SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2020
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3B
Rapids
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little way downstream. You’ll see a giant
boulder on river left and will then drop
down some pretty nice waves into some
swirly water at the bottom.
The river continues this way, with a
few boulder gardens and turns, before
passing under the Gates bridge. It sig-
nals the beginning of bigger water just
downstream.
Spencer’s Hole and Carnivore
The river tightens and gets more ac-
tion-packed downstream of the bridge,
beginning with some straightforward
waves and leading into False Spencer’s
rapids, so named because it looks simi-
lar to the real deal downstream.
There’s nice slow water above Spen-
cer’s Hole — distinguishable by a big
boulder on the right that squeezes the
river into a narrow drop. If it’s your first
time, it’s worth paddling up on river
right, stopping your boat and walking
up to scout the rapid.
What you’ll see is a one wave just
above a big hole in the middle of the riv-
er — that of Spencer. There’s basically
three ways to run it: there’s a “sneak
around” line on the far left side that’s
safest, the normal and fun line where
you thread on the right side of the hole,
and the one many people take, which is
just plowing into the middle of the hole.
The hole is powerful enough that it
has flipped oar boats. And a few years
ago, I brought my friends down in a pad-
dle raft, took a crappy line and got stuck
in the hole for a few seconds before we
escaped without flipping. And look, it’s
not the end of the world if you get
knocked out of your boat. There’s a nice
recovery area below and, as mentioned
at the top, a ton of people get knocked
out here. Consider it a rite of passage.
Just make sure you wear a lifejacket and
having a helmet is ideal. I’ve been cov-
ering the outdoors for a long time and
can’t recall any fatal accidents at Spen-
cer’s Hole.
Just downstream comes my favorite
rapid of the run — Carnivore, where an
island splits the river. Go right, and you
can pull or scrape your boat across the
rocks and avoid it, but you’d be missing
out. Go left, and you’ll get a nice slow
lead-in before the current picks up,
swinging right and dropping down a
small falls. I suspect the name comes
from the fact that the rapid can swallow
you up before spitting you back up and
out of the water. Again, there’s a nice re-
covery pool at the bottom so getting
knocked out of your boat is generally
OK. This rapid is pretty narrow for larger
boats.
Mill City Falls flourish
The river mellows out considerably
after Carnivore, and it’s a good place to
sit back and relax for a few miles. Even-
tually, you can feel that you’re arriving
in Mill City, you’ll drop down a small but
odd rapid and come into view of the
iconic bridge which sits right above Mill
City Falls.
Despite the name and reputation, I’d
consider Mill City Falls the easiest of the
trio of Class IIIs — provided you know
the correct spot to drop over the edge.
Make sure to scout it in advance (al-
though that will be tough with the
bridge currently closed). Basically, you
Miller
Continued from Page 1B
tersweet experience in a can?
If I can be allowed the first of many
digressions, the Tribune, as a journalis-
tic trivia note, used to bill itself as “the
world’s greatest newspaper.”
It was the publication that had the
famous headline “Dewey defeats Tru-
man,” after the 1948 presidential elec-
tion.
The latter saying a lot about the for-
mer.
As a potential wine and beer critic, let
me say up front that I’m not on par with
Sussman or Noel.
I received my admittedly pathetic
sommelier training in college on
Boone’s Farm’s legendary Strawberry
Hill and its dorm cousin, Annie Green
Springs, (both offering syrupy sweet,
fruity apple notes with a tire iron over
the bridge of the nose finish).
Similarly, my nimrod brewmeister
merit badge in beer was earned by tire-
less tastings of Pabst Blue Ribbon at the
enlisted men’s clubs overseas and in the
states as well as Lone Star and Pearl
“From the country of 1100 springs” while
stationed at the end of my enlistment in
Texas.
Pearl, as I recall, my memory is foggy,
tasted kind of like an Olympia “Oly”
wannabe, while Lone Star’s claim to
fame was “as least it isn’t Pearl.”
And PBR, as it is known affectionate-
ly, is still No. 1 on my nostalgia list.
And now returning to the opening
theme of the column, nasal nuance is in
pretty short supply when it comes to
fishing, or camping for that matter.
Everybody smells of an intoxicating
mélange of sunscreen, insect repellent;
bait (fly and lure anglers excepted, sub-
A kayaker runs Mill City Falls on the North Santiam River. ZACH URNESS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
A raft flips at Spencer's Hole, a rapid on the North Santiam River. PHOTO COURTESY OF GARY HAHN PHOTO COURTESY OF GARY HAHN
look for the “rooster tail” — where the
water pushes out — in the left-center of
the river-wide falls. You go just to the
right of the rooster tail, and just hang on
as you drop down a fairly narrow slot
into a big frothing pool below.
As with all the other big rapids,
there’s a nice recovery pool and you’ll
often have an audience of anglers and
swimmers sitting below the main bridge
and historic bridge in the center of town.
There is a decent chance the Pack-
saddle run will send you swimming at
least once, but if you have a good boat, a
good team and the right gear, it provides
one of Oregon’s most thrilling ways to
cool off on hot summer days.
North Santiam: Packsaddle Run
Rapids guide
In a nutshell: A thrilling, rapid-filled
section of river that demands people
pay attention at three larger Class III
rapids.
How to access the river: Put in is
Packsaddle County Park. Take out is ei-
ther Mill City (for kayaks) or Fisher-
men’s Bend Recreation Site (for rafts
that need a boat ramp).
Shuttle service: Get your car moved
from the put-in to the take-out. Lusk’s
Shuttle Service (503-859-2880) or Fur
Sure outfitters (503-559-7047).
Outfitters: Guides:eNRG Kayaking,
503-772-1122
Mile — Rapid
0.0 — Packsaddle Park put-in
1.1 — The Swirlies (II+)
4.1 — Spencer’s Hole (III)
4.3 — Carnivore (III)
6.9 — Mill City Falls (III)
7.0 — Mill City kayak take-out
8.0 — Fishermen’s Bend Raft take out
Zach Urness has been an outdoors re-
porter, photographer and videographer
in Oregon for 12 years. Urness is the au-
thor of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon”
and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can
be reached at zurness@StatesmanJour
nal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on
Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.
stituting fly float and fish attractant
scents) with a laminated top coat of
sun-dried fish slime.
Most of which, but not all, comes out
with a good hand-washing.
Make that two or three scrubbings.
But, as with garlic, the foregoing is
mostly irrelevant.
Because everything and everyone at
the site - occupants, their clothes, their
hair, tents, sleeping bags - smells like
last night’s campfire.
And, my compliments to Sussman,
the subtle back note of moist earth …
with a hint of night crawlers.
Nailed it!
Salud.
Wear your mask. Stay apart (hint: if
you can smell garlic, you’re too close,
unless you’re smelling the inside of your
mask).
Bring the bucket
For those who caught the past week’s
column about a clamming outing turn-
ing into a coulda-shoulda crabbing op-
portunity, another chance is in the off-
ing.
The next minus-tide series runs early
mornings (sorry) August 17 through 21
on the Oregon coast.
The lowest of the series is Aug. 19: mi-
nus-1.45 feet at 7:43 a.m. at Garibaldi on
the north end of Tillamook Bay, mi-
nus-1.0 feet at 8:17 a.m. at Netarts
southwest of Tillamook, minus-.89 feet
at 7:52 a.m. at Taft on Siletz Bay, and mi-
nus-1.50 feet at 7:38 a.m. on Alsea Bay;
CAMPING THOUGHT FOR THE
WEEK: “Nothing improves scenery like
bacon and eggs” – Mark Twain.
To which I would add: “And home-
made hash browns.”
Contact Henry Miller via email at
HenryMiller
SJ@gmail.com
Camping at Prineville Reservoir. Fishing and camping are kind of like eating
garlic, no offense. HENRY MILLER/SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL