Blast Shelter: Methow River 05/09

We loaded the trailer and headed east to Pateros

to raft in the sun. The drive from Seattle to Pateros is just short of 200 miles so we were anxious to get on the road after working all week. We made great time getting over Snoqualmie Pass then over Blewitt Pass and managed to get ahead of any Friday traffic. After making it to Hwy 2. we stopped at

Rusty's Drive-In (a favorite stop after Wenatchee River runs) to grab a milkshake. We let Lily walk around in the grass a bit and watched her try her first milkshake before heading out of Cashmere for the last half of the drive.
We made it to Alta Lake State Park a little before 8. As soon as we

arrived I dropped the trailer grabbed a drink and wandered over the the campfire to visit with some of the rafters I hadn't seen since last year. As soon as I sat down the "ribbing's" began and we spent the evening around the fire laughing at the stories from years past often at the expense of someones pride.
7am arrived early and most folks were up and heading to the Sweet River Bakery http://www.sweetriverbakery.com/ for some fresh pastries and locally roasted Blue Star coffee. After breakfast we shuttled vehicles and set up gear at the put-in. The weather was already in the 70's before we hit the water and soon to reach the mid-80's.

The water level was slightly above 2300cfs - pretty low for a river that is often run well above the 7000cfs level. I had never run the Methow this low but it did make for numerous spots that usually get washed out at higher levels to practice my surfing and eddy techniques. All 8 boats worked their way down the 16 miles of river, including through the Class IV Black Canyon, without any major issues. We made it to the take out, broke down the gear and headed the couple miles back to camp. After returning to camp we

cleaned up our gear, took hot showers (individually), changed and got ready for a BBQ and another evening hanging around the campfire talking trash.
Sunday morning I climbed out of bed and took my turn at bringing back some lattes and mochas for some of the gang. With a smaller group this

morning (2 catboats, 1 paddle raft, 1 R-2 raft & me in a 14' oar boat) we got on the river with little hassle. The water level was very close to Saturday so it was another good practice day for me - I spent most of the 16 miles "making my own fun" - I only had to practice my solo-high-siding skills 8-10 times today - of course this was while spinning around numerous times in a hole I was trying to surf - apparently my high-siding skills were mightier

than the Methow today and I managed come out facing forward after pouncing from corner-to-corner-to-corner trying to keep the boat bottom side down, good practice for the Lochsa I guess!

We skipped lunch and glided through Black Canyon to make it to the take-out in about 4 hours. I managed to get back to camp, get everything situated for the drive home, hook up the trailer and get on the road around 3-ish. Lily was exhausted from spending all day playing in the lake with Diane and Karen so as soon as we got on the road she took the nap I wanted to take.
We followed the Wenatchee River along Hwy2 anticipating our planned rafting weekends in June. After hearing a radio commercial that played mariachi music in the background Diane and I both decided that Mexican Food sounded like a necessary stop.

So we stopped at my second favorite patio in Leavenworth - Los Camperos http://www.loscamperos.com/ (Gustav's is my favorite patio in Leavenworth! http://www.gustavsleavenworth.com/) After

sitting out on the patio for a while we walked back to the car and headed back over Steven's Pass. Once we made it home we took the next couple hours to unload everything and start packing it up again for this weekend's trip to Idaho to run the Lochsa River - it's never ending battle!

Stats:
Methow River - Class IV-
McFarland Creek Access to Pateros
Miles Logged: 16 each day (32)
Flow Data: 2300cfs & 2400cfs