Shade Creek: A Day of Close Calls

Shade Creek: A Day of Close Calls

Two weeks ago, Justin Takasawa and myself, linked up with two CCC paddlers and went paddling on Shade Creek. Nine miles of 56 gradient, which caused constant action. The level was low, which allowed us to experience the creek with much less consequences, as it was a class III-IV. At high water, it would become a class V. However, in a sense, it was a harder level than some because we had to dodge constant rock gardens. A lot of these rock gardens, not only had strainers, but had decent sized drops at the bottom of them with multiple holes, often creek wide. This was how the first class call occurred.

We had already gone about a mile at this point, and Justin and I were getting pretty use to the, “point A to point B to point C, and back to point A” type of paddling. You pretty much had to constantly dodge rocks. I was the last person to come down the first big drop. As I came down, I saw the V shaped hole that was right in front of me. This hole was extremely similar to “Eagle Rock,” in size and shape. Well…I hesitated, had the wrong boat angle, so when I made that ‘one last’ hard paddle, it turned me sideways-ish as I went through the hole.

In an instant, I stopped moving forward…and knew I was stuck in this bad boy. To make matters worse, my off-side was downstream. I can’t even surf with my off-side downstream yet – not even in a small hole, and here I am in a real combat situation, 35 degree weather, snow on the ground, and in a gnarly hole. I did the only thing I know how to do…as I hit the hole, I leaned downstream, and planted my paddle in the water to brace for impact. Because it was my off-side I had to torque my body awkwardly downstream, turning my shoulders completely parallel with the boat (at this point, I only knew this in theory). It worked so far - I had not yet flipped…and I had a little bit of balance in the hole, and had been in there for only a few seconds…

Then all a sudden the hole started bouncing me all over the place and as it violently tried to flip me upstream. I hear Bruce in the eddy 5 ft. away, screaming at me, “LEEAAAANNN, LEAAAAANNNN, LEANNNN!!!! LET’S GO!!! LEANNN!” I am secure in my straps still because of the new lap strap (thank you Vern). I use all of my muscles to pull myself downstream toward my brace. My shoulder joint is honestly bouncing around in my socket, and I feel my shoulder starting to separate (same as Nescopeck). The force of the water is insane. I need to get out of here. I hold my weight down stream, and start paddling as hard as I can. I get some much needed encouragement from Bruce, “PADDLE, PADDLE, PADDLE.” After about 45 seconds of fighting this hole… I make it out alive and dry! My first Off-Side Brace…in the clutch. I am ecstatic. I could not have been happier with that whole situation. Although, if it wouldn’t have happened in the first place…that probably would have been better. But still, my first off-side hole surf…awesome.

After 3 more or so miles of constant rock dodging action, and dropping down class III drops and ledges…we reach the next close call. I was making my way through a boulder garden, following Justin, when I see him turn and start paddling pretty hard toward river left. I soon realized that he was heading left because of a huge strainer, covering half the creek, about 3 ft above the water for the majority of it – stretching from river right to center. Because of the rocks, I could not ferry across until my back end was 5 ft from the tree. Looking back now, if I would have kept with it…I would have made it, but unfortunately it didn’t happen that way. Instead, I gave up on the ferry, as my nose was about 3 ft away from being around the tree. I thought I could duck under the tree. I was wrong. You know the drill…water started billowing up on the upstream side of the canoe…I kept leaning down stream, trying to process what my next move should be.

I come up with my plan and execute it quickly. Meaning… I jumped up on the log, with a leg on each side, and held on like a monkey as the current whizzed by underneath me. I straighten out the canoe (turn it parallel with the water), and slide it under the strainer…and jump right back in the saddle. Now I realize…. “Oh crap, I don’t have a paddle anymore” (I lost it in the process of grabbing on the log). I barely hear Bruce over the roar of the water, “there you go! Grab the spare!!” Luckily, my spare sits right on top of my front airbag, which is lightning fast excessible. I grab the paddle…and now I realize…”oh crap… I have the rest of this rapid to go”… Left, right, Left, Eddy, Peel-out….down the class III shoot, grabbing my primary paddle swirling around in the eddy below…right as I pass it….Perfect. Again, I wish this event wouldn’t have happened – but it couldn’t have worked out better considering. In hindsight, I’m just going to blame the whole situation on Justin.

As I have learned through many experiences, often the most important thing when encountering a potentially hazardous situation – is precisely what any experienced boater preaches… “Stay focused. Assess the situation as fast as possible. And execute the plan.” My only recommendation when following such advice is…make sure you come up with a good plan; because executing an ill-advised plan probably won’t turn out in your favor. That’s where preparation comes in. Try to know what to do in theory during any potential whitewater situation. That will at least give you a chance.

The last close call came on the home stretch, right before we had to ferry across Stony Creek River to our take out. There were several almost river-wide surfing holes, all easily accessible. The only problem was, they were smiling…meaning, getting out of them was not going to be fun. After watching Bruce and Brian surf these holes many times, I decided it was time to jump in. I figured there was no way I was going to come out of it in my boat, but reasoned that the car was only 10 minutes away…so I paddled toward the hole.

Once in, I started side surfing, then worked it to a back surf, and back to side surf. The whole time I was cautious not to front surf, as I would likely get turned on my off-side and have to off-side brace. And while I may have barely escaped a hole from an off-side brace a few hours earlier…I wasn’t about to test whether or not that was a fluke. So I stayed on my on-side. It’s been about a minute now, and I’m still bouncing around in this hole, trying to hold my balance, and find a way out. I paddled as hard as I could to get out of there…it just wasn’t happening. The last thing I wanted to do, so come out of my boat.
I leaned downstream in the hole so far…. That my downstream gunnel was touching the water and it wasn’t long before I was stuff there on my side – trying to keep my head above water. I was basically in my “roll” setup, without actually having my head underwater. I essentially was doing “draw strokes” under the water to finally pull myself out of the hole. All the while, I was mentally readying myself to try and “roll.” My roll experience at this point was one roll session, where I could barely get up 50% of the time by the end of the session. Well, luckily I didn’t have to find out whether or not I could roll in the clutch just yet, as Bruce paddled on over and told me to grab the front of his kayak, and pull the boat back under myself. I struggled, but eventually ferried my water logged boat across the current to safety. What a trip.

I don’t have to say much about Brian and Bruce, as they have been at this a while and seem to navigate the creek with ease. Justin and I, however, haven’t been at this for that long. And this was our first ‘steep’ creek in a sense. And it wasn’t even that steep in the grand scheme of things. Both of us felt very comfortable on the creek, comfortable with our boat control, and comfortable with the pace of the paddling; which was must faster and more intense than we were use to at that point. I usually try to paddle with grace and finesse, taking my time to assess rapids and such. This was not the case on shade creek. Because of the lower level, all the rocks, and the gradient; grace and finesse were out the window. It was time for some power paddling – this allowed us to ‘work it’ with our bigger boats.

Looking back, we both wished there was more flow, and more push; making rapids bigger and meaner. I can feel that I am adapting my paddling style to the water itself. I try not to paddle with power as much as I do finesse, for the sake of learning maximum efficiency. Once that efficiency is learned, and maximum power is applied, the paddling possibilities become endless. Getting my skill to that point is of the utmost importance.