Monday, April 24, 2006

Flows

WIth the cold freezes this week, it looks like the rivers have been dropping. The Lower saint is ramping down, the upper saint is a bit too low for me (13 now 18-20 my min). The castle is low (~20). The belly looks allright for a short play run at 9. The middle fork and montana seems like the place to be with the MOFO at a strong medium. The elk and bull also look good for a weekend destination. Chances are there will be more than a few paddlers up that way.

Nathan and I and a couple of others were going to do the upper saint on Wed, but with the low flows that may have to change to the belly. We'll see. I won't be off work till 4:00pm so we will meet in front of DQ then.

I am off to see about upper cameron this evening.

UPDATE

Meet at DQ at 3:30 in Cardston. We will be hanging out at the wave around the corner of the Belly River bridge just past Mtn View. (50m walk from the car)

UPDATE 2

The flows on the Oldman Dam Run are also up to 30cms or so. This would make a decent run for newer kayakers looking to try things out. If I remember, the surf wave below the bridge and by the campground also started to appear at these flows. Too bad about the poor eddy service.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Relative to the Two Medicine, it seems that there are 3 falls. The 20 footer is about a mile below the Highway 49 Bridge. Highway #2 Bridge is then about 2+ miles further downstream. Thompson describes a rope belay over the 20 footer - is it in Montana Surf?
The next falls upstream is interesting - 'Trick Falls'. A 40 footer with the river splitting and part flowing through a rock fracture and emerging as a lower plunge. Looks quite scenic.

Thompson describes all the 'paddlable' whitewater well downstream though, near Cutbank - like the St. Mary with the main whitewater formed by sandstone ledges well out of the mountains.

I'll send a photo of Trick Falls from the Internet.

chris g said...

Trick falls probably can't be run. The Two Medicine falls is the one that seems interesting. From there to the next nearby bridge below the highway looks to be about 2+3 miles. The river looks nice. Fairly flat and splashy.

Wilco and Mark Iwasas have done the cut bank section, or at least most of it I believe. I think Wilco said something about 1200 cfs being a good flow.

The other similar river is the dearborn. That looks like another begginer kayak run I would like to try. Perhaps I will run it as a club trip. I amm contacting some people in the Cardston area to see about begginer and intermediate courses.

chris g said...

Cameron creek was low, but runnable. There was a bit of wood on the ledges above fish ladder, but below McNealys. Stick right. Also the 5 foot ledge after Wild thing ,but before Deja Vu has a log on the left side.

For the Belly on Wednesday, I am now free to leave immediately after school for those who are interested. That could mean 3:30 in town. If anyone misses the time, the put in for the belly is pretty obvious, and we will be hanging out just around the corner.

Anonymous said...

Anyone paddling the Belly this weekend (Sunday April 30th in the morning)? I haven't been on this river yet but I'd sure like to give it a try instead of detouring back to the Elk and then back to Calgary. Anyone free?
I gotta a mini van. :)
Best wishes,
Linda Englehart
lenglehart@shaw.ca
Cell 403-383-7457

chris g said...

I am up in Calgary, so it is a no for me.

chris g said...

Trip Report

Nathan, Janson and I went for a short run on the belly at 9 or 10cms. The first hole was fine, but the ledge is still a bit too shallow for me. A larger eddy fence is probably needed. The begginer surf wave below has really come in though. It has a decent eddy feed. it is fairly green but shorter boats do help. I forgot my camera, along with my wetsuit, shirt, shorts, etc. At least I had a drytop and some pretty fancy scivvies to show off!