I might be down for some Pilchuck fun tomorrow... It's been on my radar for the weekend too.




Edited by JoesKayak - 20 Jan 2012 at 7:40pm

JP, I love it! "on I-5, ready to rally somewhere" I'm ready too, bro.

Sorry, Chelsea- we were probably out on the Hwy 9 bridge lookin at it by 10am or so. It ended up being pretty darn high.

I'd only run it twice before (Pulchuck Crk).
4.5' on the stick above the Hwy 9 bridge: I had the Salto and thought, " this run would be a blast if it had more water and I had the Diablo"

Then I went back the following Halloween (2009):
4.85' on the stick and I brought the Diablo. It was higher and great fun in the sportier ride provided by the Diablo.

I wondered what it was like at an even higher flow.
Today it was 5.2' when we floated past the stick just above the HWY 9 bridge. Maybe 3ish? Jed might know.

Apparently at 1:45 it was 2700 cfs, according to Jed's text query. On the class II paddle out towards the end he pointed out the snow line and the waterline beneath it. It had been dropping some while we were on it. The pour over rock upstream of the Hwy 9 bridge was a broken wave/hole when we put on. When we took out, it resembled the pourover I remember from my run at 4.85'. Yet upstream, the 5.2' of today's flow was much much bigger than when I was on it at 4.85'.

Anyway, 4.85' was still class IV with some IV+ moments. Eddies are scarce if one is out of shape, but this is a good challenge for stable IV boaters looking to challenge their water reading, reaction time, and endurance. Its very boat scoutable, but it'll keep you on your toes. Swimming would suck at this flow, or even at 4.5'. Stay in the boat or find an easier run. Driftwood discouraged.

Here's the basic T.R. for our trip today 1/20/12 at 2700cfs or 5.2':

I think that at today's 5.2' flow, its full-on bigwater IV+ paddling in a class V environment. There's some crux spots where if you fu*k up, sh*ts gonna unravell into class V calamity real quick. You really got to be comfortable with the whole read n run freight train thing. That's a big part of keeping it contained within class IV parameters.Lots of scrambling from one side of the river to the other. No place to be a bobber n drifter. Gotta move your boat around.

There was the spanning log that had to be portaged. It was sketchy getting in to the bank to stop one's momentum. Not too bad of a portage though on river right. Possible sneak line far left, but another strainer upstream blocks a left approach.

Jed n I opted to portage "Pil Pusher", the distinct fat ledge up on the Upper with the hotel sized rock flanking it on R.Right. A stand out drop on the run that frequently comes up when boaters discuss this run. Pil Pusher. Eric Boomer probably would say it goes fine, but that's not the metric I use when evaluating whether to hoof it or not. Besides, the road grade was right there and the snow encouraged an easy drag. The drop looked too big, deep, and powerful looking for either of us to bother with.

Always on guard, we worked our way down to the bridge fine. This is only my third run on Pilchuck, and it was just the two of us. Jed had never run it before, and I wanted to play it safe as far as the falls was concerned. We got out just a few hundered yards above the falls, wanting to better scout our approach. This was a pain in the ass, but it was safe. We crept right up to the eddy on R.Right. the thing is though, there were some very big whitewater features just above the corner. Just flipping in there could doom you to running the left side of the falls. I remembered more slack water approaching the falls. It wasn't bad, but Jed was getting pushed by eddy fences, hanging out on the divinding line between the left half of the crik that twisted and dropped to the left, and the flatter water that pooled up on R.Right.

We got out where ya do on R.Right to scout the right half of the falls. It totally still goes, but we both ended up portaging. The day seemed to have enough action. I should've run it though, cuz the portage is jackass. Next time. I ran it the two previous times. Just wasn't lookin for extra adventure.

We boogied on and on. Its all whitewater. Even the class II towards the end keeps on truckin. We played it safe in the narrows (a.k.a. "The Pil Box") toward the end. Watch for wood here chocked in the narrow bedrock canyon. It must've been deep under water. It was there on the other runs and I hear it still is. It was underwater, today, I think.

There was some huge, squeezed boily sh*t in that canyon (The Pil Box). It still "went" in a straight forward, simple but pushy as hell class III way. But it was way too constricted to be called class III. I could barely track my boat straight a few times. That's saying a lot in the diablo. Whatever. Yall wanna sling them sandbags around, go for it.

After that though, its just class II express to the bridge. The rock above the bridge was more or a "sunken pourover" like the day it was 4.85' only fatter. It had been a small crashing wave/hole earlier before we put on.

Anyway, this re affirms what I've concluded about Pilchuck creek in the past:

It is a great run with lots of water in it if one has the skills and experience to react quickly to obstacles on the fly. A very under-estimated run.

Run it low for. Class III/IV experience with a waterfall, and then, for those looking for more action, just add water!

Amen, Brian. Ego is a tough thing for all of us to shed.

Sorry, Slick- I just slipped into grouchy mode for a bit. Power's been out at work, and the main workhorse at work up n quit. Leavin us in a big 'ol "racetrack of sh*t. And now we're racing around and around like sh*t jockeys, getting all sh*tty, Randy" (that's TPB reference, BTW.).

"I NEED A DRINK, BARB!"

Sweet. Go get your Chuckwagon on. I don't know bout what you think, but sounds like the name of a rapid to me.

The big ledge up high is named:
PIL Pusher.

Anyway, hope you north end boaters get on that. I probably won't make it north of Robe.

Holler at me for midweek pilfering.

Dude, you know I'd be all over it if I didn't have so much on my plate.
You know I'm down with the Chuck Wagon.

Those PPeeps who wanna creek and are in that fuzzy III/IV space or even in the Solid IV space should rally this if its in.

And, beleive it: if you are in a hardshell, have a solid roll, and want to progress, more water is always better (to a point. Look at my notes on the Pilchuck Page. Upper and Middle are combined so read em both.)

It's now 2200 and rising. Seems the storm was more robust than the predictions indicated. Lots of rivers spiking big today.

I haven't been on Pilchuck for more than a year, so my preference would be to run it below 2000cfs. I expect it'll spike up this weekend with snow melt, but keep me posted if you decide to run it on the downside of the spike