Level: 319 putting in at about noon, 238 taking out about 3:30 pm
5 Kayaks: Bruce Campbell, Sheila Chapelle, Fred DeLauro, Jon Hauris, Miki Komlosh
3 Open boats: Larry Lempert, Mike Martin, Hendrick Van Oss
Weather: Sunny, mid to high 70s
Difficulty: Class II to III-
The remnants of Hurricane Ida passing through on Wednesday left Passage at 1210 cfs when I went to bed, worrying that it would be too high for the next day. But come morning, I was surprised to see it in the 500s and heading on down—so we were lucky to get on it at around 300 on a beautiful, relatively cool after-the-storm day. It felt lower than 300; my theory why is that the dark brown runoff filling the stream from the storm caused us to keep banging into rocks (which we couldn't see) as one might at a lower level.
As is often required at the dam, we had to bump and drag our way down the lower part of the side channel. There were two streamwide strainers in the lower half of the run (the rapids of any consequence are in the first half), which we carried around without too much difficulty. As for the infamous braiding in the lower half, I recognized without any problem the critical left turn where the main flow past rock walls on the right (the second such set of walls, not the first) becomes a set of impassable braids. However, taking what I remembered as a second critical left turn further down led to another bump and drag experience, so either my memory was wrong (what? impossible! well, maybe not entirely impossible …) or the alternatives at that level all have their problems. Anyway, the group was kind enough not to castigate me for the perhaps-or-perhaps-not-preventable slog.
In all, a pleasure to be on a fast-moving, scenic creek at the beginning of September.
-- Larry Lempert