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Travisimo
Big Boofer
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Topic: Muddy Fork Cowlitz NO, Class VI Posted: 05 Oct 2009 at 2:06am |
DO NOT RUN Bennett trip 279, page 307...
We just completed a first and HOPEFULLY LAST decent of this run.
Logistics incorrect, unless "portage the ones we deemed unrunnable" means walking at least 1 mile through 30 degree forested canyon walled forest. I do not know a more polite way to describe the entry...
I know word of this run may have leaked out, but both of the participants are glad/lucky to have completed the first gorge...
More details, headcam footage, pictures and video to follow.
P.S. We took our zipline down too so PLEASE nobody try to repeat... I am not sure how much anybody has heard. As enticing as the falls on this trip were, the hike (minimum of a mile and and at near a thousand feet of vertical) probably make the candy beyond the realm of sanity.
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H2O please
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Kiwi
McNasty
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Posted: 05 Oct 2009 at 4:46pm |
Gary Korb mentioned a run on the muddy fork that wasn't in the guide book to me. he said it was class IV, a few miles long, but in a incredible gorge. maybe you did a mix of the two?
and I really want to see that helmetcam footage!!
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jihad
Splat Wheeler
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Posted: 05 Oct 2009 at 5:10pm |
No we did not. I know the gorge you are talking about and we didn't do that one. There was nothing class four about the gorge we ran. It was V+ VI P and I feel very lucky to be alive right now. we both had near death experinces in there. this gorge is no joke.
The put in logistics are in the back of the guidebook, and they are WRONG!!! IF anyone says they have done this gorge before us I would love to shake there hand and ask them what "they saw" in there.
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Kiwi
McNasty
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Posted: 05 Oct 2009 at 7:36pm |
that sounds like there's a epic story, glad you and travis made it out okay. you didn't lose any gear?
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James
Admin
Sum Dum Guy
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Posted: 05 Oct 2009 at 8:47pm |
Can't wait to see the beta!!!!
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wallyworld
Paddler
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Posted: 05 Oct 2009 at 9:26pm |
Seriously...............wow. Just saw some of the pics. Beautiful river. Reminds me of one of those huge deep-sea fish with the shiny dangler that hangs off its forehead luring in the unexpecting. That bedrock toilet bowl has to be the most terrifying.......yet facinating feature I have ever seen. Glad you guys are alright.
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let's go get it
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Travisimo
Big Boofer
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Posted: 05 Oct 2009 at 10:33pm |
No lost gear... in fact I only flipped 3 times and once on purpose to guard from a nonexistent impact...
Paddling skills cannot save you from a feature like this once at it... Thank goodness for little eddies and my partners climbing skills!
It was insane, i have never seen this on a river and never imagined it could happen... Completely unnatural looking and the perfect kayak trap...
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H2O please
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Travisimo
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Posted: 05 Oct 2009 at 10:44pm |
I'll also add that for a very motivated team there are 2 accessible beautiful falls, with an unportageable (without a zip line as we set up) boulder sieve of epic proportions between, you can carry around. Then you either get to carry your boat through hell up to the road or likely around the next two gorges because of a room of doom (runnable, even by morons like us) and then around the next serious section because the toilet bowl is at the bottom. It will definitely be more than anyone can do in one day, maybe not in two... We took 3, with walking out in between.... and our boats are still at the entrance to the final gorge... Thank goodness for a flashlight, gps, luckily placed abandoned trail and moonlight (over 5 miles hiking...). We had fire making materials and food, but there was beer at the truck
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H2O please
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jihad
Splat Wheeler
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 8:36am |
please be patient, the epic story and some media will come out. I am still recovering / reeling / in shock from the whole experince. give me a few days to calm my nerves. and even though the pain and horror will fade with time, and there was a lot of beautiful rapids and scenery in here. this run is NOT WORTH IT! we almost paid with our lives to see that gorge a river level.
jared
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jP
Rio Banditos
Diddle Fuerte Diablo !
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 9:35am |
Finally!! Tales Of Adventure on Professor Paddle! Seriously, though-glad you are unscathed with a tale to tell. And hey, a PFD is a PFD. But, while you have stated that media will be forthcoming, I must none the less take this opportunity to use the Godzilla of all Emoticons: can't wait to see some!
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James
Admin
Sum Dum Guy
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 11:02am |
I was all to close to slapping that emot in last night. I refrained for one and only one reason. The value of a PFD/FD thread is certainly not worthless without pics. Such photographic & cinematic beta is of course highly valuable and certainly appealing but should not be the basis for value within a post. I make this statement in two fashions. 1 worded with illustriusness for leif, and 2 representing the anti-beta snob attitude that JP commonly supports. (Ok Ok just having fun here, but you know if Megan did that JP would have called her a beta snob!!!! lol )
All this to say, I always loving seeing that Icon and I really want to see the photos, so lets do this!!!! Get the gallery a little muddy!!!!
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Travisimo
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 5:39pm |
My colleague is requesting that I not post any media until his head clears...
Otherwise I would have right away... It was a cool trip as well... and a cool story but a bit scary at two points....
I'm in Everett though if you're in the neighborhood...
Also I need to get editing software as most of the media is helmet cam footage since the gorge was too narrow to get out and film...
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H2O please
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Travisimo
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 5:48pm |
I'd like to do some real editing of this stuff too since it's so long... Where is the best place to store videos online for people to see?
Currently the stuff is rough and huge... gopro helmet cam files are huge...
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H2O please
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Travisimo
Big Boofer
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 6:12pm |
Here ya go... the toilet bowl...
Edited by James - 06 Oct 2009 at 6:59pm
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jihad
Splat Wheeler
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 6:28pm |
The river feature that almost killed us. AKA Porthole to Hell, AKA Toilet Bowl, AKA The Swallower, AKA Death, AKA WTF is That! and many more names that I haven't thought of yet.
It was in the most tight commiting section of the gorge with very intence rapids just upstream around the corner. The gorge walls were 100-150 ft of overhanging smooth rock. I could have leaped across it at the top it was so narrow. and many sections were only 5 ft wide at river level.
anyone want to venture to guess how the hell we got past this one alive?
you can see it in a bigger version in etive's gallery.
F@#K Me, I HATE This "Thing" It Still makes me sick to my stomach just to look at an Image of it.
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James
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Sum Dum Guy
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 7:06pm |
That's one scary whitewater wormhole there... Only way that would entice me is if it were a hotspring bubbling up not sucking down. Something like a mid river hot tub....
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Travisimo
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 8:40pm |
I'll also add that this makes the river look like it's got no volume... the videos are better... a LOT of water goes down this... or some other subterranean feature...
The level was definitely low, but I would not like to paddle the tight zone above this much higher...
The canyon walls are at least 80 foot high on both sides btw...
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H2O please
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STLboater
PP Junkie
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 10:19pm |
that is nasty, makes my stomach churn too.
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Kayak Academy Whitewater Instructor
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PowWrangler
PP Junkie
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Posted: 06 Oct 2009 at 11:02pm |
Sounds like an interesting trip to say the least. Glad you're both alright. Damn, never seen anything like that toilet bowl before...something to do with the volcanic rock I'm assuming. Must've been slim finding decent cracks to set protection for anchors. How'd you set up the tyrolean? Were you able to scout much from the rim before going in? We need a tuber to go run that, take a deep breath, and I bet they'd style that sh*t.
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1150lbsofaire
Super Looper
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Posted: 07 Oct 2009 at 9:16am |
way to go man, ive always thought that it had to be the most epic run in the bennett book, thanks for finding out so i dont have to
hans
i love how they capitalized the o in No Rafts in the write up
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lookin for a bow cap for a storm
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jP
Rio Banditos
Diddle Fuerte Diablo !
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Posted: 07 Oct 2009 at 9:50am |
Originally posted by James
I was all to close to slapping that emot in last night. I refrained for one and only one reason. The value of a PFD/FD thread is certainly not worthless without pics. representing the anti-beta snob attitude that JP commonly supports. (Ok Ok just having fun here, but you know if Megan did that JP would have called her a beta snob!!!! lol )
All this to say, I always loving seeing that Icon and I really want to see the photos, so lets do this!!!!
ok-- but to clarify -- Meghan was the one withholding beta earlier this year (FITyWahwah), and I supported her in that. It was the "Beta Brats" I was admonishing for getting all huffy when she didn't cough up pics or beta. And so, yes, I can see how hypocritical I appear now clammoring for pictures! But really, it's just an excuse to use the Icon. That icon has a lively personality, you must admit. Although I do want to see pictures! --Thanks for the Tiolet Bowl pic, BTW. Terrifyingly beautiful. When you guys calm down from this and put some distance between you and the event, maybe you could write up a nicely coherent trip report (posted as a T.R.-not as a forum post). I'd love to read it. thanks!
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Travisimo
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Posted: 07 Oct 2009 at 10:10am |
Here's the lowdown on the canyons/runs up there... total of 4 canyons basically. #1 - The box below the road (has been run at very low water)... there
is an evil gigantic wedged in logjam in this though so putting in would
require rappelling down after it and would be scary as the thing is
never wider than 10 feet and about 100 foot down... Apparantly there
was also a second trip when something went wrong... dunno... #2
- Death canyon, two 50+ footers that slam into the left wall...
Nobody... EVER will run this alive... though there is a sick looking 20
footer right at the confluence with Nickel Creek ... Read More
#3
- The one we have a 1st D on right after Nickel Creek, with 2 big falls and
a wicked boulder seive portage between, we used a zipline, then an evil
drop with a room of doom and a tough lead in, then the most committing
canyon I've ever seen that ends in a toilet bowl... too much to do in
one day and paddle the next gorge, any portage requires at least 100 foot climb out and waking
through STEEP forests
#4 - The one described in Bennett by Bill
Bowie and run at least one time after that... our boats are now at the
entrance to this one, guarded by a HUGE logjam that we knew was there,
was just too much to do with the amount of daylight we had and we
walked in at FIRST LIGHT.. 6AM
I know Bowie wrote that he hiked
in at Nickel Creek... but we even heard from someone there that day
that they did not run this section... don't know what happened... the
description is 100% wrong and probably why nobody has checked this
section out... we had a helicopter scout (thanks Brian) to speed up the
process and a lotta climbing rappelling and camping and multiple
painful hikes in and out with boating mixed in...
The next beta/images I'll put out will be the headcam stuff in some sort of coherent video...
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H2O please
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jalmquist
McNasty
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Posted: 07 Oct 2009 at 11:50am |
Don't forget the box canyon upstream from the road...
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Travisimo
Big Boofer
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Posted: 07 Oct 2009 at 1:50pm |
Thats #1 with the logjam
By "below" I meant you could jump off the bridge into it... The logjam is upstream from the bridge.
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jalmquist
McNasty
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Posted: 07 Oct 2009 at 2:50pm |
Ahh, that makes sense. Too bad about the wood - but not a surprise.
Re historical beta on the lower canyons you might want to contact Scott Matthews. He's boated the last canyon you mention (#4) at least a couple of times, and there's a good chance he and maybe Sprague et al ventured into #3 and #2 as well.
Someday when we meet on the river I'll give you the lowdown on the "something that went wrong" on upper box - at least the "something that went wrong" that I know of, which actually occurred during the first descent by kayakers (but not by kayak - hence the "something that went wrong"). It was the 2nd descent (first descent actually IN kayaks) that went well...
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