Lochsa, Day 3...Does it have to end?!

On Day #3, we awoke to nearly sunny skies! By now, the routine was pretty well ingrained...breakfast, drive to the put-in, wait around, then go!! My crew lost a paddler...Lisa decided she'd stay on dry land and be the videographer for the day. It worked out well, since we didn't have many action shots yet.

We put in at Fish Creek and got ready to run the lower 10 miles (yep, with Lochsa Falls). Everyone was tired and pretty sore from our double-dump and swim. Vitamin I for everyone!

Hanging around at Fish Creek


Cata-rafts floating the upper river


Our crew switched to another boat...would we flip in the Lochsa Falls again? Different guide (Doug), different boat...hmmm...

Yep, we're in that blue boat coming through Bloody Mary (I think?)


Our other two boats


Finishing up the rapid


Letting us catch up


The waves were big (again) and the highlight for me was a rapid called House Wave...you drop into the rapid and this enormous standing wave rises up to meet you!

Looking back up-river at House Wave


After that, it was not long before we had to set up for the Falls. We set up perfectly and dropped in, paddling hard. The front end of the boat got buried (we had two guys, one 190 lbs and the other 215 lbs up front). The boat stalled and started to flip over just like the day before. I resolved that I was not going to fall out as I watched Dan, Mat, and Joe all tumble into the water. Doug, our guide, managed to hold on (thank goodness, or else I would have had to try pulling them all in!)

I held on, amazingly, as the boat literally went up on it's side for a few seconds. I felt the balance tip and the boat went back down and stayed upright, with me still in it!

We fished the swimmers out pretty quickly and were on our way to the last rapids. The weather was glorious (70 and sunny) and we all enjoyed spectating again.

The road is about 10 feet to our left


Some of the other boats (from different outfitters such as ROW and Three Rivers) on the Falls:

Diggin' in






This boat sneaks around to the far left


The size of the kayaker gives you an idea of the scale


I'll give you one guess what happened to that guy


Creature craft designed to not flip over


Cata-raft getting tossed


They took on a lot of water!


Our last take-out of the trip


The trip was all-in-all, one to remember for a long, long time to come. If you like adrenaline and lots of excitement, rafting could be your next great vacation. Check out the Kern for close-to-SoCal stuff!

Our crew...would be nice to see one of these trips with a bunch of STR members

Lochsa, Day 2...rallying the Lochsa Swim Team

Day #2 started off fairly warm and with, as Jim said, "unlimited potential". We planned to run the middle and lower section, a 19-mile span with some of the best rapids on the river.

Yep, Joe documented our trip in HD video


Looking back on the Lochsa


There are a couple of unspoken rules that the group usually follows...generally, don't say things like, "This river is my b#tch" or "I own this river" or the like. Murphy's law usually strikes if this happens.

And, second rule, don't eat any cookies until the rafting is over for the day. Our friend Kevin has crumbs on his shoulder on the drive down. Bad luck!

Kevin ruins our karma


The van got shuttled down to the pull-out and the guides scouted the river. They told us the interesting news...they saw swimmers on the upper half...the calmer half of the river. Swimmers, by the way, are usually not voluntary...it means the boat flipped or dumped some people out.

Beat up truck at the put-in...foreshadowing??


Undeterred, we set out...Dan and I (and Mat, Joe, and Lisa) in the lead boat. John has done the Lochsa for 10 years...he is smart and keeps us safe yet knows how to maneuver the boat so that we hit the fun rapids, too. There are lessons on safety and speeches on what to do if you swim. I listened intently because on my first Lochsa trip, I didn't swim once. It was only a matter of time. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous...

Well, we were floating along and hit our first rapid, called Mile 129. We had breezed through it the day before. Unexpectedly, the river decided otherwise, and we stalled in a trough. A wave came up as we highsided and flipped us over side-to-side. Instantly, we were all thrown out of the boat with not much warning.

I got half a breath and hit the water...it was pretty disorienting, but I knew not to panic because my PFD would bob me up. I surfaced several feet from the boat and did the next thing...grabbed a paddle. The boat is your safety when you are in the river...shore or logs or rocks are generally not the safest. I flipped onto my back and tried to float while riding out the rest of the rough water. Dan was ahead of me and our friend Lisa was beside me. I tried to calm myself down and her, too. The water was cold but not bad through my 4/3 wetsuit.

The other 2 boats kicked into high gear and in about 90 seconds, we had everyone in the boat. It seemed like (and was) a long time but the flip was so unexpected.

I was a little shaken but fine. More like an overload of adrenaline!! The rapids after that seemed extra big!

We pulled out for lunch at Fish Creek and sat around in the rain. The weather was chilly, magnified by our swim.

Lunch spot...sorry for the blur but it was taken with the waterproof housing on Dan's camera


Huddling


We got back in the boats and headed for the more "exciting" half of the journey...the highlight of which is Lochsa Falls. The Falls (like the rest of the river) is right next to the road and has a viewing area. People come out to watch in droves, especially on a holiday weekend. Everyone is hoping the boats get through but they are also hoping to see some "carnage"! Makes it exciting!

Lochsa Falls...doesn't look the big from up here!


A kayaker takes on the Falls


We set up to the left of the drop-in and the crashing of the waves was so loud. We dug in with all we had and almost made it through...but the river was not going to let us off the hook...we got pummeled from the left and went over again. This time, we were more tired from our first swim and I bobbed up under the boat. I had to wait a few extra seconds to re-surface. I grabbed two paddles while waiting for the boat to come get me, which didn't take as long as the last time.

Our other two boats made it through and only lost one of their paddlers. Bad luck for our boat, I guess!

Even though we swam and it was a bit stressful, we still had a blast!! Just like after any epic ride, when you sit around and trade stories about the day, we did the same...and then went to the falls to spectate. Joe purposely swam through Lochsa Falls twice (he's a water polo player, great swimmer, and he's done it before)...so we got to watch!

Joe swims the falls


Artistic shots




The take-out...Split Creek


Bridge to who-knows-where


Finishing up the ride


Another boat coming through to the end


Would we make it through Day #3 unscathed??? Stick around to find out!

10th Annual Lochsa Whitewater Rafting Trip, Day 1

What do you get when you mix 18 friends, several cases of beer, and heart-pounding action? Sounds like a mountain biking trip but...

it's actually the 10th annual Lochsa River whitewater rafting trip!

Dan and I just finished the most epic (EPIC!) non-mtb weekend...whitewater rafting the Lochsa River in northeastern Idaho. This will be a multi-post kind of thing so keep checking back for more photos (I was the unofficial photographer)...

Here's the story, more or less as I understand it...the history of the Lochsa rafting trip...

The trip began 10 years ago with two friends, John and Jay, who traveled up to Northern Idaho to deliver some rafting supplies for the non-profit Jay worked for. They discovered rafting on the Lochsa and have been back every year since. Dan got folded into the mix because he's John's brother-in-law by marriage and then I came along. We went 2 years ago and had to come back for more!

It goes something like this:

The Thursday before Memorial Day, everyone converges on the Ironhorse Saloon in Missoula, MT as the prime meeting spot.

Airport decorations...What would the sign say? "Welcome to Montana...hope you don't end up with a mountain lion on your neck!"


No, that's not a typo...Missoula's high temp for the day


Missoula is a really cool city...it is surrounded by amazing mountains and has a really prevalent biking culture...in fact, there were many mtb parallels on this trip. Such as...

The love of beer


The love of Yeti's (I think they made a mistake, though!)


The presence of the "Ironhorse"


Bikes line every street downtown


The first of many beers are consumed, stories are told from years gone by, and the final preparations are made for the 50+ mile drive across the 12, over Lolo Pass, along the Lewis and Clark Trail, and into the Clearwater National Forest.

The North Fork of the Clark River


So green


And white (over Lolo Pass)


Cell phones don't work here. There is no internet access. Seriously.

Pretty soon you arrive at Lochsa Lodge (though there is camping right next door). Gorgeous. Clean air, pine trees, and still some snow lingering on the hills.

The Lochsa Lodge


The first of many token beer shots




Usually it rains and snows (who cares...we're in the water anyway!) but this year Mother Nature was kind...temps in the 60s and 70s and sun for most of the trip.

Pure sunshine


The river, of course, is the main attraction. This year, we had 3 boats for our crew of 17...this is not a commercial outfit, though. Our captains are from Boulder and Sacramento and Denver. Two are mountain bikers (duh, we love adrenaline!!). The crew comes from both coasts and everywhere in between.

This van belongs to one of our guides, Don, who is from Sacramento. I saw this sticker and did a double take. He's been to The Path and he LOVES it!!


See...bikes are everywhere...met a chap riding from Eugene, OR to Denver


River guide, complete with notes from the past


Legendary huckleberry pancakes...


Essential rafting food...the tub o'cookies


Me, modeling the hottest of neoprene wetsuits...(around my waist is a rope-caribeener to help flip the boat back over if it ends up upside-down)


Most people I talk to have never heard of the Lochsa. It runs through part of the Clearwater National Forest, north of the Selway River, along the Lewis and Clark Trail, through a narrow valley. It is very beautiful.

Lochsa country


Our boats at the calm-looking put-in


Another biking parallel...helmets are mandatory


The Lochsa (translation: "rough water") can also be brutal...the section we usually raft is full of Class III-IV+ rapids. The boat can flip. You may end up swimming (we did). The water is cold. There is always a danger of log jams and foot entrapment is you're not smart. The big feature of the river is Lochsa Falls (at times as high as a 16 foot drop-in).

Typical post-rafting activity...savoring a cold beer in the parking lot


This year, during our trip, the river was running at around 15,000 CFS or about 6 feet, which is fairly high. The waves were huge and the drops were huge! With rapid names like Killer Fang, Grim Reaper, and Bloody Mary...well, use your imagination!

Artistic shot


Blue skies by the end of Day #1


On Friday, we did a "practice" run on the upper 9 mile section from the Nine Mile put-in. It was a rip-rockin' time...fun without any swimmers...but our luck was going to change....