Todd and I put on this beautiful run on a coldish winter afternoon.  We tried to get a few views of the river on the drive up, but it lies about 50ft down in a narrow basalt gorge, so these efforts were wasted.  There was a bit of snow on the ground, and we were rewarded with views of Mt. Adams to the North and Mt. Hood to the South.  The Colombia River gorge certainly has its advantages (move to Hood River!)

The first rapid sidewinder is preceded by Sidewinder-fakie, which drops a few feet into a narrow slot.  This is followed shortly after by Sidewinder, which is worth a scout river right.  The river runs through a fast narrow channel with a lot of the current running into a 4-foot undercut mushroom shaped ledge on the left and then dropping steadily through the rest of the rapid.  Todd swore he had crashed into this ledge many times and opted to seal launch below the mushroom.  I ran and almost hit it.  Come in on the tongue and drive hard right to miss it, then stay upright for the fun and fast ride down the chute.

If this rapid seems intimidating, it’s not too late to pack out and climb up to the road.  Beyond Sidewinder, the gorge closes in and a climb out would be epic to impossible.  A short way down a small ledge packs a good punch as the canyon closes in for the Drop Zone.  There are a few busy class III-IV rapids before the first major drop, Lava Dam.  This 14 footer is runable on the right with a boof off the ledge.  Todd nor I ran it, but it looked good to go.  There are stories of boats and unfortunate boaters being trapped behind the curtain of the falls, so if you take a swim here, look for gear.  Portage right from small eddy above falls, careful not to stack up boaters here so no one gets blown past the eddy over the falls.

From here down there were numerous Class III+-IV drops and holes in a deep gorge.  One of the larger ones has two distinct drops into large holes… the upper of the two can be very sticky and has forced swims from expert boaters.  Boat scout right.  Below is one final drop, 12-foot Off Ramp.  This drop is obvious from above as the river disappears into a frothing haze.  Scout left.  This drop has serious consequences if you don’t make the ferry across the main flow, which pours into a nasty rock/ hole mess.  Ferry far right across the top to the eddy along the wall.  From this micro-eddy you sit three feet from an intimidating 8-10 foot ledge.  You can’t see the bottom from where you sit, so it’s pretty exciting.  Boof hard!

Busy water for another 20 minutes and you’ll see the Green Truss Bridge high overhead signaling the Takeout.  Exit river right and use the rope and carabineer to raise boats up the cliff.  This is the put in for the more difficult Green Truss section.  Don’t slip or you may find yourself swimming it.

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