Intermediate Course Day 2--Dead @ 1300 cfs

I had a difficult time falling asleep on Friday night on account of some snoring in one of the neighboring tents, so the first thing I did Saturday morning was drive up to Webb's General Store to buy some Red Bull. After two and a nap on the commercial shuttle, I was ready for 17 miles of wilderness paddling on the Dead River at the low, technical release of 1300 cfs.

The first rapid was not technical at all. The river narrowed to about 75 feet, with a rock wall on river right. A short drop led into a wave train and there were eddies on both sides--a perfect place for more ferrying practice. We did a lot of ferries and there was a bit of a jet ferry wave too. I flipped a few times and swam twice, hopefully because the Red Bulls hadn't kicked in yet and I was still tired.

We finally headed on down through a fairly quiet, but moving section. We went through a couple of easy class II's before pulling off for lunch. At lunch, we were reminded that the rapids would get progressively harder the rest of the way down, starting soon.

Elephant Rock was the first of the major rapids. There was a choice of running the middle, where there were a bunch of waves or "the slot" a narrow chute on river right between the shore and a big pourover. I was going to run the slot, but I decided the big waves would be too fun to pass up. When I eddied out behind the pourover, and watched the others go through the slot, I regretted my decision. It looked like a really fun chute with good gradient and no major consequences.

Pretty soon we approached Mile-Long Rapid, which seemed much shorter than it was. There were lots of waves, rocks, pourovers and holes. I was able to get around most of the things that needed to be avoided by catching eddies and looking for hazards. At one point, I flipped over right before a big rock though. I rolled up quick and saw the rock right in front of my face, so I grabbed it before I hit it and pulled myself up and pushed around it. I got partially stuck on two rocks a short while later but again was able to push myself free with my hands.

We eddied out on river left before the final series of significant rapids, Upper and Lower Poplar Hill Falls. I have no idea why it's called a falls; it's just a steep rapid, but nothing close to a waterfall. Andy told us we were on our own for finding a route down, meaning we wouldn't have to follow him if we didn't want to. It looked really steep, so I decided to follow him, but I missed an eddy he caught right away, so I was on my own. I moved from river left to river right to run a fairly big ledge. What looked to me like a soft spot in the ledge was actually about a ten inch drop onto a flat rock with very little water going over it. I ran this spot and ended up stopped on this rock, which was very surprising and strange. How do you stop in the middle of a rapid without catching an eddy? I waved to the others going passed me and laughed. I wiggled off the rock and went on down. Lower Poplar was awesome, with fast water, big waves and holes, and rocks and pourovers to eddy out behind. Andy caught up to me at the bottom and said he liked the way I had run the whole thing.

This was the end of the significant whitewater. The rest of the way was class I, maybe II- in a couple spots. I wanted to relax, and give my crunched feet a chance to be free, so I pulled my skirt and put my knees above the cockpit. I knew that without a skirt, I was committed to swimming if I flipped, but I did not think I would since the water was so easy. What I failed to take into account was the amount of water that would get into the boat. Eventually, enough water got in that the bow was really diving and the whole boat was getting spun and pulled under whenever I hit one of the small waves. After a bunch of close calls, I finally flipped over and swam. I was content to swim all the way to the takeout, which was in sight about half a mile down, but I was convinced it would be safer to go to shore and get back in the boat. I tediously got it emptied on the rocks, got back in and paddled to the takeout with Sohan, who had nicely waited for me.

So, after 8 hours on the river, the course was over. (There were far too many rapids for me to remember and describe, so I have only included the major ones here). Sohan and I were the only ones not staying over, so we made a quick getaway so as not to get home too late. We left the campground at 9:10 and got home about 1:45, which was pretty good.

I became a much better ferryer and scouter as a result of this course. I feel I can run harder rapids now by finding easier routes. The last few rapids on the Dead were really great and it is my favorite river so far.