Exploring a New River: The Ohanepecosh

Me at the big drop towards the end.  Photo: Adam Elliott

I love doing laps down the Little White or the Truss.  Its great to try new lines and catch new eddies.  But what I really love is paddling new rivers.  Last week, the stars aligned so that Copenhagen, Fastlane and myself all had the day off and Adam was just hangin' so we all rallied a day trip up to the Ohanepecosh.  The "Ohanny" as its called, is a beautiful river gorge originating off the SE side of Mt. Rainier in the National Park.

The Ohanny is known for its crystal clear waters and high-quality, but not super challenging rapids.  It lived up to its expectation.  It was a great day of exploration.  Upon arriving we stretched our legs with a short hike up to check out Silver Falls.

Although its been run, I think it was a little more excitement than we were looking for, so we enjoyed the view, discussed the line (for next time), then headed back to the truck.

None of us had ever run the Ohanny before, so the day involved a fun mix of boat scouting, sending one person down to check for wood and then subsequent portages due to wood.

This was real boating.  What its all about.  Even running laps on a hard river you are dealing with the known.  The four of us working our way down with very limited prior knowledge tapped into a different style of boatin': a whole different approach and attitude.

Adam Elliott boofin'

Seizing every minute and enjoying every stroke, not knowing when we might be able to make it back to this river, or paddle another unknown river together.

Copenhagen soakin' it in

The most noteable and unique rapid, Elbow Room, involves dropping an 8-ft ledge in the entrance and staying far left to squeeze between a boulder and the bedrock wall.  It was a stellar rapid!

Adam Elliott strokin'

It was a great day.  Water so clean and clear I drank right out of the river.

Fastlane in one of the many beautiful gorges

After the run I raced Fastlane on the shuttle, me biking, him thumbing, I won.  Its an easy bike or jogging shuttle, which makes the run all the more appealing.

We had a great flow: between 1900cfs and 2100cfs on the Cowlitz at Packwood gauge.  Could have been done with more and would have been fine with less.

Silver Falls, Ohanepecosh River