Elwha

July 2004 Update, provided by Erik Schertzl

Four of us ran The Grand Canyon of The Elwha on Monday the 5th of July. We hadn't heard of anyone going through there since the floods of October. We were a bit concerned about new wood in bad places and changes to the rapids themselves. Between all of us, everything got run.

We were pleasantly surprised to find no bad wood in The Grand Canyon. There was some, but none that caused any problems. We guessed that a few rapids have changed, but it's hard to confirm as none of us had done the run prior. We're only able to go off pics from the internet and word of mouth.

All the lines appear to be standard. Nightmare was fine on the left (after some concern about running it blind & feeble attempts to scout). There is a very bad seive on the right side that none of us had ever heard of. It's ugly for sure. Most likely sneak the entrance on the left and stay there.

Rica Canyon has a major log-jam blocking the entrance at Goblin's Gate. There's a way around it. Hit me off line for that beta. Goblin's Gate Rapid has changed. No longer run the second ledge center; it's far right or left there.

If anyone goes through there in the next few weeks, please keep an eye out for a digital camera/case left up in the Grand Canyon by one member of our group. It should be on the right bank at the drop above Nightmare.

Unfortunately, the floods of Oct didn't change the hike in (making it shorter?). It's still a push (but beautiful). What an amazing run!