Death last fall: 19 year-old female, fell out of raft at rapid below low-water bridge,
held in a hole, very low flow, refused rescue attempts, foot became entrapped.6/13/2004
David Lark (that's me) foot-scouted "The Jams", A.K.A. the "Washing Machine" on the main fork of Cache Creek (between the Clear Lake dam and the confluence with North Fork Cache Creek) today. In my judgement, this rapid deserves its reputation as unrunnable, but depending on what you're carrying, it may not be unportageable. I can see why people would want to float this section of river. It is remote, quiet, and from the Perkins Creek trail it appears to be gently flowing water. Wrong!
Hopefully the lack of legal access would discourage most people who just bought a raft at the K-Mart in Lakeport. I don't know if it's possible to portage the dam, which makes crossing someone's land the other possibility. The river appears to be a class I-II float (assuming that there are no other rapids which I'm not aware of) until the gradient steepens just before Deadman Canyon. As the river picks up there is a bigger rapid (probably a III with significant reversals, but it's hard to get a sense of scale through binoculars). Then the river turns right, revealing a hill with a pointed top on river left. This hill has very steep sides, almost a cliff, and creates a constriction. Where the river turns left on the far side of the hill is a rock with a foam pile on it. You do not want to be in the water at this point. The river is almost completely obstructed here. You will forgive me if the following description isn't totally accurate, but I lack the type of visual memory which allows some boaters to scout a complex rapid, and then competently navigate it. Anyway, the water piles up on this rock, and much of it disappears under sieves. There appears to be a narrow channel that snakes around the rock on the right, but the end of this channel is obstructed by a rock sticking up on its left, and a stump sticking out on its right. If a boater managed to maneuver through this channel, with high volumes of water bouncing off rocks in all directions, and then boof the obstructing rock without getting pinned, he (forgive my sexism, but most women aren't stoopid enough to put themselves into this type of predicament) would get to go over a sizable, bony drop (and I don't know what's waiting underwater at the bottom) before negotiating the next drop. The succeeding drops are more forgiving. Some are class III, and others are challenging. There may be clean routes through here, but all I see is congestion. As far as I'm concerned the first part of the rapid is unrunnable, and the second is class VI.
It looks possible to take out on river right before this mess. There are foot trails going up and across the hillside. The slope on river right is not as steep as on the left, but it still looks treacherous. It would be relatively easy to portage the unrunnable section, and take your chances with the rest. Portaging the whole rapid would place you way up the hill, where one slip might put you into the water with some broken appendages. There is also a rock on river left which someone might crawl over (I didn't get close enough to evaluate), but it seems harder to stop on the left. Would it be possible to do this stretch at higher water? Although some obstructions would no longer be a factor, maneuvering through the jam would be more technical. In other words, only if you're really good.
In case you haven't figured this out, I'm suggesting that you skip this stretch of river. If you do decide to attempt it, don't blame me if you're killed. The river drops forty feet in eight hundred here (over 250 feet per mile gradient). The topo map shows nineteen crossticks (indicating rapids); for comparison Hell's Hole on the Trinity has one crosstick. I didn't even feel safe hiking around here. To get close enough to scout involved class III-IV climbing on flinty rock that disintegrated when I needed a handhold. Portaging with an inner tube seems possible, but portaging with a hardshell invites disaster.
To scout this for yourself: park at the Redbud trail head where the north fork crosses highway 20. Hike the trail until it meets the Perkins Ridge trail. Turn left (downstream), and shortly you will be able to see the entrance to the rapid through binoculars. You will see a ridge leading to the top of the aforementioned hill. This seems easier than what I did (I went straight down a draw from the trailhead juncture, and then climbed back up to get views). Prepare to deal with ticks, poison oak, star thistle, rattlesnakes, dehydration, sun, etc. You may want to bring a rope and some carabiners.
Anyway, I heard about this rapid after the drowning in 2003, and felt the need to check this out for myself. A newspaper article on this drowning incorrectly said the rapid was class IV, and I was thinking, "great, and it's practically next door". Now I know better. Try Bear Creek instead.
May 11, 2004
After ignoring this site for too long, the EddyLark is once again back at the cutting edge of, well, whatever the heck this is. What has the EddyLark been doing? Mostly whitewater, some IV's, but more comfortable on III for the time being. Just got back from Cache Creek races with another last place ribbon. Will be adding stuff as time permits.
July 26, 2002
David Lark (that's me) spent some time in the past two weekends conversing with clients of Whitewater Adventures (WWA) and Cache Canyon River Trips (CC), also occasionally talking to an employee. Besides talking to rafters on the river, I boldly walked into the WWA campground to chat with people. I got there too late for the margaritas, but still got some interesting stuff. WWA employees did their thing around me, apparently unconcerned with the nature of these conversations. Here's what I found out; quotes may not be exact due to the fact that I didn't write things down right away.
Preparation for the trip among WWA groups seemed to vary greatly. One person said that they 'talked to us for about an hour' about safety related issues and boating techniques, another said they were given a 'half hour talk'. Others stated that their training lasted about ten minutes, and one stated that they were given 'practically nothing' in the way of training. One person said that their lecture was cut short when a 'bunch of loudmouths' wanted to get on the river. Despite the brevity of the lecture, everyone I asked about specific elements of basic swimming technique agreed that they had been mentioned.
Boaters for CC reported a short (ten minute) lecture which covered boating skills, river features, and safety. Strangely enough, I got the impression that they were better prepared than the WWA crowd. Perhaps this is due to less alcohol consumption. It is commonly known that many WWA boaters drink heavily on the river, with many boaters confirming this. Official policy forbids drinking; the following quote is from the WWA web site: 'NO alcohol allowed while rafting. Booze and rapids don't mix.' A WWA boater stated that they were told to drink a lot of water if they were drinking; when I pressed him for clarification he retracted that statement, saying that WWA 'told us to drink water', apparently inferring that they were talking about alcohol-related dehydration. CC makes a stronger statement regarding alcohol on their web site: 'Any guest believed to be intoxicated while rafting will be immediately pulled off the water and not permitted to return - EVER.'
Repeat clients generally agreed that WWA showed more concern for safety than in previous years. More personnel were in place at major rapids. One of these people stated that he had been trained, but it took him three tries to get the words 'swiftwater rescue' out of his mouth. However, I only saw two of the red guide rafts on the river. When I asked one of the guides how many rafts he was in charge of, he stated: 'I'm not supposed to talk about numbers, but it's a bunch.' According to clients, WWA personnel did not generally talk about their safety record, although someone mentioned a reference to 'broken ribs about a month ago'. All the rafters I talked to were surprised to hear of the deaths in the past year, although this did not dissuade anyone from rafting. The WWA web site still contains the reprint of an outdated article which states: '(the proprietor) goes on to say that over the 20 years he has guided Cache Creek, the worst accident is a sprained ankle that happened in camp.' However, other references to safety have been removed from the site.
Someone who works on the river and gets to talk to everybody mentioned that WWA people tended to complain about the state of their equipment, while CC equipment was 'top notch'. A visual inspection of passing boats revealed that both outfitters used a mixture of newer and sun-faded PFD's, with WWA possessing a greater percentage of older gear. Most WWA boaters I spoke with were satisfied with the state of their gear, but others were not. An experienced boater stated: 'if someone's making more than $150,000 a year he should buy some new gear', and another spoke about her PFD: 'it has rips in it, and it's faded from the sun. They told me to put it on grey side out, and I'm thinking like, which is the grey side?'
I asked Linda Wilson of Cache Canyon River Trips what they were doing right that WWA was not. She did not want to analyze recent events in these terms, stating that "these things happen". Rick Wilson of CC also refused comment, understandably not wishing to comment on the safety record of another, and also declined to clarify their safety record. It should be noted that any fallout from recent accidents would likely affect both operations.
I also called WWA, pretending to be a prospective boater, and asked questions about safety. The woman I spoke to denied that they had ever had any serious accidents or deaths.
June 16, 2002
The rusty truck, a major landmark at the Cache Creek and Bear Creek confluence, was apparently stolen by some irresponsible party. The harm done to the boating community is immeasurable. Stay tuned as the EddyLark investigates this heinous crime. Meanwhile, our put-in marker needs to be replaced. Does anybody have another truck?
June 15, 2002
Yes, it's the punchline to an old joke, but when two people drown within a few operating weekends on Whitewater Adventures (W.W.A.) raft trips, it's not funny. I mean it's only class II water! Much has been said about the alcohol scene on that river, with many fingers pointed at W.W.A. because of their Saturday night bash. Is this the result of irresponsibility on the part of W.W.A.? Or is this a normal statistical permutation, considering many years without serious injury? The EddyLark is working to get the details on these deaths, and will share them with you. At this time I am working to verify the following facts:
Death last fall: 19 year-old female, fell out of raft at rapid below low-water bridge,
held in a hole, very low flow, refused rescue attempts, foot became entrapped.At this moment it is my opinion that 95% of the people on that river have no business being there, including nearly every one in an inner tube. It has many dangerous features, and you can't learn proper swimming techniques in a short safety lecture. There are two class III and two II+ rapids on Cache Creek, which implies to me that there should be trained guides on every raft.
I would have mixed feelings if rafting companies went out of business because they were dropped by their insurance carriers. Although the rafts are a pain in the ass, it's sort of fun playing chicken with them, and most rafters will toss me a beer after I'm done running Rowboat!
May 26, 2002
David Lark (that's me) finally went sea kayaking. Just a short trip in the Bodega Head vicinity. I was warned that the insignificant surf would still surprise me coming in, and it did. A push off the bottom roll saved me the indignity of getting out of the boat five feet from shore.
Oh, yeah, I liked it so much I bought an ocean boat. Who wants to go 'yakkin'?
May 5, 2002
David Lark (that's me) took a third place ribbon in the Sierra Club sponsored slalom event at Cache Creek. In my first competitive event, I exceeded all expectations by completing the run upright, and annihilating the bottom half of the K-1 novice class. I had planned to skip the two most difficult gates, and in my final run missed only one additional gate. This was one of a string of closely spaced, but not quite in a straight line gates which I found harder than they looked. The only times I got them all were on my first timed run, and once in practice when I accidentallly coasted backwards through them after recovering from a capsize. Many thanks to John Siler for teaching me to eddyhop in that rapid last summer. My goal for next spring: using a shorter boat, miss only one gate, and waste a little less time on the course.