Colder Waters

After two full weekends on the road, we all elected to stay local for a change. It was an easy decision, because the only whitewater around was at Great Falls. We headed out on Saturday afternoon. John and I ate a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs, bagels, orange juice, and hot yerba mate. I convinced John to try a little special hot sauce. He coughed and winced in pain.


We headed to the river to meet Billy, Curt, and Ian. On our way in, Scott Anderson decided to turn around and join us for another session. He informed us a first timer swam out of Horseshoe this morning and received a good beatdown. As we headed toward Pummel, we could tell the water level was a bit higher than expected. The gauge read 2.75, but the river was clearly on the rise.

There was plenty of water going over Pummel and the landing was super soft. The middle line was open. Billy fired it up with a huge twisting boof, landing upside down and rolling up. Pencil Sharpener was full of flow, and I was suprised by the power of the bottom hole. The eddy lines were strong. I elected to hop out and give Horseshoe a look and watched the rest of the gang roll through. The Horse was hungry, and its jaws nipped and pulled at those who did not hit their lines with distinction. All were able to free themselves from the clenched teeth of imminent disaster, and the look of relief was was clearly stretched across their faces.


We did a few laps off Pummel and then headed down to the Fishladder to hike back up. I decided to give the last slide a low water run. I bounced my way down and headed for the eddy on river left, but ran out of speed and was thrust toward the narrow exit slot sideways and pinned. I leaned into the rock and pulled my skirt. I did not want to flip upside down and gouge my face on concrete rebarb. Just as I was nearly free, my boat popped loose and continued through the small chute. I hand paddled into the eddy with one foot in my boat and one foot out, laughing at the absurdity of the moment.

It was a great day. A bit cloudy, but the sun popped through from time to time. It was good to get out on the Falls after a two week absence out on the road.