Willow Weekend 6/25-6/26/2011

Two runs down the Guardrail and Red Gate sections of Willow Creek! Today my back and shoulders are really sore. The water level was higher than I have done it before which gave the water a little more push. The CFS (cubic feet per second) was in the high 700's on Saturday and the low 700's on Sunday; it is hard to tell exactly on the graph after the fact. My previous highest water level was 675 so I was pretty nervous.

I did well on Saturday, made it through Guardrail with only one or two close calls but then I swamped the boat in Red Gate and had a little swim. Sunday I did better and worse! The drops that I did well, I really nailed. The drop I did really really badly, I swam. Again, the boat was swamped and I tried to do a cross stroke to avoid a rock and over I went. (I did miss the rock.) The feeling of water sloshing around in my boat is starting to make me panic! I also fell out of two eddies which in different circumstances could have been a disaster. Luckily, I had already bailed the water out of my boat when I dropped out of the eddies.

No pictures of these runs. I should take the camera and at least get pictures in Red Gate or in an eddy in Guardrail, if I can manage to stay in the eddies!