mystery below FITW
Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12242
Printed Date: 23 Apr 2024 at 9:29am
Topic: mystery below FITW
Posted By: BrianP
Subject: mystery below FITW
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2012 at 7:02pm
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Went and scoured FITW today, looked a little high for me, but it had me wondering what's to be found downstream. Has anyone been down there?
Sorry, no cupdate, I've no idea where the cuprock is to be found. |
Replies:
Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2012 at 9:28pm
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There are two sweet back-to-back waterfalls a short distance downstream of Franklin Falls. Access is relatively easy.
Frankly it mystifies me that FITW gets so much attention but the best drops (arguably) lurk downstream in almost total obscurity. http://www.professorpaddle.com/rivers/riverdetails.asp?riverid=4454 |
Posted By: Erik
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2012 at 10:19pm
| There "used" to be a "run" down there. Put in at the base of Franklin Falls, take-out above the 20 ftr that lands on a rock. No portages. Those were the days when the drop below Root Ball got run as well. We called it Little Frankie because the drugs we took as youths fried our brains & prevented us from calling something more clever. There were a few close calls with Franklin itself so tread wisely and set safety. Hells bells, there's more below that 20 ftr onto rocks. There was a day were we did the 90/90...I-90 bridge to I-90 bridge. Not beatin chest, just sayin. Go get em. |
Posted By: BrianP
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2012 at 10:20pm
| Cool stuff! What about downstream of that? It must lose some elevation by the time it gets down near North Bend..? |
Posted By: Erik
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2012 at 10:30pm
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"Cool stuff! What about downstream of that? It must lose some elevation by the time it gets down near North Bend..?"
Frat-water from Denny Cr exit until Corn-Dog Falls, then things go nuts for a bit then back to Frat-Parties. Also some stuff to run from the upper Alpy lot till yer skeerd. Tends to be high-water stuff up there, but all runnable down to FITW proper. |
Posted By: phil
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2012 at 11:19pm
| What's a frat party? |
Posted By: justin
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 2:32pm
| I think Frat Party=flat water |
Posted By: phil
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 3:43pm
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Oh right, duh.
I was thinking frat party = rowdy, chaotic. |
Posted By: Erik
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 8:30pm
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Hee hee...oops. Frat-Water = Asian Ebonics for "Flat-Water". No association with the fraternal brotherhood. There is some fun lower-gradient stuff just below Twin Falls State Park but between Denny Cr exit and Corn Dog Falls it looks so-so to midland.
On a side note, I think our own JDunderscoreG gets credit for the 1st D of Little Franklin, correct? Maybe he's got a better name. Regardless, an exciting drop. Seems like some unfortunate wood issues the past several years in some of those less often run canyons. I do miss living close to The SF Sno. |
Posted By: JD_G
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 10:02pm
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There were a few others that ran it before my day, but I'll take credit for the "less than classic" right to left line. I believe Joe and Travis were the first (some folks Jon used to boat with long ago). Travis ended up swimming and lost his paddle to Franklin. I just called it the "Big Slide" (I was dropped on my head as a child, so don't blame me for lack of imagination)....so Little Frankie, is better. Erik is right there's other goodness below Franklin. Right now the first big drop has a log just above the entrance. You may be able to seal launch in off the big rock and still run it. The next 20 footer is clean. But you need to exit a few drops down, before "Z-Turn" since it's clogged with wood. Ran the "Denny Stretch" earlier this year, and it was clean from the starting 10' down to Denny Creek Cmpgrd. Good to have a look at the log ledge under the bridge at Denny Cmpgrd, as it may not be good at some flows. When you get below Denny Cmpgrd, the river meanders for a bit before reaching the 2nd canyon that starts with an ugly drop under a bridge (has wood in it)....approach with caution. The next couple drops have a bunch of wood, but are still boatable. The last 10' falls no longer has an eddy at the top right, so be heads up. There is a hidden stretch above Exit 38, that a has a cool canyon with a 3 or 4 drops. Use to be able to see the last drop from the Hwy, but the trees have blocked it out.
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Posted By: dave
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 10:11pm
/media/photoview.asp?File_Id=7246">
If you see this you have gone to far.... ------------- Nomad |
Posted By: Erik
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2012 at 8:26am
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JD's run on Lil Frankster was the first I had heard. As with many runs/rapids in the area, there's usually a story/person who had braved scary stuff long before the glory of the internet. Those pioneers still hold my greatest respect.
Anyone remember Tim's run on Lil Frank? He departed from his boat, and was being dragged to shore via rope. He was trying to drag his boat with him but his water-logged boat was trying to take him over Franklin. He had to let his boat run the falls. This all went down in that last glimpse of green water in Dave's pic. My one successful run and Tim's close call, was enough for me to retire from that drop. We did send a cracked boat over Franklin one evening. It penciled in perfectly. JD, I forgot about that bonus canyon above 38. Never made it in there. Seemed like a schwack to find it. |
Posted By: BrianP
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2012 at 9:33am
| Excellent info and stories, thanks! |
Posted By: brianmaier
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2012 at 9:55am
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Ha Erik,
I remember that evening now that you mention it. I had several good runs up until I saw that go down, and one after, but that pretty much retired 'root ball' for me too.
If we are talking bout the same day (Shertzel sent the boat over from the top) that boat had a sweet line! Guess if you blow it, tuck up and hope for the best! F-Dat.
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Posted By: jalmquist
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2012 at 9:24pm
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Joe Forschler was the first person I know to run the slide above Franklin. He did it one evening he and I were up there doing a few FITW laps, shortly before he was to take a couple-year hiatus from boating. He figured it might be “now or never”. We scouted for a bit, and he made the decision to give it a go. And a good go it was – one of the few truly clean L to R lines I’ve seen, getting far enough R to miss that middle flake. Of course, it could have been run before Joe. I know Jeff Trauba mentioned he explored in there a bit. But I think Jeff was exploring the Franklin stretch below FITW. |
Posted By: BrianP
Date Posted: 04 Jul 2012 at 11:44am
| Where exactly is corn dog falls? Does that mean that anyone has paddled from Denny Creek to Twin Falls? |
Posted By: BrianP
Date Posted: 04 Jul 2012 at 12:46pm
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I guess what I'm wondering is...Would there be a worthwhile adventure between FITW and Twin Falls? I'm placing class IV at the top end of my game so I'd be plenty happy even if it were a bunch of class II and III. It just looks intriguing..
**sorry if I'm misunderstanding the above descriptions, I'm just not very familiar. Some people put class II and III into the flatwater/not exciting category which is why I ask. |
Posted By: Travisimo
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2012 at 3:05pm
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This is "Corn Dog" aka "Thousand Dollar Falls," aka "Limp Wrist," it's on the North side of I-90 and easy to miss. Man made waterfall from blasting, I'm assuming to keep the river off of the highway? It has broken several paddles. Not much description but you can see pictures at the bottom: http://professorpaddle.com/rivers/riverdetails.asp?riverid=4453 - http://professorpaddle.com/rivers/riverdetails.asp?riverid=4453 How it got the corndog name! The intertubes are cool... http://www.chrisj.winisp.net/images/chrisjcorn.jpg - http://www.chrisj.winisp.net/images/chrisjcorn.jpg http://www.chrisj.winisp.net/ - http://www.chrisj.winisp.net/ ------------- H2O please |
Posted By: FLUID
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2012 at 8:22pm
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Root ball from JD's seat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g8UYbyDPGA&feature=plcp - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g8UYbyDPGA&feature=plcp
Little Frankie from Jd's seat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV5vzznu3og&feature=plcp - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV5vzznu3og&feature=plcp
looking from the bottom lil Frankie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cyXxdEDIxM&feature=plcp - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cyXxdEDIxM&feature=plcp
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Posted By: JayB
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2013 at 3:30pm
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Seems like a good time for a bump.
From what I've seen from the road the bit between the Denny Creek CG and Asahel Curtis Rd/NF 55 looks like an intruiging run with an easy shuttle. Looked like creeky III-IV stuff from the road, and there looks to be one fairly significant drop under a bridge midway through the run (obvious on the satellite pics on Google maps but I'm not sure what it looks like in person). Something to keep in mind when the levels on FITW are too high for most folk's liking... ------------- -Jay |
Posted By: jalmquist
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2013 at 5:06pm
| The "Denny Creek" stretch (down to NF 55) is a bit Jekyll and Hyde, but a good run all things considered. There are quite a few fun drops, a couple of big drops (that I personally carry), and the "in between" stuff where you wish for more water. That drop under the bridge has a pretty good undercut on RL. We used to run it (at some levels), but we stayed as RR as as possible. I've seen it run further L near the wall. They made it, that's all I'll say... It was more appealing when the bedrock section down under the DCCG bridge was clean / sans wood. Our normal routine was to put in above there, starting the trip with the last drop leading out of the Franklin gorge. Then down through the Denny Creek CG section, and on down to the NF 55 bridge by the Hwy. JD might have been the last in there, and could give a wood report. Not sure he's been in there this year, but last year he mentioned some unfortunate changes to a couple of the bigger drops down near the take-out. |
Posted By: JayB
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2013 at 7:43pm
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Originally posted by jalmquist
The "Denny Creek" stretch (down to NF 55) is a bit Jekyll and Hyde, but a good run all things considered. There are quite a few fun drops, a couple of big drops (that I personally carry), and the "in between" stuff where you wish for more water. That drop under the bridge has a pretty good undercut on RL. We used to run it (at some levels), but we stayed as RR as as possible. I've seen it run further L near the wall. They made it, that's all I'll say... It was more appealing when the bedrock section down under the DCCG bridge was clean / sans wood. Our normal routine was to put in above there, starting the trip with the last drop leading out of the Franklin gorge. Then down through the Denny Creek CG section, and on down to the NF 55 bridge by the Hwy. JD might have been the last in there, and could give a wood report. Not sure he's been in there this year, but last year he mentioned some unfortunate changes to a couple of the bigger drops down near the take-out. Thanks for sharing that info - super helpful. It had the look of a run that would involve lots of scouting the first trip down but it's helpful to have a better idea of what's lurking int there. Mods - this stretch seems like a good candidate for it's own entry since it's in-between the Frankie's run and the "Seattle Gorge" run. The put-in and take-out are obvious and easy to access, and jalmquist's beta would provide a pretty good resource for people considering the run and a good base for folks to make additions to over time. ------------- -Jay |
Posted By: jondufay
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2013 at 10:18pm
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For what it is worth, a few weeks ago, Damon, Phil and I went in and checked out the Seattle Gorge. What we found at around 650 cfs was margninally runnable and had lots of wood. We ended up paddling flatwater up to the gorge, portaged up and around the gorge (about 30 minutes) and boated flatwater to the take out. ------------- ahh, f--- it dude, lets go boating... |
Posted By: JD_G
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2013 at 11:25pm
| The "Denny Section" is worth it's own entry as a possible run. I haven't been back in this year. The wood in the lower canyon was pretty significant. The drop below the "Undercut Bridge Drop" was called "Septic Tank", and it had 4 - 6 trees hanging down into the creek. You'd crash a sticky hole at the bottom of the drop, and then have a couple boat lengths before "sketchy moves around wood". After that is "Taco Bobs", which was clean and had a couple lines. Then the last big drop was a 10 foot falls that lands on a rock, though still feasible to run. There use to be a little eddy on the right to scout/portage, but that's gone, so its now a more involved deal on the left. Then you're down through the bee-bop run out to Asahel Cmpgrd. If you take out a little lower there's a tributary that comes in river left via a tunnel under the westbound lanes of I-90, which you can boat through, if you're willing to run across I-90 with your boat to put-in on the south side. |
Posted By: jalmquist
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2013 at 8:18am
| Taco Bob's?! Since we're naming drops, we used to call the undercut bridge drop "Brenda and Smiling Jake's" - named after a, uh, calescent hippy gal and her dog that lived in one of the RR cabins just below... Always worth catching that eddy! |
Posted By: Scott_H
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2013 at 8:50am
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Good info - thanks! Definitely on the list of runs to scope in the future.
Also gained a new adjective - "calescent". Had to look that one up. ------------- “The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” |
Posted By: JD_G
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2013 at 10:00am
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Yes, 'Taco Bobs'.....at lower water if you aren't pointed straight for the slot on the right.....well, you get the picture. Mentioning water level, the Denny stretch has a pretty wide range....700 - 1,500 on the SF Snoq gage. There's also a stick gage downstream river left at Denny Cmpgrd, which should be between 3.2 - 4.1. High flows clean-up the tweener stuff, and make it fun, while the bigger drops are still reasonable. Jon mentioned putting in at the exit to the Franklin stretch....there's a good pull-out next to this, where you'll see the tight 20' that lands on/next to rock, and the "Plunger", which is the 10' start to the Denny Stretch is just downstream.
The stretch at Denny Cmpgrd is the best series on the run, and I've done laps on that in the past when I was looking for a quick hit. The drop under the bridge at Denny Cmpgrd has a wood logjam ledge that is boofable, just make sure to "stick it". |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2013 at 12:40pm
 I just want to say I've been stoked since JayB revived this thread- I read it when it originally unfolded, and its just as good a read now! Gotta love a little Shertle wisdom (Frat-water),
And now Almquist drops "calecent" on us (I also had to reach for the Websters, though the context gave me a pretty good idea. I never turn down the opportunity to learn a new word). Some colorful names tucked in there, fellas. Class is in session, kids! These "oldschool" guys know how to name rapids and drops, not to mention running the sh*t.  ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: jalmquist
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2013 at 12:56pm
| "oldschool"? That would be old's cool! |
Posted By: JayB
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2013 at 3:20pm
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Originally posted by jP
I just want to say I've been stoked since JayB revived this thread- I read it when it originally unfolded, and its just as good a read now! Gotta love a little Shertle wisdom (Frat-water),
And now Almquist drops "calecent" on us (I also had to reach for the Websters, though the context gave me a pretty good idea. I never turn down the opportunity to learn a new word). Some colorful names tucked in there, fellas. Class is in session, kids! These "oldschool" guys know how to name rapids and drops, not to mention running the sh*t. I too am a big fan of "calescent." Clearly jalmquist has the lexical chops to match his paddling prowess. Anyhow - can you use your magical moderator powers to create an entry for this run, or share some wisdom on how us regular users can add a river entry? ------------- -Jay |
Posted By: JayB
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 9:48pm
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Hey Mods:
Now that you're back from the ball, let's get that river entry going for this section.... ------------- -Jay |
Posted By: JayB
Date Posted: 15 Jun 2013 at 11:50pm
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Bump. C'mon Rio Banditos - let's add an entry for this run and get the info presented here someplace where fellow paddlers can actually use it. Muchas Gracias... ------------- -Jay |