After taking a quick swim being loose in the boat to test to make sure I could get out of it ;), I did a canyon run
with the boys Saturday in an attempt to dial it in, a very conservative run feeling very uncomfortable in the boat.
The next day was a different story altogether, I outfitted it some more with knee pads and changed the thigh grip
placement along with building myself a more robust foot block. This made it much better...though it still needs
work. The Sunday run was on Slesse Creek which had a good amount of water in it Saturday at 1.4, but dropped closer
to 1.2 for Sunday unfortunately. We had a good mix of crew with Dave taking his first ride in a creek boat trying
out the Pyranha Burn.
The run started out good enough with most of us hitting lots of little boofs, the stronger boaters up front to
scout for wood which always changes and is usually plentiful on the creek, the seven of us set out.
Slesse Creek is a short run at 7 km compared to the canyon, and not nearly as difficult, maybe a bit more difficult
than Chilliwack classic run except for one short part, Keyhole Canyon, which is a beautiful canyon with 3 good
drops in it including a nice headwall into a sticky hole at the start and a little chute at the end to finish off.
There is a really nice feel to it and it's all portageable, once through the canyon you can look back and it looks
like a perfect classic keyhole shape, hence the name. It's too bad this run is now gated requiring somehow a key or
a long hike in.
After the first few drops was a larger drop leading into a big rootball, we had a swimmer headed for a rootball and
Tanner swam trying to save them. Everyone ended up being alright, though Tanners paddle was briefly lodged in the
rootball and needed recovery. The next challenge was keyhole canyon, one person portaged, I took pictures while the
rest of the crew ran it, Tanner skirting the hole on the right, Jordan surfing the hole a bit, Kiah was getting
sucked back in a strong eddy right beside the hole for awhile. Dave did the hole upside down then rolled up, Merick
had less luck being stuck up against the wall and stalling longer in the whirlpools he swam in the sticky eddy and
ended up needing a throwbag to rescue him. His boat went downstream and he hiked out with us having no idea where
it had gotten to. I also managed to avoid the hole going river right.
Jordan and I headed down to the end of the canyon, surprised to see no wood blockages, we saw Merick's boat, eddied
out right there sitting on a log! After Jordan did a nice seal launch into the creek at that point we headed out,
me tethering Mericks boat behind. We met Merick at the bottom and finished off with Slesse boof! Always a good
finish.
Slesse Creek isn't much of a challenge except for Keyhole Canyon and the wood, maybe it would be better with water,
but still a welcome change from doing Chilliwack canyon every single day and welcome!
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