Upper Tulameen-June 27-Short but Sweet

This was a very short but frisky ride down the upper Tulameen above Coalmont to the Gazebo.

Several solo boats had successfully run the lower part from Coalmont down the day before but the water was deemed to be too low for tandems. This day’s run was a mere 4.2 km, so tandems were welcome.

The most interesting thing was the first sharp left at the Canyon wall with lots of rocks. Carey showed us how to fill up a canoe with water without actually dumping. His paddling prowess began by centering himself in a very narrow chute.  Unbeknownst to him, there was a large rock under the surface.  The current turned him sideways placing the gunwale under water, at which point he decided his best course of action would to get out of the boat (to the upstream side) in an effort to get rid of some of the water and dislodge the boat before anyone noticed what was happening.  This was made more exciting by the fact that Leigh decided to assist Carey with a helpful nudge with her canoe. Since she was screaming at him, Carey quickly turned around, caught her canoe and pulled the bow over his canoe before shoving her away from the action.  The rest of us did some furious backpaddling to avoid interrupting the performance. Once Carey pried his boat off the rocks we resumed our descent. It was truly a performance worthy of a standing ovation, which was difficult to do in canoes. Everyone made it safely through a narrow and exhilarating canyon drop-off, which had plenty of water. Despite the odds, Simon and Jen made it safely through without dumping, thanks to a few good strong bow draws by Jen at the right moment. Unfortunately Jen’s GoPro decided to separate from her helmet, leaving us with no evidence of our awesome but brief run. 

In attendance:

Carey (solo, lead), Leigh(solo), Simon and Jen  (tandem) and Anne and Alain (tandem, sweep)

Report by: Simon and Leigh