Eagle Creek - 8/16/09

My first effort to actually pull together a video... I hope you enjoy the music, it's a bit of a throwback. :)

Download the big version, it's way better!!!
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1794508/EagleCreekVid.wmv

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Yesterday a small but solid crew (Mel, Aaron, Catherine, Matt, and I) descended Eagle Creek canyon in the Columbia River Gorge. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but each summer high flows or lack of a “crew” have kept Mel and I away.

The Eagle Creek trail is one of the most popular trails in the state and much of it is a narrow walkway hammered out of sheer cliffs that offers only occasional views of the amazing waterfalls, narrow gorges, and bottomless punchbowls below. On a summer weekend the trail sees hundreds of visitors, but rarely does anyone get a view of what the canyon looks like from the bottom up.

Our crew started the descent at Skoonichuck Falls, which was a nice warm-up 2 tier rap on greased rock into a really neat basalt punchbowl. Because of the force of the water, we didn’t do any of the rappels in the main watercourse.






Downstream from there we encountered our first swimming obstacle. A narrow slot pushed the water into what appeared to be a dangerous recirculation. While we debated if it was appropriate to swim through this, Matt tossed his pack in to see if it would flush cleanly through the hole. Nope, not really... As it spiraled around in the hole we realized that the only rescue throw rope was in the pack. Oops, learned that lesson the hard way! Eventually Matt’s pack flushed out and he chased after it (me with rap rope ready to toss in, just in case), only briefly getting dunked as he went through. While Matt set safety downstream everyone launched themselves and their packs and swam cleanly through.

Downstream from there was a few more jumps and then we entered the high bridge narrows. We floated through this 10’ wide x 600’ long hallway of rock and moss pretty much stunned by our surroundings. An audience on the bridge above gaped at our passage, probably wondering how we had got there and how we intended to get out.








Downstream there were more jumps and swims, as well as what seemed like a mile of slippery river rocks. I probably fell over a dozen times! That brought us to the top of punchbowl falls, allegedly the most photographed waterfall in Oregon. We rappelled this waterfall from a small tree on the left (free-hanging) directly into the bottomless punchbowl.












Once we were all down, we swam through the remainder of the punchbowl and downstream narrows into a world of tourists. Below punchbowl falls is the only creek level access people hiking in Eagle Creek really get, so there were a lot of folks there. As we approached, people gawked at us and took pictures. I’m sure we looked absurd wearing wetsuits and harnesses. Everyone wanted to talk to us. Aaron even heard someone say that we looked like we were from another planet (where we had come from seemed like another planet, so perhaps that was appropriate!)… We basically ran though the gauntlet of people (embarrassed by the attention), tossed our packs from the top of the next 20’ waterfall, and then jumped back into solitude.

Downstream from there we had a few more jumps (one was the highest we did on the trip, maybe 30 feet???). We knew that we were nearing the top of Metlako falls, so we approached cautiously, worried that the current would carry us over this 90’ drop. The water was slack enough that we were able to swim out about 10’ above where the flow pinched together and poured over the edge. The 100’ rappel into the punchbowl below was fully free-hanging as well, although this punchbowl had a very different character than the one above. Instead of sunny and blue with happy tourists gaping, this one seemed dark... It was deep enough that the sun wasn’t really hitting the bottom, which gave the water a black and angry look, and the force of the waterfall was creating it’s own waves and wind. Once down I pulled the rope and swam across the bowl towards the rest of the crew with my arms cramping up. Without a rope and wetsuit there is really no way to access this spectacularly beautiful place, so the knowledge that we were seeing something that only a few truly lucky individuals had seen added to the excitement. We floated on our backs through another hallway-type gorge. Downstream from there we had a few more jumps, and then finally exited the gorge 7 hours after we entered it that morning.















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I’ve gotta say a huge thanks to everyone in our crew for rolling up, being solid, and making this trip such a good time. Like I mentioned, this is something I’ve wanted to do for years, but have just been waiting for the right conditions and the right people to do it with. On the list of amazing places I’ve been lucky enough to visit in my life, this one ranks pretty close to the top. :)