As the days passed from the time she slipped into the river my thoughts were steered toward the search efforts and who may have actually gotten on the water at high levels in this notoriously perilous section of river. After talking to the Sheriff in charge of the recovery we were “unofficially” endorsed to make an attempt.  Our team began mentally preparing ourselves.  The men who joined me have exemplified what it means to serve throughout their lives.  Our team on this day was comprised of firefighters, law enforcement officers, educators, and fathers.  Duty is a moral commitment that results in action.  Prior self interested courses of action are deemed irrelevant.

My helmet would not fit right today.  This had not been a problem before.  My head hurt.  We stopped for a break at the confluence with the Collowash.  Searchers scoured the banks, the first day of sunshine in a week and the lowest water levels were, in my opinion, more than happenstance.  ”The plans of the righteous are just…”

I had never run the Killer Fang section at higher levels for good reason.  On this day the 3 Lynx gauge read 4,500cfs.  Prelude, the last drop above the mandatory portage known as Killer Fang came into view.  At this level it looked really big.  I had planned on catching the eddy river left just above then sliding through the left slot.  From our perspective the left and middle slots looked huge.  The safest line would be to go right, we dropped in with speed and charged right.  We weren’t able to square the Puma up well off the boof rock and landed sideways.  Chris and I were now swimming above the Killer Fang.  ”Don’t become a victim during a recovery mission” was just discussed.  By going right at Prelude we were out of the main, fast at high water current that feeds the Fang.  We easily swam to the right bank and watched the bigger Aire D Series boats navigate the ledge.  The Puma was still getting surfed.  We tried to get an R4 back up to the boat but couldn’t make it.  After a few minutes it came loose and began drifting into the main current.  Matt and I rallied into the boat and paddled to the right bank where we began the portage process.

I crawled, waded, and climbed out to take a peek at the Fang.  The sieve present at low water was gone and in its place was a river wide ledge that type-writered into a terminal hole next to an undercut wall.

While the team finished the portage I walked down to scout the Sieve and what was now a beefy class IV entrance rapid.  Of course, once your actually on the water everything gets a lot bigger.  The entrance drop was huge on the left, we quickly scurried over to a safer line on the right and then worked back left to set up for the Sieve.

 

The only part of the drop that you cant scout is usually what gets ya.  On the very last move after the meat Chris didn’t make the high side and had a little swim.  Val and Matt were clean, somehow Jake and Dustin stayed in the boat:

After River’s Revenge we came back into sight of the road which was just before our take out.  An emergency vehicle was heading upriver with its lights on.  ”They found her” I said to Chris.  This was later confirmed by the Sheriff on our drive out.  The healing process begins.  ”The plans of the righteous are just”.

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out there is a United States Log Rolling Association (USLRA) which is somewhat semantically synonymous with the United States Rafting Association (USRA) yet the physical application of these terms is acrimonious at best.  In short, our day running Eagle Creek of the Clackamas drainage at high water not only thoroughly tested our equipment but also tapped into lumberjack skills acquired through a lifetime of living and running rivers in the great northwest.  Specifically, walking on logs.  With the Clackamas gauge at 3 Lynx hovering around 10,000cfs, we headed up to the Fish Hatchery “put in” on Eagle Creek where at least one local warned us of high water, logs, and a big waterfall.  Sweet.

Prior to sharing our experience I must add that the conditions were very dangerous and not recommended.  We accomplished this task with a team of veterans who have run many difficult rivers together for several years.  There is no margin for error and zero tolerance for miscommunication.  Even with that, we were challenged.

Our boat did not make the eddy above and instead chose to duck under this log.  Another log just beneath the surface prohibited us from getting low enough for the limbo.  Pictured log delivered a wood to Shred Ready helmet blow which dislodged my Go Pro and reminded me of sparring the night before.  From this point forward footage was limited.  No time to snap pictures, no functional helmet cam.  Getting stuffed into this log awakened the survival instincts.  It’s on now.

I decided on a mid stream log portage some time later.  The boat was nearly over the last log in the jam when a momentary lapse in communication with a teammate precluded the raft slipping back in the stream and becoming pinned against a creek wide log with several vicious sharp broken branches attacking the Aire (it was NOT punctured!).  We drug the other boat through the brush on shore and placed it in a stand by position below the log jam and the pinned raft.  I then shimmied back out on the log jam, got on the boat, and checked for all air valve locations reachable from the surface.  The plan was to either come back the next day when the water dropped to recover the boat, or deflate and hope it comes loose.  One minute after releasing the air out of the only valve I could reach the boat started sinking and slipped under the tree.  It quickly picked up speed, I dove in after it, climbed on top, tied off a flip line, flipped it over, got in, and began de-rigging the spare paddle when the next log jam came into view.

The D Series Aire passed close enough to a mid stream island that I was able to jump out and after a few minutes wrestle the boat out of the above pictured log jam.  The chase boat then arrived.  One paddler was walking down the bank.  I decided to roll one boat and make the two R2s one R4 for the following reasons. 1. Given that I had the most experience I wanted to guide everyone down in one boat. 2. Eddies were minimal and not conducive to getting to 14′ rafts into simultaneously. 3. An experienced and seasoned R4 crew was more solid in big water than lighter R2s who had not had the opportunity to develop team chemistry. 4. We had two boats mid stream and 3 paddlers.

We made the eddy to scout the falls.  I had never run an 18 footer with 4 people.  Not to mention a rolled up raft.  Keep it straight and hold on tight, very tight.  Let’s just say that next time everyone will have a Shred Ready helmet with a retention strap that prohibits the lid from rolling back and exposing the forehead…

Fortunately we landed this drop cleanly. One more tough portage and we were below the Boy Scout Camp.  Here we were rewarded with a long, class IV at this level rapid with of course a tree river right that we missed while “yarding” through the holes.  We took out at eagle Fern Park where we were rewarded with heated bathrooms!

Another great day of boating in the Pacific Northwest!

 

 

 

 

ORT – VII What is this thing once described as a “charismatic body of energy” that often stumbles through life in the same manner a river crashes through boulders?  Seven years ago raft racing was generally a one day commitment in which a handful of guides working for the same company threw a crew together and paddled down a local run as fast as they could in an attempt to best a rival outfitter.  Dropping a waterfall in a raft was a rare and downright suspicious occasion as apparently a few yahoos got bored with life.  Coordinating a series of river events may have been done for a season or so by an organization with vested commercial interests.  Creating a pre Facebook and Twitter social media tool such as comprehensive website again was done via extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation.  So what’s the deal?  Why bother?  Create and maintain something, a variety of things that as a whole has never and still has not been done before, for 7 years.

We are what we are not.  ORT has survived through relationships which in one manner may be described as a dependence, alliance, or kinship.  We needed all of these likely as a result of our inability to attain these variables in traditional settings.  An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring.  Fleeting to enduring, that’s ORT.  In 7 years we have had about 28 paddlers come through our ranks.  In nearly each case we still communicate on some level, enduring.  However it is also true that we do not have tight nuclear families, and only in some cases lasting marriages.  Then what’s the glue?  Competition?  In part, a common goal that we can work collaboratively to achieve.  Yet only a few of our paddlers have or had previously participated in organized team sports.  Adrenaline?  We don’t all drop big waterfalls, attempt first descents, and enjoy racing head to head or even against the clock.  Acknowledgement, notoriety?  Possibly.  In our travels nationally and even globally we bump into folks that know us, but that’s not the primary innate force.

River; a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, lake, sea, or another river!  That’s ORT!  An alliance that is both fleeting and enduring.  A wonderfully natural and pure connectedness, an everlasting sense of belonging that doesn’t have issues or expectations.  As Bruce commonly says, “Expectations are predetermined resentments”.  A river is an earthly manifestation of God’s soul that instantaneously replenishes our own.  Water brings so many forms of life.  Whitewater provides the platform for glory and humility.  Life, death, and everything in between.

Of course we need support to sustain our efforts.  Our biggest sponsors share many similar traits, likely the reason the relationship has endured.  Aire, longest warranty in the industry and built in the USA.  Whitewater Designs, products made in Oregon by boaters.  Next Adventure, Deek and Bryan were resilient in starting their store years ago through the concept of sustainability by buying and selling used goods.  Team  Quest, Olympic silver medalist Matt  Lindland and wife Angie have been happily married for 16 years and manage a business training fighters of an obviously volatile nature.  Aquabound Paddles, likely the best bang for the buck in performance paddling equipment.  Immersion Research, John and Kara Weld are boaters for boaters.  More recently Keen from our hometown of Portland Oregon, Tom from Shred Ready, Chris from Kershaw Knives, Revo, Sierra Nevada, and Paul from OS Systems.  All of our sponsors have soul, heart, and a genuine love of our rivers.  Not fleeting but enduring.

      ORT shares it’s energy.  Like a paddler picking up another thumbing a ride to the put in we give back.  Our coffers are nearly empty at the end of each season.  Events are run to cover costs, and fundraisers keep our vehicles on the road and make it manageable for our paddlers to participate.  We sell or raffle gear below wholesale, hand out t-shirts and shwag, provide free barbeques and beverages at our events, and do a lot of darn work pulling it all together.  The return is amazing.  Paddlers are independent and self sufficient by nature yet we help lay the platforms to start and maintain relationships.  The river is always the blessed medium.  We hug each other after months and sometimes years of separation.  Our stories make the camp fire glow.  The water returns to the sea and comes back in another form to facilitate yet another adventure.  So will we.  ORT.

 Fleeting and enduring.

 

Humility or humbleness is a quality of being courteously respectful of others. It is the opposite of aggressiveness, arrogance, boastfulness, and vanity. Rather than, “Me first,” humility allows us to say, “No, you first, my friend.” Humility is the quality that lets us go more than halfway to meet the needs and demands of others.

A sign of maturity which has taken me 42 years to address, accept, and begin to apply. My aggression will never go away. However, it will be controlled through fighting a predetermined and accepting opponent, by leading young men into battle, and by constantly reevaluating my behavior towards others.

You decide how this relates to the following trip report. If no insight is attained then please do our community a favor and never paddle anything harder than class IV and even then insure there are patient and understanding adults on the trip.

The Skagit and Sauk Rivers have 12 beautiful runs within an hour and a half of each other. As a new head football coach, I had been rebuilding our program all summer (not paddling) and had just 7 days before I had to be back. This turned out to be a good choice. Things came up and our numbers soon dwindled. I trusted my paddling friends so with very little research we decided to give Granite Creek a go.

While the information we had was vague, it was understood that the most demanding section was the first 2.2 miles. Toby was on the first ORT crew and we have been through alot together. We rafted the Aire Puma through the following drop without scouting.

The guidebook said no regarding rafts. Not uncommon to fire it off anyhow these days. Rafting has blown the ceiling off of perspectives the past 5 years in the Northwest. I kept telling Toby this felt like a first descent.

We were aware that a V+ drop sometimes containing wood was coming up. Our R2 made a branch grabbing eddy at the lip. There was wood in room river left. This one goes in a bigger boat. The Honda Civic could only fit a Puma in the trunk. Next time I’m taking a truck and a Super Duper Puma. The V+ link:

P8010024

God bless the soul of Allen Satcher.

Everything changes and ends.

This is yet another tale of beginning, ending, and the everlasting pursuit of connectedness.  Traveling alone, physically, my trip began with a funeral, a wedding, and a peaceful day by a mountain lake with my uncle and spiritual guide.

I left those that I knew and traveled across the Sierras to begin my nomadic journey.  However, river people are never alone in a river community.  Upon reaching the Tuollumne drainage  I quickly befriended Isaiah from ARTA and Rob from Whitewater Voyages who invited me into his home for the evening where we hung out with the guides and watched some crazy dudes from Oregon running big waterfalls in a raft:)

Granite.

Hard, big, steep, relentless.

I left the park to kayak the Upper Merced at a technical level, solo boating has some disadvantages-

Headin back to the Tuolomne I discovered the boat house for Sierra Mac.

http://www.sierramac.com/

Only two companies currently run the Cherry Creek section of the Tuolomne, 16 class V rapids in 9 miles.

Granite.

It was here that I met Sierra Mac’s head guide Adam Crom, a quiet, confident, strong man who maintains a standard of vigilance by training in the martial arts when not guiding what is likely the toughest section of whitewater ran commercially in the world.

“The river is fierce. Today we must also be fierce. There will be times when you are tired but you must continue to fight, you will need to reach down inside yourself and find whatever it takes to succeed”. – Adam Crom

My hope is that someday I can someday also be a gracious host to everyone I met while paddling the Tuolomne and Merced. Thanks again Marty for allowing me to be a part of the Sierra Mac experience, your guides will always have a place to stay and boats to use in Oregon.

I dropped down into the Cadillac desert and headed north for the Trinity. After paddling the Pigeon Point section Paul Gamache and myself made plans to R2 Burnt Ranch Gorge, yet another California Classic that has eluded me for too long.

I was able to find that strength from within that Adam was referring to. The Nomad’s last journey (sold the boat this morning) was a comprehensive success. Not only was I blessed with amazing whitewater but the rediscovery of our human spirit occurred by making new friends and reconnecting with old ones. The time is now, happiness is right here.

I have driven past the Upper East Fork of the Hood at least a hundred times. On each occassion my first thought was always, “It would be fun to take a raft down that”.  Well darn tootin it sure was!  While many naysayers said it was too low (3.8 feet at Tucker) we headed out anyway and enjoyed a technical class IV run in the sunshine.  We put in just below Sherwood Campground and took out just above the quaint little orchard “town” of Mt. Hood.  Cool little pub there with happy hour every day by the way.  I didn’t partake as my hands were full with the 12 mile bike shuttle back up what was more fun coming down.

 

 

 

Cruisin the last 4 miles

Big ups to Aire for building the Puma, the best raft creeker in the biz, and to Jacob for essentially running solo in a pinny-bangy cascade of goodness.

Do not fail

To learn from

The pure voice of an

Ever-flowing mountain stream

Splashing over the rocks.        - Ueshiba

Our day on the Little North Santiam at 1050 cfs began with the short hike in. A van with racks was unable to provide assistance for “liability reasons” and it would “detract from the wilderness experience”…:)

She waved and encouraged us to have a nice day. We did. Thanks van lady.

A Big Ugly raft run down Big Ugly

Drops of water fall from the sky as if to acknowledge all that is good.

Rivers allow us to escape from certain realities while enabling the replenishment of goodness within. This became most evident at the Taco Bell in Woodburn when we walked into an episode of COPS. Just 30 feet from our rig, 7 law enforcement vehicles had clustered upon a vehicle with their guns drawn and laser sights honed in. No pictures of this episode. We only wished to keep evidence of positive things on this day. Of course a debriefing was held-