Lower CalSalmon, 5/16
We drove until late that night as well, through Crescent City, down highway 101, and then east towards the small town of Somes Bar, CA.
Packing up at the take out of the Smith River Gorge. From here we were headed south and east towards the mighty Salmon River we had read so much about.
We thought that there would be plenty of camping available in the Klamath/Salmon area, but when we finally arrived, we learned that 6 Rivers National Wilderness was “closed”. None of us had considered the possibility that a National Wilderness, probably the size of New Hampshire, might be something that one could open or close, but all of the campgrounds were roped off, and we had to spend another frustrating hour at 1 in the morning until we were able to find a place off the road to camp. We pulled onto a dirt road, drove for awhile, and then just kind of picked a spot and crashed. One exciting feature of going to bed in the dark is that you never really know where you’re going to wake up.
As it happened, we were in the middle of a large field, probably 50 yards from a great established campsite, complete with fire ring and tent sites.
We were all a bit confused when we woke in the morning. I don't think any of us expected to be in such a nice place... but apparently everywhere in Northern California is a nice place.
That morning, we set up a permanent campsite in the established area. We set up the tents exactly where we wanted them, took off the trailer (we could practically hear the van sigh with relief) and chained it to a tree with a bike lock and locked it up with a janky lock that we found in my grandparents garage. Certainly if someone was interested in stealing the world’s smelliest trailer, it wouldn't have been a problem.
By now it should be painfully obvious how tired the poor minivan was...
As it turned out, we had nothing to worry about. Everyone in Northern California that we met was incredibly nice, and went out of their way to help us. A perfect example was later that morning, when we were gassing up the car and wondering where we were going to paddle that day. A car drove by with some boats on top, and we managed to flag them down. It turned out to be some paddlers who had driven up from Arcata for the day, and were planning on doing some playboating on the CalSalmon. They were really nice, in a somewhat stereotypically spaced-out California kind of way. One of them looked exactly like Jack Johnson, so we spent a good part of the day trying to get him to admit that he really was Jack Johnson. When he was turned the other way, we would yell, 'Jack!', but he never seemed to turn. He was crafty. Dan even played a Jack Johnson CD in the car, hoping that he would start singing or fess up, but he never did.
We decided to change our plans, and ended up following them down the lower part of the CalSalmon, which was a really fun, III+/IV- run.
Some low water play on the lower Cal Salmon... the water was so low that windowshades into rock ledges were the only moves of the day.
After being in our creekboats, some of us felt slow and unstable being back in playboats, and the river never let up for a second. It was one rapid after another, and Jack Johnson and his posse led us down all of them and were really helpful. The only rapid that we got out to look at was called (typically) 'Gaping Maw.' The gaping maw in question was a big hole that, at high water, covers the entire left side of the river. At the level we paddled it, the rapid was just a relatively benign maze of rocks and holes that needed to be navigated. Dan A. and Pat made stellar runs through the gaping maw, while Will, Dan M. and I watched. Dan M. pointed out exactly where his line was, which features he was determined to miss, and then headed down to his boat.
Dan M peels out and heads for the gaping maw
He managed to hit not just one, but both of the holes that he had committed to avoiding, and just trucked down through the hole thing.
Running right through hole number one, so much for avoiding
Will went next but he and the mamba had bonded and he styled his line through the rapid. I got some photos of everyone running the rapid and then had a good run down.
After gaping maw, we stopped at a beach so that Jack Johnson and company could “stretch their legs,” and they proceeded to burn one down with gusto. It was nice of them to get us through all of the hard rapids before they got stoned, and we parted ways at the takeout. After getting in dry clothes, we headed to what would become our new favorite store—the Salmon River Outpost.
Paradise... no really this place is paradise. Microbrews, espresso, blue grass music, and all the free river advice you want.
The only store for miles, it had a wide selection of delicious beers, organic foods, and an incredibly appealing redneck/hippie vibe. We had decided the next day that we were going to take on the Upper Salmon, so we got to bed early that night, dreaming about the tougher, IV-V river.
Upper CalSalmon River, 5/17
We got an early start the next day, loaded up the boats, and headed in to the Salmon River Outpost. This place’s stock just kept rising—not only do they have incredibly beer and food, but the guy who worked their made espresso. We got fired up with some coffee, and got some river beta from the guy working there, who was a big paddler. His best advice was, in Freight Train rapid, 'just go in with a low brace, and it'll feel like the whole rivers closing in on you, but just keep that brace, and then you'll come screaming out. It's radical.'
Low brace, screaming out, radical... right?
We called our parents, checked the river flows, and then headed up the road to the Salmon.
Yes we both called our mommies, what of it.
The put-in for the lower section is the take-out for the upper section, so we dropped the bike at the house where we put in the day before, near the mangy dogs who chase cars, and headed up the road. Every time the road curved, exposing the deep canyon and the frothy water below, we would park the car on the shoulder and jump out, offering our opinions of various river features from 200 feet above. It was ridiculous --"I think that I see a good line on the left...that looks like a manageable rapid." I think that we were nervous about what was coming up, but, honestly, you couldn't see shit from up there.
The put-in for the upper section is a campground about 8 miles above the take-out.
Elliot makes his way back up from river level at the put-in. He proceeded to cut the tension of all the boys changing at the car with a little Metallica rock out session.
We loaded up the boats, had a little food, and then got on the water. The river starts of with a bang --a large drop into a swirly pool called Bloomer Falls.
Roadside scout of Bloomer Falls, just downstream of the benign flatwater putin.
We took a long look at the rapid, supposedly not one of the harder rapids on the river, and all of us except Dan A. ended up walking it. Dan had a good line down the middle, and ended up shooting out of the backwash of the falls in a spectacular stern squirt. I think that most of us regretted not paddling this rapid, but since it was the first rapid of the day, none of us wanted to tempt the fates too early.
As it turned out, Bloomer Falls, even though it was only rated IV+, was one of the more difficult rapids on the river. Because the water was relatively low, I think that some of the punch was taken out of the bigger rapids, and we had a good morning cruising down the river, scouting the larger drops, and moving along well.
Some fun rapids on Upper Salmon
We stopped for lunch around 2, and then continued onward.
Only moments later Elliot tackled Dan A (on the left) in a desperate attempt to grab the last snickers bar of the lunch... says Dan "I'll simply never forgive him..."
The afternoon ended up being substantially more intense than the morning. After lunch, one of the first rapids that we encountered was Cascade Falls, which ended up being kind of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure puzzle. You could take the more difficult entry, punching a pretty meaty hole on river left, and then have a much easier time of the boulder choked runout. Or you could take an easier entry move, a boof into a swirly pool, but then have a much tougher time getting on track to avoid the rocks at the bottom of the rapid.
Dan, Dan and I decided to run it, and we all ended up going for the easier entry move, and decided to take our chances with the lower section.
Scouting Cascade on the Upper Salmon River, we all opted for the boof entry off the lower left hand spot of green water in the picture. The other move consisted of punching through the hole all the way river left (just to te lower left of where we are standing) that was backed up by the wall and a submerged rock.
Pat took a nice shot from the bottom of Cascade. The low level exposed a number of normally covered rocks.
Everyone had great lines, but Dan McGrath definitely had the hero line, not only for “remembering to boof,” but also for managing to avoid the rocks at the bottom, which Dan A. and myself pinballed off of in various ways.
The rapids continued to be challenging as we moved closer towards the end of the river. We were all getting tired, but I think that it was hitting Will the hardest. In one of rapids, Will had a great line right until he hit the bottom, and then flipped over and never really made it back up.
Sometimes you eat the bar...
and sometimes the bar eats you.
Will had a good swim though, and managed to collect himself at the bottom with grace and panache.
The next big rapid was called Achilles Heel, and, as Dan A. put it, “it was exactly what I expected a California Rapid to look like.” A tremendous amount of water blasted down a wide chute and into a ledge, with most of the water turning to the left, and some pouring over. This rapid was just amazing—there was nothing particularly difficult about it, just stay upright and move towards the left. But it was fun! Dan McGrath and I got kind of bogged down in some diagonal holes, and Dan Abraham had a really clean line. Pat Hughes, never fond of taking too many strokes, definitely missed a key stroke and managed to ride over the pourover basically sideways. We were all really concerned, but Pat is nothing if not graceful, and followed the advice of the guy at the Salmon River Outfitters, threw down a low brace, and came out of the rapid just fine.
After Achilles Heel, we were all on the lookout for Last Chance, which, as the name would suggest, was the last rapid before Class V Freight Train. Each new rapid was assumed to be it, and we would cautiously hop out and find that it was just another little drop with a green pool behind it. At this point, we were all starting to get tired, and wondering when the rapids would ever end. Will added another beer to his list by swimming, and decided that he was done. He hopped out of his boat and hiked up to the road. I walked the next rapid, and then we finally saw Freight Train on the horizon. We got out on the left to scout, and before we had made it halfway down, I think that we had all decided that we were done for the day.
Dan A makes one last search for a clean line down Freight Train in the quickly fading daylight.
Freight Train was an immense and fairly complex rapid, with tight and demanding lines. We walked to the end of the rapid, admired it, and then walked past it on our way to the car and some much-deserved sleep.
A day well done by any measure. The Salmon river lived up to all our expectations, and we made our way back to the campsite for some hot burritos and cold barley sodas.
Part III will be up soon, and hopefully some video of Bloomer Falls, Cascade, and Achilles Heel once I find someone to host a couple megs of video!
