We left Portland mid-day on Friday and headed to Selma. The adventure truly began shortly after dropping the trailer at the Rogue River Journeys guide house when we decided to eat dinner at the bar in Wonder. Definitely a locals place, it was nice to see the community in full form. Jane (the owner) started it off with a good-natured “Who the hell are you guys?” The food was great and we felt very protected by Jane and her cash register pistol. After a few drinks it seemed like a good idea to buy one of their t-shirts, which we did. It gave me an idea for t-shirts on this site: “If you touch my boat…” (you’ll have to ask me about what the rest said)…

After our stint in Wonder, we drove back to Selma. Pete and Tom, who were driving from Carson City, got in just before the rest of crashed out. Woke the next morning to icy grass and 26 degrees. Pretty chilly. Got to the put-in a little after 8:00 AM. Aaron, Megan, Kynne, and Tyler met us there as well and soon we were on the water. Even though the gauge said it was under 900 CFS, it was definitely healthy and the tributaries were kicking in quite a bit. 900 when things are dry is certainly different than 900 when the streams are flowing.

Ate lunch in the scorching sun on the bar just upstream and across from Klondike. Here, the sunburns started to kick in and Aaron went for a swim to cool off. That certainly doesn’t happen on most Illy trips! Reached Green Wall a little after 3:00. We all caught the eddy upstream of the first drop, except for Alan who decided to just run through and snap photos from the bottom.

There were two options at Green Wall: Door A or Door B and the hole at the bottom drop was pretty small with a tongue just to the right. We all made it through without too much excitement and continued downstream. The rest of the way to camp was uneventful and we made it to the Waterfall Camp just after 5:00. It stayed light for another two or so hours and we filled up on a hearty meal. Brent passed around the Fire Ball, we had just the right amount of beer, and, thanks to our Dex Phone Book and the wood Doug brought, we had a blazing fire. We were the lucky ones!

It was another good trip on the Illinois. Made take-out just after 1:00 and got back to Portland at a decent hour!

It was a 9:00 to 5:00 day. Except we weren’t at work, there was plentiful beer consumption, and we were on the beautiful Illinois. Launched at 9 AM and took out at 5 PM. We pushed a little in the morning and relaxed in the afternoon to enjoy the canyon.

Stopped at Pine Flat to water the trees, a quick stop at South Bend to determine that, yes, it was snowing and then on to Prelude and Green Wall. We must have done something right because the snow/sleet/rain stuff stopped and the sun broke free long enough to get to the bottom of Green Wall and have a lunch atop a rock with a great view of the beautiful rapid.

With weather looking good (for January) and flows good-to-go, four of us found ourselves leaving Portland around 7 PM on Friday, January 9th, 2009. Bound for the Illinois, we thought that we could get to the put-in that night, rig, and push off for a camp just downstream under the nearly-full moon. Unfortunately, Tomas’s truck has a temperature gage. When we hit Grants Pass we noticed that it was 32 degrees F. In Selma it had fallen to 28. No matter how hard we tried to convince ourselves that we really wanted to freeze our butts off, the decision was easy to stay the night in the heated Rogue River Journeys guide house. So we did.

The next morning we headed to Miami Bar, rigged, and launched sometime around 10:30. We dabbled in the sun, stayed warm, and made camp at South Bend around 4:00. After screwing around with a fire, we decided that Duraflame truly does kick-ass and that Dex phone books make good paper to burn (our apologies to the Henrys, Ingrims, Jacksons, Klunky, and Livingston families for burning your phone numbers. We will just have to guess next time we want to call.). The night sky was absolutely amazing with a fierce moon, wavy clouds, and a rolling fog.

The morning brought us some cold temps, so we jet boiled coffee from within the tents and waited for it to warm. And waited. And waited some more. We ended up leaving camp at the crack of noon and proceded to Prelude, where both boats went right. At Green Wall we ran the entry rapid and caught an eddy on the left. We scouted the entire rapid, hiking down to the lower drop to check out the hole at the bottom. It looked pretty big with a tight line on the left, but that will happen sometimes, and there didn’t seem much else left to do besides run the rapid. I suggested that we run “1-2-3” and not set safety at the bottom, just stay tight. Chip vetoed that by reminding me that it simply wasn’t possible, we had to run “1-2” because we only had two boats. That seemed ok so we headed back up, Kathy and Dana jumped in, and we were on our way.

The left slot of the top drop was pretty bony. Chip and Kathy dropped in first and got wedged pretty well. Dana and I were right behind them and hung out in the eddy not more than five feet from their boat. When they got unstuck we followed suit and got stuck. They exited the rapid as we pushed off and it wasn’t long until we joined them at the bottom. The sun broke free of the canyon wall and shone against the river-right side of Green Wall. Green Wall is a really pretty rapid, especially when you are at the bottom looking up.

Everything went pretty well from there down. Little Green Wall and everything through Submarine was a blast as always. We reached Oak Flat at 5 PM and loaded up the truck. Got back to Portland around 1:30 AM. Another great Illinois trip, can’t wait to get back.

So much for “forecasted flow”… The Illinois was projected to hit 4000 CFS two days before this trip. Instead, it barely touched 1300 and we were left with a bony flow. Jason Fisher and Jo Schroeder, guides for Idaho River Journeys on the Middle Fork and Main Salmon rivers, had flown out for an “epic high water trip” but were left with rocks high and dry. We hit the Molalla with Ryan Morgan at flood stage in our small 10′ Avon on Thursday and then headed south for a low water run on the Illinois. The weather forecast called for sun and sun and sun… thus securing our chances of an “epic low water flow.” But, the Illinois never disappoints, and we got to experience the river the way very few rafters ever get to see it.

As always, Galice Resort provided our shuttle van and trailer, for which they deserve a HUGE THANK YOU. Also, if you ever have Floyd as your shuttle driver you must ask him about his Illinois river trip. The next morning he showed me some great shots of his run nearly 30 years ago. River people and their history on this amazing river are truly amazing and we were lucky to meet him and have him share his story with us.

We put on at Miami Bar around 9:30 AM after spending the night at the Rogue River Journeys guide house, approximately 200 yards from the Illinois River Road. The river was absolutely beautiful: crystal clear water, fun, technical rapids, and clear blue skies. At this flow, the river is extraordinarly slow between the rapids so we only made it to South Bend camp for the night. We had hoped to get below Green Wall and the lower gorge but the fear of darkness kept us from heading downstream.

After an early breakfast the next morning, we got on the water at 8:30 AM and headed off to Prelude. The typical drop on the left had a rock sticking out right in the middle that the rafts kept getting stuck on. But, it seemed like the best way through so we pushed and bumped and grinded our way down. At Green Wall, I ran the entry and proceeded to get stuck on river left. Our three kayakers helped pull me back into an eddy and after some debate we gave the “no go” sign to the rest of the boats. They hiked down from the top of the entry rapid.

Green Wall looked bizarre. Slot “B” was not even an option and “A” was definitely the way to go. It led into a small hole, followed by a move left and then a quick cut right at the bottom. “Harvey” was not a hole at all, just an exposed horrible looking wrap rock. All of our rafts made it through, with Scott taking a more interesting way through the bottom which led to an upside down boat.

After Green Wall, it was just technical boating all the way down to Submarine. At Submarine, I asked my brother Skip to lead the way and give the aye or nay sign. He was running a 10-foot Avon and made it through cleanly but gave the nay sign. It was a very tight slot on the left. The right side showed an even tighter line so we deflated some tubes and pushed down, hoping to squeeze through. It must have helped, because with some jumping around we managed to get through the slot without any helping hands.

From there, it was a slow push to Oak Flat, completing the trip. Many thanks to Galice, Rogue River Journeys, and the gang we were with.

Trip participants:

Jason Fisher, Jo Schroder, Dana Woodruff, Skip Volpert, Will Volpert, Scott Fine, Nick Ellis, Erin Ellis, Aaron, Mike, Chris Uhtoff, Andreas, Alan Douglas, Emilie Entriken, and Scott Fine.