TO 27’ FALLS ... JULY 22/b -- (7 1/2 HOURS MOVING, A GOOD FULL DAY)

Paddle out western channel out of Bruton (Legoff)

R Marked on map. Very shallow. We shot the very top part on the right, then crossed to the left shore going just left of two very large rocks in channel, then out just to the right of a shallow shoal coming out from shore. Then, cut back to left shore to a Lift Over over a ledge. Then shot out to right over the next drop and center down the next easy pitch. (Described as a horserace in higher water ’70)

C.S. possible on a rock shelf on left in pond like area just past long point coming in from right (after small island not on 4-1s)

Paddle 2-3 miles until you can just hear the falls

P on left 350 yards. Rocky landing long before you can see the falls! (About 400-50 yards before the falls which start with 2 small chutes around an island where the E & W channels out of Bruton meet and then go together over the falls ) Portage puts into a long narrow quiet bay off to the side of the last rapid part of the falls.

Paddle across a very tricky run off from the falls. Then paddle a short calm stretch.

R Island rapid. Start right shore in right channel, cross to center as river swings left and out to left of swells below.

Paddle 1-2 miles with one swift to a big rapid.

R Very Tricky. (“Trouble Spot #7”) Has islands at the top. We shot a small easy pitch at the top in the left channel, pulling out in an eddy on the left below (coming down the right channel here probably would have been better). The whole river then flattened out to a maze of shallows and low shoals/low pebble islands. Here we crossed to an eddy on the right shore. Then we looked over the bottom 2 main pitches, the tricky part of the rapid. We shot far left (in this right had channel) and then pulled into an eddy on the left shore just below where the left channel joins here (this left channel was too shallow to shoot), then we shot out to center and then far right side at the bottom, avoiding very large stacks and a shoal coming out from the left shore. Very tricky, and probably much different in higher water.

Paddle. River swings left and after the first bay on the right, about 1/2 mile away, take the right/eastern channel where the river forks- “The Link”. Small channel looks like a creek with a large stone in the middle and sloping rocks on both shores. After a narrow opening:

• Widens into a pond
• Shallow narrow rapid (we had to let down the top/ too shallow.
• Wider shallow pond
• More shallow rapids. We had to walk canoes most of the way. Unloading was necessary at one point. The other channel joins just after it goes over a 4’ falls. (Small C.S on left here.)

Paddle 1 mile

Island encountered. We took the left channel with a well traveled portage at the top:

P 75 yards long on the right around a 10’ chute. (’70 shot in higher water)

Paddle 2 miles staying right of little islands at the top of the falls.

P. (Takes off on the right. 300 yards. (It is best to land at C.S. landing. There is another landing about 15 yards before this.)

C.S. go down small channel to the right (which also goes over the falls) about 15 yards to a low smooth rock landing on the right.

Today started off good and got even better! Another super cold morning. The wind switched around to the SW last night though by noon it was cloudy, and by sunset raining. Did the first couple rapids today really well. Then it took us about 1/2 hour to find a portage because the trip report had some inaccurate info - the portage was about 500 yards above this falls, the report said “100-200 yards above”. So, I paddled back about 3-400 yards looking for it and couldn’t find it. Then shot a chute right above the fall hoping to find it down there -- not a bright move. Realized it couldn’t be down in there, so had to pull up the chute and then paddle way back to the portage. What a pain. And there were some old (false) blazes just above the chute all very confusing and frustrating.

Later we shot trouble spot #7 and I didn’t shoot it the way I wanted to and took some water. Pissed me off. Then we had to go down this small side channel, cutting off about 10 miles of paddling around the far side of a large island where most of the current goes. Trouble was that the water is so super low that we had to walk down about 1/2 of the really shallow stuff, ugh but the misery of wet feet. That was the end of the bad part of today. We got to the campsite at the top of a portage around a 27’ drop (cascade/falls). It’s really pretty. Then dinner, Klickeronie, peas, pudding and bannock, and I actually got full (though I could eat more now an hour or two later!. What a great feeling. After dinner I went down to the bottom of the portage to take some pictures of the falls and a couple guys went down fishing. We how have 8 walleye and one pike in a pot ready to be cooked up for dinner tomorrow. Hope we can get more tomorrow. They’re going to be so good!!

If it wasn’t for the rain falling now, with no end in sight, it’d be perfect. Then we brewed up some Ceylon breakfast tea and later some Formosa Oolong tea to sip on while I finished up my bannock. So good.

I’m really ready for a rest day after 10 days straight of getting up at 5:30 and moving to a new campsite. Saw an Osprey and its nest right below where the Link came into the main part of the river. The Martin is now just as big as the Upper Rupert we were on before.

I love this tripping in spite of some of the hardships. You know you’ve been paddling good and hard for a good stretch of time when you stop and you can’t open your lower hand without lots of pain. It just sort of turns into a claw, and the easiest way to fix it is to straighten out the fingers with your other hand. It is super painful to open them by themselves. Also, my fingertips dry out and crack and feel like sand paper-handy to scratch bug bites with. Then there is rain and dampness.