You know you're having too much fun when the cops get called!

Skykomish (Railroad bridge - Big Eddy), 6 miles 45,000cfs, Solo

45,000 cfs (not a misprint) is a personal record, as is the 15 minutes it took me to do the run.




I have seen such waves as dreams are made of!

Boy, did I need that! The time I spent in Maui was sampling alternatives but it's now been 3 weeks since I last went kayaking and the depression I get when that happens was beginning to set in deeply so despite still getting over the flu I was determined to go this weekend.

When I left this morning, the water level was 38,000cfs and above flood stage. According to the online data, when I did my run at 1pm it peaked at 45,000cfs (11,000 makes a hell of a run on the Sky). There was no question of running the upper stretch without first running the lower but I still scouted out Powerlines (a constant ribbon of whitewater looking like Tumwater Canyon at it's best) and boulder drop. The drop had no rocks visible! Even house rock was underwater and no rocks available to check out further upstream. Clambering over slimey deadwood was the only way to get anywhere near the water and no features were visible, just enormous waves and massive explosions of whitewater. Even big Eddy had a nasty pourover and stopper combination just opposite the takeout and the other eddies were choked with branches, logs, stumps and whole trees which passed at 15 second intervals.

We came across several kayaker who were just there to check out what it looked like in flood stage and a few who had kayaks but who weren't going to run it. I've never met anyone who has run the Sky at 45,000 and I don't think it will change WKC's opinion that I'm a ballsey, reckless, skinny guy with an accent (sic).

The railroad bridge put-in looked relatively tame by comparison. Kelam had a late night and cancelled and it wasn't a good idea for Sarah to try so that left me going solo. This would be a survival run, avoiding trouble wherever possible and measuring success by making it out alive. Looking on the bright side, the water level had risen at least 10' which made less of a walk to put in.

I gave Sarah time to get onto the rocks to take some pictures and then timed my launch to a gap in passing trees and I was out on the water. No permanent waves on this first stretch but the water was absolute chaos. Trying to keep the nose of the kayak towards trouble for stability still meant that waves would spontaniously form next to me and break over the side trying to flip me.

My muscles were aching even as I started out but I just had to keep paddling and constantly keep my blade in the water. Trying to avoid the rows of exploding white waves was easier said than done since the current had it's own idea of where it wanted me to go and the extra force of the water meant that it was increasingly difficult to make any headway in any other direction but I managed by starting manouvers early. Similarly, I had to watch for horizon lines which could hide holes which, at this water level, would be full of deadwood and be very much inclined to hold on to me.

Fisherman's drop was unbelievable! Gone were the holes to be replaced by massive waves 6-10' high. The first was like a giant mouth starting around 6', building up to 10 and then chomping down with a crash. Definately one to avoid! I managed to stay far enough over so that I skirted just to the right. The waves following were around 6' and looked pretty stable but I know from past experience that the Sky likes to sucker you in with it's "wave, wave, wave, HOLE!" routine so I went past 8 of the biggest, fun-looking waves so that I could check behind them for hidden gaping maws behind them (although I couldn't resist riding on the edge of the last 2). There were none! The water level was too high for any rocks to create holes behind them! Bugger!

After relatively straightforward paddling and avoiding anything which looked too interesting, I started passing the houses on the approach to proctor's hole (which was conspicuous by it's absence having been drowned out of existance). At the approach was a massive, stable wave which looked tempting until I caught sight of a tree (no exageration) being hurled end over end just beyond it. Baaaaad idea, take evasive action. Most of the time, the flotsam was going at more or less the same speed so that it was easy enough to remain in the clear patch between them.

Despite the steady drizzle and occasional downpour, there were a few people out on their decks who couldn't quite believe the sight of a maniac voluntarily heading out into that stuff. I paused in between waves and gave them a smile and a wave, after all just because you're in a tricky situation is no reason to be impolite! One woman shouted something but it was impossible to hear what it was because I was deafened by the noise of a massive 30' wave running across the middle of the river! Trying to avoid it proved tricky because the minor satalite waves (each capable of flipping me before I had time to react) meant that I had to point the nose towards it while trying to travel sideways. On the other side was just a constant flow of waves, which I now effortlessly drifted over taking a breather from all the manouvering. The woman, assuming it was her who called the cops, didn't know much about kayaking because the sight of the top of my head bobbing in and out of view apparently sent her calling 911 and reporting a capsized kayak and someone trying to climb back into it! Not that I found out about this until later.

Only 15 minutes had passed when Big Eddy came into view. I moved out into the current to give Sarah (who had only arrived there 5 minutes previously) a chance to try for some better shots and then zipped left behind a couple of trees and into the somewhat smaller remains of the eddy itself.

And found myself face to face with 3 blue uniforms waiting on the shore. Just behind them was a paramdic ambulance and I asked who the hell had called them. It turned out that they were just there to check out the river level to see what flooding risk there was but I took the opportunity for a photo op.



My headache was back and so I got changed despite really wanting to go back and do another run to catch the waves I had been so careful to avoid while scouting out the first time. Not only did I not flip but the entire waste area of my wetsuit was still dry which was amusing under the circumstances. Normally, there's a nice warm feeling of changing into dry clothes but this time it was tempered by the regret of missing a second run. It was probably just as well because as I was putting my kayak onto the roof rack, two sherrif's SUVs turned up responding to the emergency call.

The cop was really ticked off and my cheerful mood probably didn't help matters much. He told me of the report and I gave him the times and places of put-in and takeout and the fact that I hadn't seen anyone else out on the river to ascertain that the call was about me but I resented the implication that I had flipped and swum! I offered to show him the dry patches of my wetsuit to prove it but he was trying to go off on a moral lecture despite the fact that I wasn't the one who called him.
"Don't you know the river's flooding?"
"Oh yes. I looked up the water level this morning!"
"There are logs and trees being washed down the river!"
(No shit!) "Sure, it's just like merging into traffic."
(looks at me in a disturbed, serious way)
"Are you seeing a psychiatrist?"
"No, I used to but was excommunicated." (Well, he started it!).

He seemed to be racking his brains for something to charge me with, perhaps drug testing. His buddy in the other car just stared in amazement and didn't say a word. Perhaps it's just as well that we weren't going to do a second run since I think that would have given them grounds for protective custody (do not release until the water level drops to 4,000cfs as the prisoner is a danger to himself and others!).

As it was they left and we went for a coffee, the dark mood of the past few days having lifted. Maybe this is my own self-medicating psychiatry. More action than words but there's a good reason why Beirut has the lowest suicide rate in the world. When you come face to face with death on a regular basis, the alternative seems pallatable for at least a while longer.