Cave Creek - Porari River Oct 12

Keen for a day off and a chance to escape the Alpine Fault drillsite for some much needed R&R in the Paparoa karst, I called up a few friends, speedily packed my boat, sleeping bag, a few clothes and a bit of food, and stood thumb drawn on the curb at the end of Whataroa. Not many cars on the road for a nice day, it took the better part of an hour to get out of town. Two very memorable hitches (whole stories in themselves) brought me to Greymouth, followed by a further hitch on to Runanga to stay with Mary. I called Paul and it sounded like we were all on for a paddle down Cave Creek starting early the next day.

I caught a ride to 12 Mile with Linda on her newspaper run just in time to meet Leon arriving at Paul's. After a brief but hearty reunion we set off for Punakaiki. Paul opted out, worried about the possibly severe storm damage from the unprecedented April windstorm, but would be our car shuttle hero. No one had been down Cave Creek since the devastating storm, and the middle reaches are seldom visited. Leon grabbed a kayak from Ken and I was kindly loaned a wetsuit. Ken seemed to share Paul's skepticism but wished us well none-the-less. When Ken asked me where my kayak was and I pointed to my modestly sized bag (with packraft in it) he gave me a queer look. I felt pretty confident it would do the trick.

        Walking man's other best friend

In little time we were at the end of the road in Bullock Creek. Paul said "nice to have know us" or possibly something more positive and off we went. I helped Leon carry his kayak when I wasn't too entertained by taking photos of him walking it along the track. He handled it well, even down the steps to Cave Creek and over the rocks below. We were good and hot in our wetsuits by the time we reached the creek. Most people walk the track to where it deadends at the big gaping entrance of Cave Creek Cave, one of the overflow piracies of Bullock Creek. Very few realize that continuing downstream is a beautiful limestone gorge complete with picturesque side waterfalls and karst springs. Slippery rocks and deep pools quickly dissuade most. Although certainly a very remote and somewhat committing place once you paddle far enough to not return, in most cases the creek makes a stunning trip down to and out the Porari valley. Leon handled his boat heroically over and around the many rocks while I innocently scrambled past, my boat still conveniently in my pack. After about 500m of navigating the rocky gorge, we stopped at a beautiful waterfall pouring in from the left. Here a small beach provided the perfect place for me to inflate my Alpacka. In a few minutes time I was ready to go and we were both off.

        Upper Cave Creek

        Inflated and ready to go!

Initially the stream was looking to be in excellent shape, little evidence of recent windfall as we quickly floated down long corridors and over small mini-riffles. On the right we came to one of the last major Bullock Creek resurgences that enter the creek, Paul's Naked Eel Resurgence. Leon stopped to have a quick look to report back to Paul. Peering just beyond the next corner we could hear pounding of a waterfall and see mist flying off into the air. This falls was even more impressive than the first. This trip was starting to exceed my already high expectations. Further, the packraft was working out just fine as long as I was ever-cautious to avoid shallow snags lurking just beneath the surface.

The scenery changed with each passing corner. A few tree/log obstacles started appearing in the creek but conveniently we were able to thread through them one way or the other. After a few more turns we encountered our first creek-spanning log requiring us to portage over. Although initially cold, the sun came out and it turned out to be a fantastic day, wetsuits hardly even needed. We took advantage of a sunny little beach for a quick lunch stop. Shortly after our nut and lolly break, the windfall had finally caught up to us- long hallways with logs haphazardly thrown about, and unfortunately many branches blocking safe passage downstream. Over a half dozen of these logjams required me to gingerly portage my craft, whereas Leon could boldly slide over most obstacles with a little momentum. This is the part of the trip where his craft excelled, but I didn't mind a little extra challenge and inconvenience at this stage. Regardless of the downed trees, the creek was still stunningly beautiful and the usually open bush surrounding us offered surprising views of sky. The windfall was impressive though and had us briefly worried the trip could take much longer than anticipated.

Gradually limestone began appearing on the side of the creek again indicating we had passed through the center of the Paparoa syncline. At the same time obstacles became less frequent and easier to avoid. From here on the limestone would continue to climb around us until it peaked in great 300m blue cliffs in the lower Porari. We came upon an interesting submergence on the side of the creek which shortcuts the Porari confluence and has been dye traced to exit at the main Porari resurgence over 500m away in a straight line. The small hole sucked in a surprising amount of the Cave Creek flow, and with great speed, even indicating a decent drop and some distance before a sump would be encountered. Leon had a quick look. I couldn't resist the call so I decided to give it a half decent look. Cautiously I entered foot first, feeling the pull of the current in the narrows but confident a return would be easy. Onward I proceeded, shortly encountering a narrow pancake slot where a block had fallen from the roof. This obstacle likely would have deterred most other curious individuals. With a little pressure on my chest, I managed to clear the squeeze and crawl out the other side. Back into the stream and onward a bit the water raced rapidly down a narrow bell-shaped corridor. I could see straight ahead another 10m or so but without another caver decided the force of the water was a bit much and it might be a better push for low water conditions. While the passage size was modest and there was no real airflow, the flow certainly showed no sign of immediately sumping and the possibility remained that it could encounter the main Bullock Creek cave system in a sizable passage on its way to the resurgence. At any rate the cave is still there for another day.

From here it was smooth sailing to the Porari confluence. Leon noted the incredible damage at what used to be quite a picturesque spot. It is quite clear the coast will take years to recover from the great storm. A couple shallow riffles brought us to the Porari swingbridge. This stretch of the Porari was stunning! I was impressed by the narrow towering gateway of the place. We turned a dark corner to the left into the sun which afforded a long view down the Porari, whose canyon walls increase in height downstream due to the syncline. Paradise!

We passed the Porari resurgence which spat out a significant volume of water from the limestone. A few hundred meters down I began recognizing landmarks; we were at the furthest upstream extent I had reached before. The lower Porari was brightly sunny though with a bit of a headwind. Leon charged on ahead, but I was in cruising mode, eager to savor the last of this magnificent stretch of river. The last stretch of the river was the slowest. We reached the end as whitebaiters looked on. I thought my Alpacka performed very well and I would happily take it down again. Although I had to be more careful than Leon, being able to hike without manhandling a boat made it well worth it overall. My Alpacka continues to open my eyes to the incredible possibilities available in New Zealand.

        The stunning lower Porari

We followed the trip with a relaxing afternoon of blissful sun at the 12 Mile, including a nice sunset beach walk with geological tour, impromtu bouldering, and stick throwing for dog. I slept soundly that night in a sleepout cantilevered over the Tasman Sea. For only a couple days off it was a most rejuvenating visit with friends and a beautiful trip through a seldom visited place.

        A sunny day at the 12 Mile

Thanks to Leon, Paul and Mary. Photos of me by Leon.

Wanganui River Oct 10

A free afternoon of fine weather miraculously materialized between attending a workshop in Franz Josef and going back on to a regular drilling shift. Equally miraculous a spare car and two passengers keen for a walk and hot spring soak. We drove over to the Wanganui River, the next major valley north of the Whataroa. I had heard the bottom 10km or so made a good introduction to Class III West Coast heli-kayaking which I interpreted as a prime packrafting run. I could go for a run/tramp on the track up the valley, scouting the river as I went. When the time was about right or the river started looking scary I could suit up, inflate, and off I could go back down the way I came.

Initially I strolled with Jamie and Anton down the track but soon I became restless and eager to see as much as I could with the few hours I had. I would be solo from here on and meet them at Amethyst Hot Springs, conveniently right at my take out. As I ran on, the track quickly deteriorated to riverside boulder hopping interspersed with muddy bush track with knee-depth mud pits. We left the cars at a gloomy drizzle but the surrounds turned to sunny skies as I headed upvalley.

The river looked fantastic, a beautiful boulder strewn, fast moving, glacial blue. I saw a couple features that impressed me and noted a navigable route for my later passing. I made it a little past Mystie Flat (~6km) before deciding it was time to inflate. I wanted to be sure to have time to stop over at the hot springs after all. I made quick time and quick movements inflating my raft and putting on my suit as the sandflies looked for their window of opportunity. Soon I was off, quickly paddling to thread my way through the first long rapid, which had a committing finish. I soon got into the stride of it which allowed for plenty of chances to enjoy the rapidly changing views. Threading through boulders and charging through long waves trains, other stresses and commitments happily faded.

Before too long I made it to the beach at the Hot Spring Creek confluence. I tied off my packraft and jaunted up the creek. I quickly discovered the hot springs were nowhere near the location marked on the map but intuition guided me to a curious creek dropping over a terrace on the true right. I crossed over and sure enough, warm water. I followed the creek up through a marshy area to about a half dozen very hot sources. It was clear the springs had not been used in a while but I could see that with the right maintenance they could be made into a comfortable soak in a magic spot. After dipping little more than a foot in one of the pools I was satisfied and it was time to head on.

        Hot Spring Creek

        Hot Spring Flat

The Class II obstacles continued and I made good time, much faster than the run/tramp up. One final almost gorge and the valley began to open up on the rangefront. One final spectacular hole made the last obstacle of consequence and then a somewhat calmer drift down shallow riffles to Amethyst hot springs where Jamie and Anton were comfortably waiting. I joined them for a pleasant soak before we drove back just in time for dinner. It was very high value for only about a 3hr jaunt. I would love to do it again, next time venturing a bit further upstream for some new river. Hopefully my onsite schedule will allow a few more fine weather jaunts. The coast has so much fine packraft potential!

        Amethyst Hot Springs at paddle's end

Cascade River Sept 21-24

Just back from four days in the Cascade River valley, one of the first initiations into the complexities of fieldwork along the Alpine Fault in South Westland. The target was to find dateable material in earthquake-deformed post-LGM glacial silts to constrain the glacial and earthquake records and then to map out the extent and timing of other Quaternary deposits. Geomorphically the central Cascade valley is one of the most complicated areas of New Zealand- it has the greatest diversity of rock types anywhere in NZ, it has the longest glacial record of any single valley in NZ, it has two enormous 1 km^3 rock avalanche deposits, two former rock avalanche produced lakes, three youthful gorges that were cut after these rock avalanches, partial inundation during sea level highstands, major recent stream piracies and reorganizations, young slips, active and abandoned fans, pressure ridges, terminal moraines, multiple active fault traces, and it is constantly being lengthened by dextral slip on the plate boundary. In short it is a land of mystery and intrigue just waiting to be unraveled.

        Luxurious McKay Creek Camp (no sarcasm intended)

The helicopter flight in went without event, though I never tire of the views. We made quick work setting up camp and headed off for a solid half day of collecting samples from key outcrops, finding new ones, and mapping out the heavily bushed terra incognita between the two traces of the Alpine Fault. It rained much of the day.

        Collecting glacial silts on a scarp of the Alpine Fault (through saddle in distance)

        Tarn on a large rock avalanche deposit

After a frosty but bright morning, day 2 was spent mapping some lateral moraines and then climbing up the ultramafic Red Hills for a view of the valley below and of the Mt Raddle headscarp. We chose a less than ideal route on the way up but set things right on the way down. While Gen and I geologized, Tammo botanized the straggly plants doing what they can to live on the toxic soils. Once back on the valley floor we finished the day off with some newly found exposures of the glacial silts which exhibit large wavelength folds here.

        Looking at the headscarp of the Mt Raddle slope failure

Descending the Red Hills

Day 3 (heavier frost!) we crossed the Cascade and revisited the Saddle Creek Alpine Fault outcrop to collect samples for dating. We collected fault gouge formed as a mixture between fault gouge formed at depth and abrasion against young river gravels with the hopes of finding dateable material mixed in. We then headed up some previously unvisited fault parallel creeks which eerily lacked water. No outcrops of geomorphology of use though we were clearly on the trace of the fault for much of the time.

        Alpine Fault footwall rocks faulted against hangingwall Quaternary gravels

        And the corresponding fault scarp in the bush

The last day I got to put my packraft to full use to document the last outcrops along the Cascade River I had yet to reach. These outcrops were either in uncrossable sections of the river or adjacent to a deep pool. I suited up and set off downstream, initially making excellent time as I paddled through minor riffles and passed outcrops I had already visited. That all changed when I reached the gateway to the main gorge and was presented with an absolutely stunning 20m tall by 200m long outcrop with some of the most incredible and intricate rock avalanche textures I have ever seen. Some of the textures resemble major shear zones in faults but the amazing thing is that all the textures I saw formed in one event seconds long, not thousands of years of earthquakes. This outcrop completely rekindled my interest in rock avalanches (big rocky landslides) and hopefully I'll get the chance to do some more work on it. Fingers crossed my collected samples contain dateable material! I could have easily spent hours here but time was ticking to get to my destination before the chopper arrived.

        Above and below: amazing rock avalanche textures

I passed many more rock avalanche deposit outcrops in the quick moving gorge, my attention divided between the rocks and not-inconsequential rapids. Due to time mental notes and a quick photo often had to suffice. A couple rapids I had to scout to be able to determine the safe passage through log and boulder gardens. I was being quite productive despite enjoying the wilderness and having lots of fun. The river would have been too low for a whitewater kayak but my Alpacka excelled where others would have scraped and beached.

Upon exiting the gorge I noticed an upcanyon wind had begun to whip at me. Bugger! All of a sudden I was behind schedule and paddled hard against the wind to recover some time. The open stretch near Woodhen Creek afforded excellent views of the surrounding mountains and some interesting observations on river genesis where the river had jumped its bed several years before and was now working to smooth out a new course through what was once bush.

What happens when a cubic kilometer of rock bulldozes a swamp at high speed? Incredible deformation including fluidization of river gravels and even logs!

I made great progress through the Cascade rock avalanche gorge, outcrops of which I had already documented at length. However one last surprise was in store at the last outcrop where the rock avalanche absolutely reamed the tree-ed swamp on the valley floor. Here I marveled and quickly documented the incredible deformation and grabbed some super-primo wood detritus for radiocarbon dating which should reliably date the age of the rock avalanche and potentially an Alpine Fault earthquake that may have triggered it. Once around the last bend the river gradient dropped dramatically through the braided river flats of the lower Cascade. I took out at Charlies Bump just in time to see the chopper deliver Gen and Tammo back at the car. I hurried best I could to meet them. In all a most productive few days and with any luck we will turn up with some useful dates to help us unravel the complex Quaternary history of the Cascade Valley. Thanks to Gen and Tammo.

Marble Fork Kaweah River Aug 30

Some fellow canyoners were planning a late season descent of the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River (aka Chrysalis) the same long weekend we would be staying nearby with family and the opportunity was too great to pass up. There was a large group of us, eight or so, all keen to see what this canyon is about. It's the only classic I know of in the Sierra Nevada that is cut mostly through metamorphic rock, including beautiful banded marble. We left Lake Kaweah as the heat of the day was starting to set in and drove through Sequoia National Park and up the General's Highway to our start. I had spent much time in the general vicinity caving and was fearing the worst. Fortunately my fears were unfounded and we saw surprisingly little poison oak, all easily avoidable. 

Suiting up at the edge of the river we saw that water levels were very low but still flowing steadily. The water temperatures were initially quite cold (much of the water originates from cave systems) but improved as we worked our way downstream. We boulder hopped our way past a towering cliff of banded blue marble, then swam a couple pools to the edge of the world view from the top of the technical section. The main falls drops 140ft out of sight from a sobering perch. We had little trouble but could understand the warnings given about the hydraulics at higher flow. It was a great start to the canyon but unfortunately also the best part.

About a half dozen raps followed, some into beautiful pools, the rocks always grabbing my attention. The canyon soon opened up into more of a steep gorge which didn't have the same wow factor but afforded excellent views of Panorama Peak in the distance. We generally made good time. I found a clean 25ft jump into a bottomless pool at our lunch spot and most of us took laps on it

At what appeared to be the final rap I was disappointed to see the bolt anchor completely avoided the last waterfall in favor of a chossy corner so I rigged a different route down the falls and through a neat boulder cave. Some creative theatrics allowed for an easy pull once everyone was down. We were expecting a much longer canyon but soon found people bathing in a pothole which signaled our exit trail. The exit trail was much much longer than I remembered (I had hiked up the bottom years before), longer still from the neoprene and intense heat of the Sierra foothills. The canyon would be much more satisfying at higher flows but I think my curiosity is satisfied fr the foreseeable future. Thanks to the gang.

Mineral King Aug 29, 31

My parents arranged for us to stay in a rustic cabin in Mineral King valley, the old family favorite. Though it had been many years since I last was in Mineral King, I was surprised and somewhat relieved to see how little had changed. The same old windy, cliff hugging one lane mountain road, except with the added challenge of increased traffic due to the holiday weekend. An early morning start from Riverside through the Mojave ensured we missed holiday traffic. We stopped at Atwell Mill for the traditional hike down to the nice waterfall on the river. As soon as we stepped out of the car we saw our first bear, looking on at us more cautiously than curiously.

After Saturday's canyon adventure we all went for a hike up to Eagle Lake. I was sure to pack all the luxuries: hammock, packraft, etc. Despite the drought the meadows still looked to be in relatively decent shape. The colorful splashes of metamorphic rocks no less fascinating than I remembered. The final hill climb was longer but no more challenging than in my memory. It was nice and warm up by the lake, perfect for a leisurely lunch. Almost everyone had a go at paddling the packraft around the lake and napping between two foxtail pines.

Sara and I were looking for a bit more of a hike so I left some of the unnecessities with my parents and brother to take down. I always wanted to do a traverse from Eagle to White Chief valley which would take in some nice alpine wilderness and allow me to show Sara some of the interesting karst features in White Chief (though the day was quickly getting on). We boulder scrambled our way up the obvious route and the head of the lake which afforded spectacular views of this unique area of the Sierra Nevada (frontispiece). Once on top we walked through gnarled clusters of foxtail pines, sentinels of the granite slickrock and scree. At the saddle down to White Chief Lake we ran into a friendly ranger who chatted us up for a bit before we headed on. He talked up the route down into the glacial cirque of White Chief but we found it very straightforward. I had never been in the valley this late in the day so it was neat to see it in a different light.

        Seldom seen White Chief Lake

Unfortunately there was not much time for caving but we did walk into the entrance of Shower Cave for a quick look before high-tailing it down to the main trail. We were hiking out a bit later than I hoped but ended up timing the hike just right to see the last golden light touch the peaks on the north side of the valley.

The trip felt short but it was a great weekend away, the first real one I had since settling back in to southern California. It was even better to be able to spend some quality time with Sara and my family in a special place I have not been in quite a while. Thanks to all of them.