Kilchis & Jordan Creek

1/12/2007

It was time for another WKCC trip!

I had a yurt reserved for Saturday night at Nehalem Bay State Park for the past two months, but participants were still in flux. Sandra had been on the list since November, but had since decided that other callings were more imperative. Laurie Pavey climbed aboard. And then Gary McCammon, Greg Skaer, and Dan Sauter joined the mix. Great! A nicely-sized trip had come together. But what was the destination?! I’d hoped to paddle the Salmonberry, and the Nehalem. Unfortunately, the Nehalem was at flood, and the Salmonberry hidden behind a possibly impenetrable wall of snowy roads and fallen trees. Neither seemed the right fit for a casual WKCC trip. Guess we’d see what treats were handed our way.

Dan picked me up at 6:45am on Saturday morning, and we were off. First to Philomath to pick up Greg, and then to Toledo to pick up Gary and the wonderful stash of cookies baked by his wife. From there 2 more hours up to Tillamook, where we met Laurie; she had already driven up solo to enjoy 3 nights of yurt camping on the Oregon beach. A quick referendum and we had a destination: the Kilchis.

We dropped Laurie’s Element off at the take-out, and drove upstream. It looked good; a fairly high volume of green-hued murky water winding its way downstream over small ledges and underneath large trees. We drove past the put-in described in Soggy Sneakers and found an easy launch directly above a road bridge. That first mile was a fast flush through off-set holes and breaking waves. Fun! Then a horizon line beckoned; with a vertical log in the current just downstream. We stopped for a scout. It looked like blind class IV with consequence. None of us liked the look of the portage: an old landslide of massive old growth logs. There was a small eddy just above the drop. I decided it would allow me to safely run the rapid. A few minutes later, I was in another eddy below the drop. It’d been exciting. A bit too exciting. The ledge had still been blind from that last eddy, but it’d allowed seeing a downstream seam of current. I’d gotten a massive tail stand in the hole, exited on that seam, and then fought hard to avoid slamming into that vertical log. A pushy class IV move with “Consequence”. I signaled to all that a portage was possibly safer. 45 minutes later we’d successfully completed that portage – a portage that involved Gary spelunking the caverns beneath the massive logs, and a mile of Devil’s Club squeezed into two hundred yards. The remainder of the run was fun, no less exciting, but much less trialing. Miles upon mile of continuous class III leading into the final 2 miles of class II+. The Kilchis is a river that’s worth the paddle! Remember that.

Saturday night: Burrito dinner in Manzanita. Plush sleeping accommodations at Nehalem Bay. Gary putting his appliance repair knowledge to use and improving the operation of our space heater. A sound sleep – at least for me. That about sums it up.

Sunday morning. Gary’s feeling a bit ill. Little sleep overnight + the Burrito beast + McDonald’s breakfast grease. We’re driving upriver on the Wilson. The Wilson is Big and Muddy. We stop and evaluate Jordan Creek: Big & Greenish. We drive on up to the Devil’s Lake Fork: back to Big, Muddy, and Snow on the ground at 600ft above sea level. We head back to Jordan Creek and launch around 7 miles upstream of the Wilson confluence. Just below a small gorge that contains a very sticky looking ledge-drop. The flow seems optimal! It is a bit pushy, but with straightforward lines among sizeable waves and holes. All set within a small intimate creek bed. Wood is a concern, but it’s manageable.

Things get interesting at a large class IV situated underneath the next road bridge. I lead, but I screw up my line and get worked in a hole near the bottom of the drop. Side-surfing on my off-side. Brace, brace, BRACE! and then barely claw my way out as Gary is coming in hot from behind. Dan swirls his way through. Greg pinballs down and encounters the same excitement I did, and Laurie nearly joins him. Greg finally flushes out upside-down just seconds before Laurie goes for her own side surf. Well! That was interesting! Downstream, things mellow out a bit as we fall into the rhythm of the constant class III’s. But there is one more challenge. The final couple miles of gorged-out class III+. Get stuck in a hole and go for a swim in there at these higher flows and it’s going to be a looooong one. One rapid is especially memorable. A large blind horizon line lurks just downstream of a powerful, twisting class III+. Most of the current drops over river left; Go river right! With momentum.

Finally we hit the confluence with the Wilson. Green waters mingle with dark brown in chaotic boiling swirls. Don’t swim at the take-out! It’s been about 7 miles, and 1.5 hours since we launched onto the run. The sun is warmly casting strong shadows. A perfect end to a great day! Well… the day really ends 4.5 hours later after having driven into Eugene, but that’s a story as yet untold…

-Steve Stuckmeyer

Note:  trip report written by Steve Stuckmeyer; sparcplug transfered content from old web site.