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And there we decided, despite the flatwater below the sign, that there must be something good on this stretch of river… We’d been heading east toward the Deschutes as there are several sections we’ve been wanting to run, but since we got a late start we didn’t feel like driving another 100 miles. Docta P seemed to remember some rapids on this river from a decade before when he and a friend had blindly jumped off the 40 foot cliff into the deep pool below. So we stopped @ Niagara, and the overwhelming beauty persuaded us to give the river a try. Plus, it looked like there was a decent stretch of rapids leading into the gorge, so we figured there just might be something up higher as well. The sign gave us hope too...
Despite the flatwater at the base of the dam, the river was moving at a decent clip, which kept us from being bored or having to work too hard in the slow stuff. There were a lot of ducks, herons, and other wildlife along the edges of the river, also, which made for a nice scenic ride. For the most part the river is really mellow, but the rocks are completely covered with moss – even the ones underwater! We had great fun picking different lines down the smallish Class II & III rapids, bcoz even the shallow areas became fun slides due to the mossy rocks. It wasn’t long before we came to the first decent sized Class III, a pool & drop type rapid. At this level it can be run anywhere – I ran right center and Docta P ran far left, and both were fun. Directly following this rapid is a large eddy where you would be wise to get out and scout the next drop. As we came out of it I could see the cliffs rising rapidly into the sky and what appeared to be a narrow but high horizon line on the other side of the eddy pool. Ice: “Let’s get out and see what that is, looks like it might be big.” Docta P: “Oh, c’mon, it’s probably nothing…Whoa, is that steam?! Ok, yeah, maybe we should scout…” Ice: “Yeah, generally when there’s a horizon line and someplace beyond it water is shooting up 15 feet in the air in random bursts it’s a good idea to scout.” So we got out, and yes indeed, there was something good on this river after all! The entire river funnels into a narrow slide drop about 7 feet long, which is followed by about 30 feet of roiling, punishing whitewater, which then spits you out into an ocean of ebb and flow, surging up and down several feet.
Since we knew basically nothing about this river, we weren’t sure if the rapid had a name or not, or its classification. Sadly, it has a name, as does every narrowly constricted rapid on seemingly every river in America: The Narrows. How original. It’s always the boring class II rapids that get names like “Skullcrusher” and “Interminable Assailant Wielding A Cleaver” - rapids that are actually intimidating get named for simple geometrical descriptions. Brilliant.
The Narrows is a constricted mass of magnificent mossy rocks dotted with the occasional pampas grass and filled with churning, gurgling hydraulics. It’s very reminiscent of a stormy ocean rising and falling among the tidepools, probably bcoz there is so much water so suddenly in such a narrow area. By our guess, the river rises and falls in places as much as 3-4 feet, and has massive suction – best to stay on your board as much as possible. It also re-circulates, as we found out by letting down our guard and suddenly finding ourselves totally out of control, rising high on the river left bank, getting spun around and sucked backward probably 20 feet, then spat out down the chute. It’s a lot of fun, actually, just a bit shocking – Docta P ran it first and I had the great pleasure of watching his facial expressions as he looked like a yo-yo on the other end of an A.D.D. kid's arm. Of course, it happened to me, also, but I knew it was coming.
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