Toutle

The hole at tempest in a teapot is far worse than it looks. Two years ago 2 paddlers on my raft were recirculated in the hole 3-4 times each before flushing out. Yesterday, Sunday February 21, we were running in a large group. We scouted and all decided to run the far left channel to avoid the hole. A very experienced kayaker in the group changed his mind and decided to run the tongue at the left edge of the hole. He thought he was through only to be swept backwards into the hole, and was recirculated until he let go of his IK and flushed out. The IK surfed in the hole until we could send in a tied off swimmer who waded in partway and was able to snag the kayak with a paddle. Next a cat in the group missed the left line and went into the hole. His passenger was thrown free, but he recirculated to the point of exhaustion. The cat surfed in the hole for about a minute before we could get it out. My feeling is eventually someone will drown here. This rapids 3+ rating and fairly straightforward line combined with the fact that the hole is far, far stickier than it looks may lead some who don't know any better (like my group on our 1st trip on the Toutle) to challenge this hole, and someone will drown. Run or line (below 2000cfs it will be too shallow to run) the left channel.