Gunpowder....July 04....We've all been doing one section or
another for many years. There's the spicy little one mile class
II-III section from Pretty Boy Dam down to falls road. Packed
with nice drops and twisty turns, very playful at the right levels,
but usually a strainer here or there. And Oh So Cold water! Great
for a hot summer day. Then the middle section so many of our club
members enjoy, putting in where the upper boaters take out. Nice
moving class I, always some downed trees to deal with, but a fun
filled afternoon. Again, Oh So Cold water. And lastly the lower
section. Nice class II-III and a longer trip than the upper.
So I'm sitting there on a Sunday afternoon thinking " what
can we boat today?" hmmmm....need to stay local. Just ran
the Muddy yesterday. Nice group of a dozen paddlers, including
some beginners we were leading down for their first white water
trip. The phone rings...."Hello?" "Hi Mike this
is Stew, it rained 6 inches down here yesterday ( Stew being our
local reporter on the GP levels ) you guys wanna boat?" Ok
twist my ar....that's enough! what time? We're bored and need
water!
So I gather up my protégé Brenton, armed with Dean's
hand paddles, and off we go to meet Stew, Ken, and a new friend
Barry, ( yet another flat water paddler we met on the SusQ one
Thursday evening during Romper Rooming, who decided to buy WW
gear ), and who ever else might show up. We all meet at the Falls
Road bridge about 4 p.m. and I'm jumping for joy to see the gauge
at 3.7 ft. Usual levels are between 1.4 ft, and 2.4. Smiles all
around, and questions from Barry, who has never been there before,
questions we have all had, is this a good level? Is it harder
than a lower level? You know how it went for us too right?
Ok, so we're carrying in the old fire road to the creek, when
the sky opens up and lets all it has pour on out. I swear you
could have almost boated the trail it rained so hard. We're seal
launching into the water one by one, still pouring, and the water
is very warm. Unusual for those who know the Gunpowder. We coach
Barry on peel-outs for a while before heading downstream. Wow!,
this river looks much different at this level....but wait it gets
better! I'm probing all the drops, catching eddies and signaling
to the others where the eddies, lines, trees, etc. are and we're
hopping down one at a time, keeping an eye on our new guy especially.
About half way down ( it's still pouring ), I notice the water
which is beautifully clear quickly changing to a chocolate milk
kind of hue. Not only that, but it's getting louder, deeper, and....this
is too cool! Stew points over the hillside and one could see absolute
torrents of brown water coming into the creek. Of course all the
pools below each rapid had disappeared, few eddies left or right,
and one huge strainer crossing the top of a favorite drop. The
tree was actually forming a pour over which Ken decided to boat
scout. I turned around just in time to see him being swept out
of the eddy, flipped and swimming after his boat all in about
2 seconds it seemed. The rest of us are out of our boats to portage
the blockage, and running after Ken, who had managed to get his
boat on shore, but lost his paddle. I suggested he shake one of
the limbs he could reach on the strainer and up popped his red
bladed Lightning stick....only to disappear again! I did mention
before that Brenton was hand paddling, so I had stuck a break
down paddle in his boat, which we assembled and gave to Ken. The
next drop had a big water screaming left turn to it or a river
left monster hole slide. I said I was going to go for the ferry
to left and do the drop, every one else could decide their line
upon review of my success or lack thereof. Fastest peelout I ever
did, or so it seemed, was at the drop at a very fast speed, down
the ramp, into the hole, and felt like I hit a wall, ok a soft
wall, this drop was fun, you went in, got buried to your neck
in the pile, sucked you backwards just a little, but would let
you power out with a couple of strokes. What a blast! Most followed
my line one at a time, big grins all the way round. A narrow channel
where the spin hole USED TO BE, and an exciting ramped S turn
at whale rock,the right side forming a nice drop, which Stew decided
to try. Brenton took advantage of the last fast moving rapid by
paddling to the top, flipping himself over with his hand paddles,
and rolling about 15 times nonstop, up and over, up and over,
made me dizzy.
We get down to the bridge and discover the chocolate milk we've
been paddling was still rising. By the time we took off the gauge
was completely under water! I don't remember what it's highest
mark is....5 or 6 ft? Anyway, we had a ball. And we did not have
to travel along way to experience big water on a small creek.
And a happy ending....Ken went back the next day and found his
paddle waving to him not 20 yards downstream from where we last
saw it. How cool is that?
Paddlers all K-1
Mike Betts
Brenton Petrillo
Stewart Thrasher
Ken Gustavsen
Barry Paup