I had planned to go to Chatterbox Falls today and also to run thru (if I could) Skookumchuck tidal rapids.  The rapids are notorious and very dangerous and I wasn’t sure the little Dustbuster would be able to handle the power of the ocean.  The afternoon before the big effort, I was talking to a group of RV’ers in the campground near Egmont, B.C. and was invited to join them on the 4 km (about 2½ miles) hike to the rapids overlook and view point.

The trail actually starts a short distance out of Egmont, so we all crowded into a small car that had been towed (it’s even called a “toad”) behind one of the RVs.  Right away, we were startled by a building off to the side of the trail in the woods……………

It turned out to be a custom upscale bakery hidden away here and owned by a very pleasant young couple who are very much into the local sports - hiking, climbing, kayaking, fishing, etc.  I made a point of stopping on the way out 2 days later for a really great, big muffin to munch on as I headed north.  The trail goes thru heavy temperate zone rain forest and off-trail or cross country hiking would be extremely difficult…………..

Past Brown Lake……………..

…..and out onto the rocky bluff overlooking the infamous Skookumchuck Narrows Rapids, created each time the tide fills and empties Sechelt (SeeSHELt) Inlet…………..

This is on a moderate flooding tide of about 12 foot change and current is above 10 mph.  Rocks everywhere……….this looks ugly.  Beautiful, yes, but ugly for a small boat.  We went on for about 1 km more out onto the point with the other spectators and watched a kayak-er paddle out…………

……….and dive right into the maelstrom.  This was something to see.  Each would take about 5 minutes to play, then ride on out and make room for the next.  Good sportsmanship.  They’d go back and forth, roll upside down and come up facing backwards………lots of fun.  It was getting very late and I had the camera set for ISO 1000 and EVF -0.7 to get these shots.  My D200 Nikon was beginning to give problems here and died a week later.  It’s now at Nikon Repair………………

Here’s the end of the run.  Look how rough this is………….

I love adventure and I’m addicted to adrenaline, but I’m not crazy either, despite popular opinion.  I looked at this and thought, “no way.”  I’ve had some - tho’ not enuf to make me a pro - experience with river running when I launched at Lee’s Ferry, AZ in ‘02 and took my little aluminum boat 10 miles up thru Marble Canyon - the beginning of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River to Glen Canyon Dam, that holds back Lake Powell………..
http://webpictures.homestead.com/startofthegrandcanyon.html

You can see my story of running on Lake Powell 2½ months ago at……….. http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=72

Then, in 2006, I launched the Dustbuster at Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave, much lower on the Colorado River and ran the 40 miles upstream to Hoover Dam, that holds back Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, NV…………… http://webpictures.homestead.com/cc106.html  I learned very quickly that it’s easy to go upstream………just feather the throttle, match the water speed and you can traverse back and forth to look for ways around rocks, deeper channels, etc.  Coming back downstream that’s not possible - you’re there for the ride and basically just tough it out.

I wasn’t too crazy about that option here because of the extreme wildness of the water and the speed of the current.  Only thing I could see that I could - literally - live with would be to hit the rapids on an ebbing tide which would give a different wave pattern, but would allow me an escape if I didn’t like what I was seeing.

As it worked out, the tide was ebbing in mid-afternoon the next day, July 12, so I planned to make my run to Chatterbox Falls, then run to Skookumchuck and take a look.  It worked out very well and I’m very glad I didn’t try the flooding tide.  I passed Egmont and just a few minutes later got the 1st mild taste of things to come.  This was like a huge ocean river.  Look at those huge swirls and the small whirlpool at left center.  I was starting to grin and feeling the power of the currents pulling at the boat.  As it turned out, my timing was perfect and it was just starting to really run……………

Soon, I was looking at the viewpoint I’d looked down from the evening before.  Camera was giving me fits………….

It was getting stronger fast, and I’d already seen several submerged rocks and had the locations memorized.  (with my memory ??  you bet)  In just a few minutes, the current had picked up dramatically and a real boil was developing to the right……………..

This was getting pretty wild pretty fast and I was getting un-easy just as fast.  It was still about ¼ mile to where the kayak-ers were playing the night before, but I said, “uh-uh.”……………

A quick look to the left - the power of these currents pulling at the boat was awesome……………..

This was getting ugly fast and I started easing out of it.  If a standing wave or somesuch developed downstream of me it could be very bad.  The tourist boats were running back and forth, but they are RIB’s - Rigid Inflatable Boats - of about 24 ft with huge pontoons for extra flotation and twin 200 hp motors…………and the skippers know these waters.  Dustbuster is 16 ft, has just 50 hp and the Lar doesn’t know these very dangerous waters at all, so I got out of there.  A week later, on the 20th, a tugboat was sunk here.  Take a look at the YouTube video and see if you think I made a good decision…………… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEfUblSDzww  This was certainly exciting, tho’, and made a great end to a great day.                          Lar.

–   
Larry Bourne
Santa Fe, NM
www.gogittum.com
www.gogittum.com/blog

Posted: July 28th, 2009 under 09 Vacation, 09-7-12 Skookumchuck Rapids.
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