The Big Quilcene River - 2016

The Big Quilcene River

I hadn't been into the Big Quilcene in a couple of years and with the unseasonably warm and wet Fall we have had so far; a warm, pogie-less trip down The Big Q seemed like a great idea.

I ran into Sam, Richard and Chris on Saturday up on the Stillaguamish river and after a couple of beers and retelling of tales of carnage, I had these guys hooked on an OP mission.

This pocket drop was awesome. Fun sequence above with a rewarding shelf-boof at the bottom.

The cool thing about waiting a couple years before heading back into this awesome run was how much the wood situation had changed the run. There were two rapids that did not exist when I was there last. The first was this steep, mankfest of a boulder-garden. We scouted from river left and ran center to left.

The other was this monster:





She's still waiting for some plastic... The drop is definitely runnable, but no one was up to the task on this lap. The entrance involves a lot of skill and faith, not to mention bending some rules of physics.

More info on The Big Q can be found on Professorpaddle.com




Here are some of the GoPro highlights from the day on the water.
Enjoy:





The Big Quilcene - 2016 from daniel patrinellis on Vimeo.




Get out there and check her out.