Whitewater Forum: Granite Creek
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Granite Creek

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=4939
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 10:48am


Topic: Granite Creek
Posted By: dylan
Subject: Granite Creek
Date Posted: 25 Apr 2007 at 8:25pm
The N. Cascade Highway opens on Thursday the 26th of April. This means that the Granite Creek season is on.
 
Anybody want to go out there on Saturday?  I'm thinking of running the class III - IV Granite Creek / Ruby Creek combo.
 
-Dylan



Replies:
Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 25 Apr 2007 at 10:38pm
Sounds awsome! If levels are in I'm very interested.
 
- Bryon


Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 25 Apr 2007 at 10:38pm
Doh!
 
I got screwed up on dates. I'm busy this weekend, but would definately be down for it a week from now.
 
-B


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 26 Apr 2007 at 9:00am
I can't this weekend, but I would love to check it out.  Maybe a day of paddling combined with a day of spring boarding at the pass?

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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: dylan
Date Posted: 26 Apr 2007 at 12:46pm
It's a great creek, and I'm trying to get on it as much as I can. I've been on it when the Methow is at 3,000 (low on the creek) and when the Methow is at 6,000 ( juicy on the crick).

Levels look good for this weekend, we'll have to see what happens after that. I'm stoked that people are interested.

-Dylan


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Posted By: dylan
Date Posted: 27 Apr 2007 at 7:59pm
Someone wants to go tommorrow (besides me) I just know it.
-Dylan

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Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 28 Apr 2007 at 8:59am

That sounds good, but not for another two weeks for me, Can't wait to go exploire and meet some new boater's!!!



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There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!!


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2007 at 10:30am
Dylan, I'm interesting in running this with you Saturday id it is running.  I'll be out of town the next few days, I'll check in with you later in the week. 
Tom


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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 03 May 2007 at 4:18pm
Dylan,  Leif, Dan and I are interested in running this Saturday if the flows are good.  Plus, I'd like to hike up Thunder Creek and take a look at it.  Are you still interested? 

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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: dylan
Date Posted: 03 May 2007 at 4:27pm
I am always interested in that run, but I can't this Saturday.
 
It's likely a great level for it though, so I encourage getttin on it.
 
Sorry for flaking.
 
-Dylan


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Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 03 May 2007 at 4:38pm
I'm definately up for a Granite Creek trip either day........let's do it!
 
- Bryon


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 03 May 2007 at 4:59pm

Thanks Dylan, any beta?



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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: dylan
Date Posted: 03 May 2007 at 6:22pm

Korb says in the Whitewater Guide that "one Class IV + rapid, along with the entire first mile of whitewater, should be thoroughly scouted from the road for logs before putting on."  I concur. Who knows whats in the creek after last November.

 
Let me know how it goes.
 
-Dylan


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Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 04 May 2007 at 11:24am
Looks like this is not going to happen.  Leif is of to Idaho or Hood River, Dan can't paddle in the morning and have evening plans.  Looks like sopmething in the Sky drainage is more likely or the Green if that falls through. 

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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 04 May 2007 at 4:12pm

Not so fast, looks like there are three of us interested right now. Let me know if you can make it.

 
- B


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 04 May 2007 at 4:37pm
I'm still interested but I need an earlier start.  What time are you thinking?

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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 04 May 2007 at 9:00pm
We're meeting at 8:00 at the Park and Ride of I5 and 164th. This is a couple miles north of the intersection of I5 and 405. Give me a call if you're coming out. It would be good to have a 4th person.
 
- Bryon
425 301 8538


Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 04 May 2007 at 9:01pm
By the way, here's a link to the Park and Ride.
 


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 04 May 2007 at 10:04pm
I'm in, but I'll drive up myself.  I have plans in Lake Stevens tomorrow evening so the park and ride is the wrong way.  It is around a 3 hr drive so I'll plan to meet you at the takeout at 11 am unless I hear otherwise.  Call me if anything changes 206-734-16 four 2
Tom


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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 8:56am

For those of you who have not seen this creek, check it out.  The scenery is spectacular, the water is clear is and the river is awesome.  Because of low flows we put on the Upper section.  Unfortunately I only ran a mile+ of the run because of a late start time was running short and I had to get back to town.  (Hiking uphill to the putin with a kayak sucks).  Wood is definitely a concern so make your first trip at lower levels (Methow under 5000 at Peteros).  I'd consider bring a folding saw next time to clean things up a bit.   I can't wait to go back. 

I'll post some pics when I get a chance. 
Anything to add Otter Boy?


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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: mike
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 10:27am
I'd love to see those pics, a few of us were thinking about heading up to the Upper section on Thursday and were looking for as much info as possible.  How much snow was there at the put in?


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 12:18pm
There is about 1 foot of snow near the put in but It's melting fast.  There is a lot of wood.  At low flows you should have time to stop but at higher flows be very careful.  Like I said, I only ran 1.5 miles or so before my time ran out so I don't know what the rest of the run was like.  The flows were at the bottom of the suggested range (Methow 4000at Pateros) Saturday and the run felt easier than the guidebook suggested.  Make sure to ask Otter boy about the rest of the run.  I need to look, but if this run is not in a wilderness area I would bring a small folding saw. 

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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 12:43pm
I don't have much to add. We hiked off only a mile or so below the point where Tradguy2 bailed. If you're good enough to tackle Upper Granite Creek there's not a lot you can learn from me. If I may quote Bennet, there is "enough wood to make Beavis blush". Log locations will change with springtime flows. Be careful out there, and scout everything you can't see from the top.
 
Having said that, I'm very interested in running the lower III/IV section at a healthy flow. This creek is a real gem, and we need to bet some beta recorded on the American Whitewater site.
 
- Lontra canadensi Boy
 


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 1:01pm

I just looked at a map, the creek is not in a winderness area so...

 


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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: Sisu
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 1:39pm

After seeing all the wood in the upper section, a couple of us ran the easier Granite Creek/Ruby Creek section (as described in Bennet) on Sunday.  It was pretty low -- about 20% more water would make it really fun.  Mainly straightforward class III, with one river wide huge log jam, and two other spots with single logs all the way accross that we had to portage.  One was kind of sneaky -- be careful. 



Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 1:39pm
So a if a giant beaver went in and did some work.............


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 4:05pm
GIANT BEAVER


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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: mike
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 4:31pm
We did you guys hike off? Sounds like a fun run with its fair share of wood right now.


Posted By: Rock
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 11:07pm
This run is great and highly recommend it. Just be careful of the V+ drop, it's right after IV read-and-run.

Also, Trad's: do I get no love? Did you get that video of the first drop?

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-Erik


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 08 May 2007 at 12:27pm
I'll post it Erik, I just need to edit it down or it will be too big to post,, you spent a long time thinking about things in the pool above the drop. 

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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: JD G
Date Posted: 09 May 2007 at 10:30am
How many wood portages in the part of the Upper stretch you guys did?
Flows are looking to be good for it this weekend, so was looking for specifics on the wood situation.  Thanks.


Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 09 May 2007 at 11:25am

My guess, expect 2 per mile but I can't speak for the lower half of the run.



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... preparing for a river beating!     


Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 12 May 2007 at 9:02pm
Just got back from a run on the lower Granite/Ruby run...and at 7000+ on the Methow gage, it was smokin. I guesstimate we had about 800 cfs on Granite and 1500 cfs below the confluence on the Ruby River. There was definitely some wood worth mentioning in there.  On granite, there were a few spots with logs that were pretty easy to spot and avoid, and 2 spots of interest... about a mile into the run there is a section where you can the road up above from the river for a long stretch and then the creek goes through a rapid between rock cliffs. There is a small eddy here and then a riverwide log just downstream. You can duck under the log on the far left side.... however the water is pushing out towards the right and middle, so you want to make sure you get to the left as soon as possible. The next major hazard is an ugly double log jam. It's about 1/4 mile upstream from the confluence with Canyon Ck. You can take out on the left and portage. We carried up to the road here and walked around since the portage at river level looked like a pain. There is a turn out here so it is easy to check it out from the road...oh and same for the other log I mentioned. We found both of these by road scouting.

My boating partners told me there was a riverwide log on Ruby about 2-2/5 miles past the confluence... I did not see it, as I had an extended out of boat experience  after an unintentional rodeo session on a huge nearly riverwide hole... My buds chased my boat down for me and I hoofed down the road a ways to catch up to them. From what I hear, they went over that log. Maybe one of them can reply here.

All in all it was a very fun day, with plenty of water.


Oh, and we went up and had a peek at the big double drop on the upper run.... that thing looked heinous. The hydraulics looked evil... even from a 1/4 mile away.


Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 14 May 2007 at 9:19am
Sounds sick.

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There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!!


Posted By: mike
Date Posted: 14 May 2007 at 9:34am

I was on the river Saturday with Joe and we had planned on running the upper section but the flows went up to 7300 on the Methow throughout the week and turned what sounded like a low flow the weekend before to a pretty full on ride this weekend. The upper looked doable at that level but you would want to know exactly whats coming and where to run it (or portage it).  The V+ looked pretty sick at that flow.  SInce none of us had ran anything on Granite Creek we decided to run the lower which also turned out to be moving rather quickly and after putting on we were glad we didn't try the upper at that flow. What an awesome section of river though and I highly recomend the lower at that flow!   Get it while its good.



Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 8:35am
I just signed on to be Streamkeeper for the lower Grantie/Ruby run on AW with the intention of fleshing out the description with more info. I have run this run at low and high water, but certainly am not the biggest expert on this run out there. So... if there is anyone out there that runs this fairly often, I'd love to get your input.

So far I have made one change... and that was adding a link to the Methow gage for the recomended range. I put 3000-6000 as the range. I know you can run this higher and lower, but I thought this was a nice "middle range".


Posted By: Otter Boy
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 10:05am

Right on, it's great of you to sign up as streamkeeper! Are you planning any trips soon? I'd love to hit the class IV section at this flow. The class V section is above my paygrade, but I'd be willing to scuttle along the bank with a camera. How about Sunday?

 
- B


Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 10:11am
Jesterama!!

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There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!!


Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 11:29am
I'll be elsewhere this weekend. If you go prepare for some very continuous, crankin' whitewater at this flow. It was really moving at 7300 on the Methow, and it's over 9000 now.


Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 29 May 2007 at 4:12pm
I drove over N. Cascades Hwy yesterday... lots of snow up there (like 3 feet at Wash. Pass and 1-2 feet at Rainy pass) so hopefully we'll have a nice long season on Granite and Ruby. The flow looked a good medium flow... a bit lower than when we ran it a couple weeks ago... but I'd just assume run it lower than we did last time... what a fast river! 



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