John Day River June 13-16

This was a rare trip in that I knew next to nothing about it beforehand and would be jumping on Keith's permit. We would have 70 miles of mostly flatwater and occasional Class II riffles between Clarno and Cottonwood. Keith would be bringing a support raft and his kids would be bringing a couple friends so Heather and I jumped at the chance for this to be a mellow first multiday raft-supported river trip for her kids. I'd pack dehydrated meals I knew we would have a fairly epic lengthwise drive through California and out into north central Oregon. And that is about it. It was only later that I would find out we would be seeing lots and lots of basalt. Zora the dog came which provided some good entertainment too.

Keith, Kari, Zora, and I left the quaint and quiet Bear Hollow Campground early to start rigging the raft. We happily snagged a prime stagging spot underneath the Clarno Bridge (the shade greatly outweighed the swallow droppings). Despite this 8am start at the put-in, we still managed to not get on the water until about noon with lots of organizational shenanigans including a search for a place to fill up water. 

The river started with lots of calm and occasional riffles but 4 miles down was Clarno Rapid, the only Class III rapid on our trip. Zora seemed to have a great time jumping between different boats as long as she ultimately was not too far away from Keith. After a lead-in riffle we pulled over to scout. The rapid had a river-width line of large boulders forming a row of holes with a tongue on the left requiring quick maneuvering to avoid a rock (the kayak line) and a meatier but wider line on the right (the raft line). The consequences were not trivial and so we thought a little about how to get all our boats and people through. Long story short I ended up making three trips through the rapid. We ended up taking about an hour to get past this rapid.

Clarno Rapid (and below)

We ended our first day going only 10 miles, which set a brutal pace for the following days to make up time. As we would find out nearly all the choice camps would be taken by the time we would show up and this was the case with our first camp. Thankfully this first group was willing to share and so we slid a little further along from their main camp. The wind was wretchedly terrible. Gusts were sufficiently strong to kick up dirt and deposit sandblasted layers inside our tents all night long. Everybody slept horribly and I woke up with a very scratchy throat. And the wind continued through day 2. We needed to make some miles. I paddled the two-person IK with Claire and eventually found out that I could greatly increase the comfort and efficiency by sitting on the thwart. We had a few more nice riffles including Basalt Rapid and the scenery improved with growing basalt cliffs. We saw several large groups of bighorn sheep including a group of about 50. A nasty headwind was the status quo. I felt lousy all day long. Everybody pretty much collapsed in exhaustion at our lunch spot. We worked very hard to make 23 miles this day. We searched several times for a good camp and ended up with an only OK one. Camp was still windy but thankfully the gusting and snadblasting stopped.

Day 3 we pushed to go 25 miles. We stopped to check out some petrogylphs at Potlatch Canyon but otherwise paddled and paddled. The trees were becoming less numerous but there were still some very nice basalt cliffs on the outside of river bends. Lots of paddling, lots of sun, lots of basalt. Still sick. Kids had fun. Once again we passed the best camps that were already occupied and made due with a single tree camp. Another windy night but thankfully reducing intensity. 

For our last day we still had 15 miles to go. Finally with a break from the wind I flew my drone for a short aerial view of some of the sweeping river meanders near camp. Claire was quite insistent on trying out a packraft and so she paddled the first hour or so including some particularly splashy riffles she loved. The scenery was more desolate but some nice basalt cliffs and spires remained. We finally spotted the Cottonwood Bridge a little after 1pm which relieved us all I think. Graciously Keith gave us a pass on the full derigging and so after a busy hour of helping we set off to get kids food and camp.

So that was the John Day River. I'm sure it would be better appreciated if Heather and I were not sick for the whole trip, we did not have heinous headwinds and sandblasted nights, got better camps, and did not have to fight with long days to make progress on the river. The scenery was nice but largely unchanging over 70 miles. The lack of whitewater left me wanting. The group was good. The fishing looked great if that is your thing. It was nice to log more river miles. Thanks very much to Keith for leading the trip.

Agua Azul & Rio Shumulja April 1

 

This was perhaps the one day of the trip I was most looking forward to, the grand finale, a packraft run of Agua Azul and Rio Shumulja. It. Did. Not. Disappoint. The photos and video perhaps say it all but it is a ethereal milky blue-green hypersaturated river with miles of travertine dams to over 50 feet in height. I've been on similar milky travertine rivers (Little Colorado, Fossil Creek), but nothing with features and volume at this scale. And the horizonlines! Paddling right up to the calm edge of a falls and peering over to scout a line down feature after feature is unforgettable. I'll admit to being a little nervous, even after (or perhaps because of) Rocky taking the time to show me his lines down many of the features. My main concern was the stickiness of the travertine and whether the flow of water was spread too thinly over the dams for me to actually paddle my packraft over. From the tourist viewpoint area we would pick one of about four river channels with many steep drops for the first mile. Then we would have another flatter mile with the full volume of the river. That would lead us into the final half mile where the river drop about 80 meters through five monster waterfalls (frontispiece). At the confluence with the Rio Shumulja Rocky, Sam, and I would meet the rest of the group that had rafted down the river to that point.

Thankfully the drive to Agua Azul was shorter than the drive to the start of the Usumacinta trip but it was still an adventure between the overabundant speed bumps and the unauthorized road blocks we had to go through to get there. Notably several boys boldly pulling streamers across the road when the saw our van and our Mexican driver blasting right through their roadblock with little hesitation. I inflated and got ready where we parked our van, close enough to hear the roar of the river but out of sight of most. When all was set to go Sam and I were ushered through the narrow gaps between the different shops and out to the boardwalk viewpoint, which had a surreal quality to it given all the watchful eyes. We hopped over the guard rails and into the water. Perfect temperature again! From this point on it was all smiles all day long! 

We did not dally at the tourist pool long, just long enough for the three of us to get in the water and snap a photo, and then powered on downstream. I followed Rocky closely initially given that he'd been down this river probably over a dozen times. In sight of all the touristas I followed him down the first short fall of a few feet with an awkward friction-y flop and then attempted to do the same down the next falls. Here I came to a complete stop on the edge of the falls, throwing my boat and jumping over after it in sight of many. Embarrassing, oh well. Fortunately I learned from this that Rocky did not always have my flat bottomed fabric boat in mind when picking his line. I ultimately made my own decisions on the rest of the run and faired much better. I had maybe one or two other awkward friction flops but no more crashing halts.

We followed the branch with the most water and soon found ourselves needing to portage several drops. Rocky quickly scouted an adjacent channel before deciding we were best off in the one we were already in. It turns out the record floods in November 2020 did a number on this river, dramatically changing the appearance of many of the drops. It was easy to imagine a fast moving log blowing out a travertine dam and changing the drop. Throughout the run we saw several abandoned channels and reorganized dams. In hindsight this is probably one of the most dynamic rivers I've ever been on.

Despite the portages Sam and I were have an excellent time with constant ear to ear smiles. I had two silly flips on the run (no big deal) I was not proud of but otherwise had a great time enjoying every blue pools and fun little falls. Again it is hard to put into words. Perfect temperature blue-green waters, fun rapids, beautiful waterfalls, bright partially cloudy sky. Rocky mentioned how lucky we were to have these perfect conditions; the experience certainly would not have been the same if we had muddy brown flood waters instead.

Boof Grande looked a little sloppy with a retentive base and a messy lead-in with vines blocking the best approach. Sam ended up being the only one of us that ran it; he ended up offside at the bottom and got flipped and bounced a bit but fairly quickly managed to escape. In hindsight I think not trying the drop was my only regret on the run; I think I would have liked to have seen what would have happened (but maybe not!).

Boof Grande

As all the distributed flow from the multiple channels accumulated into one, the river gradient reduced and we had nice long pools interspersed with short drop travertine dam complexes. Closer to the final five falls were some more complex falls including a particularly bouncy high flow rapid I particularly enjoyed (next image below). 

Shortly on we could see the mother of all horizonlines approaching us. Carefully we beached our boats on mid-river rocks and walked the grippy sloping sheet of water out to where we could get a view below. Cascada Uno. Stunning!!! It did not take me long to decide that the uniformly thin sheet of water on this drop was not going to be for me and my packraft and so I opted to jump the first 30 foot drop and then the second 25 foot drop. 

I found a place below to pull out my drone and had a great time getting aerial shots of Sam and Rocky running the two drops of Cascada Uno and then sending the drone down to the confluence to see the remaining four waterfalls. The roar of the falls and thickness of mist here were amazing. Once Rocky and Sam were down, the drone actually ended up being fairly useful scouting the best line down Cascada Dos. Rocky went first with me videoing, then Sam and I followed. 

Cascada Uno

Looking downstream at Cascada Dos

Cascada Dos was also not going to be great in a packraft with a messy leadup to the main drop. I followed the others line down the left bank until it seemed like the right place to get out. This falls was messier than I thought and I actually struggled for a couple minutes to find a safe way down; no me gusta. I ended up hucking my boat ahead, fighting the strong current up to a place where I could jump into a hanging pool and swim strongly to the one spot that wouldn't suck me over the final falls. Once up it was an easy stroll down a thin cascade to my waiting boat. 

Cascada Dos

Below Cascada Dos

As much fun as that was Rocky made it fairly clear that Cascada Tres and Quatro were no joke (including a 50+ foot single drop) and we climbed up ant-covered trees on the right bank of the river to gain the portage trail. Portaging was alright though I did have to constantly watch to avoid thorny plants coming in contact with my boat. Cascada Quatro looked terrifying from the portage trail and there was not much room between Tres and Quatro to collect yourself.

Cascada Quatro (from portage)

We scrambled about 50m down a seemingly impossibly steep slope by dropping and catching boats and paddles about 10m at a time. Once down we paddled to the upstream end of the final cascade where we met up with the rest of the group. I took some time climbing up the side of the final falls to check out the fourth falls. Both were impressive. I was tempted to jump Cascada Cinco but ultimately decided not to stress out the guides. I downed some cheese and avocado (and water for the first time) at this impromptu lunch stop before it was time to head off.

Cascada Quatro

Cascada Cinco and the Rio Shumulja confluence

Cascada Cinco had a particularly nice low angle rainbow in its heavy mist. The Rio Shumulja changes color dramatically after it receives the Agua Azul; more of a deeper blue-green than the Agua Azul's baby blue. The first rapid was a fun right-to-left bouncy ride. The second rapid funneled chaotically into a nasty hole I could not see a way out of other than luck; all elected to portage. Many crystal clear karst springs entered the river in this area. Some of the water was so clear you almost could not see it.

The portage (worse than it looks)

The river continued through this lush limestone gorge with intermittent springs and waterfalls. All too soon the river opened up into a wider shallower, less riffled river but still magically colored. We would have only gone 1.5 miles down the Rio Shumulja from the Agua Azul confluence to the standard takeout but the November storms apparently wash out road access and so we paddled a full 6.5 miles of the Rio Shumulja to the lofty suspension bridge near Agua Clara. While this added little exciting whitewater, it was scenic enough and a nice palette cleanser for the earlier excitement. Sadly, the November flood seemed to wash an unrecoverable amount of trash along the river. There were many groups, especially kids, swimming in the river along the way, everyone friendly. Many of us were jealous of their backyard swimming hole.

Our takeout in sight

View from the suspension bridge

It ended up being just before dark by the time we got everything loaded back on the vans and set off. It was a long drive through heavy rain, dropping off various passengers and gear, before finally making it to Palenque. I ended up having a tasty dinner with Rocky and the guides (amazing watermelon agua fresca!), but regrettably I was past the point of exhaustion and struggled to eat what was otherwise an excellent meal. Back at the hotel I packed for the early morning bus the next day. I slept exhausted but satisfied. Big thanks to Rocky for this one! A very memorable day!