K1: Ron Chase, Brent Elwell, Clyde Mitchell, Matt Nathaniel, Jessa Solis
OC1: John Brower, Kenny DeCoster TC
Shredders: Don Skolfield and friend, Chris and son, Skip Morris and Brian Perver
After all the rain on Thursday and Friday and a great many emails, many decided against paddling the high water. Still on Saturday, about 20 people paddled the Dead at 4000+ and resulted in a little bit of carnage. By Sunday, Spencer dropped from 1650 cfs to 750 cfs and all the feeder streams were lower. 10 paddlers put in at Spencer with about 2500 cfs and ended the day with 3000+ cfs on the lower Dead. This was not the “beginner”/ 1800 cfs/ Throwback Cruise level that I advertised, but a mid-level run that our experienced group enjoyed.
Temperatures in the 70s and partly cloudy skies greeted us on the river. Skip and Brian joined the group at the gravel pit to retrieve the canoe that was lost on Saturday. We had an uneventful ride down the river riding wave trains and surfing waves until Mile-long Rapid. 1/3 of the way down, a kayaker flipped and tried to roll. Another kayaker paddled up to the overturned boat, grabbed both sides, and righted the boat and paddler in midstream. I had never seen anything like it before. A long nasty swim was probably averted. The rescuer’s paddle was picked up and returned so he could stop paddling with his hands.
Further on down the rapid, Brent was already on the rock with the broached canoe that had disappeared underwater the day before. Overnight the canoe had broken free from being submerged to broaching higher up on a rock further downstream so it was actually accessible. I paddled over to join him. I steadied the boats balanced on the rock and tied in the retrieved gear bags as Brent wrestled the canoe off the rock and sent it down lower Mile-long. It broached again in a quieter stretch of river and Skip and Brian took over installing an airbag and towing the boat to the Upper Poplar Portage, where it was paddling out on Monday at low water.
The rest of us made it out to the public take out without further incident. One thing about paddling the Dead is that it’s often an adventure that generates stories to be told around a campfire.