Upper Upper Cispus - Washington.

The upper upper or the upper upper upper? This is a pretty awesome river even by the standards of the northwest. I think it's akin to the Cascade (upper) of Minnesota on steroids. The level was a pushy estimated 600+. The highlite of the run is a steep boulder garden that leads into a 30 footer followed by a meaty hole and some more steep class V boulder gardens. The first rapid is a class III ledge lead-in to 15-20 footer, after which you must make a move to duck a log - a good way to wake up! We had a great group of guys that made making downriver progress a snap. Thanks for letting me tag along.
Thanks and credit go to Luke for most of these photos - thanks man. Check out his blog, PDX River Explorers

The first falls.


Dave G. mackin' the log duck.


Drops like these were dispersed throughout the boulder gardens.


Ken coming through one of the numerous boulder gardens.


Watch out for wood!


Johnny watchin' Ken take a wall ride.


Me taking the sweet rockslide line at Island.


Coming through a hole before Behemouth - don't mess up here!


Me, Dave, Johnny, and Ken throwing up gang signs and trying to look hard above Behemouth - the 30 footer.


Ken styling Behemouth.


So this is where things got a little interesting for me... The boys all had ran Behemouth and I was last to go. I landed to far left and got sucked behind the falls. After several failed attempts at paddling out of this thing and sitting behind the veil for a bit I came out of my boat. I clinged to the wall for a little while, then decided it was time to get out of there and pushed myself out under the veil. Luckily Dave was sitting on shore in the right eddy to pull me and my boat and paddle out - what a relief to be out of there! The boys were getting kinda nervous seeing as I was behind the falls for around 4 or 5 minutes. It turned out all good, but I need to go back and get a better line on this sucker.

Behemouth.


Reflecting on the walled in Behemouth.


Boulder gardens below Behemouth.