There's no water.

The last month and a half have been brutally dry here in Oregon, but how dry?

I went back and looked at data for the Illinois River to compare to this year and here's what I found. I counted the number of days the Illinois' mean flow was over 700 CFS between November 1st and December 17th for the past 20 years. This year, during that same time frame, the Illinois has hit the mark 10 times. There are two other years (in the past 20) that this has occurred; in 2008 and in 1991. But the absolute worst year was 2000, in which the Illinois only hit 700 a miserable 5 times.
Here's the data:

Days when average flow reached or exceeded 700 CFS at Kerby on the Illinois River between November 1st and December 17th:

2011: 10
2010: 37
2009: 14
2008: 10
2007: 17
2006: 34
2005: 31
2004: 11
2003: 15
2002: 12
2001: 29
2000: 5
1999: 32
1998: 32 (record 20-year for time frame on 11/21 was 20,400 CFS)
1997: 35
1996: 30
1995: 20
1994: 31
1993: 11
1992: 15
1991: 10

Back when there was water, January of 2011:

Kadoma to debut in Ashland, Oregon June 23rd

The much-anticipated film Kadoma will debut in Ashland on Thursday, June 23^rd starting at 8:00PM at Ashland Greenhouses. Local filmmakers, Chris Korbulic, 24, of Rogue River, Ore., and Ben Stookesberry, 32, of Mount Shasta, Calif., share their terrifying and true story of unmatched adventure that resulted in the tragic death of their kayak guide. The Ashland premier of Kadoma will benefit the local filmmaker’s good friend and fellow kayaker, Matt Thomas, who was paralyzed while mountain biking in Southern Oregon almost 2 years ago.

Korbulic and Stookesberry appeared at Jackson County Library Foundation’s Southern Oregon Arts and Lecture Series this past April to tell their story and share pictures. They left with the promise to return with a feature film documenting their adventures. Kodoma’s world premiere took place at the Mountainfilm: The Festival in Telluride, Colo. over Memorial Day weekend. “Nothing can replace personal experience and the stories that come from expeditions to remote, but still affected places,” says Korbulic.

Join us to support Matt in his journey to recovery and meet the filmmakers, Ben and Chris. We'll also have raffles and beer, plus one of the best views in Ashland!

What: Premiere of Kadoma to benefit the Matt Thomas Recovery Fund ($5 donation at door)
When: Thursday, June 23rd starting at 8:00pm (film will begin at sunset)
Where: Ashland Greenhouses - 650 East Ashland Lane - Ashland, OR 97520
Info: DesireeW@live.com or info@jclf.org

**If you're unable to attend and would like to make a monetary donation or donate a raffle item, please contact DesireeW@live.com for details.**

Redwood Creek | January 8-9, 2011

Check out the full Redwood Creek trip report.

Although the gauge nearest our put-in suggested the flow to be 250 CFS, it seemed like a lot more than that. Perhaps there's a large tributary between the gauge and put-in, or maybe the gauge is broken. Either way, we were pleasantly surprised that we never had to drag the raft, which is what we thought we'd be doing the first few miles. In fact, the "creek" (this thing is a huge creek), chugged along at a fast pace. Despite the low gradient, the river always has current.

Since none of us had been on this river before, we relied heavily on information from http://www.cacreeks.com/redwood.htm. We were able to track down Kathy and her brother to help with our two vehicle shuttle, which is certainly worth the amount of time you save by not having to do your own shuttle. From Orick to where we put-in was about an hour and fifteen minutes. We were nervous about what the put-in would be like but ran into no problems. Coyote Creek comes in on river-right about seven miles downstream of the put-in. We stopped there for an early lunch break at 11:00.

Read the full trip report here... Redwood Creek Trip Report.

Winning on and off the river - Go Giants!

In August when no one thought the Giants could pull it off, Tim, Brian, and Buster came up for a little R&R on the Rogue River. They were very tired from the long season and needed a break from the hustle and bustle of baseball to prepare for their postseason dreams.

Matt, Chuck, and Tim Lincecum at the bottom of Upper Black Bar.
Tim is giving the thumbs up - must have been a good run!

Even though he is so young, Buster Posey is very good on the oars:

Dan and Brian Wilson making the move at Blossom Bar. Brian is very intimidating to watch row a boat.

It was very nice watching our river friends win one of those World Series things. And, just like we taught them a few river tricks, I too took away a lesson from last nights game. From now on we will end every river trip with a shower of champagne!

Go Giants!

Trip Report: West Fork of the Illinois

For the full trip report with photos, click here.

Ever since we moved to Selma I've been wanting to get on some of the upper stretches and tributaries to the Illinois River. In January I got to run Josephine Creek, which was a lot of fun but not a whole lot of whitewater. There's gotta be something somewhere up in the drainage where there's great whitewater. Was the West Fork of the Illinois the gem I was looking for? No, but it was still fun exploring a new run.

Dana and I left our house around noon. We grabbed the little 10' Avon (Rosie the red raft) and drove to the bridge over the West Fork on Waldo Road. There we left Dana's car and continued with my truck to the put-in. We didn't really know where the put-in would be, but we knew which road to take. When we entered Obrien we took a right on Lone Mountain Road and continued up the road a few miles. Eventurally we found a place where the road was right next to the river so that's where we put in. We did drive up a little further but it seemed that the road was straying from the river.

Due to the extremely low flows during the summer there is quite a bit of brush that grows in the river bed. This was a constant battle for us. We had to get out of the boat and "portage" three times. More times than not we could pick out a line over the smaller bushes and the boat would just knock them over. Nevertheless, the river canyon was beautiful and the rapids, although only class II, were still kind of fun. At least there was current!

We arrived at the bridge take-out around 2:45. On river-left just upstream of the bridge there is a little steep trail to the road. We used that to carry our stuff up to our vehicles.

Would I do the West Fork again? Probably not. But I'm sure glad I don't have to wonder about it anymore!

For the full trip report with photos, click here.

Series: Easy River Recipes, #1

This is a new series called "Easy River Recipes". If you have one in mind please email it to info@OregonRafting.org so that we can post it on our blog. I'm not going to post quantities because, well, I have no idea how large your group is or how much you will eat. Here we go:

Taco Salad, Lunch

Taco Salad is one of the easiest lunches you can make. If you're tired of the same old deli sandwich spread, this may be the perfect mixer-upper for you.

Ingredients:

1) Tortilla Chips
2) Black Beans
3) Ice Burg Lettuce
4) Chicken
5) Avocado
6) Tomato
7) Green Onion
8) Cheddar Cheese
9) Salsa

Dishes and Utensils:

1) 1 Large Spoon
2) 1 Large Bowl
3) 1 Can Opener
4) Forks
5) Bowls
6) A few knives to cut stuff up

What do do:

Everything is going into the bowl. Pre-cook the chicken and cut it up into bite-sized chunks. Cut up tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, and green onion and throw it in the big bowl. Open and drain the canned black beans and put them in the bowl. Crunch up the tortilla chips and - you guess it - put them in the bowl. Throw the grated cheddar cheese in the bowl. Sprinkle some salsa in and, presto, you've got yourself a taco salad.

Hint:

Throw in some "taco seasoning" to make it feel extra special.

Trip Report: Illinois River, March 13-14, 2010

For the full trip report with photos click here.

Will’s 24th birthday - He’s still a year younger than me, but who’s counting?

People started dropping like flies on Thursday afternoon, but several of us stuck it out. Will and I had been watching the snow fall all day on Thursday and the projected flows told us it would be well above 6000 cfs. Will knew it was wrong but we kept watching the copious amounts of moisture with a bit of skepticism. Friday evening we knew we were golden – the flows were around 3000 cfs and falling.

Ryan Guy, having just started his spring break, met us at the Selma house on Friday evening. In the morning we met up with our other gung-ho boating comrades, J.R. Weir and Jonathan Hyland. I have to admit the sunny drive in the morning was incredibly beautiful but a little nerve racking – there was a lot of snow on the road. I wasn’t too excited about a potential “high water” trip, but Will assured me the snow would stay put and the flows would be fine.

We put-in around 11:30 am as the sun gods shined proudly on the birthday boy. It was definitely Will's day on his favorite river. After an amazing day of floating the green water of the Illinois, we arrived at South Bend around 4:30 pm and decided to call it a day. The night was complete with a more than sufficient supply of spaghetti, beer, Patron and tomato juice, Jaeger and Franzia’s Sunset Blush bagged wine. It was a relaxing and enjoyable evening of some of the best story telling and hooting I’ve been around in a long time.

The next morning everyone woke up with the thought of the impending GREEN WALL. After a filling breakfast, we hit the water and made it to Prelude around 10:30 am. We decided to scout above the entry rapid. We walked down, scouted and Will and Ryan headed back to the boats. I set-up our video camera on a rock, slung our digital camera around my neck and waited for the guys to come downstream. Will entered far left due to the fact that the center was a massive river-wide hole. It was definitely not a place you’d want to be… But after some strong pulling and maneuvering he made it out clear and clean. It was a great run. The bottom hole (also known as Harvey) wasn’t too prominent, which made the run a bit easier. Ryan and Bigwater Betty, the creepy mannequin head, had a similar run and came out looking like professionals. Of course it was a piece of cake for both J.R. and Jon.

After Green Wall we navigated some of the lower rapids while we admired the many waterfalls, runoffs and creeks surrounding us. It was absolutely beautiful. Will made sure to stop at his favorite “Waterfall Camp” and was blessed by the river gods in discovering his bottle of stashed Jaeger was still in camp. We basked in the sun and told stories.

As we made our way further downriver, we decided it was time for lunch. Instead of eating at the waterfall camp or pulling over, we took customized sandwich orders, compiled glorious piles of meat, cheese, veggies and bread and ate while we floated. I think some of the most hilarious moments of the trip were watching J.R. and Jon eat while they kayaked. It’s a little easier for rafters to eat while floating, but kayakers…that’s a whole other story. However, it definitely wasn’t difficult for them to take swags off the good ol’ bag of Sunset Blush. Thank god for bagged wine…

We made it to Oak Flat around 4:00 pm, enjoyed some more Sunset Blush, packed up and headed back home. It was really one of my favorite trips down the Illinois. We had perfect flows, perfect weather and a spectacular group of people. Thanks to Barefoot Brad and Jamie for a great shuttle experience. And to Ryan, J.R. and Jon for making the trek to Southern Oregon to enjoy one of the most beautiful rivers in the Northwest with us.

For the full trip report with photos click here.