GulKana - Page 2

The typical East Fork trip tries to reach the confluence with the Middle Fork on the first day. This only takes a couple hours from the lake, if you don’t have to do too much dragging. The East Fork will separate into two channels, heading off in two completely different directions, just before the confluence. You can take either one, but the largest campsite is available only if you take the right channel. There are other good campsites along the left channel just above the confluence, and several more just below.

The main campsite is just across the Middle Fork as the right channel enters it. There is plenty of room for 50 or more people. There is also a pit toilet, picnic table and a cast iron fire pit. However, there is no firewood, and the woods surrounding the area has been picked clean of burnable wood and brush. If this is an issue, you might be better off moving on to one of the other spots above or below here. Packing some firewood is an option in a raft, but perhaps not for three days and certainly not in a canoe or kayak. You can find sufficient driftwood along the way to replenish a one day supply if you bring a small chainsaw, but most of the lesser used campsites have some firewood around if you look long enough. Both of the times I have been in here, the weather was warm during the days and cold at night, so an evening fire was always appreciated. The late August trip had frost on two of three nights.

Usually when I go camping with the Al & Lucy Pollard I am envious of the food that they make with just one frying pan on an open fire. This trip, for the first time, I took a dutch oven, and several good recipes. I cooked the dinner meal for all of us each night. I am totally hooked on this thing. What an amazing way to camp cook. As soon as we pulled out for the day, I got out 20 briquettes and started them up. I then set up a table, mixed and layered the ingredients into the oven, and set the whole thing on a few briquettes with most reserved for the lid. Then I went about setting up the rest of my camp. By the time I was done, so was the food. And by lining the pot with foil, I pretty much eliminated cleanup chores. I bought a 14” anodized aluminum one, and while not cheap, is light weight and never needs seasoning. You got to try this.

More info, with recipes, can be found at Byron’s Dutch Oven Cooking Page: http://papadutch.home.comcast.net

After the confluence with the Middle Fork, the river slows way down. There are several sections that move less than one mph, and one of them is quite long. They are interspersed with faster sections, but no whitewater. I’m not sure what, if any, the restrictions are on the use of motors, but we did find that an outboard would be useful on the second day. But these are also great fishing areas, so you might not want to speed through here anyway. The catch and release grayling fishing is surprisingly fun.

On my first trip, in June, we had moderately high water, and we got to and through the canyon on the second day. But it was a long day. The second trip, at lower water, was too slow in spite of using the outboard for some of it, so we camped several miles upstream of the canyon. This proved to be a more pleasant camping experience, as the canyon campsite is quite heavily used. Some groups stay right there for a day or two. Some even take small inflatable toy boats and swim the rapids with them. Bring a wet suit if you want to try this.

You can spot the canyon by the warning signs on the left bank. There is a trail on river left that starts more than a sufficient distance above the rapids. The trail is probably less than ¼ mile total, but why pack any farther than you have to? You really can maneuver safely downstream and closer to where the trail starts heading up and over the hill. Regardless of how proficient you think you are at running rapids, you owe it to yourself and your riders to stop and scout this before running it. The pack trail is well constructed and goes high over the hill on river left, but to scout the rapids you have to get closer to the riverbank. At different flows I have picked entirely different routes, and scouting from the boat would not tell you what you would like to know.

I have heard this section rated anywhere from class II to class V. I think class III+ is close to the truth. At very high water I’m sure it gets more interesting. Good canoeists have run it many times, and other canoeists have lost their boats in here. It’s actually quite easy to wrap a boat on any one of several rocks in there. In spite of its relatively low whitewater rating, it is not easy to run unless you have scouted it first. There are several shutes that look good from above, but are clearly not when you see what is below them. Scouting this section really is a good idea. Besides, your boat is full of gear & you might want to lighten your load first. There are some sudden moves that are required.

The first time I did this was with a large group, with no one else was willing to run it. So while they carried their gear over the trail, I rowed their boats through. I was getting quite good at it by the end. The last time I did this trip we only had two rafts, and the other oarsman wanted to run the canyon but not with a loaded boat. So the four of us made two trips over the trail with most of the gear. Somehow I got stuck packing the outboard and fuel on the first pack. By the time I got to the end I was thinking that this had completely made up for all those times I got to row on the first trip.