Escalante Creek (4/21-22/14) Trip Report

A reproduction of my journal entry from 4/21/14:

Monday, 21 April 2014 ~ 1845

I should have gone...

As I write this I am sitting on a BLM park table near the takeout for the Lower Gorge of Escalante Creek.  Sensing my opportunity finally at hand, I left not as early as I had hoped from Salida this morning and made the mad-dash west.  There is no gauge on this little creek, so the catching of it always has to be a mission.  The drive to here along the Gunnison is just gorgeous and this remote canyon is like a small slice of Utah and the Canyonlands.

'57 Chevy

So I get here by 1300 or so and the guy I knew would be here from the Buzz had already put on 45 prior, according to is friend who had run shuttle and was hanging around the takout.  So heck, I missed my possible run.  I explored around.  Took some photos and actually saw Josh and his two friends come through '57 Chevy.

It sure looked low, but it went.  Then later, after they all had changed, this other solo kayaker (Tyler) just appeared out of nowhere and walked up.  He had just taken out above the Lower Gorge and was contemplating running it... which he did eventually....

Tyler entering the Lower Gorge

I should have run it with him.  Instead, I opted to watch because at the time I felt the need to warm up on the Upper Section before just hopping in the mank of it; but then, of course I watch this fellow run down and I immediately regretted that decision.

That is certainly not a decision or feeling I enjoy and I do not want ever to live my life that way.

Now, after walking down to the water for a bit and taking some photos, I do feel a bit better about not boating at all.  I know it's good to listen to that cautious instinct, but I must remember to keep it in check!  Now I am even more psyched on having a solid run tomorrow.  And if Wednesday is even better, I can still stay the extra night...

~ end of entry ~

And the next day did indeed see a glorious run.  In the end there were four of us and we managed to get a fairly early start.  As it turns out, the fellow who showed up Tuesday morning and I had actually run Browns Canyon of the Arkansas many many year earlier.  He was a bit older and I and certainly put my memory to shame!

Looking into the Lower Gorge with Esca Falls

I wish it ran more often because Escalante Creek is really one of my favorite runs ever.  It has a pool drop character as the larger rapids are distinct, but between them is a lot of Class III & IV fun.  On this day we guess that the flow was about 300 or 400 cfs or so... That's kind of on the low side of medium, but I have no qualms with getting friendly with rocks.  Unless you're running with someone who knows the creek, my advice would be to scout every drop you can not see.  It isn't that the lines are particularly difficult, but many drops consist of picking the correct kayak wide slot and having the correct angle when you leave the lip.  If not, you're staring at a very steep piton situation.

On this day we did not run the main Escalante waterfall.  It is broken jumble of a falls and would need a bit more water to feel at all clean.  That is personal preference.  It was run that day by another group, but the line was very manky and could have gone very wrong.

The Lower Gorge consists of the Teacups, '57 Chevy, Escalante Falls, S Turn, and Magnetic Wall.  The Teacups and S Turn are pretty straight forward.  '57 Chevy is fun as you drive up and over the pillow above a rock fin that makes the drop and in doing so get surprisingly close to the wall.  Then lastly is Magnetic Wall.  It is basically a drop leading into a boil on river right that you charge into and then manage to not get pushed hard against the left well immediately thereafter.  Super fun stuff.

In the end, the only run I got in was this one on Tuesday.  There was weather coming in that evening and temps were dropping.  So was the creek.


Thanks to everyone who became a part of this adventure.  I can't wait to try and get back next weekend!

The author in the Lower Gorge.  Thanks to Brian Bank for this great photo!

Relativity & Undercuts

I had grazed a sieve or an undercut a few times, and felt that inexorable pull toward oblivion, but I had never actually been through an undercut... until... that is, last Saturday on the Rio Embudo.

The weather was chilly and I might not have been paddling my absolute best, but the crew I was with was solid.  We had automatically set safety earlier at Cheese Grater and the same was true for this rapid in question, MJ's Shoulder.  A little bit of history for me and MJ's... this rapid is most often an auto-portage for me.  Not that it is particularly difficult; it's one of those were the fun to hazard ratio is really not working out well in the paddler's favor.  It's short, fast, manky, and the only move to be made is to keep it straight and punch two holes at the bottom.  Compounding the hazard side of the equation is the fact that at the very end there is a wall of rock constricting the channel by half from the right.  The second and final hole is here... and this rock is undercut.  I've run this rapid twice before, each without incident.  One of those times I was chasing a swimmer's boat downstream and looked over to see that I had just missed the portage eddy.

One of the best ways to learn and improve in an endeavor like kayaking is to embrace your own narcissistic tendencies and watch videos of yourself.  A huge thanks to Mike for the footage and to Atom for doing me the huge favor of emailing it to me.  The first thing I noticed was that I was not nearly as aggressive as I needed to be as I came through this rapid.  While I had been on line, I didn't have enough momentum nor forward posture and got completely stopped by the first hole.  My brace pivoted me to the right as I came out of it and right into the undercut wall.

Here is where my memory and what is shown on the video really diverge.  What I remember vividly is my bow slamming into the rock and everything pausing for a split second.  Next the whole 80 gallon boat felt like it was sucked down and under the rock.  I even recall a slurping sound.  I could feel the boat appear to be pushed down along the rock as I was hoping it was going down river.  The rock was scraping along the top of the boat and my elbow pads as I was smashed on my back-deck with my arms raised in a high brace in front of me, trying to keep my face off the rock.  At one point, I think instinctually to preserve my right shoulder, I let go of the paddle with my right hand.

This all happened painfully slowly.  Slowly enough to consider pulling my skirt and swimming.  But then it was suddenly over.  Fortunately I found my paddle again with my right hand and back-deck rolled up and easily made it into the eddy.

In the video though, this whole rock situation only lasted a couple of seconds at best.  And it was only another couple before I rolled up too.

Is time compressing or expanding?  Was I speeding up?  Are there bizarre ripples in the relativistic flow of space-time that exist under undercut rocks in rivers... or just this particular undercut... or how about simply under rocks?  Between rocks?

I just know that I'm thankful that the only damage was the hole torn into my sprayskirt by the underside of that rock.  My elbow got a good hit, and my shoulder has felt a bit strained in the days since, but it's getting better.  Now I can't wait to see how I feel about running her again... eventually.

New Line in Number Five!

Ran the Pine Creek through Number 5.5 on the Arkansas today.  Super fun run and still unseasonably warm.  At these super low flows of under 200, there are a lot of fun rock boofs and tight little eddies, but generally not a lot in the way of new lines or tricks.

That changed a little today and so I had to share it!  Number Five at this level is generally run as a drop down the tongue essentially into rocks.  It goes and isn't scary because there is so little water, but it's kind of a crapshoot as to whether you end up doing some exaggerated rock brace with your paddle on the left. Thanks to a tip Bob had heard, we found a new route that still keeps the main drop in play.

Here's the new line:  catch the eddy on river right just above the main drop.  You'll know it when you see it because it's right in front of a big flat slap of rock that at normally higher water is the big fun boof to the right on the shoot.  Look down and across the drop and you can see the new run clearly.  Next peel out and ferry over so you cut hard behind the rock making the left side of the shoot.  Now you're down the main drop and avoided grinding your face on the boulders!  Now you have two options... if you cut tight enough behind the river left rock, you'll be in an eddy.  If you're a little farther out like I was, you're best option is to S-turn down river again and slalom down another route between some boulders.

I'm sorry I don't have a picture, but you can see if from the car-window-scout just downstream of the bridge.  Trust me, it's fun and more dynamic than just crashing right down the middle.... well, at least it might be something slightly new.  And, you're still in fine position to hit your favorite line or boof for the second half of the rapid.

Enjoy!

Oh heck, here's picture from the day anyway.  This is Bob popping a new Mamba 8.1's cherry on the Speed Bump rock just above the PC hole.  Nicely done.