James Bagley and I got lucky a couple weeks ago and got a good run down Panther Cr. With low snow levels all year and only a modest amount of rain, I wasn’t really sure Panther would have enough water to make it fun. When we got to the put-in and looked at the gauge it was about 17″. I couldn’t really remember what the level was the last time I did Panther because it was 4-5 years ago, but Jason seemed to think it would go. Well, he knew it was below the 30″ level he last did it last time and was pretty sure we’d have enough water. I figured even if it was a bit low Panther would be better than the other alternatives.
Once we started moving downriver I realized it was actually a bit higher than the lower level I’d run it so knew we’d have a good day. Panther is like an easier version of Getting Busy on the Little White Salmon; pretty continuous boulder garden drops with good clean lines. The first big drop has three narrow slots and a hole at the bottom. There is a short pool below the rapid and then a big slide rapid. I’ve never run either of these drops but after watching James and Jesse clean both of them, I might run them next time. The slide used to have a big hole at the bottom but it seems to be more forgiving now.