North Shore Huckfest

Click the images for hi-res photos.

and for those of you that want to get straight to the action -
here's the video footage.



DAY 1

It was me, Cliff, Tom, and Joel. Our mission was to get a log out of 'The Cascades' of the Cascade River that was preventing a run of Chastity and everything above it. This is a section of 5 waterfalls in a canyon and this log is in the entrance to the 3rd falls. Joel Decker rappelled down to the log and got some webbing around it. We used a come-a-long trying to free the log to no avail. This thing is in there good. Someone will need to use a chainsaw at low water.

About the worst place the log can be - no way around it.


Joel getting ready to loop the log.


Gettin' friendly with it.


DAY 2

We used all of our daylight on Friday trying to get that log out of there, knowing that the last 2 falls would still be runnable the next day. Saturday morning we teamed up with Alt and headed over to the Brule. It was at 1 foot and this is still a really fun level. I would be impressed to see someone run the left side of Canyon and/or Lower Falls at this level - not to mention Devil's Kettle! Cliff and I ran the right side of Canyon which was a fun slide. I've heard quite a bit about the Devil's Kettle and with all the mystery that surrounds it, it makes it a very magical place. For those that don't know the Devil's Kettle is where half of the river disappears into a vertical shaft and nobody knows where it ends up. The other half cascades over an amazing 40 foot falls - I was stoked to get the second descent of this beautiful mystery.

Cliff on the right side of Canyon.


The rarely run left side of Canyon.


The Devil's Kettle. The vertical shaft is on river right with half the river disappearing into it. This is a big boy rapid.


Unrun 'Lower Falls' on the Brule. Still some stomping holes at this level.


After the Brule, we had just enought light to hit the last 2 waterfalls on the Cascade. Cliff and I fired off 4 and 5 with style. We used a rarely used technique called the skirt implosion on Lover's Leap. Cliff was able to paddle away stern squirting down the river while I joined the Cascade Swim Team without even pulling my skirt.

Pretty much only one way to get this photo.... #4 on the Cascade.


At the lip of #5, Lover's Leap.


A parting image of Hidden Falls on the Cascade River a few days earlier.
By Tom M.

Paddle safe out there,
T-Storm