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.

Jefferson Creek

I was finally able to put on my big boy pants and get back on Jefferson Creek.



The run out below Island Drop. Jefferson Creek, WA.


     Darren Albright took me down Jefferson my first season of creeking (before I knew better) and I had some really good times in there, then I decided to put on during a high water event and had an interesting day. I hadn't been back into Jefferson Creek in almost two years (since February of 2010).



The biggest drop on Jefferson, Below Island Drop.
Jefferson Creek, WA.


     Jefferson Creek is a rarely run Olympic Peninsula gem of a river, it's not even in the Korb guide (our only guide for the OP's watersheds). To say that Jefferson is Ldub's slightly younger and sluttier cousin wouldn't be far from the truth... Its steep and technical but overall not a very difficult run. That being said, I had my closest call on this Creek in the winter of 2010. Lost a boat and paddle and probably came closer to losing something else much more intangible.

Bottom Two ledges in Island Drop. Jefferson Creek.

Here's a little video from the next day when the water had dropped a little bit and I hiked in to where I swam:





And here is a clip from when I went back in a couple weeks later to try and regain some pride:


     Jefferson Creek is about an hour from my house and happens to be one of the closest quality runs available to us Kitsap County residents. Sadly, it probably only sees a handful of runs a year. Due to it's lack of a river gauge, it's remote location and the general tendency of the Olympic Peninsula to throw a wrench in even the most well though out plans, not many people make the pilgrimage. A typical winter or early spring phone call trying to convince a Seattlite to come out West goes something like this:

Ring, ring...
Seattle Boater: "Hello?"
Me: "Dude! Whats up? You boating today?"
Seattle Boater: "hmmm, whats in? Whats Robe at?"
Me: "Dunno, Robe's low, so is Ernie's."
Seattle Boater: "Well. What you thinkin?"
Me: "Elkhorn is in... Jefferson might be..."
Seattle Boater: "You think it'll be in?
Me: "Sure, maybe. I think so. Darren says it's good to go I think."
Seattle Boater: " I think I'm gonna hit the Sky."
Me: "ehh."
Click-

     Sadly this is how the majority of Saturday, potential OP madness days, end before they even start. It's understandable though so I don't hold a grudge or withhold a throwbag. We are so spoiled here in the PNW that its hard to convince someone take a chance on a creek that may or may not have water in it (or too much...) when you can run out and get on the Skykomish or the Green. But... Jefferson has treats, I digress:

One of many rapids on Jefferson Creek, WA.

     A tributary to the Hamma Hamma, access is no issue. A well manicured forest service road in the Hamma Hamma recreation area takes you right to the take out and then its a 5 mile drive up to the put in. The run is only 2.1(ish) miles long, but its continuous class IV+-V for all but a couple hundred feet of those 2.1 miles. The run is roadside-ish... easy to get into, not so easy to get out of. Once you leave the put in, the creek drops off the face of the earth and a hike out of the canyon to the road could take hours, see above video.

     American Whitewater has the creek's gradient listed as 260 feet per mile. Steep, considering that there are no waterfalls or even ledges higher than 10 feet on the run. Sounds fishy right? It's riverbed is made up of big sheets of bedrock and dotted with huge smooth boulders that sometimes sport a mantle of timber from high water events. While the big boulders in the gardens are round and unassuming, the average rock in the creek bed is sharp and jagged. The pin potential on this run increases exponentially with a decrease in water level. If you can, bring a beater boat for your first couple of trips and do not forget your elbow pads!



     The scenery in this drainage is out of this world! At the put in, the river is pretty level and there isn't much gradient so it just appears to be another densely forested OP run. Then you drop in and you find yourself almost locked into this gorgeous canyon. Handhold-less vertical walls limit your view of the sky and your route of escape at times. Then, around other corners, nothing but beautiful deep emerald green trees coming all the way down the banks into the water. As on most Olympic Peninsula runs, you need to be on your toes for wood. There is always wood in this run, its just a question of how involved you have to get when you find it. There are several spots on the river where you paddle under the natural lattice work created by high water events and the trees of past.

At least you don't have to duck at these levels...

     One of the coolest things about this river is the water. First off, its cold. Bone cold, so bring your pogies and a drysuit is a must. The water is this bluish green color that looks almost carbonated. I don't know if this is due to porous rock or just the turbulence of the water, but its pretty cool to see and feel non-the-less.

Ridiculous Scenery

Goods for days and days.

     There are several diligent Olympic Peninsula residents that spend a lot of time in the summer and fall keeping runs like Jefferson free of wood that would require portaging and we all owe them. As of right now, there is only one portage and even that is debatable. I had heard about Rob running the portage on accident during a really high water run and now Darren and Rob regularly run the drop in question.

Darren mid portage.

     Describing the rapids is all but useless, its like describing Ernie's Canyon: there are just too many rapids in there to accurately describe them in any other situation or setting than the eddy above the drop in question. Or, maybe its just because it's one long rapid... I'm sure the majority of them have names and correct lines but to be totally honest, I've only scouted two drops on the run and those are pretty straight forward. This also accounts for the distinct lack of quality photos, there's no time to jump out and take shots when you're flying down the run at 90mph.

     Either way, if you like incredibly dense forest scenery, bedrock slides, technical creeking and water that looks like it came out of a Disney movie make your way out to Jefferson Creek. Snap in, get a death grip on your paddle and start smiling!




y







If the takeout looks like this, ask yourself one question: "Am I Rob McKibbon?".
If the answer is "no": Go home.



Its hard to judge level at the takeout as the river bed changes so much here, use the island in the stream bed looking upstream from the bridge as point of reference.

Another shot of Island Drop. Jefferson Creek, WA.



Chillin on the bank below Island Drop.