This was my first run on the Orletta Creek to BZ corner section of the White Salmon River. The section is harder than the Middle, but easier than the Farmlands. The putin is at Orletta Creek, which is at the bottom of Lower ZigZag rapid on the Class V Green Truss section of the WS. Most folks running the Truss will continue down into the Orletta for the fun rapids and easy takeout at BZ Corner.

Chris walking down next to the trickle that is Orletta Creek.

Orletta Creek cascades down some sweet basalt rocks down to the WS.

Looking down the WS from Orletta. Really beautiful spot.

The Orletta starts quick with a few continuous boulder gardens that were full of powerful holes and whitewater. The first has a huge wall jutting out on the right side near the bottom. This wall is pretty undercut and all the flow goes right into it. Dodge the hole on left by starting right, and then cut back left in time to not get stuffed under the undercut wall.

The next ledge, known by many paddlers as "That sticky ledge that kicked my ass" comes up next. Run this ledge right. Christina threw 5 or 6 ends in the hole before it let her go, so stay right on this one. The next rapid has a huge rock at the bottom that looks like it would be a sweet boof, but it goes off left into a sticky hole backed up by the left wall. Stay right for the best line. At lower flow this is probably a big rock in the middle of the river.

One of many continuous hole fields on the Orletta section of the White Salmon

Chris runs right of the flake rock with the hole behind it.

From here down it is pretty mellow Class III+ in a beautiful gorge. Check out the springs that come into the river on all sides out of cracks in the walls. Its pretty sweet. After a short break in the action, the river comes around a sweeping corner right and enters Tripple Drop. There are three distinct drops in here at lower flows, but at this flow they all ran together. We ran all three left with much success. These get tougher as the levels drop, although eddies form in the pools between the drops.

A bit below Triple Drop is The Flume. This is indicated by a spout of water that shoots into the river from river left out of a hose. The Flume is a great rapid with a steep drop into the whitewater mess below. We ran right down the center and went huge off of the last wave coming left to right. You can litterally fly off this one.

Chris in the middle of The Flume.

Right below The Flume is one Class III+ rocky drop that is followed by Class V+ BZ Falls. The portage trail for the falls is on river right, and is a MUST MAKE. I would recommend stopping high in the first set of rapids, but you can also go down lower into the second set of rapids that lead up to the lip of the falls. There are a few very small eddies right up to the lip of the falls, but I wouldn't go for these unless you have no other options cause you blew the earlier ones, or you have a very good idea of what you are doing. 3 people have died in BZ Falls' mighty hole below, and it is a mandatory portage at higher flows (above 3 feet)

The rapid leading into BZ Falls. Careful here.

Looking toward the horizon of BZ. Notice the aerated water 200 feet downstream. This is a beast of a waterfall.

Looking into the meat of BZ Falls.

After the portage of BZ Falls, you have a few options to get back to the river. We did a seal launch off the rock cliffs, but be aware that there are rock shelves below that you could land on if you didn't know where to launch. There is also a wooden boardwalk that goes back to BZ Corner, and a rope that leads down the cliff face a little ways down. The only rapid left is Maytag which is the first rapid on the Middle section. You can takeout here or go down the middle. We opted to do the Middle as well, and continued down to Husum.

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