Gee Creek,
|
|
hike up back to parking area
| Usual Difficulty |
IV-V (may vary with level) |
| Length |
1 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient |
400 fpm |
| Max Gradient |
500 fpm |
Lower Boulder Boogie
Lower Boulder Boogie
Gauge Information
River Description
This run is a novelty. It will help soothe an otherwise skunked day in the area. It is very
beautiful, but also very short. Hiking a mile yields around 8 quality ledge drops and a bew boulder
jumbles. This is all in the first 1/3 of a mile. The last 2/3 of the run back to the car is class
3-4 boogie rapids with some wood to look out for.
To get to the creek, turn east off of 411 just 1 mile north of the road that goes to Gee Creek
Campground. This is Gee Creek road and goes through the impoverished community of Wetmore. After
crossing the RR tracks, make a right and stay on this road as it goes around 2 miles around to
the takeout for the creek. From here it is a 1 mile hike to the top of the good stuff. Once you
have made it to the top of the double boof rapid shown below, there is nothing else above but
wood choked class 2-3, though the hike is interesting.
Here is a description from the late Stan Guy:
Gee Creek is VERY Goforth-esque in that it is a hike up run from the takeout, it is REAL TIGHT,
and you will always spend more time hiking-in/scouting than you will on the creek cause it is SO
fast and the eddy count is slim.
1st known run by Jason Murrell, Winter of 2003.
This is a definite IV+/V-(V)run. While it doesn't have a lot of wood, it does have one log jam
and another hidden danger of a tunnel in the middle of the run. You won't known it is there at
highwater.
On the way up you will want to memorize the run. For the most part you just have to stay in the
flow and keep your bow up. Stayin in the main flow is easy enough cause this creek is probably
15-20 FEET wide at its WIDEST point.
The only other eddy on the creek was just above the log-jam and portaging wouldnt be bad at
all.
Just above the log-jam eddys is where Gee Creek gets steep and fun. There are five large ledge
drops of class 3 to 4+ difficulty in a row with III+ boogie water in between.
Of these drops the first one is the tallest at 14 feet and it is clean into a deep pool. The hike
from the top of the second drop to the top of the first drop goes from class II+ hiking to class
IV+. It is slick and it is straight uphill. There are 2 great looking class 5 boulder gardens
above these ledge drops that are kinda like some on the Trailhead section of the West Prong. Fun
stuff.
The second drop is about 8 feet, but the line is tight. The next three drops look almost
identical at about 4-5 feet each and the move on all three is center-to-left with the bow UP.
This gets you to the top log-jam eddy.
The entrance to the tunnel was at the bottom of the 4th drop and right above my eddy to portage
from. The tunnel was completely underwater and I decided that as long as I kept the bow up and
didn't go down the center then everything would still be ok.
The rest of the run is mostly just a matter of not pitoning or broaching on any of the
piss-me-off rocks that were all over the place.
StreamTeam Status: Not Verified
Last Updated: 2006-11-07 19:17:03
Editors
No guide books for this stream. If you know of a book that describes this stream please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
User Comments
that it rarely gets enough water to run, there are lots of trees that have fallen down into the
creek and would bunch up together if it got a big rain event. another note, if you hike up way
above where most of these suggestions point to, you have some pretty quality drops and possibly
some strainer free boating. the problem is that the trail requires multiple crossings in order to
get up more than a mile. personally, this is a run that if nothing else is happening and you have a
day to kill then have at it. however, its probably a lot of work for little payback and you could
end up stuck in a strainer.