Saturday, November 12, 2016

The Big Quilcene River - 2016


Kokatat, Dagger mamba 8.6, Big Quilcene, Olympic Peninsula




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:


Kokatat, Dagger mamba 8.6, Big Quilcene, Olympic Peninsula


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.