Surf's Up

We've had an epic early summer on the Lower St. Mary and the dam's been opened again for the autumn draw-down of the reservoir, which looked quite full yesterday.

Sunny weather for the next while and mid-20's. Good flows and we should be out surfin' probably Monday and/or Tues. mid-day.

Hope everyone's had a good summer.

Stew & Di

Swiftcurrent Flowing

Drove by Many Glacier today and noticed that the Swiftcurrent creek is flowing nicely. This is a class 1+ to !!- run. Once you hit the confluence it is a fast boulder bed flush with a few half river wide sweepers (II).

Great August run. Catch it is you can.

Lower St Mary 220

(Chris C. & Di in R-n-R)

With great weather, another excellent run on the Lower. Flows are dropping quite gradually and wave trains are forming but the waves are still moving, they're not standing waves yet.
Dump and R-n-R were pretty big (for us elders), and the Hairpin Haystack was very big.

(Gary B. doin' the Mamba launch in Hairpin)

(Chris in the Hairpin haystack)

(photos by Irene & Di)

Trips June 21 - June 27

Lets paddle paddle paddle. put your trips in the below comments for everyone to see!!!
See Below Posts for Mark and Clay's Lower St. Mary's Adventures!!!

Surfing below Hairpin

If you get a chance, the wave below hairpin is pretty fun.  It's close to river left and is easy to get on from shore.  The far left is smaller and smoother with the river middle section being much bigger and bouncier!  I was giggling like a school girl when I was on it the first time.  It had to be at least 6ft from crest to trough so when your on top of it you're looking down a steep slope.  If we didn't get such a late start, we would have spent more time playing.  Here is the video.

Lower St. Marys at 300

Our trip out on the Lower Saint was so much fun that we thought it would be fun to celebrate the solstice with a paddle last night. With a 7pm start and me running out of gas on the way home it was another typical adventure for the "old men". Much like at 450, most things were washed out. Rain wave was harder to surf, not that it was good at 450. The class II ledge was good, but not as wide, so a smaller sweet spot. The dump were big haystacks, not much to surf which leads us to the big two!
Run-no-Run was still big. Less washed out, so more technical. Last time we took the sneak route running right of center, but this time we ran left of center. My my.... waves sure look bigger from the kayak vs. the shore! I got a bit nervous at one point, but braced well and made it to hairpin.
Hairpin was big and fun! Better line this time, hit the tongue dead center, but this presented it's own problems. The haystacks and waves that follow the main drop are so big and turbulent that you can't judge how they'll throw your boat. Super fun but kept us on our toes. Again we managed to avoid being trashed!
Lastly, there was a wave below hairpin that ROCKED!! I thought I would post some video of it later today.
I don't think we'll hit the lower saint again at these flows, but I hope to read about some others!

Lower St. Marys at 450

Here's the pictures and video from our run down the Lower St. Marys. As was mentioned before everything is washed out, but there was a ton of big waves and haystacks. The waves running hairpin felt like they were 6 to 9ft high. Not sure if that's due to the fact that I was getting worked a bit or they really were that big. Maybe something below will interest you.

Trips June 14 - June 20

Lower St. Mary's is still flowing and is a great after work run! it will probably be flowing for a couple more weeks, so lets be hitting it up! BUT if you are planning any other trips let us hear about it, so we all can get out and paddle.
See ya on the river

Cameron Creek's "20 footer" from a number of years ago at med flows.

Same location. The trees disappeared a number of years ago.

TRIPS JUNE 7 - JUNE 13

Lower St. is still pushing and its still a great level right now!!! Lets get our groove on and head out after work and have a ball!!! also let us know of any other trips being planned.

TRIPS JUNE 1 - JUNE 6

WATER LEVELS ARE COMING UP! LET US KNOW WHERE YOU ARE HEADED TO!!!

Trips MAY 13 - MAY 31

The sun is finally came out to play so if you got any trips planned let us know!!!

Trips MAY 1 - MAY 9

Looks like some of the local rivers are up and paddable. The Castle is at 32cms, Belly is too low, Middle Fork is getting High (9000cfs), Swiftcurrent is 335cfs (500cfs is a good flow), and the accessible East Kootenays runs seem to be flowing well.

Post your trips here.

Early Season Road Trips

If you are wanting to get in shape for the short season that is likely to happen, consider taking a 4 day weekend to one of these areas

- Missoula. The lochsa river is truly amazing, and there are lots of natural hotsprings. Expect about 9h one way. Solid class III to IV.




-Silverton - The St. Joes river is pretty nice, and the towns around the area are super cool. See american whitewater for details. Expect about 3-4h past Koocanusa (9h). Easy creek style class III to IV. Much less intimidating than the power of the lochsa.

Paddling has Begun

a few people are making trips out to the KAN this Easter weekend. Also there has been some trips on the weekends to the ELK river. we are doing the distance, but its well worth it! leave your comments if you are taking any trips this pre-season time!!!