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Traverse Area Paddle Club

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Trip Reports

Sept. 12 Jordan River

Published on 9/12/2010
It was a beautiful cloudless afternoon as we put in at Grave's Crossing on the Jordan river.  The hint of Fall was there though, with a few leaves turning, occasional cool drafts, and the sun low enough to shade the narrow tree-lined sections of the river.

Despite pleasant air temps in the lower 70s, the river water seemed surprisingly cold - perhaps it always is.

Our smallish group included Lois G, John H, Bob F, Tracie L, Mariah W, Angie W, and Judy and Fred S. The tourists may have gone home after Labor Day, but several local groups using the river shared sections of the river with us.  Their loud behavior, although only briefly bothersome as we passed them, was still punished by the river gods.



A large dead cedar tree had fallen across the river not far from the start.  The narrow passage on the right was a bit tricky, and Tracie got into an awkward situation but with no bad (i.e. wet) consequences.  Judy, who had been tailgating Tracie, made a quick U-turn and decided it was simpler to just go through backwards rather than fight back upstream for a fresh approach.

But it was a problem for the less capable. A large tandem kayak with two young girls (the one in back being the only paddler) floated toward the middle of the tree. It was a movie moment of slow motion disaster.   The paddler froze when she realized they would hit the tree and so they drifted into it sideways.  Leaning into the tangle of branches was probably not a solution, even if they knew about that strategy.  The boat slowly tipped upstream until the water poured into the large cockpit and the boat suddenly flipped.  Fortunately, they both immediately surfaced among the branches, although the boat was swept under and beyond the tree.  They panicked, but after they figured out that they could breathe despite the cold water shock, and could move out of the branches, they were OK.  I told them to move to the riverbank and head downstream to where I could see that Bob had caught their kayak and dragged it to shore.  Their father came wading up the river to help, but by then the main problem was getting their paddle out from under the tree where it was trapped.

Bob got their kayak emptied and we rounded up their flip flops (which they were very concerned about) and went on our way.

Given that they were going to hit the tree, I'm not sure what the best strategy would have been: leaning into the tree branches didn't look like a good option.  Going into the branches head on?

Neither girl had a PFD and perhaps that was for the best.   A PFD would have increased the chances of getting caught underwater on the branches.

As Bob and I hurried to catch up with the rest of our group, we come upon another capsize.  Although I was able to stop their filled canoe, I managed to get it under a log jam. But with a little work I was able to get it back out, partially emptied and onto shore.  Their friends showed up, so we took off, knowing we were now seriously behind everyone else.

Bob and I set a pretty good pace but didn't catch the rest of the group for a long time.  They had obviously been enjoying a leisurely trip down this beautiful river and wondered why Bob and I had "dawdled" so much.

Written by Fred (Pictured here in his new kayak)



Note from Lois: Those kids were SO lucky that Bob and Fred were there to help out!  The answer to his question about the best strategy about hitting tree branches is that they never should have been in that situation in the first place.  Before we take anyone on the Jordan, we make sure that everyone knows how to do a back ferry, and can maneuver into a position slowly so they DON'T hit the branches.  The kids might do well to learn those skills, but they won't be able to learn them from their parents.  They will learn to smoke, drink and swear, if we can draw conclusions from what we observed at the put-in.

Here are the photos from the rest of us enjoying our paddle down the river.





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