Trip Report - Cossatot, Baker, Little Mo, Crooked Creek

[Ryan Viser]

So, where to begin? I meet up w. Gordon K, Zach Feldman, and Paul Newton at the 278 takeout bridge for the Tot around 10:30. We leave my car at the takeout, and proceed to Ed Banks Bridge. Shortly after leaving the takeout, we decide to see if anyone else is at the Falls. I think it was between 278 and the Falls when it started raining because I distinctly remember someone making the comment "Who would be standing around at the Falls in THIS weather?!". So we get there, and low and behold, it's Dr. Bob and Zin Boden (sp?). We also run into Byron Eubanks with a big group of OBU students in tow. We decide for Dr. Bob and Zin to pile in w. us and that way we can leave their car at the Falls "just in case" (a decision that proved to be quite valuable later on). We make our way to Ed Banks and by this point it is pouring quite hard. I think we called the gauge on the way and it was right at 4.92. By the time we get to Ed Banks, not only is it raining harder, but some lovely thunder and lightning have been thrown into the mix. We decide to put on and take off if it gets worse. We get shortly past Zig Zag, and, of course, it has gotten worse. I specifically remember Gordon saying "Let's pull off", which I had no problem agreeing to. Dr. Bob however says "Are you sure you wanna pull off" Not 2 seconds after he says this, a huge bolt of lightning goes off right above our heads. I've never seen Dr. Bob move so fast to get out of that boat We sit in an insane storm with tons of thunder and lightning for a good 30 min. until it let up. I set a stone out where the water was and by the time we left it was 2 in. or so underwater. So we bomb down through the Esses, past Sandbar (at this point the lightning and thunder have come back). We stop at the Falls and decide for Dr. Bob and Gordon to run back up to Ed Banks to get Gordon's truck in case we decide to go run Baker. While they're gone, they call the gauge and the river has risen from 4.9 when we put on, to 10 feet!!! It probably happened within an hour and a half. So, the Tot is out. We drive over to Baker and the water is flowing huge and muddy about a foot OVER the bridge. We decide Little Mo as a backup plan. Dr. Bob and Zin decide there might not be enough time so they jet. So the 4 of us head over and drop my car off at the takeout near Langley and head into Albert Pike. Oh yeah, when we got to my car at 278 it was about 20 ft. away from the river's edge. There are a few concerns about the Little Mo being too high, so we decide to maybe check out the upper upper Little Mo. I come up w. the bright idea that "hey, what if Little Missouri Falls was running, that would be freakin awesome for us to run that!!" So we head in that direction, not far from the Little Mo Falls, we look over off the road and see Crooked Creek in all it's glorious wonder just crankin. I think it was when we got to Launch Pad Rapid that I said, "Pull over!!! We're running that crap!!!" So we did some serious scouting and then had Gordon and Paul set up w. ropes and cameras and Zach and I put in in front of the bridge above Launch Pad and made our way down. I have to say this is the tightest, most technical water I've been on. It made Richland seem like a big wide river. I bounced off a few rocks on the approach to Launch Pad, ran the boof and got flipped at the bottom and rolled up. Zach came off sideways but had no issues. We ran it down to the next bridge and then Gordon decided he wanted to do it as well. Zach runs it a second time while Gordon is setting up. Then all 3 of us get on and Zach and I seem to think the water has come up even more since our first run, which made it a bit easier in terms of all the rocks. Our runs were SO much cleaner the last time and the Launch Pad boof was super clean!! Anyways, that's pretty much it. What we all thought was going to be a day w. a small scattered shower and 85 degrees, turned out to be a day where we got caught in a flood and had to go LOOKING for our water. Definitely one of the craziest days of paddling for me so far. Gordon and Paul got some great footage and pretty much the entire day was documented by Gordon's camera. Can't wait for Gordon to edit it together or post it so everyone can check it out.

[KAYAKN]

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: I got to get me a job like Viser has Just way to much paddling going on.

[Ryan Viser]

Hehehe, like the Green Acres song:

Unemployed is the place TO BE
Always paddling is the life FOR ME

So who all has paddled Crooked? We did from the bridge above Launch Pad to the bridge below it. I think that's considered the Lower Gorge. I know the Upper Gorge gets harder, but is the rest of the Lower Gorge pretty similar to that section or does it get harder? Would love to try and take on the rest of it...

[paddlinggoddess]

Hey Ryan and and the rest of you who ran Crooked. That is Jason's Creek and yes the upper is harder than the lower gorge. You need to be good at reading water or have someone there who knows the lines. We spent alot of time in the Fall cleaning out that creek, so there would be very little wood in it. The last time we got to run it it was full of wood in several spots, the upper gorge had several big trees you had to deal with and then at Backbreaker Falls there was a huge tree. We spent several days clearing it all out so that everyone could run it with out all the wood. I don't know if there is anymore in it now a heads up would be great. The upper gorge is very tight and I am not sure that a canoe would make it because of the size of the eddies. I could very well be wrong though. Glad you guys got to run at least the lower part it is fun and the boofs are great if you make them. Jason is jealous that he did not get a run on it. He ran Bismarck Falls yesterday low but better than the first time. We also got 3 yes 3 runs in on Baker on Sunday, medium level for the first, a little bigger the 2nd run and pumping the 3rd time. He also got a run in on the Tot that day. I was happy with three runs on Baker. Renee ran with us on the 2nd and 3rd run and styled the drops I was so proud of her. We kinda lied a little about the last run and did not let her know just how big it was. She did awsome as did the rest of our group. Let me know about any new wood I would really appreicate it.
Sabrina

[Ryan Viser]

Thanks for the info Sabrina. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on it and definitely appreciate all the work you guys have done to make it runneable. At the very beginning there was a decent size trunk sticking out about 4 feet into the air you had to watch for. It was sticking out on river left in the right channel after it splits. I also remember a sizeable tree branch sticking out on the right in the boogie water below Launch Pad. That was about it though. Definitely small things to watch for but nothing life threatening. Zach/Gordon, anything I left out??

So, not many open boat size eddies in the Upper Gorge huh? Guess that means I'll just have to run it w. out stopping

[Heath]

I belive that sammy the mad man has run all of crooked not positive though.

glad to here you guys got on it Ryan. always a great run

[Ryan Viser]

Hehehe, I should have known. Just when I think "Man, maybe I could be the first open boater to do something" Sammy always beats me to it. I'm looking forward to meeting that guy, although the two of us probably have no business paddling together.

Anyways, thanks Heath. Would love to get out there and watch you pros run it sometime!

[Heath]

you need to join us in okie land. sammy paddled clear creek as well didnt think I would see that but it happened and went prety well.

[Fish]

Sammy hasn't run the upper gorge yet. But he wants to real bad... :-)

- Fish