August 18, 2007 – 11:17 am
My friend Pete and I drove up to Spencer’s Hole Yesterday (our second time at this spot). The drive, from Eugene, OR, takes about an hour and forty minutes. This is a little longer than either of us would prefer to drive, but Spencer’s is a great playspot during the Summer months (when the water levels are to shallow everywhere else).
One of the best parts about Spencer’s Hole is that it is an incredibly scenic place and you can’t see or hear the road from the river. The North Santiam narrows at this point and there are nice rock ledges on either side and trees lining the banks of the river. The runout reminds me of Brown’s Hole on the Lower McKenzie; the water is deep and very aerated. When the sun shines down on the playspot the water has gorgeous blues and greens and, of course, the frothy white of the foam pile.
The play itself at Spencer’s Hole is pretty good for a Summer spot. It takes a lot of effort to make the attainment up to the top eddy, but it’s a lot of fun to try and do this in the most efficient way. Eddying out from the top eddy you have a small wave that transforms into the hole itself. In between the wave and the hole there’s a narrow spot where you can do left spins pretty easily. Every once in awhile you’ll catch an end and do a half cartwheel. I’d really like to see a good paddler in this spot so that I could learn how to do cartwheels myself. The last thing worth mentioning is that there is a large rock below the hole on surfer’s right (river left) where the water piles up into a pillow. Pete and I call this the “escalator”. When you flush off of the playspot you can seemingly surf up river by catching the pillow and ferrying back into the top eddy. This sensation is a lot of fun, in and of itself, and can save you the effort of having to do the attainment again.
Spencer’s can be a little intimidating at first glance, but from our experience, it seems to be safe, and it’s definitely worth the trip. Your abdominals will surely be feeling it by the end of the session!
August 7, 2007 – 11:38 am
My wife Rechelle and I ran the Lower McKenzie last weekend. We’ve worked our way up from running just the Finn Rock to Rennie’s Landing Section, to running all the way down to Helfrich Landing (me in a hardshell and Rechelle in an IK). The last rapid, just before Helfrich Landing, is Martin’s Rapid. I think this is probably a class three rapid but I’ve seen it listed as class four at a few places on the internet. Martin’s can be intimidating for a first timer, but it can also be a lot of fun. When I first started kayaking I swam the Martin’s on my first attempt, and I remember the runout as being pretty benign. At the top of the rapid, after you’ve gone to the right of the large boulder in the middle, there is some turbulent water and a strong eddy line. After that there is a wave train that takes you around to river left, and at the end there is a hole on river right. On our first time down the rapid Rechelle flipped at the top and swam the rest of the way down (doing a pretty good job at self rescue). I think it surprised her the first time, as it did me on my first attempt. On this occasion, though (our second time down Martin’s together), Rechelle followed me down like a pro, and had a big smile on her face when we were safely through. She was quite nervous, having swam the first time, but she did really well. Way to go Rechelle!
On a related note, one aspect of our run was less than ideal. Rechelle’s IK developed a leak — one significant enough that we had to keep pumping up her boat every half mile or so. I had duct tape on my paddle shaft, but it didn’t really help because the area surrounding the hole was all wet. If we were on a different river this could have been a major bummer, but with the highway right next to this run, we felt like we could walk out at any point if we had to. We’ll try to patch the IK, but Rechelle might opt to switch over to a hardshell instead!
I just got back from a dream vacation on the Ottawa river with EJ. I didn’t really know what I was getting into, but it turned out to be the best experience I’ve ever had on a river. Every day, from 9am to 4pm, we were on the river learning about river running techniques, strokes and concepts, and playboating, from the best kayaking instructor (and practitioner) in the world.
The rapids on the Ottawa were the biggest I had ever seen, and when I first saw them, I couldn’t believe that we were actually going to run them. EJ had us run the easiest lines initially and each day we ran it differently. This was a real confidence builder. By the end of the week I was a lot more comfortable going through the big whitewater and this, in turn, made it even more enjoyable. My only regret was not running a rapid called Dragon’s Tongue on the last day. I think EJ was a bit disappointed with me too, but at the time, I just didn’t have the guts to do it. I’ll just have to redeem myself next time!
One of most memorable moments of the trip was catching a wave called Waikiki on day three. I think I tried getting on the wave about twenty times and I was only successful twice. The water level was at 4.5 ft and you had to ferry out perfectly and paddle like crazy to establish a surf. This was by far the largest wave I had ever surfed on. The ride was extremely fast (for me) and dynamic. When I’d go down the face of the wave my boat would bounce way up in the air. I stayed in a front surf for about 40sec, carving from side to side a few times, and then finally pulled off, under control. It was awesome.
The Ottawa is the place to be in the Summer. I had the opportunity to meet many of the best kayakers in the world, we had wonderful weather, and the folks in my group were especially friendly and supportive. I would highly recommend a trip to the Ottawa to anyone interested in kayaking or rafting. Wilderness Tours is a great outfit and they know how to show you a good time.
The World Kayak initiative would like to announce the recent creation of a new blog Worldkayakblogs.com. This is a first post on this blog’s behalf.