Tuesday, November 07, 2006
NF Ernies at 13K
I was checking the USGS river levels on 11/6/06 and saw that Ernies Canyon on the NF Snoqulmie River was at 8,000 and rising. You can see from the graph that it peaked at about 13,000 cfs at about the same time that we were there.
So I called Andrew and we played hookie from work and headed out there. We knew things were going to be big when we got to the take-out bridge.
Ernies take-out bridge
Photo by Matt Thomas
By the time we were done hiking there was 3 feet of water going over the road where you would normally hike-out at the take-out. With fear of over-stating the obvious, we had to find alternative means of exiting the NF Snoqualmie road. Luckily some locals gave us some directions on how to get out of there.
Photo by Matt Thomas
After shlogging through the PNW jungle we were rewarded with the site shown in the picture below. You could actually feel the rumble of water as it plunged through the canyon. You could also hear boulders bouncing and rolling down the stream bed. At first we thought that this was Raft Catch, but after hiking downstream we realized that it wasn't. We think this is probably Jacuzzi, but it's hard to tell for sure.
Click the link for a video the Andrew put together.
http://www.kayakingsucks.com/vid/ErniesFlood.wmv
Ernies at 13,000 cfs
Photo by Matt Thomas
This isn't the same drop, but a lot of the rapids on this run have this character. Notice the big boulders that aren't noticeable in the above picture. I couldn't find a picture of Jacuzzi at normal flows, and when the water subsides I'll add some more pics.
Paul Heffernan at Gotta Want it at 750 cfs
Photo by Joey Baranski
It's amazing to witness the power of water and to think that it all starts with a few million rain drops.
So I called Andrew and we played hookie from work and headed out there. We knew things were going to be big when we got to the take-out bridge.
Ernies take-out bridge
Photo by Matt Thomas
By the time we were done hiking there was 3 feet of water going over the road where you would normally hike-out at the take-out. With fear of over-stating the obvious, we had to find alternative means of exiting the NF Snoqualmie road. Luckily some locals gave us some directions on how to get out of there.
Photo by Matt Thomas
After shlogging through the PNW jungle we were rewarded with the site shown in the picture below. You could actually feel the rumble of water as it plunged through the canyon. You could also hear boulders bouncing and rolling down the stream bed. At first we thought that this was Raft Catch, but after hiking downstream we realized that it wasn't. We think this is probably Jacuzzi, but it's hard to tell for sure.
Click the link for a video the Andrew put together.
http://www.kayakingsucks.com/vid/ErniesFlood.wmv
Ernies at 13,000 cfs
Photo by Matt Thomas
This isn't the same drop, but a lot of the rapids on this run have this character. Notice the big boulders that aren't noticeable in the above picture. I couldn't find a picture of Jacuzzi at normal flows, and when the water subsides I'll add some more pics.
Paul Heffernan at Gotta Want it at 750 cfs
Photo by Joey Baranski
It's amazing to witness the power of water and to think that it all starts with a few million rain drops.
// posted by h2othomas @ Tuesday, November 07, 2006 
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