Opal Creek
E F Lewis
Grays River
Lower Wind
BC Canada
Sellway
Lochsa
Lower Salmon
EF Lewis 1400 cfs
Some tips to taking an inexperienced paddler down the East Fork of the Lewis for the first time:
On the way up, when stopping to scout Sunset Falls, it would probably be helpful if the group you pause to watch doesn't include Mr. So-I-plugged-the-falls-and-am-now-swimming-but-I'm-damned-if-I'll-let-go-of-my-boat. It tends to put beginners off when people on the banks are screaming "Throw him another rope" and "Swim for f__'s sake you moron" for 2 to 3 minutes plus.
So if she isn't put off by this introduction, here are some other helpful don'ts.
At Sunset: don't show her the middle line but miss the main flow of water (and thus the boof) bouncing down the rocks in river center into the boil.
Then, if she runs the waterfall successfully, you may not want to bolster her confidence with the following lines in the little narrow section near Olies place:
1. Don't go for the sneak on Screaming Left, miss and then bounce down the right side.
2. Don't go for the eddy on Screaming Left, botch it completely, flip in the wave above the drop and completely plug the right side line upside down clinging to your boat calmly thinking (I quote) "I know I won't be able to roll but I'll probably be
safer if I stay in my boat" and then miraculously recover scratch free in the eddy.
3. Don't make some attempt at the eddy on Screaming left, miss slighly, bounce down the right side, recover, grin madly at the crowd neglecting to pay attention to Dragons Back, flip, bounce down Dragons Back upside down and then swim.
4. Don't carry around Screaming Left but then plug the hole on Dragons Back and then swim.
5. Don't calmly run the line on Screaming Left but The above sort of antics are only liable to make your novice a touch apprehensive, both as to the actual difficulty of the rapid at hand and, more importantly, about the combined calmness and skill
level of the people showing her how it's done.
It is only once your novice has styled Dragons Back that the sweep paddler should miss the boof, plug the hole, rodeo it spectacularly, swim, continue rodeoing spectacularly only now without benefit of a boat (true freestyle rodeoing ?) before finally flushing.
It is also heplful not to give visual confirmation of what could really have happened to the four others who missed the line at Johns Swimming hole
but made it, by having a fifth miss the line and then try sidesurfing a creek boat in the hole.
And as a final caveat, it always makes beginners feel much more comfortable if they don't have to come around a bend in a totally innocent stretch of river only to find a paddler on a rock peering dimly after a boat now several drops away.
Having said that, kudos, to the novice who managed to style most of the run with only one roll. Not so much kudos to the team who got her through it, maybe we can do it better next time now that we know just what we were doing wrong.
On the way up, when stopping to scout Sunset Falls, it would probably be helpful if the group you pause to watch doesn't include Mr. So-I-plugged-the-falls-and-am-now-swimming-but-I'm-damned-if-I'll-let-go-of-my-boat. It tends to put beginners off when people on the banks are screaming "Throw him another rope" and "Swim for f__'s sake you moron" for 2 to 3 minutes plus.
So if she isn't put off by this introduction, here are some other helpful don'ts.
At Sunset: don't show her the middle line but miss the main flow of water (and thus the boof) bouncing down the rocks in river center into the boil.
Then, if she runs the waterfall successfully, you may not want to bolster her confidence with the following lines in the little narrow section near Olies place:
1. Don't go for the sneak on Screaming Left, miss and then bounce down the right side.
2. Don't go for the eddy on Screaming Left, botch it completely, flip in the wave above the drop and completely plug the right side line upside down clinging to your boat calmly thinking (I quote) "I know I won't be able to roll but I'll probably be
safer if I stay in my boat" and then miraculously recover scratch free in the eddy.
3. Don't make some attempt at the eddy on Screaming left, miss slighly, bounce down the right side, recover, grin madly at the crowd neglecting to pay attention to Dragons Back, flip, bounce down Dragons Back upside down and then swim.
4. Don't carry around Screaming Left but then plug the hole on Dragons Back and then swim.
5. Don't calmly run the line on Screaming Left but The above sort of antics are only liable to make your novice a touch apprehensive, both as to the actual difficulty of the rapid at hand and, more importantly, about the combined calmness and skill
level of the people showing her how it's done.
It is only once your novice has styled Dragons Back that the sweep paddler should miss the boof, plug the hole, rodeo it spectacularly, swim, continue rodeoing spectacularly only now without benefit of a boat (true freestyle rodeoing ?) before finally flushing.
It is also heplful not to give visual confirmation of what could really have happened to the four others who missed the line at Johns Swimming hole
but made it, by having a fifth miss the line and then try sidesurfing a creek boat in the hole.
And as a final caveat, it always makes beginners feel much more comfortable if they don't have to come around a bend in a totally innocent stretch of river only to find a paddler on a rock peering dimly after a boat now several drops away.
Having said that, kudos, to the novice who managed to style most of the run with only one roll. Not so much kudos to the team who got her through it, maybe we can do it better next time now that we know just what we were doing wrong.
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