Fifteen Mile Creek

I paddled this on 4/10, about a week after all the rivers spiked.

Flow: Was low, the moves felt very slowed down, but way less bumping over rocks than I expected from the put-in. The boniest spots were the rapid under the takeout bridge and the first half mile. So if the put-in and take-out look okay, the rest of the run should have enough water.

Whitewater: A couple drops right at the start of the run that are probably exciting at some level, but for my lap were too bumpy and grindy to enjoy much. About half a mile in, Eightmile Creek joined, and the flow felt a lot more reasonable. No other rapids stood out until the last mile-ish, where the drops got steeper and more channelized. Most were read-and-run, but I scouted a couple spots that looked questionable, and was glad I did. The first was a two-tiered drop, maybe 7' total, that I was happy to get eyes on and plan a line. The second was a sequence that started friendly enough, but led right into a dam hidden around a left-hand bend with a fish ladder on the left and a diagonal ledge drop into a rocky landing on the right. Both sides looked runnable by somebody, but I wasn't tempted. At my flow, there was time to eddy out between the lead-in and the dam, but I was glad to know it was coming.

Wood: Two big logs right away, one fifty feet from the put-in, the other a hundred yards after the first. A spot maybe a mile in where logjams reach out from both banks, with a narrow but reasonable line between them. A large tree limb blocking the entrance to the fish ladder.