Pacific Northwest Boater: NorCal SPring Break '07. Part 2: The Cal-Salmon

After our first hellacious day in Cali, we decided to scale down our hunger for tight creeking and head for some big water. I was extremely dehydrated from the day before from the hike and the boozing that we did that night, so I had a screaming headache. Erik was running the show, and suggested that we run the Cal-Salmon. Now before this trip, I'd never really been in any big water. I'd always done mostly creeking. I've seen some Zambize footage, and also the PDX Kayaker films, and let me just say that big water scared the shit out of me. I know that some of you who read this will say that the Cal-Salmon is not big water, and you may be right; but this was the biggest water I'd ever been on, and I was nervous.

(The signs all over the river didn't help my anxiety).

The Cal-Salmon is an amazing river. It's scenery is as unmatched as is it's whitewater. I had looked into the trip before we went, and spent a lot of time parusing www.oregonkayaking.net. Jason Rackley's description of the run was dead on. It's easy to see why this place is so special.

(There are numerous class IV rapids and two class V's on this section of the river).

(We checked the gauge at the take-out, and it seemed to be at a good medium flow around 5').

We put on right at the confluence of the Cal-Salmon and Nordheimer creek. When we got to Nordheimer campground, we were the only ones there, and there were no camping fees because it was so early in the season.

(The put-in).

Unfortunately, we ran so much of the river by boat scouting, that I didn't get the chance to thoroughly document the trip.

(I took this shot of Bloomer Falls from up high on the bank).

After everyone had a successful run through Bloomers, the next major rapid we came to was airplane. Erik had only done this stretch a couple of times, so we got out and took a look. We all thought it was good to go, and we fired it up.

(The author digs for the boof @ airplane).

(The author after a successful run down airplane).

(Brian digs for the boof).

(UH-OH! You'll be happy to know that he rolled up)

The next major rapid that we scouted was Cascade Falls. Cascade Falls is a very impressive riverwide set of drops that has quite a lot of variety to it. We chose to run the far left route.

(Brian punching right into the lead diagonal wave on cascade).

(The author taking a different approach).

(Halfway through Cascade, and still upright).(Cascade Falls from the bottom)After successful runs through Cascade, we came upon class V Freight Train. Locals consistently run this behemoth in playboats!
(Last Chance is in the background, which leads right into Freight Train).
(Freight Train. Pretty burly).
(It didn't take much time for me to decide how I was going to get through this rapid.... )
(...and there it is).
One of the last rapids on the run is Gaping Maw. This beast is only class IV, but is unportagable due to the nature of the canyon. The Maw is a fairly straightforward rapid except for the fact that there is a gigantic hole midway through the rapid that attracts boaters like bees to honey. (We got some good pics of Brian narrowly missing the Maw.)

(Another great day in NorCal completed!)
After this trip, I've made a promise to myself to come back to this area at least once a year. Jason Rackley said it best, "...if you are a class IV-V boater living in Oregon, Idaho, or Northern California and you haven't run this river, you need to go there... now."