Luc and I floated Echo Bend twice for a double-header on the Eagle River. The only other time we floated this was in September at lower water - around 300-400 cfs. Our trips were pushing 800 cfs which made it pushy but fun!
Pictures of packrafting don't do the sport justice...that's why you see all the video's posted. And still the videos don't do the rivers and creeks any justice...that's why you just need to get out there and do it, and maybe swim a little, and throw your buddy a rope once in a while.
I've had some firsts this year, to include the South and Fork of Eagle River, what I would call "Middle" Bird Creek, and hopefully Canyon Creek to Six Mile before freeze up, and I should prolly mention - thigh straps! Others have been hitting some huge lines (CL V) to include the Magic Mile on Kings River (check out Timmy J's boof at 2:23) and the Upper Willow. Be sure to check out these videos, as they are the pioneers of packrafting.
Marc and I toured up Echo Bend at higher water (600 cfs) and found this to be very pushy, yet enjoyable. View Marc's first hand video of what it's like to swim the best beafy part of Echo Bend.
I recently had the opportunity to boat with the Roman Dial's, as the old man gave us a run at a good stretch of Bird Creek. His video shows some good carnage on Center Falls, much like mine does. I took some newbs back on Columbus Day for the goods. Here is an account of how things went down.
I suppose "The Birdcage" is my first named rapid. The "Birdcage" was my nickname after my last trip to the desert. Frank "Rage" Palestini nicknamed me the "Birdcage" after our hellacious upper body workouts. Seeing that I suffered from lagging chest development, he deemed it appropriate to give me some birdseed for the parakeets.
So i'm anxiously awaiting my new paddle purchase, a Werner Powerhouse, 4 piece, 197cm, 30 deg feather. Thank you PFD. Lets go paddling...
"Ironically as they paddle more and more whitewater, their reward circuitry (for dopamine) dulls, which makes the easier runs less satisfying and drives them to still harder runs and bigger drops to compensate. They are essentially chasing the high of earlier, heavenly thrills on easier water. This is precisely what we see with chronic alcohol or substance abuse."
I think Willow Creek is my favorite whitewater run in a packraft. Of course you've got the classics, Campground Rapids (local stomping ground), Six Mile (big smiles at low water), Bird Creek (short but technical), Lion's Head (really silty)....but for some reason I love going back to float the Willow.
The water is crystal clear and relatively warm, yeah you still need a drysuit. The rapids are technical, but won't absolutely thrash you due to the "pool-drop" style characteristics of the river. Meaning if you swim a drop, you'll likely be able to swim to shore at the bottom of the recovery pool.
There are two runs on this river, Redgate and Guardrail. Redgate is the more beginner float at CLI-II, and Guardrail being the more intermediate run at CLII-III. The Upper Willow is run by the hardshellers and experts at CLV+.
The Hoff and I made an early morning jaunt to take advantage of a recent rain spike in the gauge. The trail was super slick, and I ended up on my ass more than twice. This would be the M.O. for the first rapid, "Warmup Rapid".
After scouting the put-in, we chose to run "the drop above the Guardrail put-in". There aren't any pictures of our run, but here is a vid put together from our run about 2 weeks ago.
Shortly after this 3-4 foot ledge drop, you enter "Warmup Rapid". I viewed most of this rapid upside down, as the burly water took me for a ride. It was good to cool down in the recovery pool. The rest of the run was all smiles. I'd look back at Marc, and see grins had by all. We got to surf a lot of waves on the Redgate section, and made the run in about 90 mins.
Here is a map of our adventure.
Definitely one of my local favs, and even better with a Summer Ale at the take-out.
