Robe Canyon - No Portage Run

Jeremy Bisson at Granite Falls, Robe Canyon.

Well.. for Jeremy Bisson at least.

I still walk Landslide and have never even thought about running Granite Falls, but thats because I still shop for my underwear in the little boys section of Target.

Charles, over at Aquasports, was awesome enough to outfit me with a brand new Shiva and his parting words as I was strapping it down to the truck was: "Please don't scratch the paint". I said I would have a great time with her on the Middle Middle and saddled up.

This was a three day weekend for me and I was ready to get some awesome boating done. We have been in a bit of a drought over the past month so I was a little worried about what would be in. Luckily Robe Canyon got some water and my plans were set.

I justified taking the Shiva down Robe by telling myself that there was no conceivable way I could give Charles an honest opinion of the new Pyranha boat if I didn't a least try to kill myself in it once over the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday somehow got off to a late start both days and trips didn't start until well after noon, so I was motivated to get out early as possible on Monday and make it count.

Jeremy and I met at 10 and decided to walk down to Granite Falls to giv'r a look. I thought she looked hideous, Jeremy thought she looked mildly attractive.

We jumped on the river and I was once again reminded of why I am willing to make the drive up there from Port Orchard. Its just beautiful in that canyon. Robe Canyon is unlike any other place I've boated. It changes on almost a weekly basis during the winter and even the biggest rocks in the canyon move around.

Robe Canyon is 7 miles of Awesome. 3 of those miles are class V rapid after class V rapid. The nature of the run is every bit of pool drop; no matter what happens in the rapid above, you'll have a nice pool to clean up in afterward.

A short hike into the put in and around a mile of class II gets your shoulders warmed up for the meat of the run. Instead of describing the rapids, see for yourself:

T1

Tunnel Rapid 1, Robe Canyon

T2

Tunnel Rapid 2, Robe Canyon

 Last Sunshine

Last Sunshine, Robe Canyon

Hotel California

 Hotel California, Robe Canyon

Hotel California, Robe Canyon

Hole in the Wall

Hole in the Wall, Robe Canyon

Dead Deer Drop

Dead Deer Drop, Robe Canyon

Face-Plant

Face-Plant, Robe Canyon

Catchers Mitt

Catchers Mitt, Robe Cayon

Landslide

Landslide*

*This is normally a portage, but apparently Washington state is home to some badasses with abnormally large balls.

Garbage

Garbage, Robe Canyon

Cat's Paw / 20 foot'r

20 Footer/Cat's Paw, Robe Canyon

Off Broadway

Off Broadway, Robe Canyon

 Last Conversation

Last Conversation, Robe Canyon

Granite Falls* Below the normal takeout. This isn't even a portage, you just don't run it.

Granite Falls, Robe Canyon

Jeremy and I rallied down the run stopping only to let me take pictures every now and again.

 

At Landslide I immediately paddled to river right and began my walk of shame. Jeremy paddled over to river left and started scouting his line. Landslide it a bit of a Beast. It has two distinct sections and apart from Hotel California it's the longest rapid on the run. The entrance move is probably the scariest move, or at least the one that is the least predictable. There are two lines here. The hero line: right down the middle over the ledge and submerged for the next 30 yards. Or the new line along the right side that spares you the main ledge but doesn't do you any favors when it comes to hole dodging.

Assuming you're in your boat at this point. Your paddle is in your hands and your face is indeed intact; now you get to ask yourself an important question. "Do I feel lucky today?". The second half of Landslide is one of the more intimidating drops I've looked at. It makes me sweat while i portage it for Christ's sake. A massive eddy line pulls around to river right as the river piles into the river left bank and makes a hard turn. The river then flows over a good 6(ish) foot ledge with a horrible cross current at the bottom. You then squeeze between the left wall and a massive boulder and are rewarded for your hard work with a rock smear on a sieve that could swallow a Green boat. My hats off to you boys for running this thing.

Jeremy has yet to walk this rapid during his stint here in the Seattle area and this was the first time that he even rolled in this rapid.


Jeremy rallies Landslide:

 

 

 

We both took the new Brad line in Garbage and had good lines and from here out its pretty low stress creeking. All the while Jeremy was trying to decide if running Granite Falls was a good idea. It is most certainly not a good idea, but I couldn't tell the man that. So I said: "let's do this!", and by "lets do this" I meant "I'm gonna watch you do this safely from the shore."

Jeremy Bisson scouts Granite Falls:

Jeremy Bisson RUNS Granite Falls:

 

All in all this was an awesome cap to the three day weekend. Three laps on Robe Canyon, all at different levels, lots of great boaters out and about. Pretty decent weather considering this is Washington and we're in the middle of winter. Huge props to Jeremy for firing it up and for just being generally STOKED!

Oh, as a side note, Jeremy did this with a loaner boat with 4 cracks in it and a Lightning paddle that has blades worn down smaller than most Q-tips these days. Just sayin...

Quick video from the day.