Whitewater Freestyle

California. What is there to say about California? I first visited this land of spectacular whitewater in 2004 and have been back five times since. There are so many rivers to run and enough whitewater to keep you occupied for a lifetime of paddling. On top of that, California has more overnight Class V runs than anywhere else I have ever been to (or know of).

This years trip was a flash in the pan. I was accompanied by the mullet legend himself, Ben Ledewitz for seven days of running classic Cali-style whitewater. On the course of our trip, we paddled the Salmon, Clear Creek, the South Branch of the Middle Feather, Big Kimshew, the White Salmon, and the Little White Salmon. Action!

Jay Moffett eddy hopping down Clear Creek

We first paddled a quick run on the South Fork of the Salmon near Somes Bar (northern Cali-ish; nearby where Rush Sturges grew up). The next day our plan was to go into Bridge Creek; however, after talking to the dude at the general store (a boater) we found out that we were ill prepared. Apparently you should start at the ass-crack, have plenty of food, and have shuttle set for that run. I guess people will go in there at 9am and not get out until dusk.

In lieu of this information, we decided to head up the road to Clear Creek–a nice little class IV+ run with some good drops and clear water.

Ben navigating some siphons on Clear Creek

After Clear Creek, Jay had to head back to work. Ben and I had heard rumors that the road to access the South Branch of the Middle Feather was closed; however, after checking in with some of the local talent and hearing of photos hitting Facebook just days before, we figured it had to be good to go. So, we drove 3-4 hours over to Oroville, CA and found the putin the next morning.

Ben Ledewitz on the first perfect 20 footer on the South Branch

We spent two days on the South Branch. The first was extremely rainy. I’d run the creek 3 times the year before so I felt like I had a decent grasp on how to route down it. I was mainly concerned about portaging 99 Problems in the rain (lotta’ slick granite); however, that proved to be doable without too much extra caution.

Right after the first perfect 20 footer, there is another perfect 20 footer. Ben Ledewitz routes down.

1/8th of a mile down from the perfect 20’s, there are these two sweet 15 footers back to back

On our second day at the South Branch, we met up with some great folks from the Southeast that were spending their summer in California. We all decided to paddle together and had a wonderful time. One of these stout-runners was even using hand paddles!

Towards the end of the South Branch, you get to a series of 10+ slides and waterfalls–ranging in size from 15′-90′ tall. It is truly a spectacular place to be.

Portaging the 90 footer near the takeout, very impressive!

Ben Ledewitz running the 50′ at the takeout.

I quickly scurried up the hill to get this shot for our SE crew. My waterproof camera caused it to be a bit blurry though.

Just downstream from here are a series of 100′-250′ waterfalls.

The horizon line of 4-5 100’+ waterfalls, promptly hike out on river right.

After two awesome days on the South Branch, we kept hearing that Kimshew was the place to be. Ben & I decided to head down to the takeout of Kimshew to try to find some folks to run the river with. We woke up the next morning to find Jason Hale putting on with a crew of 10 people, many of which had never paddled the run before, trying to do the 2 day in a single day. They suggested to us that we just plan for an overnighter and “First-D” style route the creek.

After much debate and some shuttle shenanigans, we started to pack our boats and arrived at the putin.

Ben on the portage…that we didn’t exactly portage.

Early on in Kimshew we knew there was going to be a portage. I vaguely remembered photos of Demshitz and what it was supposed to look like. Low and behold we arrived at the portage, decided it was iffy, and yet still decided to run it. I went first and had as good of a line as you could hope for. I charged left on the slide, straightened my boat out before I hit the kicker (where Ben is above), mini-tonned the rock and exited relatively safely. I looked up at Ben from the eddy and told him that it was very marginal. I figured he would have seen my line and forgone the idea of running it. Shortly thereafter I see Ben in the middle of it all. He, unfortunately, hit the kicker sideways which sent him careening upside-down towards the rock at the base. Not ideal. He ended up breaking his paddle and hit his cheek on the rock pretty good. All that said, he managed to roll up at the bottom and collected himself. Oakland, MD represent!

After that we took it a bit slower. Eventually we rolled up on the infamous Kimshew Gorge which is a series of about five large drops back to back.

The second and third drops in the Kimshew Gorge

When I got back from Scouting we found another crew that was on the two day program. They consisted of Cody Howard, Steve Arns, Mike McKay, and Fredy from Europe. Cody had run the creek before and was leading the charge. We all decided to paddle together for the rest of the day.

Ben Ledewitz running Kimshew Falls, Big Kimshew Creek, CA

Looking back up at Kimshew Falls with Steve Arns in the foreground

A big thanks goes out to Cody and their crew for letting us join. Cody had done the run once before and was able to remember much of it which proved to be very helpful as the creek kept feeding us difficult whitewater.

We got to our campsite shortly after the sun went behind the gorge. We set up camp and got a fire going to cook some food. ProTip: If you bring meat on an overnighter, try to bring meat that is pre-cooked. You’ll be hungry as hell and, if it’s pre-cooked, you won’t have to worry about not getting enough to eat if you can’t get a fire going.

We slept well that night under the stars and awoke to another beautiful California day. Day two of Big Kimshew involves running something called the “Secret Stash”. Everyone always hears about day 1 of Big Kimshew and no one really knows too much about the Secret Stash. I would describe the Stash to be just as hard as Big Kimshew day 1; however, with more of a gradual gradient. Think Blackwater style drops with a California sized flow and you’ve got the Secret Stash.

A nice photo of Fredy running the first 20′ of day two, Secret Stash, Big Kimshew Creek, California.

After the first twenty footer, there are many more IV-V big water technical rapids–so many that you start to think, “Man, when will we see the takeout?”

Cody Howard entering one of the countless bigger rapids on the Stash.

We eventually made it to the takeout, exhausted and happy after a sweet two days of awesome kayaking.

The crew, (left to right) Ben, Adam, Cody, & Fredy, stoked at the takeout.

After getting off the creek we said goodbye to our fellow stoutrunners and headed north to Hood River to paddle the White Salmon and Little White Salmon. A big thanks to Tyler Houck and crew for showing us down and for the hospitality. An even bigger thanks goes out to my mom for letting us borrow her car for the week. Cheers!

As always, be safe and have fun. Until next time,

-Adam Johnson