lower rock creek

[oldmanriver]

last friday the rain gods had blessed most of the Saint watershed with over 3″ of rain. Lower Rock creek was 4.5 ft on highway E guage and Kyle Bales had been able to get us permission go through a private farm to access the put in.Thus we walked about 2.5 miles in carrying or dragging our kayaks. We encountered a significant area of blowdown with numerous trees down in the river and wood in 3 rapids. We had to walk around a number of log jams and the 3 rapids. At one point Terry easily went over a submerged log that I got stuck on. I was unable to paddle over the log and tried to lean back to allow me to scoot my kayak over the log however the back of the kayak submerged and the boat quickly pivoted on the log. i was not able to get the bottom facing upstream so I very quickly pulled my spray skirt and crawled up on the partially submerged log. the boat was stuck against the log and some rocks. It took about 15 minutes to get the boat free. The run has a number of class 4 technical rapids some of which come very close together . The creek bed is narrow in most places.The scenery is outstanding.The lower part of the creek was free of wood. I hope at some point to access the creek at low water and remove some of the wood. until then I would encourage anyone running the upper section to expect to have to portage log jams and rapids with wood in them.I also learned that if stuck on top of a log be very careful to avoid leaning back and submerging the back of your boat.

[CJW4D]

What a day it was! To add to Steve’s write up- make sure to bring a break down paddle!

I had the misfortune of catching a tree across the waist not but a few hundred yards after putting in the creek- I was able to wiggle off/under the first log but was then immediately close lined by another chest high log which I then swam from. After searching for my paddled in various log jams for about a half hour, I had no choice but to mount the boat back on my shoulder and hike the 2.5 miles out of the creek-

This was my third attempt at making this LRC mission happen, so it was rather disappointing needless to say

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by CJW4D.

[chris]

I’ve added a warning to my LRC page on MoCreekin’. Based on the first-hand account I heard of their adventure, I really think it would be best if this run was avoided until the wood can be removed (if ever – it is private land). And after that, scout everything on this one!

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