If you’re new to Boulder Drop and maybe trying to figure it out for the future, here’s kind of a play by play to go along with the video:

Section 1: The Entry

Right when the title says “Boulder Drop” he’s heading towards the entrance.  That rock he goes to the right of just there is what I call the pillow rock – you can go to the left but it’s way less squirrely on the right.  At higher levels it’s covered and a nasty backed up reversal forms on the back side of it – I plopped right into it at 4200 cfs and had plenty of time to contemplate not just that bad decision but also many others.  It will spit you out eventually though.

Section 2: The Picket Fence

Where he eddies out on the right is what we call the Bubble Pool, and from there you can either do Airplane Turn (a ferry move to the far side), Ned’s Needle or the Needle.  Greg does the Needle, the slot to the left of where he goes is Ned’s, which at under around 1100 cfs gets really narrow and can remove your elbows on the way down.

The nice thing is that the Needle is friendly up to around 1700 and then gets pretty sticky around 2000 cfs, Ned’s is high enough above around 1300 cfs to do without banging your elbows and doesn’t really get sticky until around 2500 cfs (not very sticky, but definitely sticky around 4,000 cfs and up), and above 2500 cfs the Needle is less sticky, it just starts getting bigger.  So there’s always some kind of option that doesn’t have to involve flailing around in a hole forever.  If you’re just starting out the Airplane Turn ferry might be the easiest of the three up to around 3,000 cfs, but if you can it helps to get out at Airplane Turn eddy (river left, at the end of the ferry) and scout if you can – that’s very easy to do in the 1500 cfs range, which I think is a great first-time level for this rapid.

Section 3: The Last Part

Greg doesn’t go through the two big House Rocks on the left in the last section (that’s the typical route), he goes to the right, FLIPS (sorry Greg, I couldn’t resist.   I flipped in Cable Drop yesterday, so I have no room to talk), then cuts back left to do the last drop, which at that level is easiest to do if just as you go over the lip you angle yourself off towards the right instead of straight downriver - you can see me do that just behind him.

Clear as mud, right?

Starting the Husum Falls drop.

Greg said this was the exact moment he thought he would be needing a new drysuit.

Completely under for a few seconds.

Rolled up even after his spray skirt imploded!

Just a note on Husum Falls – word on the eddyline is that recent flooding moved things around so the line has changed slightly and it’s a bit stickier.  Overall, maybe a few more potential consequences than there were before, but still a Class V drop that a lot of Class III+’ers seem to feel OK taking a stab at.

(My favorite is Ann Brindle’s story of taking half an hour to work up her courage, being so proud when she finally did it, then looking up to see some drunk guy running it in an inflatable killer whale.)

(I could explain further, but it would make me sound really, really dumb. Let’s pass.:)

Anyway, Greg Nicoll, Mike Peele and I portaged Boulder Drop, and Sam and Adam ran it doing a line through the Needle.  Here’s the video:

Last weekend I took one of the most fun kayaking trips ever, on the Wenatchee River by Leavenworth.  It was running around 4900 cfs, so not enormous, but the waves are definitely a lot bigger than what I’ve seen on Class IIIs on this side.

Anyway, something happened on the one rapid, Snowblind, that was a) funny, b) a really good lesson – and OK, let’s not forget c) something we’ll probably be able to hold over Jeromy Adams’s head for a long time.

I’m terrible at remembering rapids, so as we approached Snowblind I asked Jeromy what the line was.  He had originally said something about a big hole on the left and on the right, but at this point he simply said (with an air of complete certainty) “Just follow my line.”

So it was Jeromy, then me, then Greg Nicoll.  Greg (who may be turning out to be the brains of the bunch) immediately realized something was up when he watched Jeromy go over a drop, then saw the front end of his kayak flip up and his paddle start flailing around.

I, on the other hand, had put my brain on standby when I decided to follow someone else’s line (key concept here) so I just followed him like a big, disaster-attracting sheep.  As I flipped over and got sucked into this big whooshing hole I remember thinking “This isn’t going to be good”, then my helmet got whacked several times so hard on the way in I couldn’t believe it.

The good news is I stayed in my boat, got spat out of the hole and made my roll afterwards.  And it was worth it just to hear Greg’s first words as he bobbed out of the rapid – “Nice LINE, (insert expletive here).”  (Greg and Jeromy are always two of the funniest people on the river.)

In hindsight, though, I actually learned a couple of really good lessons, one being:

Don’t stop reading the river just because you’re following someone else’s line.

Yes it’s great to have people help you through rapids, but anyone can make a mistake, and ultimately we’re all responsible for using our own brains. 

And speaking of brains, wow!  Those are actual gashes in my helmet, and the scrapes start on the edge of the front brim.  If my head had been tilted just a bit farther back things might have been a lot different, so the other big reminder to me is:

Tuck as quickly as possible when setting up for a roll!

Not that I hang out down there, but being reminded that big massive rocks are waiting to smash your teeth in sure provides an incentive for speed.

Anyway, it was an awesome day, made even more awesome by my Sweet Protection helmet.

(From what I hear, that kind of thing is especially interesting if you are under the misconception up until the last second that the drop is a 10 foot slide and not an actual 10 foot hurtle-through-the-air kind of deal.  Good stuff.

In addition to being the Fearless Leader of the April Headworks paddle, Greg is also a pretty mean surfer now that he is trying out a Dagger Kingpin, although I should mention that he also has a dark side – demonstrated here by his inexplicable attachment to these shoes.  Which he calls ‘man-tastic’.  I rest my case.

Here’s what Railroad Drop looks like…right side up….tee hee hee.

Here’s a link to a video of me hucking my carcass off of a 10-foot waterfall on the Wenatchee River:

Here’s some video from Greg’s helmet camera of people ripping it up on Turkey Shoot.

Here are some photos taken by Chris Peele and some video of a bunch of people surfing, plus me flipping on Railroad Drop.

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Here’s the video I took going over Railroad Drop.  I was demo-ing the Jackson 2Fun and was bummed that I flipped, but what the heck - all good experience in the long run.

There were a couple of nice surf waves along the way, I caught the first one a few times and was again amazed at how great the Jackson 2Fun was.  Mike VanOrden graciously offered to take video at the next one we hung out at for a while – here’s the video, with the people who missed the wave edited out.  That would be, um, ME.   (Although I did catch it once earlier.)

Here’s Greg Nicoll, Fearless Trip Leader, his very cute dog, and, well, he and I have already discussed the shoes.

And here are Mike, Chris and Jeromy trying to look like people who would never, ever partake of a post-paddle beverage in the parking lot.