I woke up before daylight shivering for the 2nd consecutive night.I rebuilt the fire from the night before and curled up around it,knowing it would be a while before the sun would reach this deep canyon.The boys soon joined me beside the fire and we all agreed to wait for the sun to go kayaking.The day before had us much more mentally prepared for the biggest shit of our lives that was about to come,and when the sun finally hit the river,we put on and were right back in it again.
Right out of camp we entered into the sickest boulder garden sequence we had ever seen.10-12 drops with only one good pool and a few small eddies.Big holes and and sloping ledges led us around the corner only to find that the river was about to get steeper!
A short slide led pretty much straight into one of the largest runnable slides any of us had ever seen.I portaged,Mason swam after getting an aerial stern squirt into the right wall/pocket,and Wallace greased it like it was baby falls.
A few smaller drops led us to the top of the waterfall gorge.Wallace wanted it bad,so we set safety for him and watched as he crushed it.Hole by hole he worked his way to the exit 25'er and plugged her in nicely.
After waterfall gorge is a short portage with the option of putting back in for the raw dawg gorge or stayin on the trail till you are past raw dawg.We chose the latter and had lunch at the end of our portage.After some really good salami and rice tacos,we put back on and the river began to mellow out greatly as we entered Simpson meadows.The team was maxed out after all the HARD whitewater that morning,and we were happy to be covering ground quickly.After a few hours of the best flatwater I have ever paddled,we started to see rapids again and made the choice to camp at the next big scout due to exhaustion.A stout class 4 led us into a walled in pool and we could see the river beginning to pick up the pace downstream.We found a really nice camp spot on the river right cliff and did a little rope work to get all of our stuff up there.Teamwork is always in play on this trip,and setting up camp was no different.
We had reached the unknown,all the rapids we had seen in photos and video except the Beaver slide and a few bottom 9 drops were behind us,but we knew the river did not let up.We poured over the map trying to figure out where we were at,but were left with only a vague idea.This day had pushed us to the limit but we knew we had to keep our heads to the grindstone for what lay in store.
Right out of camp we entered into the sickest boulder garden sequence we had ever seen.10-12 drops with only one good pool and a few small eddies.Big holes and and sloping ledges led us around the corner only to find that the river was about to get steeper!
A short slide led pretty much straight into one of the largest runnable slides any of us had ever seen.I portaged,Mason swam after getting an aerial stern squirt into the right wall/pocket,and Wallace greased it like it was baby falls.
A few smaller drops led us to the top of the waterfall gorge.Wallace wanted it bad,so we set safety for him and watched as he crushed it.Hole by hole he worked his way to the exit 25'er and plugged her in nicely.
After waterfall gorge is a short portage with the option of putting back in for the raw dawg gorge or stayin on the trail till you are past raw dawg.We chose the latter and had lunch at the end of our portage.After some really good salami and rice tacos,we put back on and the river began to mellow out greatly as we entered Simpson meadows.The team was maxed out after all the HARD whitewater that morning,and we were happy to be covering ground quickly.After a few hours of the best flatwater I have ever paddled,we started to see rapids again and made the choice to camp at the next big scout due to exhaustion.A stout class 4 led us into a walled in pool and we could see the river beginning to pick up the pace downstream.We found a really nice camp spot on the river right cliff and did a little rope work to get all of our stuff up there.Teamwork is always in play on this trip,and setting up camp was no different.
We had reached the unknown,all the rapids we had seen in photos and video except the Beaver slide and a few bottom 9 drops were behind us,but we knew the river did not let up.We poured over the map trying to figure out where we were at,but were left with only a vague idea.This day had pushed us to the limit but we knew we had to keep our heads to the grindstone for what lay in store.
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