Locked Gates
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=12722
Printed Date: 21 Sep 2025 at 6:07am
Topic: Locked Gates
Posted By: BIGWATER
Subject: Locked Gates
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 6:40pm
|
went and ran the Canyon River in the Satsop drainage today .... never done it before and even tho its just a class 2 ,3 run we just wanted to see it and fill in the blanks on that area all went well with only one log jam portage
then we are driveing the shuttle back to my van and bam, the gate is locked
 ..... it was just after 3pm and Green Diamond Co. had locked the gate that had a sign that says DAYLIGHT use .... we drove back to 101 till we had cell service but it was after 4pm by then and Green Diamond office was closed .... anyways im home in Oly now and my van is spending the night locked up 8 miles past a gate in the Olympics... gona miss work on monday and my buddy is gona drive me back up there to get my van, IF Green Diamond is gona open the gate .... but ill bring my 18 volt gate opener just in case anyways just a heads up, on Green Diamond land, daylight ends sometime before 3pm and they dont check to see if anyone is behind the gates ... we are lucky we did not finish earlyer, as we both may have been locked in there while running the shuttle
if anyone wants to pick me up at my house and drive me up to may van we can go kayak something up there and kill 2 birds with one stone , if not i have a ride lined up
|
Replies:
Posted By: msims
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 7:46pm
|
Bolt cutters. Carry them, but don't use them unless you have to.
|
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 8:50pm
| boltcutters dont work on gates. cutting torches and shotgums. i carry two of each. |
Posted By: msims
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 8:54pm
|
Depends on how the gate is locked.
If you can't open it with bolt cutters, we should probably be ripping off whatever is inside. After we get the van out, of course. |
Posted By: thad2000
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 10:02pm
|
Are shot gums something I don't know about, or a typo. Personally I like lock pics, doesn't break anything. Improvised ones seem to get me in most places.. but gov. locks are usually a bit tougher.
I'm checking for where the run is... but, where are you? Info, info, info... or those who where serious could pm. Perhaps I'm not so serious. I wouldn't be able to leave until around noon. ------------- why not! |
Posted By: BIGWATER
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:40am
|
well i called Green Diamond and they have no idea about the gate at the office .... they gave me the security guys number and it goes right to voice mail ... if i dont get in touch with him soon i may have to cut the gate .... also i wounder what legal rights, if any we have in a case like this .... it was posted "open to public , daylight use" .... yet the gate was locked before 3pm on a sunday afternoon i also find it hard to belive that they pay someone to drive all over the Olympic to open and close gates every day , and even on a sunday
|
Posted By: BIGWATER
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 9:34am
|
so i finaly got in touch with the gate guy and he was very helpfull .... he is gona meet us at the gate today to open it .. but he says that the altho the area is open to the public , that its a red dot road and no motorized travel is permited in that area ... and that the gate must have been left open by contractors working in the area ... he also said that if he wanted to bust my balls, he could impound my van and cite me for criminal tresspassing
anyways it looks like im gona get in to get my van ... but the sad thing is that 2 more runs are now locked up on the Olympic , since that road system is used to run the west fork Satsop gorge and the Canyon river... he said the gate will remain closed due to vandals in the area ... looks like we lost 2 more runs to red neck vandals burning cars and cooken meth out on back roads
|
Posted By: jalmquist
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 10:55am
|
Some info on where the gate is would be helpful. I'm assuming it's somewhere along what is (was) FR 2260. Maybe at the intersection with Wynoochee Valley road, just before WVR crosses Save Creek? How about access via the east side of Canyon river? FR 2260 hits the road up the MF Satsop only a hop skip and a jump from the bridge over the Canyon River. I'm guessing it was gated there as well? A couple of years ago I ran into the same issue with the take-out road for the Wynoochee gorge. It was gated by Green Diamond Resource Co (formerly Simspon Timber - nice name change...) with a note that the road was open for public use - just not for motorized vehicles. Tom O'Keefe gave me contact info for GDRC, but I eneded up speaking to a public affairs person who was never able to help me. They can provide access (via a loaner key?) if you jump through hoops ahead of time (fill out application, provide insurance info, and on and on...). But it was too little to late for my trip. I just hiked out with my boat, which worked. But it's not something I'd do with a bunch of boaters new to that stretch.
Anyway, you should loop in Tom O'Keefe / AW with this info. They may not be able to do anything in the immediate future, but at least they can document the loss of access maybe and use it for leverage in future negotiations.
|
Posted By: thad2000
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 1:59pm
|
Bad timing finding the gate open. It would be hard to prove criminal trespass with the gate open and the sign. Still, you would be screwed on impound and legal fee's. Good thing the guy wasn't an Ahole. ------------- why not! |
Posted By: BIGWATER
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2012 at 9:19am
i got my van back 
John, you are correct the gate is at the intersection of WVR and the old FR 2260 (now Green Diamond 600 ?) just before Save Creek.... from the gate its about 4 miles to the bridge over the West Fork Satsop and about 8 miles to the washout near Canyon River
the only way i could see to get in from the east side is up the Kelly road , as far as i know that dead ends before it reaches the Canyon River, but i did not drive all the way up it
i guess you can still run the west fork Satsop Gorge and take out way way down at the Cougar Smith bridge , but that adds miles and miles of flat water to the run and makes the shuttle much longer
|
Posted By: BRoss
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2012 at 8:14pm
|
sucks about the gates. Korb made that one sound like a nice run, as well as the other runs in the satsop area. I was looking at some that stuff this weekend as an option for this weekend while we were out in the humptulips area getting high water skunked. donkey creek falls was fun though ------------- "That boated a lot better than it looked." "It always does until it doesn't." |
Posted By: BIGWATER
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2012 at 8:29am
|
high water skunked ? im not sure what you mean ... this was a perfect weekend to be out on the western Olympic we ran lower Matheney on Sat and it was a sweet medium high flow, we should have camped there and run it again sun morning and then gone up to the moshpit for some epic surf ... but we had people that needed to be home on sat night, so we went back to Oly if you are gona head out to the Olympic again sometime give me a call
Chris at three 6 zero 867 one nine 2 one
|
Posted By: BRoss
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2012 at 9:43am
we had a diverse group, and weren't looking for "bigwater"  ------------- "That boated a lot better than it looked." "It always does until it doesn't." |
Posted By: water wacko
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2012 at 4:47pm
|
Robe is currently at 6.66' while the Skykomish @ Gold bar is a perfect 10k. hmm.. ------------- "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman |
Posted By: SOPBOATER
Date Posted: 07 Dec 2012 at 2:27pm
| These gates are going to continue to be an issue up here. Generally green diamond is pretty reasonable. I think i know the contractor that locked u in and he its a Dick of the highest order. He no doubt took pleasure in it. Generally contractors are supposed to leave the gate in the state found but lazy folks will leave it open if they are in and out and sucker u in there. And yes there its a full time guy who just goes around and deals with the current gate wars that are happening up here with all the timber companies. That sucks. Hopefully u made a friend with the security guy though. |