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March 23, 2005
Flood Dreaming
Today was an excellent day. I met up with Scott Lindgren and Dave Garringer this morning for a high water run on the Chamberlain Falls section of the North Fork of the American. It had been almost ten years since I had been on that piece of river and I was excited to return especially due to the high water.
When I left Reno the river was running around 3000 cfs, but on the drive over the mountain it was pouring down rain like I haven’t seen in years. By the time we put on the river we guessed the flow to be between 4 and 5 thousand. As some of you know, judging the flow of flooded steam beds can be very hard to do. All we knew is that is was high and we were ready for some good play boating and river running. It turned out to be just what we hoped for with lots of play spots and some big fun rapids between.
I actually got tired at one of the play spots which was very exciting for me as it has been a while since I have paddle that hard. So, after we got off the river Scott quickly checked the flow and found that the flow was actually 5 to 8 thousand and rising quickly while we played.
Five minutes ago I just checked the flow again and it is now even higher. I can’t help but let my mind wonder as thinking about how the river would be different at even higher flows is very exciting to me. One of my favorite things in the world is being on a river at flood, but depending on the place it can quickly change to be your worst nightmare. Maybe that is part of the appeal?
Posted by AdventureGrrl at March 23, 2005 09:43 AM