It's been over a month since I've been on the river and so I was thrilled to have a weekend blessed with some rain causing a local favorite river to swell. You can see in the graph below we caught the peak on Sunday as did lots of other boaters we saw at the Tanner Road takeout.

There is a lovely new trail at the Island Drop put in, though I didn't realize it until after the trip running shuttle. The new trail takes you down to the big eddy below island drop and has room to launch at least 10 boats at the same time.

I love the Middle Middle at around 2500, there are lots of surf waves and tall wave trains to have fun. However, there are a number of sticky holes at this level too that you have to watch out for... Helen met one of them at the entrance to House Rocks. She was a real trooper though and hung out in her boat upside down for an eternity before rolling up successfully. A rescue at this level in the middle of House Rocks rapid would not have been easy or safe.

Things to watch for at 2500.

- The first surfwave below Island Drop / Put-in is awesome

- Play waves on river right about 5 mins down river are also plenty

- 15 mins into the trip you'll come to a large eddy on river right. The surf wave on river left under the hanging branch at the top of the drop is good. If you can stop half way through the drop on some of the large standing waves in the wave train you'll find some thrilling surfing.

- The boulder gardens on your way to A-frame have plenty of things to keep you busy

- A-frame drop at this level is fast. The eddy on river right folks take before the big drop is a small and tricky to catch. Helen and I opted to ferry from this eddy across the current and above and left all of the big rocks. This left us with a left to right move after clearing the last big rock before the main big drop to avoid the pour-over just left of center in the drop.

- The boulder garden below A-frame at this level has lots of mean pour-overs. Helen and I stayed pretty much left of center down through this section.

- Cookie Monster is big at 2600. We made sure to go left.

- The boulder garden above Upper House Rocks has some HUGE pour overs. Helen and I skirted between them and then eddied out on river left in the typical stop before running Upper House Rocks.

- At this level, you need to get in the main current that wants to pull you into the nasty ledge drop in Upper House Rocks. Before running the ledge and before getting pulled into the standing / crashing wave next to and above the ledge you'll want to pull left hard to above getting thrashed in the ledge.

- Shortly after this section is where Helen got grabbed by the hole on the left, she cut it too close and got grabbed and flipped. She was able to roll up after a long wait which was good for both of us. We then caught the river left eddy above the main House Rock and contemplated our route. We took the chicken route to the left of House Rock as there was lots of water going over the rocks and we did not need any more excited than the river was already giving us. However, Helen got a bit sideways brushing into the shallow rocks which, from my angle below, looked like prime pinning opportunity... so... stay straight.

- Lower House Rocks at this level is always a thrill. We contemplated going left of the lower House Rock (the one with wood on it) but we stuck to the tried and true route of just pulling left to right from the big eddy on river left that feeds into this last drop of House Rock rapid. The standing wave train is huge. Your goal is to hit eddy on river right that is next to the lower House Rock. You take a straight line between eddies.

- The only concern left below House Rock was poop-chute and the gates hole. The gates hole is the one that dislocated my shoulder at the beginning of last season and is at the bottom of the drop that begins with the poop-chute. I always stay river left of the gates hole. However, I always forget that at high levels you can flush through easily so at 2600 you can actually run it just fine. It's at the lower levels that you can get crashed. Poop chute above 2500 is not for the timid. You can go left of the poop chute just fine, it'll be a bit bumpy. Do not go right of the poop chute, I've been trashed in that route and was lucky to come out with no bloody... though plenty of bruises and gouges to the helmet and dry-top.

- The final section to take out is nice as all the rocks you typically have to dodge are covered in water. However, if you get sideways it is easy for one of the submerged beasts to grab your edge and flip you. The final drop under the power lines that cross the river is fun, just crash your way through the big waves. I haven't boofed off the river left fan at this level but it looks doable with enough speed.