Thursday, June 29, 2006
Norrish Creek - BC
On May 20, 2006 Erik, Drew, and myself (matt) met up with some B-hamsters Chris and Ethan to go and run Norrish Creek. Norrish Creek is located about 20 minutes from the US border just north of Sumas. The whitewater on this run isn't necessarily epic, but the scenery is top notch. The day we were there was a medium to medium high flow, and the visual gauge at the take-out was reading about 7.8 and internet gauge was reading about 6.2. The upper end to the run is 6.4 and the low end is in the high 5's on the internet gage. You can view the gage at this link http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/formnav.asp?lang=0 then go to the Norrish Creek above Rose Creek gage.
We put-in at a higher put-in then what I guess is the normal put-in just so we could run a 5' boof drop. The only down side is that you have to portage right after it, and the portage is a little sketchy. I would have to say that it wasn't worth it just to run one drop.
Put-in portage
Photo by Matt Thomas
Character of the run ranges from granite boulder gardens to BC bed rock gorges with ledge drops. This is one of the first substantial ledge drops with a convenient log for scouting.
Log scout
Photo by Matt Thomas
Ricky lining up the drop below the log scout
Photo by Matt Thomas
There are a couple of must run rapids on this run. The first one we portaged the entry then the ran last half, which is not portageable, that consists of river wide hole followed by another slightly more sticky hole. The main issue is that whoever runs it first runs it without safety. Tretwold went first managed to make it to safety after a close encounter with the hole and a near beat down.
Ricky running the first must-run rapid
Photo by Matt Thomas
The next must-run is ledge drop that then goes around a blind corner. The first picture is from the top, and the next one is from the bottom looking back up the corner. Nice scenery uh? or should I say eh?
Andrew running the second must-run drop
Photo by Matt Thomas
You can just make me out in the background of this picture.
Matt at the bottom of the same drop
Photo by Chris Tretwold
The final drop on this run is definitely the most difficult. It's called the squeeze and it's a lot of fun. You can portage this run on the river right or just give'er right down the middle.
Chris Tretwold making the squeeze look easy
Photo by Matt Thomas
Matt about to take the plunge
Photo by Erik Schertzl
After this drop you have about a mile or so of class II runout then you're at the bridge where the visual gauge is.
You definitely don't want to do this too high or that would the first must-run drop pretty burly. The level we did it at was a great level that made everything filled in enough to not be too manky but was still manageable.
We put-in at a higher put-in then what I guess is the normal put-in just so we could run a 5' boof drop. The only down side is that you have to portage right after it, and the portage is a little sketchy. I would have to say that it wasn't worth it just to run one drop.
Put-in portage
Photo by Matt Thomas
Character of the run ranges from granite boulder gardens to BC bed rock gorges with ledge drops. This is one of the first substantial ledge drops with a convenient log for scouting.
Log scout
Photo by Matt Thomas
Ricky lining up the drop below the log scout
Photo by Matt Thomas
There are a couple of must run rapids on this run. The first one we portaged the entry then the ran last half, which is not portageable, that consists of river wide hole followed by another slightly more sticky hole. The main issue is that whoever runs it first runs it without safety. Tretwold went first managed to make it to safety after a close encounter with the hole and a near beat down.
Ricky running the first must-run rapid
Photo by Matt Thomas
The next must-run is ledge drop that then goes around a blind corner. The first picture is from the top, and the next one is from the bottom looking back up the corner. Nice scenery uh? or should I say eh?
Andrew running the second must-run drop
Photo by Matt Thomas
You can just make me out in the background of this picture.
Matt at the bottom of the same drop
Photo by Chris Tretwold
The final drop on this run is definitely the most difficult. It's called the squeeze and it's a lot of fun. You can portage this run on the river right or just give'er right down the middle.
Chris Tretwold making the squeeze look easy
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Photo by Matt Thomas
Matt about to take the plunge
Photo by Erik Schertzl
After this drop you have about a mile or so of class II runout then you're at the bridge where the visual gauge is.
You definitely don't want to do this too high or that would the first must-run drop pretty burly. The level we did it at was a great level that made everything filled in enough to not be too manky but was still manageable.
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