Sunday, July 8, 2007

Henline Creek - Upper Canyon Descent

Since Mel and I had such a great time in the Canyons of Utah, today we though we would see what the sport has to offer here in the Pacific Northwest! It's a little different for sure, and although the creek we choose was lacking the winding sandstone slots of Utah, it made up for it with old growth Douglas-fir and crystal clear water. With a canyon rating of 3C (meaning technical canyon with strong flowing current), I suspected that we would be in for an adventure, and I'm sure that Mel agrees that we got one. The canyon itself was probably only a couple of miles long, but it was somewhat committing once you were in it (not easy to get in or out, the only way down being the waterfalls). In total I think we rappelled 7 or 8 waterfalls, ranging from 30 or so feet to around 90 feet. The flow was perfect... Not so much that we were scared for our lives, but just enough so that you occasionally got pummeled when you were trying to descend the main channel. The last rappel was the longest, and unfortunately either the camera got wet or it ran out of batteries so I couldn't take any pictures. This one was the spiciest of them all... Literally the whole river pounding on your head as you rapped into this overhanging chimney for about 75 feet. After that was a nice pool to swim in and a short hike out. One of the best parts was that we probably passed 150 parked cars along the roadside on the way out, yet we hadn't seen or heard another soul all day. The pics (my camera is out of action from the hood trip so we only had mel's):

Mel getting absolutely pummeled on the first rappel!



Awww...













Mel again (I forget, but all the falls had names)



















Another sweet little swimming pool...

My best Godzilla impression (cold water seeping into wetsuit slowly!)



Mel starting at the top of Jerry or Jimbo falls (or something like that)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Soooo jealous!!! This looks like a blast!