Cascade River

On August 3, in an attempt to escape the low water blues we were suffering in SW Washington, Chris Arnold, Gary Truyens, Eric Arlington, and myself headed up to the North Cascades to run the Cascade river. We got in late Friday night expecting to have to overpay to stay in a National Forest campground. Much to our surprise, we found the "Rainy River Campground", and paid only five dollars per night! An added bonus of the campground is that it's right on the river. As we drove up the road Saturday morning, we passed a pullout that overlooks the river right above Bridge Drop.

(Looking deep into the Cascade river gorge.)

(Bridge Drop from above at the "high rise" scout.)

After checking out Bridge Drop, we headed to Marble Creek Campground. I talked with the camp host on my way in to see if there was somewhere I could park without having to pay the day use fee. He let me know about an old boat launch right before camp #9 that they let river runners park at for free.

(The put in.)

At the put in, the river lazily meanders around a few bends for about a half mile or so. After a left bend, the first horizon line presesnts itself, signifying the start of Starts With a Bang (SWAB). Chris probed the drop without difficulty, and everyone followed without issue. We ran the entire 1/3 mile long rapid along the right side. We ran the entry drop on the left on our second trip down, and it was a bit cleaner.

(The entry rapid on SWAB.) (Myself running right.)
(Gary dropping in to the first of many holes on the Cascade)
(Chris about 1/3 of the way through SWAB.)



(Eric in SWAB.)

After SWAB, the river pools very briefly before entering Bridge Drop. The drop is named due to a bridge that fell into the river during a high water event:(http://http//www.chrisj.winisp.net/bridge/default.htm). The debris has since been removed from the main channel in the river, however, there is still evidence of the bridge on river right. It is marked by a large house sized boulder on the river right. The entry to this rapid has a very large, nearly river wide hole that appears to be backed up by some submerged boulders. It looked as though it could be possible to sneak it on the far left or right. All four of us didn't feel it was worth getting thrashed in, and decided to walk it. We portaged along the debris pile, and put in downstream of the boulder. After the entry hole, there is a long boulder garden with clean routes down the left or right. The left has some big holes, but more water; while the right is a more manky sneak line. We all ran the right without problems.

(Myself just above the entry to Bridge Drop.)

(Eric heading towards Bridge Drop. The large boulder on the right signifies the menacing hole and old bridge debris.)


(Gary heading towards Bridge Drop. The pullout above the river that allows a "high rise" scout of the drop can just barley be seen in the upper right side of this photo.)



(The entry hole to Bridge Drop.)


(The view of Bridge Drop after the gnarly hole.)

(Chris and Eric checking out the bottom of Bridge Drop.)

(Chris heading into the lower half of Bridge Drop.)

After Bridge Drop, the river contains continuous class IV-IV+ water that was comparable to Initiation on the Upper Wind. This was a really fun section of the river. We bombed down, boat scouting everything. After this mile of river, the next big horizon line signals Premium. We all ran this rapid without incident the first day. I took a bit of a beating the second day as I flipped halfway through the rapid, banging my head on the boulders at the bottom. Lucky for me, the hole was pretty flushy, and rodeo creekin' was not on the menu.

(Premium.)

(Chris firing up Premium.)

(Gary checking the retentiveness of the left side.)


(Eric just killing it.)

(Myself at the bottom hole. At higher water, this hole probably gets pretty sticky.)
Immediately following Premium is Monster. This obvious horizon line starts with a river wide hole. After the hole, the second part of Monster enters a narrow chute that has boulder backed holes guarding the left side, a boof in the center, or violent hydraulics on the right. Then the river cascades through a big boulder garden with a clean but pushy chute on the right, or a manky sneak on the left. No one really liked this one due to the thin line on the second part of the drop. Had the boof line been in, I think we would have fired it up.

(Monster from the bottom.)

After Monster the river pools up, and Irene Creek enters from the left, offering a perfect place to eat lunch and soak in the beauty of the falls.

(Eric and Gary grabbing a bite.)

(The falls on Irene Creek.)

After Irene Creek, there is another super fun "Upper Wind like" set of boulder gardens that continue for about a mile. Then there is a large rock wall that gorges up on the river right that signifies Shark's Tooth. This rapid will definately go, but it is manky and pinny. Eric was the only one to run it both days. On the second day everyone decided to give it a go, and we ended up with a pin. Although not all that difficult, take the time to look at this one to see if it's to your liking.

(The wall at Sharks Tooth.)

(Sharks Tooth.)

(Eric probing Sharks Tooth.)

After Sharks Tooth, the river goes through some more really fun IV-IV+ for about two miles before it finally tapers out to class II. The first day, we took out at Rainy River campground. This resulted in a long class II paddle out. A better option is to look for a pullout about 2 miles up the road from Rainy River Campground, and find the trail that leads down to the river. There is a small concrete structure at river level that marks it. We ran the river at about 950 cfs, and I think a little more water would have really cleaned up some of the manky parts. All in all, the Cascaed turned out to be a beautiful and amazing river!



(ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY CHRIS ARNOLD, GARY TRUYENS, ERIC ARLINTGTON, OR MYSELF.)