View topic - Seal River 2009

Hope saying this doesn't decide some fool to run Bastion without scouting it, but it was a piece of cake for us.
We found other rapids were far tougher than Bastion. Waves farther down that were pretty big for us must have been monsters in 2009.

_________________

If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all. (AJ)

mine was a non event. my photo wasn't of the water but the cliff!

yours was an event and you will remember both the cliff and the water.

too much cake isn't good for you. you loose your form!

do you have any photos of cliff hanging!!??

Hello:

We completed the Seal River on Aug 15. The river was at very high water. We were able to run all rapids but Bastion Rock. The cheat run on river right was unrunnable. The power of the water would not allow a canoe to make it to the far right. The eddy pool below was difficult to exit. We had to paddle towards the middle of the pool to make any head way up stream. Another group behind us had to line out of the pool. It was a great trip but tough.

Joe

Thanks for post Barry. I've been looking forward to your report. Enjoyed every bit of it.

_________________
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes." ~Marcel Proust, French Novelist

Thanks Worth!

Its one big trip under my belt and its time to move forward in the planning of another!

Barry

_________________
It's all about forward progression!


"Preservation of our waterways comes from those with little voices, big paddles, strong backs, weak minds and thick hides with which to ignore the bug bites." Organizer of "The Wabakimi Project"

That would be me. I decided to try the right side without the benefit of scouting on July 25th. I figured that hugging the right shore would be a good plan, but when the full right side came into view I saw a big ledge on the right shore that I did not want to run. I turned the boat into an upstream ferry and headed for a smooth tongue that was in between the ledge to my right and Bastion Rock to my left. Seeing the ledge come into view was a bit of a shock, but once I got the canoe turned around, it was immediately clear that making it to back toward river left (close to Bastion Rock and onto the good-looking tongue) was not going to be a problem. (I was paddling solo [on a trip with recped] in the much-maligned Swift Raven.) It is worth noting that the current was not nearly as strong in the right channel (even at this summer's crazy levels) since only a portion of the river's volume/power goes that way. Our biggest problem at Bastion was the piece-of-crap walkie talkies we were trying to use. I tried for 30 min. to call Ben with the message, "If you run right, look out for a big ledge on the right." All he ever heard was some vague message through the static saying something about "... right side..." So he finally gave up and ran left without incident. But I did get a good view from the top of the esker on river right when I climbed up in the hopes of better walkie talkie contact!

So Bastion was not a big problem for us - but I swam the very next rapid! Other than that, this summer's high water made the Seal an awesome experience. (Except for Nine Bar Rapids where I became totally swamped and was fortunate to avoid another swim.)