This is a story from a few years ago. If you know Sprite Creek, or have paddled it, the locations and rapids will make sense. If you've just stumbled across these ramblings and are unfamiliar with Sprite Creek and whitewater boating then a quick search around here should give some clues... and there's always you tube. True story>
“When Beavers Walk”
Steve B@%9*z wanted to paddle Sprite Creek one
day after some torrential rain. I was all set to walk away… or drive
away over to East Canada Creek. Steve was persistent. I looked at the
creek, looked at Steve, looked back at the creek. There was a huge
amount of water, higher than I had ever paddled it. It just looked like
a big flush with water well up the banks and flowing into the woods.
Even though I had been paddling it everyday for the past several days at
progressively higher levels, it didn’t make me feel anymore comfortable
jumping in at the present flow.
I was completely serious when I
turned back to Steve and said I didn’t think he knew what we would be
getting into. To put it into context, I was explicit when I said we
would be on our own once we slid into the water. I wasn’t expecting him
to rescue me and I wouldn’t be able to promise him the level of support I
would normally afford a paddling partner.
We slid into the water
and it was full on guerilla boating all the way down to the beaver flow.
The next few rapids were all straightforward wave trains down to the
119 bridge. The “boof” rock was gone and there was no evidence of a
ledge; just a big wave that fed into the right tunnel. We had neglected
to scout the exit of the tunnel and the hole there was formidable. I was
able to just barely claw my way out and I turned to see Steve in his
“Y” get nearly backendered back into the hole. The next drop was
completely washed out and it was textbook Nealy through the “doldrums”
all the way to Triple Drop. We got out left, well above the first
diagonal ledge and hiked down through the woods. The ledge was not even
there; it was just a wave with water flowing into the woods on river
right. Looking downstream it was a maelstrom of white all the way to the
horizon lines. Okay, I announced, I’m walking on river left all the
way to below the falls and started hiking. I wasn’t about to discuss
lines or what ifs, and Steve, reluctantly (?), followed me as I grabbed
my boat and started walking. I remember Steve being quiet as we stumbled
through the swamp and entered the woods above the falls. But then I
looked down and saw a beaver walking along the creek bank parallel with
us. He didn’t even bolt, just kept walking downstream and I said to
Steve, “See!? If the beavers are walking, so should we!”
We put in
below the falls and paddled down stream; you can imagine how fast we
were at the lead-in to Wildchild. There was no eddy on the left so we
pulled over on the right, which turned out to be all swamp. Looking
downstream the only viable eddy was the one just above the footbridge
drop on river right. The water was big, but just big waves down a steep
gradient until it went under the bridge and then made that abrupt left
turn and over the falls. I peeled out and started down. Immediately I
realized that this was not good… it did not feel right. I started
cranking hard with every stroke and fortunately I hit every stroke with
full power. I was completely focused on that eddy and I just barely
made it. My nerves were frazzled once I was safely in the eddy and I
turned around to look for Steve as I watched him go by the eddy and
under the bridge. His eyes were the size of saucers.
Expletives. I
was scrambling to get out of my boat. Grabbing my rope, I ran up the
bank and across the trail to where I found Steve clutching the rock
outcropping on the right with the stern of his boat still in the
current. He had just narrowly avoided being funneled into the overflow
creek that was now making the height of land between Wildchild and the
Slide an island. Water piled up on the rock ledge and boiled over the
falls. Steve clambered out of his boat and we hung out a bit scouting
the falls and slide. Eventually we decided this would be a good place to
end the day.
