Cascade Currents

We are bringing back a regular club newsletter! This is a place for members to share trip reports, hear about planned events, and get a feel for what is going on. There's always something. Previous editions of the Cascade Currents have been beautifully written and laid out by members who are professionals in those fields. This new newsletter will not be that fancy--until another volunteer steps up who has the skills to make it pretty again. Is that you?

If you're curious about previous editions of the Cascade Currents, they can be found here.

The Club was formed as the Lower Columbia Canoe Club (LCCC) in the late 1960s by a small group of flatwater canoeists from the Portland area. In the early '70s three new members with whitewater skills joined and their enthusiasm was contagious. Membership boomed and skills increased rapidly. Over time our fleets diversified to include kayaks, rafts, inflatable kayaks, and most recently SUPs and recreational kayaks. Today our membership includes local paddlers with deep knowledge of local waters. Winter rainy season brings our best whitewater paddling. In the summer we run spring-fed rivers like the White Salmon in Washington, dam-release runs like the North Santiam, or travel to Idaho and farther.

We paddled three days in a row with 28 different paddlers participating. On Friday the 16th we paddled Boulder Flats to Horseshoe Bend, and on Saturday and Sunday we ran from Horseshoe Bend to Gravel Bin. These are briefly described by AW as segments 1 and 2. The last day we had 20 boaters (photo above) at the put in! We split into two groups for the river running part, and joined up for lunch.

Most of us camped together at the Steamboat Ball Field where our tents made a great circle around the giant meadow. The Milky Way was amazing. We didn't share food this time but there is talk of resuming the potluck tradition next year, though probably not the wild salmon feast that Rollie used to cook up. If another chef wants to step up, we can work on that!

There was no smoke, even though the Cedar Creek Fire was burning one drainage to the north. The skies were clear except for a few roving thunderstorms which hit up the drainage from where we were camping, bringing up the flows in a delightful way. We hope the rains also put out the fire!

We had one new member join us after finding out about the trip on facebook. Another member who has lurked on the email list for years finally came to paddle with us. Overall it was a fantastic group of bright and interesting people, and the social time was the biggest whitewater for some of us.

Who was there you ask? Here's an approximate roster, by boat type, first names only. We have one tiny cataraft (Seth's Slice) R-2'd by Hobbit and Tamara from North Carolina. They came out to run the Rogue but were stopped by the fire; they will be back.

Representing canoeists included Pat from Bellingham WA, Eric from the Bay area, Kris from Bend, Alyse from Colorado-now Portland, and of course our Most Worshipful Trip Coordinator, Will (Conservation Chair) also from PDX.

In IK's we had Steve from Albany, Mari and Jennifer from Eugene, Sami (Vice President) from West Linn, and hailing from Portland, Chuck and Mike.

Kayakers joining included Jennie from Seattle, Kathy from Sequim, Julie and Bill from Eugene, Stephen and Beth from Bend, Bryan from Sandy, Travis from West Linn, and a pack from the Portland area including Dynamo Dave, Sam, Liane, Joe, Denny, Teresa (Safety Chair), and Deborah our outstanding club President.

Missed it 2022? SAVE THE DATE for 2023!! We're targeting two weekends after Labor Day, and that will be September 15-17, with paddling on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This has been a transitional time for people and for clubs. No one knows exactly what the "new normal" will look like. Regardless, there are many of us who have a long love affair with rivers and we are never going to stop. We're excited to get on the water with you!

If you'd like to join us, whether on the river or online, please monitor your email. If you're getting too many or too few notifications, you can adjust your google group settings to get the emails at a pace you can work with.

Members were busy this summer. We had 19 official club river trips during the months of June, July and August. Two of those trips, the McKenzie River trip and the Willamette trip were overnight trips. The McKenzie River trip played host to 4 of the 19 trips offering class 2 and 3 runs. The Willamette overnight was a flatwater trip. The club also hosted an amazing Summer Picnic Day in June that included several boating trips, games, food, and social time for members. All these amazing trips were brought to you by fellow members. Please feel free to reach out to leadership if you would be interested in learning how to lead a trip. --Sami the VP

Most trip reports are posted on the LCCC blog, but in this newsletter you may find links to write-ups (like Bill's below) that are published in other places. The trip reports below are *NOT* official club trips, but rather trips that members did over the summer.

SOUTH FORK SALMON by Deborah Kane

Deborah Kane, Jennie Goldberg, Tom Frisch and 3 non-members completed a low water self-supported descent of the famous South Fork Salmon in Idaho. Only Jennie had done the run before. If you've never been before, the photos on this trip report are fantastic!

YELLOWSTONE LAKE by Bill Brock

Bill and a buddy went canoeing on Lake Yellowstone, re-uniting along the southern shores. The lake is big, high, remote, and deadly cold. These guys did a similar trip back in 1988, just before the cataclysmic fires tore through Yellowstone Park. That trip was the high-water mark of their friendship. Would a second trip be a mistake?

QUETICO REGIONAL PARK

Alex McNeily, Ted Housen, Bob Bryant and Tom McCord joined two others to make 3 tandem teams to travel to the far north to canoe and fish. You can get a taste of what it was like from this video, or see the full report on our blog.

SHOSHONE LAKE by Karl Dinkelspiel

Two club members joined a group to drag their canoes up a canal and access the largest wilderness lake in the lower forty-eight states, also located in Yellowstone National Park. What they found was the stuff of legend.

GRANDE RONDE River by LCCC

A group of LCCC members plus two guests of the trip coordinator ran a lovely 3 day section and discovered once again that the unexpected is going to happen, sometimes.

By John Saltveit

Siletz River Trip Report, around the town of Siletz, OR

7-28-2022

USGS flow at Siletz: 180 CFS

Went with Calvin and Emilio. This is a delightful trip in a rural area near a small town. Put in at Hee Hee Illahee Park on Highway 229. Take out is at Old Mill Park, taking Logsden Road off 229, and turning left at a church, left again and downhill to the park at the river. Rapids were class I+. We scraped a bit at this level. Optimal would be from this level to a bit higher. Lots of opportunities for swimming and seeing wildlife. Water was clear in many areas. The river makes an enormous oxbow bend and the takeout is only ten minutes walking from the put in, so no shuttle is required. Total paddling time was one hour, 45 minutes. I highly recommend this trip to others. Area is upstream from and not far from Lincoln City and Newport.

Please submit your trip reports, photos, news or humor bits to T4eresa@gmail.com.

• Most LCCC day runs will continue to be coordinated by way of our email list.
• This newsletter will only mention trips that are traditional and planned well in advance--like for example next year's North Umpqua trip is going to be two weekends after Labor Day weekend. That's Sept 15-17, 2023.
• Many of the trip reports listed here were not official club trips, but rather were trips that club members did after becoming friends through the club. Come on some day runs and this could happen to you too!

I realize the irony of sending this out via club email, but if you know someone who thinks they are a member and isn't getting the goods, here's the flowchart!

1) Go to the LCCC Google Group and check your membership status

2) If you're not in the Google Group, click the "join this group" button to request access

3) If you're in the Google Group but not getting email, check your group settings (you can opt to get emails a lot, or a little) and look in your email's spam folder.

3) If all that gets you nowhere email lowerrcolumbiacanoeclub@gmail.com.

BORT stands for Boating Obstruction Reporting Tools. BORT is a new tool from the Oregon State Marine Board and American Whitewater intended to help us track obstructions in our rivers. Using a smartphone you can collect location data and a photograph of the obstruction, and upload it when you have reception.

It's worth checking out. Should we start using it? I think so, though the tech hurdle is bigger for some boaters than others. Are you young and computer literate? Please do this for us old fogies. Next time you discover a gnarly strainer, BORT it!

https://oregon-boating-obstructions-geo.hub.arcgis.com/apps/geo::we-bort-1/explore

We appreciate the folks who are willing to drive!!

LCCC members like to meet in town and carpool out to the water to reduce our total driving, and enjoy each other's company on the way. When we do this, some folks drive, and others leave their cars behind and ride. People with good boat-hauling rigs can drive a lot of miles and end up under-compensated.

To prevent the loss of goodwill that comes from unfairness, we have a policy. We compensate drivers a tiny bit for the costs of driving--recognizing it is not just fuel but owning, insuring and maintaining a vehicle. Every passenger, including the driver, pays a split of the total mileage cost. This encourages people to drive vehicles that can take multiple passengers because it helps cover their costs.

Here's how it works. All passengers in a vehicle split the mileage cost for that vehicle. Today (9/25) we met at the Clackamas Fred Meyer and I drove to the river. The total distance was about 60 miles. Multiply that by the 40 cent/mile rate --> 60 miles x .40 $/mile = $24. Then divide that number by the number of people in the vehicle (4 in this case) and you have the amount owed per person. Today it worked out to $6. I drove, each passenger gave me six bucks cash, and we were all happy. --TG

• We will have a series of zoom events during winter 2022-23, stay tuned for details.
• The Takeout Talks series will continue with river dignitaries from across the world discussing topics of interest to river runners.
• The 3rd annual Safety Series will continue with fascinating discussions about the Human Factor and other topics in whitewater safety.

A message from the Safety Chair, Teresa Gryder

You may have heard people saying this and thought "Goodness, they don't care much about being safe!" This saying ("safety third") is actually a humorous response to OSHA regulations in the work environment that dictate equipment and behavior in great detail. While rules and regulations are important, a person's attitude about safety is far more important.

Rules cannot replace the intelligence and agency of the individuals involved. Your First safety mission is to keep yourself safe. Our shared Second safety mission is to protect the people around. Following the rules is Third in this hierarchy. Safety Third means that we protect ourselves first, our buddies second, and following the rules is third in priority.

You can download the LCCC's member handbook with our "rules" here. We stick to some standard procedures to enhance our safety, but these rules cannot protect us completely. The risk is always there. We encourage our members to adopt basic risk management strategies all the time, not just on club trips. We wear our life jackets whenever we are on the water. When we're on whitewater, we wear helmets, too. Safety third!

President: Deborah Kane

Vice President: Sami Faile

Treasurer: Dan Jursnick

Secretary: Audrey Bergsma

Whitewater Chair: Denny Egner

Liaison: Emily Hooker

Conservation: Will Gehr

Safety: Teresa Gryder

We have Four Key Goals

1. Promote river safety

2. Help members improve paddling skills

3. Protect and preserve NW rivers

4. Foster a strong paddling community within the Club and in league with other paddling organizations

The LCCC’s emphasis on safety, skill development and river conservation remains unchanged. Going forward, as we honor our history and early commitment to fostering a strong paddling community, expect the Lower Columbia Canoe Club to write a new chapter of even greater inclusivity.

Though it is unstated in the LCCC's official mission, many members of this club are keepers of the open boat faith. How this will play out in the future we know not, but rest assured, there are people here who know the elegance and versatility of the canoe, even in this age of escalating whitewater escapades. (Photo above: Steve Rentmeester and somebody else at Minto Dam on the North Santiam)

First, you were awarded most-improved paddler in an open boat. Then you transitioned to C-1, and then you took up kayaking. And now you're moving to Iowa to take care of geriatric cats? And a farm, so we hear. We wish you well, Carey, and hope you'll return to play in the water with us again someday.

Email: lowercoumbiacanoeclub@gmail.com
Website: https://www.lowercolumbiacanoeclub.org/
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Phone: 1111111111
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pdx.paddle
Twitter: @weRnotONtwitterYET