Deep Creek Mar 23

Keith organized Tim and I into standby for a Santa Margarita or Deep Creek run; Santa Margarita was at 270 cfs and dropping in the morning while Deep Creek seemed to be holding at 950 cfs so we met up and drove out to Hesperia. We parked at the Mojave Dam and did the usual 6 mile PCT hike-in in about 2.5 hrs. From the trail we got some views of some juicy looking rapids and a few nice slopes of yellow wildflowers. Snow level was probably less than a thousand feet in elevation above us. After the Rainbow Bridge, Kinley Creek had a good amount of water in it, prompting a brain-freeze barefoot walk across it. There was a 2 person inflatable boat attached to a rope across the creek at the hot springs. When we first arrived there was only one person that had hiked in the same way as us, but within 20 minutes there was nearly a dozen people that had come down from Bowen Ranch and crossed in the boat. We ate our quick lunches while soaking in the hot springs for about 20 minutes then it was time to go, already somehow about 3pm. 

I immediately noticed that the willows were less of an issue than I remembered and the boulder garden rapids had cleaned up considerably at this flow. We would later find out the flow was actually 1100 cfs, nearly double what I had previously run. It was fast and a little pushy with lots of split second decisions and blind commitments. I was feeling a little off for some reason and so played it a little cautious, portaging a few of the rapids that Keith and Tim ran including the nice bedrock corner rapid (frontispiece) and The Flume rapid. The Arid Piles portage sucked but we got through it, hopefully without poison oak contact, and put-in back at the Rainbow Bridge. The whole section to the bridge took us a lot longer than I think we were expecting. 

There were a few more long and complex rapids between the bridge and Prime Time Falls including one more long one I chose to portage. The dramatic spray of Prime Time Falls was an easy cue of when it was time to portage. The falls looked impressive at this flow and I questioned why I tried to run it on my first time down this section.

Group photo thanks to hiker!

Prime Time Falls

Immediately below Prime Time is another rapid nearly as intimidating, a steep, bumpy channel that slams into a wall below. We all portaged this and each had our own struggle trying to ferry across the flow to get downstream. At some point Tim flipped and I lost my paddle recovering his. Tim and Keith each flipped a couple times; I had some close calls (and a few portages) but no flips. We past the last rapid of consequence above the bend above the gauge and floated out casually the rest of the way, spotting a few beavers en route. We took out at 7 pm (late!) and carried boats up the dam access road for the nice clean asphalt area at the top. We all had a great trip. I'm getting excited for the possibility of trying out the full 14 mile run starting near Arrowhead at some point. I'm guessing 800-1000 cfs is probably my sweet spot now that I have seen it at 1100 cfs. Thanks to Keith for making it happen.