Emerald to 120 Mile camp-15.5 miles
I got up early and got some of my gear organized, and helped get breakfast underway, although I was not on KP. The day dawned cloudy, the lightning flashes over the rim were visible every time I got up to pee throughout the night, so the stormy weather seems to be persisting. After breakfast and packing we got a brief shower that didn't quite soak me while I was getting my paddling gear on, making me wish I had gotten up a bit earlier! I sure hope this wet weather relents soon. We have had the Grabner packed since day 9, and still do, so I was kayaking again today, W. was in Dan's raft along with Brad.
We got on the water before 10 and Erin swam right off the bat in Emerald, which could not have been fun or a good way to start the day, but as usual, she was back in her boat and on her way in short order, with some extra warm gear provided by Jim. We made it through Ruby w/o incident, and stopped briefly at Serpentine for a quick scout, then ran it, starting right and working left. Rafts all had good runs. The rapids ease up for a while at this point as we leave the Schist and granite behind and pass back through the "Supergroup" rocks again. We passed the Ross Wheeler, the Astorians all stopped for a look and photos there, but I pressed on, trying to keep the pace up. We saw the Canyon Explorations group at Bass, where they were taking a layover. The guides all obviously sleep on the rafts, and each had its own Megamid fly pitched on board, a very slick looking foul weather arrangement. We stopped just below Bass, for water in Shinumo Creek, which has a tricky pull-in at the very top of the rapid, but is a cool stop, and a good time for lunch stop too, and I liked that we didn't have to make 2 separate stops. The falls are just a short wet stroll...
After lunch we cruised on through Shinumo, 109 and 110 mile and Hakatai rapids, reading and running, then stopped for a scout at Walthenburg rapid. The canyon of the same name there is really cool, narrow and winding with very smooth sculpted walls, and evidence of very recent flooding, and lots of freshly deposited gravel in the bottom. This would make a great place to camp, and hike. Jim did some heavy lifting here...
The rapid was big but easy to negotiate, and we got through pretty easily, but while we were doing so, a giant shower started, and the skies just opened up...before they left the beach, WW said the water had begun to pour out of the sand and gravel, probably from subterrannean stream flow coming down Walthenburg Canyon. We were in our kayaks at the bottom waiting for the rafts when it happened and the rain was just ridiculous...we could hardly see, it was so heavy. Lucky we were not up in the narrow side canyon just then... After Walthenburg rapid there were easy but interesting riffles, Dan picked up a cooler cover with PRO written on it below 113 Mile Rock, and I found and rescued a little gopher snake floating on debris in a cavelike eddy, that must have gotten washed out of a canyon by the recent downpour.We then continued on, to take a short break and hike up into Elves Chasm at about 3:30, which also had much evidence of recent high water, all the vegetation was laid down flat, and the water was muddier than I have ever seen it. Max was in fine form (channeling his inner Elf) about being back in this place he obviously loved, and he and David made several trips up to jump off the falls lip part way up (which was as high as we went). He had his helmet cam on for that, so maybe got some fun video from it...
We got back down and on the water pretty quickly, with some herding action from me, and made it down to the 120 Mile Camp, on the left just above Blacktail Canyon, which is a nice spacious camp, a contrast with Emerald, which was nice, but cozy. The river seemed a little higher today, but not very noticeably so, started to rise in the evening, several inches before we went to bed, so rafts all had to get snugged up.
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