This past weekend was the Arkansas Canoe Club's 35th Annual School of Whitewater Paddling. I've never attended "Canoe School", so I volunteered to paddle as a chase boat. I figured that would give me a chance to see how things are done. Needless to say, I was surprised when I found out I was going to help instruct a class. Then I received the email with the information for my class. Most of students had as much or more paddling experience than me!
Canoe School is held on the Mulberry River in the Ozarks. I left on Thursday night, in hopes of getting a warmup run on Friday. I wanted to get a little river time in my Karnali to get a feel for it. Plus, I needed to figure out how I was going to protect my broken finger. I got there just in time to hook up with a group from the ArkLaTex Chapter. The river level was low, so we decided to run one of the lower sections.
The Mulberry is a class II river and with the low level there really wasn't much action. We found one small hole and I was able to try a little surfing. I was surprised to find that my Karnali would actually spin pretty decent. We got back to camp just in time for package pickup. Then later that evening we met with our students. There was a lot of rain in the forecast, so we weren't sure what to expect the next day. We decided to meet up the next morning at 9am to decide what section to run.
There hadn't been as much rain as we expected, so we opted for one of the lower sections. After a little shuttle confusion, we put on the river and were pleasantly surprised by the level. Not only were we not dragging much, but it seemed like the river level was going up! We were excited to find several good rapids for working skills. I was working right along side the students getting a better feel for my boat. We got off the river late in the day and I was starving. Luckily, the Northwest Chapter was having a fish fry!
There was a little more rain the second night, so we decided to move a little further up river the next day. There were so many great rapids in this section! I was surfing, boofing, and rock spinning all the way down. Plus, there were lots of fun eddies to catch! The crux of the day came at a rapid called Sacroiliac. It pushes you hard into an undercut wall. I took the "Suicide Line" under the overhanging rock. After that, we stopped to work on rolling. One of the students got his roll on the second try!
I really enjoyed teaching and look forward to going back next year. The Mulberry is a beautiful river and I always enjoy paddling with my Arkansas friends!
I went back for x-rays on Friday. I was seriously bummed when they told me I only had a little bone growth. It looks like I'm going to be stuck with the splint for another month. The splint is more for protection now though. I'm allowed to take it off and work on getting the joint moving again. I'll be teaching on class II in Arkansas next weekend, so I'll probably just buddy tape it with some foam padding to protect it.
I finally paddled my Karnali this week on flatwater. It's definitely a great boat! It has a lot more primary stability than I expected and definitely wasn't tippy like a full displacement hull. It's secondary stability spot isn't very far on edge. I suspect the soft edges make this possible. If you force it further over on edge, it wants to roll back to the bottom. This makes rolling and bracing incredibly easy. I can definitely see why they say this boat inspires confidence!
It's been almost a year, since I've gotten on the Cossatot River. I've only paddled class III one time since then, so I was a definitely a little nervous. I felt like all of my class II paddling had made be a better boater, but I wasn't sure if it would help in bigger water.
I loaded up my gear and got on the road Friday afternoon. A little after midnight, I decided to pull over for a nap. I ended up sleeping nearly five hours in a Wal-Mart parking lot. I got to the river around 8am and setup my tent. I met up with a couple of paddlers and soon our group was putting on the river.
I have a bad habit of rushing when I'm with a group, so I tried to take my time going through my normal warmup routine. Then I surfed and caught eddies in the class I riffles and practiced some rolls. Soon we were at the entrance of ZigZag, a class III- rapid. Last time, I had bombed down it without catching any eddies. This time I caught the eddy at the top, then ferried across and caught another eddy, then I peeled out and headed down.
After running a couple of class II+ rapids, we came up to the Esses. The Esses is a long class III rapid with the potential for a nasty swim. Last time, I had punched through the holes and barely avoided some shallow boulders. This time, I decided to follow the safer lines. When I got to the last eddy, I saw a line I couldn't resist though. It was a fun, bouncy ride and definitely one of my favorites!
We continued below down through a bunch of class II/II+ rapids and I managed to find some fun lines with big boofs. Soon we were arriving at the Sandbar Bridge. Last time I portaged the bridge, but this time I did the seal launch. It was a slide into a drop and I loved it! We ran one last class II rapid and then took a break for lunch at the campground.
After lunch, we got in our boats to run the falls. It was my first time, so they offered to go down first and film me. The first drop was Cossatosser, a class III. I ferried across the top into an eddy on the left and then paddled down the drop. It was pretty easy, but I'm glad I didn't see the size of the hole before the ferry!
Next up was Eye Opener, another class III. It's a horizon line with about a 5 foot drop. There's a rock to boof or a tongue to ride down. Unfortunately, I went right down the middle of the two into the hole. My left edge caught the boof rock and flipped me. I took my time setting up and nailed my roll. Woohoo! The crazy part is that my rolling knee had come completely out of the brace!
The next rapid was definitely my favorite of the day. BMF is a tricky class III waterfall. You have to enter from river right at nearly a 90 degree angle. While waiting for them to setup I started coasting backwards into the entry. I knew I was ready and quickly turned my boat and paddled hard! I ran it clean and eddied out above the Washing Machine.
The Washing Machine is run similar to BMF, but it's a nasty looking class IV. I didn't paddle into it quite hard enough. I caught the edge of the top hole (that I didn't know was there, because I didn't want to scout it and lose my nerve) and then launched the wave over cannonball rock. When I flipped, I wasn't initially too worried about my roll, but I rushed and lifted my head. I setup for another roll attempt and then felt something slam into my boat.
My boat rocked hard, so I thought someone was trying to do a hand of god rescue. I was initially a little aggravated about someone interrupting my roll, but then realized that I must be in a really bad spot. I tucked up and waited, but nothing happened. I felt around for a bow and and there was nothing there. I didn't want to go over the next drop upside down, so I pulled my skirt.
The next waterfall was Whiplash, a class III+ with a double drop. I caught a boulder on the edge of the first drop, but slipped on some algae and went over. I did my best to quickly ball up and then came up swimming hard. I was able to catch a boulder above the second drop and climbed out of the water. I immediately noticed pain in my left ring finger. I taped it to the adjacent finger and iced it down with some cold beer. An x-ray would later reveal that I had broken it.
The following day I paddled upstream from the Sandbar Bridge and portaged about a half dozen rapids. I found a nice place to surf and waited for the rest of the group to come down. Then I paddled down with them and had a blast. I even got a nice rock spin in one of the rapids. Afterward, I packed up and drove to Hot Springs. One the way, I stopped to check out the lower Cossatot and Dierks. I was tempted to camp at Dierks, but in the end decided to head to Gulpha Gorge Campground in Hot Springs National Park.
The next morning I went to Ouachita Outdoor Outfitters. I originally was just going to get a rescue PFD, but then I decided to sit in some boats. I had been looking online at the Jackson Super Hero and the Pyranha Karnali. It didn't take long for me to decide on the Karnali. I got a 10% store credit that I used to get my Stohlquist Descent PFD too! I can't wait to get back on the water!
When I posted on Facebook that I was going to Toro Bayou, I was surprised when John responded that he wanted to join me. After all, we would be going on a Thursday and most people had to work. I usually end up paddling alone on weekdays. I loaded up my gear and packed some of my backup cold weather gear for John to use. The temperature was supposed to get up to 60F, but the water would still be very cold.
I told John to meet me at the Wal-Mart on Hwy 27 in Sulphur at 7:30. I dropped my kids off at school and went to meet him. When I got on Hwy 27, it didn't take me long to realize that the Wal-Mart wasn't actually on 27! A quick phone call arranged for a new meeting location at a gas station on the corner of Hwy 27 and Hwy 90. We were soon on our way to Toro. I have traditions when it comes to running Toro. One of them is stopping at Burger King in Dequincy for $1 sausage biscuits. I sprang for John's breakfast too! lol
When we got to Toro, we dropped my truck at the takeout and I threw my boat and gear in John's truck. He was happy to see the wet suit, semi-dry top, gloves, and helmet I had brought him. We made the short drive down to the putin and were soon paddling down the river. This was the first time I had paddled it since my recent solo run at 1100 cfs. It was around 5ft and 180cfs this time, so things started out a little more slowly. That gave me time to talk to John about river features.
The last time I paddled it, there were three strainers in the first couple miles. This time there was only one just before the first rapid and we were able to paddle over one end of it. The first rapid was Cowboy Up. It's an easy class I rapid with a small hole that can be surfed on river left. We stopped and tried to surf for a couple of minutes, but at this level the hole wasn't very retentive. After that came Bad Wreck, a class I rapid that angles right to left with some decent waves. John didn't have any problems and I got a nice action shot of him in the wave train.
Before long, we could hear the roar in the distance from Toro Falls, the first class II of the day. I had John pull off in an eddy upstream next to some boulders...another nice photo opportunity. Then I explained the line to him and let him watch me run it. I got out of my boat and positioned myself on the island to take pictures. I signaled and he started his run. He found the center entrance with no problems, but I cringed as I realized he wasn't going to make it into the main flow on the right. He dropped over the falls with no problem though...success!
We took a snack break on the island and I took the opportunity to point out the various features of the falls. I showed him the features that existed at the current level and then showed him the rocks that would form the features at higher levels. Understanding hydrotopography (a phrase coined by the late William Nealy in the classic book Kayak) is an important part of whitewater kayaking. We got back in our boats and tried to surf some of the waves on river right, but they were all flushy today.
After that, we had a little flatwater before reaching the last four rapids. We stopped to surf a small wave at the entrance of the Bufford. It's so small that you could easily miss it, but it's amazingly retentive. John couldn't believe it when it slowly started feeding his boat upstream. He finally got to see what the sensation of surfing felt like! After a few rides, we decided to run Bufford straight down river left. The waves and little drops were fun, but there wasn't quite enough water to keep us from scraping in spots.
Next up was Kiss the Bull...one of my favorites. It's a neat little rapid, because all you can see is a horizon line from upstream. When you see the drop for the first time, it will definitely give you a moment of doubt. Then you punch through the hole and bounce down the wave train. It's a lot of fun! Plus, you can surf in the main drop. I got a nice long ride and explored a few spots along the drop that I haven't surfed before. The last one put me literally between a rock and a hard place, requiring some hard back paddling to get out of the hole.
The next rapid was 8 Seconds...a long rapid with fun wave trains and a couple of small drops. John said it was his favorite one of the day. Then we ran the last little drop, Sucks Back, and paddled to the takeout. I had hoped to bring John down for a low water run of Jump and Kick in Section 3, but I really needed to get on the road. We picked up his truck and loaded up our boats and gear. I didn't have time to get my usual victory Icee, but I managed to make it back just in time to pickup my girls from school. What a day!
I went to San Marcos, TX over the weekend to do my instructor certification. My instructor was Ben Kvanli at the Power Olympic Outdoor Center. Ben is an Olympian and received his instructor certification from whitewater legend Ken Ford. He definitely knows what he's talking about. We spent the first half of the day learning the correct way to teach concepts such as wet exits and rolling. After lunch, we loaded up to head to Onion Creek.
Onion Creek is a class II/III creek that ends in an 18ft class IV waterfall. It's another one of those places that people pass everyday and don't realize it's there. It was a little on the low side, but I've spent a lot of time lately practicing on boney stuff. I was nervous at first, because I've haven't paddle class III since last spring. It didn't take long for me to realize it was right up my alley though.
The trickiest move of the day involved a narrow slide that ran into a tree overhanging the right side. I tried to run it down the left and still ended up getting fed right into the tree. It wouldn't have been too bad, but the person before me was still stuck in it. That left me kinda hanging out in a tangle of branches trying to hold my edge. After that, it was a fun continuous class III that ended above a river wide horizon line.
Ben said that pieces of this ledge had been breaking off and falling into the water below the drop. It wasn't safe to run, so we ferried across and climbed out on river right for the portage. When I got out of my boat, I couldn't believe the next horizon line! We left our boats and went down to scout Sweetwater Falls.
The falls had a really nice tongue to ride down the drop. The tricky part was that it had a class III entrance and you had to be right on your line. Ben said that it would try to push you left into a crack, so it was best to run it from left to right. There was a small wave on the right to aim at that would put you in the right place.
Ben and one of his assistant instructors ran it first to setup safety below. Then one by one the rest of the group started running it. Everyone else was from the area, so they had run laps on Graduation Falls, a forgiving 10 footer on the San Marcos River. Two of them had clean runs, one was a little off the line, and one went upside down through the crack behind the falls. They spent so much time underwater that I was surprised they were still conscious when they finally surfaced.
I knew I could make the line, but I was concerned about the landing. I didn't have any experience running falls and knew the drop was high enough for me to seriously injure myself. I knew I was going to have regrets, but I gave the hand signal to let them know I was going to portage and ferried across for the walk down. From my boat, the line looked even easier and I really wanted to run it. I can only hope I get another shot at it when I'm better prepared.
We ran the last class III rapid and paddled down to the takeout. Afterward, I told Ben that I was in a really bad place with my paddling. Class III was becoming too easy for me, but I wasn't ready to move up to Class IV. He said that's where most people spend their entire lives. I hope I can make that step up soon.
On Sunday, we took turns teaching various concepts on and off the water. It was below freezing when we put on the river, but the San Marcos River is spring fed and stays at 72F year round. We were actually putting our hands in the water to warm them up! We finished up around lunch time and Ben gave me my temporary certification card. I'm looking forward to heading back over soon for some more paddling and to continue my education.
I can remember when I first started scouting Toro Bayou. I saw one of the rapids when the bayou was at 6ft and was intimidated. I tried to put together a trip for two years and this September finally decided to solo it. Since then, I've paddled it 9 more times and most of those alone.
A big rain storm moved through the area Saturday night, so I set my alarm early to check the level. When I got up it was at 9ft and 1100cfs. The biggest I had run it was 6.5ft and 350cfs. That's a huge difference! I didn't care. I knew I was up for the challenge. I loaded up my gear and hit the road.
I decided to go to the takeout first to see what it looked like and make sure there was still an eddy there. It looked good to go. I could hear the first rapid in Section 3 roaring around the next bend in the bayou and decided to do some scouting.
I changed into my hiking boots and started the bushwhack to the rapid. It was muddy and there were lots of vines with thorns. When I finally stepped out onto the rock ledge beside the rapid, I couldn't believe my eyes. The waves were the biggest I've seen in nearly a year. There was a huge wave train down the middle of the bayou with 3ft high breaking waves!
At this point, I was very tempted to just spend the day here. The eddy was recirculating and it would be all too easy to just run it over and over. Not to mention, it looked like the top wave might be surfable. The rock ledge would also make for some fun seal launches into the current. I really wanted to see what the falls looked like though.
I hiked back to my truck and headed over to Tack-A-Paw Expeditions. They're closed for the season, but the owner said I could leave my mountain bike there for shuttles. I locked up my bike and drove down to the putin. The beach at the putin was gone and the current was rushing by the slide where I'd have to launch.
When I put onto the bayou, they first thing I noticed was the lack of sandbars. That was going to make it tricky if I had to portage any strainers. The next thing I noticed that the water was running through the trees, making for some crazy eddy lines with boils along the banks. There were also whirlpools appearing and then slowing spinning out of existence. This was definitely not something I had expected to see in Louisiana.
I already knew about two strainers in the second mile, but there was a third one today. The current was causing the tree to bounce up and down. I got out to scout it and decided I could make it over on far river right. I've never been so nervous doing a seal launch. I didn't want to be upside down upstream of that thing. I made a quick ferry across and then paddled hard. My bow shot up higher than I had expected, but I made it over without incident.
The first couple of rapids were just long stretches of class I, then I saw the entrance to Toro Falls. I knew it was time to get out and scout. The pool above the falls was all class II and the water was going through the trees. The increased level made for a lot smaller drop across the falls though. There were some fun looking wave trains on river left, but I decided to play it safe and just run straight down river right. I've never seen it with enough water to run that line, so it was pretty fun.
The big surprise of the day was Bufford. The term bufford means a bull that is easy to ride, rope, or throw down. That was definitely not the case today! It had two big long wave trains. It was so fun I decided to paddle upstream and run it again. I made the difficult attainment and peeled out into the river right wave train. It was definitely worth the effort! After that, the only decent rapid left was Kiss The Bull. It turned out to be more fun at lower levels though, because of the larger drop at the top.
I continued past the takeout to run the rapid in Section 3. There was a weird wave to the left of wave train coming in and out. As I was going down the slide into the top wave it started to break. I had a second of doubt and then paddled hard into it. The water splashed in my face and I couldn't see for a couple of seconds. The waves were so much fun! I hadn't paddled anything that big since last spring.
I took a short break on the rock ledge and then decided to take a couple more runs down it. The eddy on river left was recirculating, so it was all too easy to run it repeatedly. I considered trying to surf the top wave, but I decided to wait until I have some backup. Next time, I want to try to do some seal launches into the current too. It's about a 6ft drop off the ledge!
I recently discovered a creek that has a decent gradient and is big enough to be seen on satellite images. Hamby Creek drops 43ft in less than a mile and runs parallel to Hwy 473 into the upper section of Toro Bayou.
After my last run on Toro Bayou, I went to check out the putin for the creek. It was already dark, so I had to use a flashlight. There was a small rapid upstream and downstream of the bridge. There was also a strainer just downstream of the putin. On the drive home that night, I made the decision to come back the next day.
We got a late start, so we didn't arrive at the creek until a couple hours before sunset. It was running low, but I figured that would minimize the chances of me getting caught in a strainer. I quickly unloaded my boat and put on my gear. I decided to wear my wet suit, since it would be less likely to get ripped during a portage.
There wasn't really a good place to seal launch, so I ended up lowering my boat into the water and standing on a log to get in. I told my girlfriend to wait a half hour at the putin and then head to the takeout. Then I paddled off into the unknown.
The first half of the creek was pretty rough. It was like paddling in a wet sandbox full of logs. I was constantly getting out to portage a strainer or just to get off a sandbar. At one point, I was near the highway and considered bailing out. The creek seemed to be getting a little deeper and wider though, so I continued downstream.
Soon I heard that familiar sound in the distance. There was a rapid up ahead. I portaged a log at the entrance and considered just portaging the rapid. It was bony and just had a small drop with a little wave at the end. I had worked hard to get here though, so I was going to scrape through it! It wasn't as bad as it looked, but there was no chance I would be able to do any surfing.
Soon I came to two more shoals, but these were even smaller than the first one. Then I reached the confluence with Mill Creek. I thought I heard a rapid on Mill Creek, but it turned out to just be water flowing over a log. I will definitely have to take a closer look at it in the future though. It drops more feet per mile than Hamby and crosses quite a few topo lines. After the confluence, it was an easy paddle down to Toro Bayou.
I could see the first rapid in Section 1 of Toro Bayou. I was tempted to run it, but I was losing light fast. I started the short attainment up Toro Bayou to Hwy. 473. The bayou was at a pretty decent level, so the going was slow and difficult. Right before the last curve there was a large island in the middle of the bayou. The water was flowing a lot faster here and I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to get out and walk the rest of the way.
I finally made it past the island and could soon see my girlfriend waiting down by the water. It was getting dark and she was visibly worried. I stripped off my cold wet clothes and changed into something warm. I barely got my boat and gear loaded before dark. I was disappointed in the quality of rapids, but I was excited to have discovered a place that no one had ever paddled before.
If you're interested in whitewater kayaking, you've come to the right place! I'm an ACA Certified Kayak Instructor. For more information, drop me an email. roman@louisianawhitewater.com
