During our early spring melt in late January our rivers were finally starting to come in after such a dry winter. So Ryan Scott, Barney Benito, Billy Jones, Tao Berman and I planned on hopping on the little white for an early spring run. Not having been on the Little White since last year I was a little nervous, and I told everyone I wasn't going on if it was at four feet or higher (a very stout flow). So before stopping at the take out we checked the level, it read between four to four two, I decided not to run it. So we went to the take out to meet up with everyone else and talked about the level and the only one that was really enthusiastic about running it was Tao. We all talked for a while and decided to go to Upper Trout Creek, and to make a long story shot we were snowed out of the run. So we all talked again and decided to run the Upper Little Whte, a stout class V that goes on for about three miles.
Having been on this section only once made me a little nervous especially with the higher water level. But with the sun shining on us and the temp around 55 degrees we were all very excited to get on the water. Being a little nervous on this run I decided to give Ryan my camcorder (TRV-900) since he is a better boater then me. As we are all putting on we start ferrying across the river and catching eddies to warm up, once all of us got on we started to head down.
Once we started down we started getting into the meat of the run, I was following close behind Billy and Barney. I hit an eddy below one of the drops we just ran and heard some kind of noise, so I look up stream and I see Ryan out of his boat but close to shore. So I throw my stern in the current so he could grab on as he went by so he would swim the class V right below us. And as I pulled him into the eddy we couldn’t help watching his boat float by. Talking to him on shore he said he just got blown out of his boat, he landed a little sideways on a rock and his skirt imploded. Knowing there had to be a good explanation for his swim, it still made me a little uneasy knowing such a better boater then me swam. Ryan had to hike off, with his paddler nowhere to be seen and his boat heading down the river like a freight train we told him that anything we found we would throw on shore and come back for later. But I couldn't help thinking about my camcorder in his boat, granted it was in a Watershed bag, but I had never used one, I has always used a pelican case. So Billy, Barney, Tao and I start heading down river again. Trying to look for Ryans gear kept crossing my mind but everything was moving so fast at this level that almost all of my concentration was on the river.
We were about two miles into the run, when we came around a corner and saw Ryans boat pinned on a rock on the river right side. So we all eddy out and pull it to shore, Seeing the ends of his boat being pounded in and cracked in several spots I was dreading to see what kind of condition my camcorder was in. Billy pulled every thing out of the boat and there was no camcorder to be found. Getting a little sick to my stomach knowing I just lost a $1500 dollar camcorder there wasn't much I could do except be thankful that the situation wasn’t worse then it was. Just thinking about what the camera was running gave me absolutely no hope in ever finding it again, much less in one piece. We pulled Ryan’s's boat onto shore and made not of where it was at, so we could walk in later and pick it up.
As we continued down stream the river turned into class IV-IV+. We were all having a good time enjoying the river and looking for my camera. As we started approaching the Little White Salmon Hatchery, I started catching more and more eddies making sure I wouldn't get pushed into the class V+ up ahead. As I realize where I'm at I take out and watch Billy, Barney and Tao take out in an eddie a little farther down stream. Finally once I got up to them Tao pulls out the bag my camcorder was in, he said he found it floating in the eddie they took out in. The bag was already open and he was looking inside it, he looks up at me and told me they found the bag but there was no camcorder in it. Not believing him (since he pulls many pranks) I wanted to see into the bag to make sure, so he show me the bag and it was empty! My stomach dropped out from under me, now knowing my camcorder was gone for sure. As everyone see's my moment of hurt I hear something from beside me, I look over and see Billy recording me with my camcorder. All I could do was give him the finger and fall down in disbelief. Billy brought the camera to me and it was in perfect condition, I couldn't believe it, after thinking what it had been through I couldn’t believe it was still in one piece, much less dry.
Toa was the only one that had decided to run Simon Says into Willard Falls, so Barney, Billy and I portaged as fast as we could to watch Tao run these rapids. Finally he comes around the corner and gets pushed around a little bit, but over all stomps his line. Watching him get pushed around reassured me that it was a good choice to portage. Over all it turned out to be a great day on the Upper Little White, and a very memorable experience.
Keep Creekin!
~Nate~