a beefier drop. Fairly straight-forward class IV, try to put in a left boof off the right side of the spout, keep your head and your speed, and line up the second drop, eddy out at the bottom. I visualized the line, and watched as the first two people had successful lines down. I went next and realized my visualization, relaxing at the top of the second half of the rapid once I’d lined it up, only to plug the hole at the bottom. Alright Heather, stay focused, don’t get lazy.
The river offered some class IV boogie with considerable mank and awkwardness of manoeuvring around granite boulders with just enough water. The low-walled granite canyon walls had bright green moss dripping water, and cedar trees standing proud on the steep slopes above. As I watched paddlers ahead of me bumble down through the boulders, I followed suit. Keep your speed, keep your boat straight, keep your head up, don’t let the boulders throw you, don’t get stuck or pinned.
We scouted a couple more rapids. The next one had a nasty looking slot/cave/hole/sieve feature on the right. The line we all chose was on the left, getting up onto a ledge of water with the rock beneath sloping down and falling away to the right. Paddling over it, Garrett described feeling as though he felt he was going to fall sideways off the feature. At a calm pool we all scrambled out on a big boulder river left to see how the river pinched on the right through another double-drop with a sticky hole at the bottom. Boof. Boof. Here I got pushed against the right canyon wall at the bottom of the second hole, but managed to roll up and paddle away.
Next up was the crux of the run, a rapid called Birds Eye. We found ourselves in a pool, walled in on both sides. The water was dark and clear below. Water dripped down the sloping granite walls on the right, and a waterfall streamed in from high above on the left. Moss lined the walls high overhead. Garrett and Stephen scouted from climbing up a boulder on river left to get the “birds eye” view of the rapid. From their angle, they could see it all except for the most dangerous part at the bottom of the rapid. Joe got out on the right and shimmied up the sketchy right side, balancing his boat precariously on the ledge. My turn to check things out.
There was what appeared to be a micro-eddy at the lip of the drop on the right, not quite big enough to fit a boat. Stephen said that’s where it’s been scouted and portaged from before, if someone was there to catch you. Joe waited above as I crept toward him. I put my bow in his hands and felt myself sliding backwards down the drop. He grabbed my grab handle and pulled my boat onto his lap so it was slightly out of the water. I pulled my skirt and attempted to find a way to climb out. There was nothing near to step on. I scrambled awkwardly out, half falling into the water as Joe balanced my boat in one hand and held onto my hand in the other, hauling both boat and person onto the small slippery section of rock with him. Breathe.
From here I took a look at the rapid that I had planned to portage. Everyone had planned to portage. I looked at it, and it seemed pretty manageable. Everyone else decided to paddle it in the end. I decided to walk anyway, and be safety at the bottom of the rapid with a rope. The river curved in an S-shape dropping first into a boily current next to the waterfall, then snaking around into a cauldron with a retentive looking hole. The canyon walls pinched in at the far end of the cauldron to a width not quite as wide as a kayak is long.
The Birds Eye is the crux of the run whether you are running the river or portaging around it. No easy way down this one. The portage was sketchy. There was a very steep slope of rock that offered beautiful juggy hand-holds at the top, but then was overhanging above it. The only way across was to climb, feet attempting to find grip on the steep slippery slope below, while matching hand over hand on the crack all the way to the far side. Once there, the next step was to get the boat across. This required two people and a rope. From here, I set safety and watched from beside the cauldron as first Garrett then Stephen had good lines. Koby went next and discovered the width of the cauldron exit as his boat got pinned sideways (also at the edge of the hole) for a harrowing few seconds. Joe came last, and nearly had trouble in between the drops, but managed to keep it together and slide through. I got back in my kayak and we floated down a truly magical section of canyon.
After a shallow slide, we came to the big one. We eddied out on the right above a major horizon line with mist extending far over our heads from the spray of the waterfall far below. This was the portage. The beauty of this place is difficult to describe. Water cascades 50ft around granite features before going under a natural granite bridge. We enjoyed the view as we hiked around it, wondering if a line exists down it.
Just downstream of the portage, we put in in the pool below and launched down another glorious double-drop rapid. In the pool below this we got out once again to scout the next rapid, reported to be one of the most dangerous on the run. It was a really cool looking 12ft waterfall. On either side of it were two nasty looking sieves. The one on the right looked easy to avoid. The one on the left looked tempting to eddy out in for a better look, but from another angle it was determined that that would be a very bad idea, and would very likely result in a difficult and dangerous situation. The trick was to avoid the mank on the entry and line up as best one could as the river bent around the corner to make it centre moving right on the landing. A tricky manoeuvre that several years ago caught a kayaker off guard, causing him to land at the bottom of the curtain sideways and get pulled back into the hole/cave at the base, to get rescued by his crew unconscious (he came to when pulled to shore).
We all made the line, and revelled in the boogie from here to the takeout. I don’t know if I’ve ever paddled something quite so steep, deep and committing. It felt within my ability, and I felt like we made good decisions as a team out there. The feeling at the bottom of each rapid is like none other. It’s feelings like this that I keep looking for. Such an amazing run. So grateful to the crew that was down there with me to share it with.
This is a gem of a river. Finding the right flows can be elusive, but well worth the mission for a brilliant adventure.