Cossatot River April 2019

It's been a while since I did anything serious with white water rafting, one of my favorite adventures. For the last few years I have focused on my motorcycle adventure trips that are described in my other blogs but have returned to WW rafting in the last month or so. 

Kayaking is how I met my wife Liz and while I was riding motorcycles across the USA, she has continued to improve her ww kayaking skills way past anything I was ever able to do. She is a level 4 ww kayak instructor and has shared her skills with many new kayakers over the years. I converted to rafting from kayaks primarily because we wanted to go on some rivers out west that are multi-day wilderness trips using large oar rafts with lots of gear. As a result we got our own oar raft a few years back and have used it on many of the Arkansas rivers plus day trips on the Ocoee, Nantahala, Pigeon, French Broad, Rogue, Arkansas in CO and others. We have also gone on numerous private river trips using larger rafts on the Yamapa/Green, Middle Fork of the Salmon River and even a commercial trip on the Grand Canyon.

When I was heavy into ww rafting I had the skills to accomplish those big rivers but I'm a few years older now and haven't had to test myself in this area for a long time. Recently I agreed to pull the Super Puma (our 13' raft and oar rig) out of the shed and go on a few easy rivers to get back into shape. In the last month or so we did the Mulberry River and that was my first trip on our raft for several years. This past Saturday we did the Big Piney River which was my second trip. Both pretty mild rivers.

Well as happens with our paddling crowd, the Cossatot River was at a perfect level (3.6’ on the gage), the weather was excellent and a group of our friends were going to the "Tot". Liz, of course, wanted to go and wanted me to take our oar raft (she would use her kayak). We had just paddled the Big Piney the day before and I was already tired from that trip but reluctantly agreed to go to the Tot if there were other rafters to show me the lines down the major rapids. Now I'll tell you a little about the Tot.

Cossatot is an Indian name meaning skull crusher. It is obvious if you look at the pictures of this river how it got its name. It is a pool drop river and rain dependent as most rivers in Arkansas are. This means that there will be a pool of flat water then a drop over some rock feature to another pool for the length of the river. The water level changes drastically the complexity and difficulty of the river. Even 6" of water level can make an easy river into a skull crusher of a river. The major features of the Tot are the rapids named “Zig-Zag” and “The Esses” which are a short distance from the put-in, a group of rapids called “The Falls” in the middle and another rapid and falls called “Devil’s Hallow” towards the end of the river. 

I had on numerous occasions kayaked and rafted this river down to The Falls where I would stop. I had even kayaked the falls on two occasions years ago and both times swam at several of the rapids. I can remember going upside down in one of the rapids, hitting my face and helmet against a rock under the water and thinking “that should have knocked me out but I’m still conscious”. I, of course, swam out of my kayak at that point and was lucky to have one of our friends standing on a rock at the bottom of the falls who threw me a rescue rope to pull me to shore. This is why we love our paddling friends, they not only provide hours of entertainment but they are always ready to save your life if need be (and have on many occasions). The reason this is important is because in The Falls, there is another big rapid just yards down the river and if you swim in one rapid, most likely, you will be washed down the next rapid as well. There is a very good potential to get hurt hitting rocks or even get caught in a rock crevasse or recirculating rapid and drown or at least get seriously hurt.

The net result of all you just read is that I was not very comfortable taking my raft for the first time into The Falls and then into Devil’s Hallow rapid/falls, especially since I had only rafted 2 times in the last month on some pretty easy rivers.

The Esses above.

The Falls above but at lower water levels.

22 April 2019 - Now for the trip report. We hooked up with our group at the Cossatot River take out around 9:30 am. We left one truck there and the other two trucks with boats and paddlers drove to the top (Ed Banks Bridge) about 30 min up river. The group could not have been any better for experience and just good friends. Rafters included myself, Stewart, Rick and David. The last three were my guides down the river and have made so many runs in the past that they know the river like the back of their hand. There were two ww canoeist, Walter and Marcell. These guys are also great rafters but prefer to use their canoes on this river when possible. My wife Liz was the only kayaker but would stick close to the canoes rather than the rafts.

One important fact is that kayaks/canoes and rafts don’t work well together on most ww rivers. The reason is that rafts use a totally different technique to get through big rapids compared to kayak/canoes. Rafts can come to almost a complete stop above a rapid by back paddling and adjust their entry point before continuing. Kayaks/canoes can do the same thing but usually use eddy hoping instead. As a result, if a kayak/canoe is following too close to a raft who may stop at any time, they can end up under the raft at the top of a rapid and that has bad written all over it.

We all assembled our boats, geared up and launched. At this point I was pretty sure I would stop at The Falls and wait for the rest of the paddlers to came pick me up after they had completed the river. I decided I would make my decision after running Zig-Zag and The Esses. If that went ok then I may run The Falls.

Zig-Zag – This isn’t that hard of a rapid but you have to duck under an over hanging tree limb and then immediately make a right turn down between rocks to the pool below. I watched the other three rafts who all did it slightly different and made my approach. I made it under the tree limb, got caught in the fast water at the turn and found I was heading to a pinning rock on the left. I immediately swung the raft counter-clockwise to spin off the rock and went the rest of the rapid backwards. Not a good start.

A short time later we came to the entry of The Esses. This is a series of rapids that requires lots of maneuvering to miss all the rocks and holes that make up this rapid. Rick advised me at the top to stay to the left and work my way down through the obstructions. I watched the other three rafts make their run but could only see about halfway down from the top so I was going to have to read and run the last half without any pre-study. Rick also advised to give plenty of separation between rafts in case someone gets pinned and to prevent a pile-up. I waited until I saw Rick’s raft go out of sight and started my run. This rapid funnels all the water into a narrow and steep decent so the water increases in speed and turbulence as soon as you enter the rapid. My confidence had been shaken by Zig-Zag but too late to back out now. I tried to follow the same line I saw the others make and did for a short distance until I was washed onto a vertical rock that held the raft solid in the middle of the rapid. At this point I’m stuck on a rock, the three other rafts are at the bottom of the rapid and the two canoes and kayak are at the top waiting for me to get out of the way.

I immediately began several techniques rafters use in this situation; jump up and down, move weight down river, use an oar to push on the rock and use the oars in the current to basically power over the obstruction. The combination of these finally broke the raft free and I then had to quickly get the oars back into the oar locks in time to maneuver around the next obstruction, a very short distance down the river. I made it to the bottom and my self-confidence had gone below bottom and I was sure I was going to pull out above The Falls. We continued down river through several other rapids with no more issues until we got to the take-out just above The Falls.

Liz and I had been discussing this as we approached The Falls and she convinced me that I still had the skills and the worse thing that could happen is I embarrass myself or maybe get killed but the latter is unlikely with the former a pretty sure bet. It wouldn’t be the first (or last) time I took a swim so decided what the hell, let’s go.

As we cross the relatively easy (compared to the rest of the falls) Cossatosser, I knew there was no turning back now. Interesting is that at this point I was no longer apprehensive or worried about the outcome. I guess I reverted back to my old rafting skills of studying the rapid, read the water, watch the leader and put the raft where they said to go and use my practiced skills.

I wish I could give you a fall by fall description but things happened so quickly that only a few things stand out in my memory. I know I got instruction from several of the other rafters on how to approach and run the next fall and I followed their instruction pretty much exactly as described.

The one rapid that I was most worried about was Washing Machine. It has a reputation as the one rapid that can humble the best ww boater if not run correctly. To approach this rapid you first have to enter a channel running parallel to the rock ledge then make a 90 degree turn to the right and drop into a swirling hole that includes a rock in the center to grab you if given the chance. This is also the one hole that will hold you if you take a swim and that’s why we usually have someone with a throw rope at the bottom to pull you out. Still a dicey maneuver that I did not relish trying out. I was told to go as close as possible to the large rock on the right at the top of the hole and the water would push me around the corner and pass the hole. I did as instructed and although it was a rough ride I made it past the “Machine”.  It’s important to remember that an oar raft has oars sticking out both sides and these must be pulled in towards the raft (shipped) as you go through narrow rock channels. All this happens quickly and one misstep could swing the raft sideways or against a rock face and the fast moving water will pin the raft quicker than you can react.

In summary I made it past all The Falls successfully and my self-confidence went through the roof. This was something I had thought about doing for several years but just could not get up the courage to give it a try. BTW I watched Liz run the different rapids and she made it look easy but as I said, she has become an excellent ww kayaker.

Although at this point I was pretty happy with myself the others mentioned we still had Devil’s Hallow Rapid and Devil’s Hallow Falls yet to do and at this water level they could be a problem for the rafts. In fact, the canoes and kayak would walk around the falls. Liz had taken a swim in the past at Devil’s Hallow and it was not fun. Lots of rocks to hit underwater and even foot entrapment possibilities if not extremely careful. In fact she had recently gone over the falls and stuck the front of her kayak in a rock crevasse at the bottom. Only after lots of effort was she able to get her kayak free and continue past the falls.

I made it past Devil’s Hallow Rapids but it was extremely tight with lots of rocks that had to be missed to get to the bottom. As we came up on Devil’s Hallow Falls I was told there is only one spot to cross and it has a rock at the bottom that has to be missed otherwise bad things happen to a raft. I was told to enter the falls as close as possible to the rock on the right then keep the raft straight as you go over the falls. I watched the others make their run and then started mine. Remember I mentioned that you have to ship the oars at the last minute. In addition there were rocks just up river of the drop that we call “guard rocks” because they usually prevent a nice easy straight approach to a rapid. You have to work around them then quickly adjust the raft angle just before going into the slot. This was the case here so I worked around the guard rock, made last minute angle adjustments and shipped my oars just as the raft went over the lip. I made a clean run past the rock at the bottom and it was only then that I knew I had successfully run the Tot in my oar raft.

For me this was a great accomplishment and especially since I had not been using my rafting skills for several years. To do the Tot made me realize I can still do all the rivers I want to do in the foreseeable future. BTW did I mention that I turn 72 in a few months.