Cispus Season

One of my favorite things about the Pacific Northwest is that I can kayak here year round. With water levels dropping in the Columbia River Gorge I headed north into Washington's Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Glaciers on Mount Adams keep the Cispus River flowing late into the summer.

Andy at the put-in drop

The Upper Upper Cispus section flows north through an amazing gorge stacked with Class IV-V boulder gardens, slides and waterfalls. The grand finale as you exit the canyon is a technical rapid leading into a must-run 30 foot waterfall called Behemoth. I went up there with Drew Austell, Andy Round and Brian Lee from Wet Planet Whitewater. They were going in to recover two paddles that had been lost a week or two before. Mission accomplished! We had a safe and exciting run down the canyon and Andy even biked our shuttle.

Drew in one of the boulder gardens

Brian @ Double Drop

Entrance rapid to Behemoth

Andy stomping Behemoth

Brian and I hiking a side creek