Lake Dorothy - Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Since we had a wedding Saturday night, instead of going rafting this weekend, we decided to go
for a hike. Sunday morning We headed out to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area near Stevens Pass. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area has over 700 alpine lakes in it and Lake Dorothy is said to be the largest at over 2 miles long.
To get to the trail head we had a 9.5 mile drive on FS Road 6410 along the Miller River. The first several miles up the road were pretty easy going but one we got about 5 miles in last year's storm damage slowed us down. There were several places where the road had been either washed out from the river below of taken our by slides from above. I was actually surprised at how much of the road had been cleared and graded since the only thing on this road after 4-5 miles is the Alpine Lakes Trail head. Even though the road was mostly cleared it was still a pretty rough go in places. There were several stretches with good sized rocks and ruts to negotiate. I didn't need 4wheel drive but clearance could be an issue for cars making this trip. Of course I felt sort of like a wimp when I arrived at the trail head and parked my truck next to a mud covered Honda Civic with cute little flower stickers on the back window (I wonder what the bottom of the car looks like!)
The hike to the lake is only two miles then it continues two more miles along the lake. The trail to the lake was also in similar condition to the road. It was in great shape except for some areas that took some work to get through. We were slowed down by several fallen logs and debris covered trails. Once we reached the lake and the mouth of the river the trail disappeared in to the river. We spent the next few minutes whacking bushes and hopping rocks in the river to get back onto trail.
Once we reached the lake Maggie and I climbed out on the massive log jam at the mouth of the river and took some pictures of the ice covered lake. There was quite a bit more ice left on the lake than I had expected to find in June. Though we could only see about half the lake from where we were but from what we could see it's beautiful. We found some rocks near the shore to sit on and had some lunch and let Lily explore the snow and everything else she could get at. After lunch we worked our way back down the trail and eventually made our way down the mountain and back home.

Memorial Day Weekend 2009 - Lochsa River, Lowell, Idaho

Yes, that's my hand sticking out of the water at Lochsa Falls...again!
We hit the road for Lowell, ID Friday morning. Since we were heading into Idaho already, and making good time, we took a short detour to stop at NRS http://www.nrsweb.com/ to check out their deals and swap out my boots for a fresh pair. I managed to get my NRS Boots replaced with no hassle and couldn't pass up a great deal on a new dry top and pants. Combine those new items with the new PFD I recently picked up and I looked like freshly dressed rookie at the put in - at least my helmet has some good scratches on it. On our way over Eric called the resort" to make sure we got the big cabin with three beds. Eric, Matthew and I are friendly....but not that friendly enough to share beds! We arrived at the "resort" http://www.threeriversresort.com/ before dark so we slowed down the check the bridge gauge as we passed over - it read 6.5 feet and rising - Perfect! We grabbed the key to our cabin, parked the truck and went right to the restaurant/bar to meet up with everybody. After almost 8 hours on the road it was nice to grab some dinner and listen to the stories of past runs.
Saturday morning we drove up to the White Pine put in. The plan was to run from White Pine to Knife Edge 32 miles down river. The river
quickly earned our respect after 3 people ended up in the water near
the bottom of Triple Hole (names withheld...you know who you are!).
After gathering swimmers and re-flipping a couple boats we got back on the river. Throughout the day a few of our group flipped and a few of us swam - Gary's 3 swims earned him the "Hat Trick" and a dollar from Rick - though this is to be expected on a river of this magnitude and at this water level - that's why we drove 8 hours! Though many of us got wet I myself managed to stay in my boat until Lochsa Falls. The Falls were a completely different story for me. Here is a link to a video of me and some of the other guys at Lochsa Falls last Saturday & Sunday. Look for the tan catboat (at approx
3:30-4:00 in) on the first day I'm wearing a red jacket and yellow
vest & coming in right behind Randy, who in his tan cat made the noble act of giving himself to the river in front of me. Sunday (7:34-8:00) I'm wearing a blue & yellow dry suit. Do remember these waves are between 10-14 feet tall and almost half the boats didn't make it through here clean - I on the other hand stand at 0 for 2 at the falls! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvTVjBwA4I After coming through the falls I was picked up by Rick in next the rapid
appropriately named "Picking Up The Pieces" Once we made it the remainder of the way to the Knife Edge take-out we decided to run the all the way back to the "resort". So anybody who
did not have to retrieve a vehicle stayed on the river for another 10 miles. This lower stretch is rated as a Class III so after the upper sections this was a relatively lazy float - well that is until we came around a bend and found ourselves quickly coming into a rapid known as "Ian's Hole". We hurried to get situated but didn't really have a chance so for the most part we looked like a bunch of clowns bobbling our way through with beverages in our laps and no helmets on our heads - especially Kevin who ran out of time and stuffed his sweaty baseball cap in his mouth at the last second. Bill didn't fair so well the biggest wave in there sent him into a quick barrel roll into the river. Good news was the water flattened out so the recovery was pretty painless. The funny part of being surprised by Ian's Hole is the next time we heard the sound of whitewater we all jumped to attention threw on our helmets and successfully navigated the next set of waves which were smaller than the waves in the pool at the "resort" - at least we were prepared this time! After 42 miles on the river we made it to camp, grabbed some drinks and reported directly to the hot tub.
Sunday morning the sky had clouded up a bit and the river had risen.
Yesterday at 6.5 the river was huge...at 8+ feet the river was
noticeably more huge - looks like I'm wearing a dry suit today! After
some discussion with our group and the guys from OWA
http://www.oregonwhitewater.org/ about the conditions boaters started dropping like flies. By the time we had a plan in place the two groups were running together today with only 9 boats (7 of us and Steve and Dean from OWA). Once we were on the river the water was noticeably bigger it was also quite a bit pushier than yesterday so there everything took a bit more effort and concentration. Once again we all did great until we got to Lochsa Falls...then things got a bit interesting. Lochsa Falls with the higher level became a bigger pile of waves and since I was the lead boat it got the best of me right off
the bat (as you could see in the second part of the video). I got
dumped out and launched my boat into the sky (I could still hear the crowd cheering while I was under water so I knew it was good!). I fought me way back into the seat of my boat and was immediately fired back into the river by another wave I never saw coming - nothing like swimming the same rapid twice! I pulled myself back into my seat...again! - and quickly got to the side of the river. That's when I realized Dean & Bill had both flipped - Kevin hit Bill's unmanned boat, did a Spiderman like move and somehow managed to come out upright. Dean was still with his boat and was able to right it himself. Bill on the other hand was struck in the face by his left oar
and drew a little blood for the roadside spectators to see. After
assessing that he would likely need a few stitches above his eye we pulled his boat up to the road, loaded it on a trailer and Matthew
drove him back to camp to get fixed up. The rest of run was a good fun finish. We took out at Knife Edge and once back at camp we again grabbed some drinks and reported directly to the hot tub. That was followed by viewing session of the days raw video in the bar/restaurant. After dinner we sat around the campfire (Bill with ice on his face) until going to bed to rest for the long drive back to Seattle in the morning.

Another cool video about the Lochsa:
http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?collection=epic - Click "Full Episode: Rafting in Idaho" to view video

Stats:
Lochsa - Class IV
Miles Logged: 42 & 23
Flow Data: 13400cfs & 17400cfs

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
Photo credits go to TomY and Lindsey (aka. Jessica) - thanks!

Lake 22 & Twentytwo Creek

We met Tom and Lindsey at Starbucks at 7am and jumped on the road towards the Mountain Loop Highway. The original plan was to attempt to work our way through the snow up to Barlow Pass then snowshoe the 4 miles to the ghost town of Monte Cristo http://www.mcpa.us/ . Since we knew the snow on the road this early would likely be an issue we made back plans to hike to Lake 22 just in case. After chatting with the ranger we determined that even if we could make it through the snow up to the pass we would not be able to make it through the big steel gate blocking the road to get to the snow - so Lake 22 it is!
We set off from the trail head about 9-ish and were 2 of the 5 cars in the parking area (no leash for Maggie today!). The trail starts out uphill and continues that way for almost all of the 2.7 miles for a total gain of approx. 1400 ft. The path stays pretty much stays within earshot of Twentytwo Creek the entire way and crosses smaller creeks several times. The larger crossings have foot bridges but for the smaller ones you get to practice rock hopping or just splash your way through. This puts you in site of numerous waterfalls. According to the guide book we saw Appron Falls, Confusion Falls, Humpback Falls, Hundred Step Falls and Mossy Rock Falls (though I have no idea which was which since I refuse to be that guy walking around in the woods reading the guidebook unless absolutely necessary) They were all nice to look at even though they were nameless to me. About a mile and a half into the climb we found snow which soon covered the entire area. Being as this was our first attempt at the hike we were following footsteps in the snow of others that we hoped knew their way. This early in the day the snow was still solid enough (I only sunk to my crotch once) we were able to make it to the lake without strapping on the snowshoes.
Once we reached the lake it was quite site. It was still close to 90% frozen with 6-8 feet of snow on the ground and perfectly sunny day. We managed to work our way down onto the bridge that crosses over Twentytwo Creek for a nice spot to sit in the sun without getting our butts wet. The bridge allowed us to eat lunch and keep Maggie & Lily somewhat contained. Probably the best part of sitting there looking out over the lake was watching the numerous small avalanches slide down the face of Mt. Pilchuck and cascade over the cliffs - actually even cooler than watching it was hearing the sounds they made.
After an hour of so of enjoying the snow, sun, and a bottle of wine more and more people started arriving at the lake so we decided it would be a good time to head down. The hike back was a bit slippery as the snow had softened quite a bit. After a few falls (some hilarious!) Tom gave Diane and Lindsey a quick lesson on planting their heels - after that we made a pretty good pace.
On the way down we passed quite a few people - far more than I expected considering there was still snow on the ground. By the time we reached the parking are it was near full and more cars were pulling in.
We decided we should probably head to Red Hook Brewery http://www.redhook.com/as quickly as possible. So the day began with bagels and fresh Starbucks and ended with burgers and fresh Red Hook - Not a bad day!