Tumwater Canyon, 6-3-06

Tumwater. For most paddlers in the Pacific Northwest, this name evokes fear. The name is derived from a Chinook word meaning violent water, a good indication of the character of the Wenatchee River just upstream of Leavenworth Washington.
For me, this stretch of river symbolizes a stepping stone to the next level in kayaking. While it is a far cry from the hardest stretch of whitewater in the state, running it successfully signifies ones passage into the realm of class V boating. I felt I was up to the challenge, but I was still terrified.
At 11am on Sunday morning I met Dan Ruiz, who was also running Tumwater for the first time, along with the rest of crew. In all we had 15 paddlers so we broke up into two groups, loaded up the cars, and drove to the Swiftwater picnic area to put in.
Below the picnic area class II and III rapids dot the river providing us with an opportunity to get comfortable in our boats and prepare for the real fun which awaited us downstream.

Dan in: The Wall

The first significant rapid is a quarter mile long series of class IV ledges, chutes and holes known as The Wall. The rapid is so long we scouted it three times, once at the entrance, and twice more before the end of the difficulties. I was very nervous as I paddled into the Wall and, as a result, I failed to stay loose and flipped a short distance into the rapid. Luckily, I was able to maintain my composure, roll up quickly, and get back on line. After that I settled into a groove and started to paddle better.
At the base of The Wall, easy class III and III+ rapids continue for a short distance before the river enters Lake Jolanda. This small lake is formed by a dam a couple hundred yards downstream. I portaged the dam, but a few people ran it. After seeing someone run the dam I realize that it is intimidating but not very difficult and I'll probably give it a try next time.


A mile or so of class III and III+ paddling continues below the dam before the next major rapid appears. Chaos Cascade is class IV, and similar in character to the Wall, but much shorter. The crux of the rapid consists of a river wide ledge with several slots to choose from. I chose to run the middle slot and hit it, as well as the rest of the rapid, cleanly.

The last rapid is POW, short for Perfection of Whitewater. This rapid was the hardest of my run and is rated class V. I spent a long time looking at this rapid before deciding to run it. It was by far the most intimidating rapid of the run. The lead in involved running a couple of 2-3 ft ledges on river left before moving to the right side of the river to punch two BIG holes.

James punching the big hole in POW. (photo by Dave D1 Morrison)

After POW, there is one more significant rapid. Exit is a class V+ series of huge holes and ledges that must be run down the center to avoid potentially dangerous undercut rocks on both sides of the river. If you get pushed too far left or right, you risk getting stuffed under the rocks and not coming back out. Even though I'm pretty sure I could have made the moves, I portaged the rapid. Running something with that much danger was simply too risky for me. Three members of my group did run Exit, and thankfully, they made it look easy.

All in all, it was a great trip that boosted my confidence on the river. I'm already looking forward to running it again. Hopefully, I'll be a little less nervous next time.

Here is a link to another Tumwater trip report at the same level with some great pictures and video. http://riverlog.blogspot.com/2005/02/tumwater-canyon.html