Upper and Lower Silver Creek, W.A.
Posted by Chris on June 8, 2008 at 1:57 pm | In Trip Reports | 1 CommentThe day is June 7th and the temperature in Sultan is 48 degrees -the temperature today won’t break 50- and theres a cold fog and light drizzle as we get fueled up and discuss our plan for the day. Andrew makes a comment about today being a “June-uary day,” its a good observation. We maybe should have taken heed to the NWS forecast discussion and paddled something good, and familiar, with a car shuttle even. This is what the forecaster had to say:
SHORT TERM…SINCE I COULD SEE MY BREATH ON THE WAY IN TO WORK LAST
NIGHT I DECIDED TO LOOK UP THE RECORDS FOR COLD JUNES. SURE
ENOUGH…THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE…DEPENDING ON THE TEMPERATURES
TODAY…THAT THIS WILL BE THE COLDEST FIRST WEEK OF JUNE ON RECORD
IN SEATTLE INCLUDING THE FEDERAL BUILDING RECORDS WHICH GO BACK TO
1891.
But a month or more had gone by since we had done some “adventure” style boating and the decision to continue on with the plan to run the upper and lower canyons of Silver creek was made.
In a effort to save fuel and cash during these times of rising costs, Erik S. and I decided put aside his gas guzzlin’, styly’, and comfortable “Man Truck,” to drive my 35+mpg, damp, heater-less, defroster-less, 87 Suby wagon on the way to meet up with Andrew and Todd. However while gearing up in the rain and fumbling with my new boat-pack with numb hands I was beginning to regret our decision to drive my Suby and was left without recourse when everyone began s@*% talking about my squeege-come-defroster.
It was obvious early on what we were in for.
The trail is littered with old mine shafts.
Cold wet shlog.
The 2+ mile hike along the canyon rim of Silver creek provides numerous enticing views of the creek and canyons. With the exception of the scramble across the landslide -and a creek crossing or two- the whole trail is an old railroad grade and is a pretty easy hike. We spent around 2.5 hours hiking and scouting our way up the creek. We could have made better time but with nearly 2ft of snow on the trail and along the rim of the creek our scouting and walking became sluggish. As if the snow didn’t slow us down enough, our few glimpses into the canyons provided us with enough views of new wood to know we needed to take it slow and scout carefully while on the water.
By the time we got to the put-in above the upper canyon we were all pretty wet and cold, so we ate a fast lunch and peeled out into the current and launched off the 1st sweet boof of the day. Almost immediately downstream of the 1st boof we were out of our boats and scouting some semi-manky boulder jumbles, our progress below here was further impeded by large downed trees freshly fallen into the creek from the river banks.
Todd 1st boof.
Erik same.
Todd probing the pinch that used to be a falls.
Deep in the upper canyon.
Todd at the top of the biggest rapid in the upper canyon
And at the bottom.
Amazing water color.
Generally, all the best rapids in the upper canyon were in good shape, but we were careful not to let our guard down and so spent a lot of time out of the boats checking for wood -this did nothing to help us warm up. Our original plan was to run at least 2 of the 3 big drops that divide the upper run from the lower, however, by the time we got to the first pinch falls we were freezing and just wanted to get to the lower where we could hopefully stop “dealing” and just rally through some of the classic drops. So, we climbed up and around the crux zone and seal launched back into the canyon just above the sweet put-in falls.
Erik from one angle.
And from another.
And then Todd.
Just downstream of the put-in falls our plan to rally through the lower canyon was blocked… by an avalanche. Apparently this winters substantial low elevation snowpack in conjunction with a devastating late season avalanche cycle, produced a large enough slide to fully cover the creek with 20+ feet of snow and debris. A quick scout of the tunnel that the creek has cut out of the slide revealed a clean class 3 rapid in about 80ft of tunnel. Todd set up for photos and I readied myself to probe it.
Todd checking out the snow slide.
Andrew from the top.
Andrew at the bottom.
Lucky he made it.
Todd.
Now I am not entirely superstitious but one thing I try to avoid when on the river is to not jinx myself, or the group. When attempting to not jinx myself I may avoid expressing statements such as: “Oh, no one ever gets stuck in that hole,” or maybe “This gorge isn’t as steep as I thought.” The possible ironic action associated with these statements would obviously be me getting beat down in that very hole, or, an unrunnable, unportageable canyon. This superstition was put to the test in the upper canyon when I was told by one of our group that “[what could happen] its only 100 cfs,” and then not 30 seconds later I was boofing over said boater while they were getting a very nasty beat down in a small pocket hole. So when, just before I drop in, Erik says, “If that [snow bridge] collapses on you while your under it, you will know it was your time to die,” I had pins and needles racing up and down my spine. Despite the horrible timing of Erik’s comment, we all made it through the tunnel unscathed, and felt really lucky to have the unique opportunity to encounter such a feature while on the river.
From the avalanche through the crux triple drop -and all the way to the landslide zone- the creek was in decent shape. Unfortunately we had miserable luck below here. Immediately downstream of the landslide the creek turned into a absolute wood-filled mess, on our way to the confluence with the NF. Skykomish we portaged over 10 times and did some creative rock sliding down the side of some rapids just to stay in our boats. There was one good double drop that improved our moral for just a moment but then we were back to dragging our boats around class 3 rapids filled with wood.
Todd in the frothy rapid just below the snow slide.
Andrew dropping into “Dewey.”
Punching the hole.
Todd about to do the same.
This was the best rapid below the landslide.
Lower ledge.
Someday if the wood ever cleans out of the upper and lower canyons, and the main road opens up, Silver creek could really be a classic, but until then its a ton of work for a short stretch of pretty whitewater.
One last thing: Bruce and the kids, Thank you for all your help!
Earning turns with Mt. Shuksan in the background.
Todd Gillman laying one down.
On the way to making turns on the untouched sweetness in the background.
Great showing despite the low flows.
Amy Brown @ the Bench drop.
Don Dickinson in S.A.T.
What is this guy thinking??!!
Jenni Pelc showing the crowd how its done in S.A.T.
There were some “Un-desireables” hanging around the river that day.
Let the beer flow…
Amy showing how its done
Dufay with the proper disc golf implements.
Bad photo but you get the idea.
Ryan helping out with the cooking.
Hilary Neevel stomping out Last Sunshine.
The starting line.
Garbage.
Next years womens team?
Hilary Neevel. Support crew.
Robe Canyon.
Rocky Road.
This photo taken on APRIL 29th!!!…????
Hilary Neevel b-low Orange Slice.
Below Orange Slice again.
Ryan Bradley boofing the new line on Owen’s drop.
Hale Hanaway stylin’ my favorite “Tweener rapid.”
Ryan Bradley on Ski Jump.
Our U.T.R. Captain provided us with ample Shertlvision for the day when he forgot the keys at the put-in….
