ppine
Forester
Just finished a 5 day trip on the Klamath River up near the OR border. Yikes. I have been watching the flows carefully due to the high runoff this year. I picked the easiest run I could find way up in the watershed where the flow is reduced by multiple dams. My brother and I brought our aluminum drift boats. What is usually a Class II run with some II+ rapids became a long series of Class III rapids with little rest in between. There were some serious drops. The river had bank full discharge. The beaches were under water and the river was lined with willows, cottonwoods and blackberry brambles. We missed a take out because everything was so over grown. The most terrifying thing was a series of 5 old bridge abutments. The worst was the I-5 bridge were the 20 foot wide supports are turned almost perpendicular to the current. My brother smacked one of them, but avoided getting pinned in the current. He lost an oar. I sneaked it down a fast side channel by wading with the boat. I banged up my leg and it is still purple and swollen after 2 weeks.
At 73, this kind of trip was taxing. It took a lot of getting ready, and it was a lot of work to execute. I got so tired I just rolled out a sleeping bag every night and never set up a tent. It was nice to see the stars. My dog Ruby was lying right beside me in charge of camp security. We cut the trip short and I hitch hiked to the take out to retrieve the truck and trailer. Nice people all along the river.
So now it feels like the challenging whitewater is over. Maybe a commercial trip with some younger people doing the hard work. I am ready next time for an easy trip like the Sacramento River in the fall when the king salmon are running. To be honest about it, the Klamath River was scary at those flows. I got tired and overwhelmed. It was great to come back from a heart attack and do something challenging. But now it feels like there is nothing to prove. I did plenty of hard rapids when I was younger and had some bad experiences. Life lessons all over the place. Be careful out there.
At 73, this kind of trip was taxing. It took a lot of getting ready, and it was a lot of work to execute. I got so tired I just rolled out a sleeping bag every night and never set up a tent. It was nice to see the stars. My dog Ruby was lying right beside me in charge of camp security. We cut the trip short and I hitch hiked to the take out to retrieve the truck and trailer. Nice people all along the river.
So now it feels like the challenging whitewater is over. Maybe a commercial trip with some younger people doing the hard work. I am ready next time for an easy trip like the Sacramento River in the fall when the king salmon are running. To be honest about it, the Klamath River was scary at those flows. I got tired and overwhelmed. It was great to come back from a heart attack and do something challenging. But now it feels like there is nothing to prove. I did plenty of hard rapids when I was younger and had some bad experiences. Life lessons all over the place. Be careful out there.