look lively out there ladies and gents...the sultan is most def a step up.  once past last nasty, things are good and last nasty is portagable on the right( not the best, but doable).  if you can, try to get somebody who is familiar w/ that run to show you the line.  last nasty has claimed quite a few boats and almost a few paddlers, so take a pin kit and the ability to use it.  the best piece of beta that i can give you is to stay right on that rapid (even to scout).  at flows over 800 cfs, boof the pour over rock that is trying to force you left about half way through the rapid, if it is lower and there is no boof, be very careful... most of the water is pushing you into the sieves on the left, so a quick and hard move is required.  most of the big dropscomes towards the beginning of the run.  the 1st rapid below the powerhouse, the river splits and you want to run the right channel, near the bottom of the channel, there is a big ass log going all the way across it, so be on the very far right side of the left channel, it is pushy in there (maybe it is gone from higth water).  the next two rapids are boat scoutable down the middle, but be sure to catch the eddy on the right IMMEDIATELY after the 3rd main drop on the river.  there is a small white plaque on a boulder on river right that signals the start of last nasty.  don't go paddling by that without scouting unless you know the line through it.  it is a small plaque that is hard to see until it is too late.   the rest of the run is good to go, boat scout everything and run middle down most everything.  i am not trying to scare you guys off the run, but a swim there is definatly more consequential than a swim on the sky, so be careful.  see the river descriptions for more beta and some photos.  hiking out of this gorge would suck.  especially without macchetes..i can speak of that first hand and so can a few others. peace out...oh yeah, the gate at the put in locks @ six, it would also suck to be locked in there.  snohomish county pud would not be too happy to come up and open the gate for those getting off too late.  afterwards, get pizza and beer @ dan's  (best food in the sultan, f the Sultan (*Sucky*) Bakery (*wait 1hour please*)).

did a bunch of stuff, after our mm rendevous on monday, i paddled the north fork of the nooksack on tuesday, both the canyon and horshoe bend.  on wednesday, did the foss and then the top tye.  on thursday, did the sauk, friday, did the bend again on the nf nooksack, saturday, top tye again followed by the sky.  on sunday, played 36 holes of disc golf (in glacier), then paddled the bend again (it is sweet, the last hole is only 5 minutes from the put in for the bend).  on monday, no paddling for me, but i managed to squeeze in 72 holes of disc golf in bellingham.  not a bad break for me, feels good to be going into spring run-off with my game on.  sorry to hijack the thread, back to this trip discussion...

Looks like the level won't be high enough for the Beckler on sunday, and the Sultan sounds a lot trickier then the description I read in the guidebook, so I'm gonna go ahead and cancel the trip.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Try to get something else together asap