Wow. This run wiped us out. Stormy weather raised the water levels everywhere and we hoped for a light run on the Calapooia, which is normally a class II. While there isn't a gauge on the Calapooia River I estimated it at just under 2000 cubic feet per second (I am a hydrologist and am allowed to make big estimates like this). Our trusty guidebook, Soggy Sneakers, told us after we made the run that it's only runnable up to 1200 cfs. Yes, indeed.
It had rained solidly for more than 24 hours and rained the entire time we were on the river. As we floated downstream, you could see a change in the river as the water continued to rise and finally turned brown, a good indication of lots of runoff water. We pulled out early after multiple swims (out of kayak experiences), some slight injuries, and lots of frozen bodies. I did manage another combat roll and avoided any swimming.
We scouted these rapids before our run. When we first saw them, you could see every rock and actually pick a line to run along. This pic was taken right after we got off the river. The class IV rapids are completely washed out and all you see are walls of white-water.
The same rapid, just a little further downstream. We didn't run this rapid it and pulled out a few miles upstream.
Lea ran the inflatable kayak through it all, the bomb-proof individual rafts are awesome if you can tolerate getting pretty wet.
The downfall of the IK is its inability to maneuver quickly; Lea had to swim like a champion through a strainer (tree in the river).
A waterfall at river right. That's Kim in the foreground (red helmet) and me in the background (yellow paddles).
Do I really need a caption?
Drysuits are awesome but when you have to pee, you have to take it all the way off...
Our fearless photographer, Lennie. Self-portrait.
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Kim and I saw drysuits at magicportlandplace that had zips in the crotch for the boys so you DONT have to take the whole thing off (no luck for the girls)
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