Wenatchee

... Ran for 1st time: 6/4/11 At 8.5k CFS : Vessel: 10ft. self bailing raft / ('mini-me') * Put In: 'Fishermens' Access', just off road accross from Safeway (Leavenworth) on Safeway-side of bridge. River Right. * * Take Out: Cashmere, park. Where everybdy takes out. Just past Granny's. River Right. Right bank marked with River Shrubery / take-out has concrete ramp. * ............................................................................. * The Leavenworth to Monitor section of the Wenatchee, from the dam to the takeout, is a fairly wide river. Big holes can generally be avoided. I do not consider it to be a very 'technical' river, & American Whitewater says it can be ran between 2,500 & 20,000 cfs. . . . Just because the Wenatchee is not considered to be 'very technical', it does not mean there are not challenges or risk involved: * * * * * * *** The Wenatchee is a VERY FAST flowing river * * * * * *** Stay away from Bridge Pillars / trestles. The current pulls you to them with more force as you get closer. *** * The first big rapid is called 'Rock N Roll' : This seems to be the last rapid with 'creeky' feeling to it, as waters from Tumwater (seen from Rt. 2) will soon dam out into a playful section of the Wenatchee. (walk around the dam) .... At the top (during the first part) of 'Rock N Roll' ... [& The River feels very constricted here to somebody seeing it for the first time] ... In the center of the river there is a hole called 'Satan's Eyeball' ... This particular hole & the bridge pillars / trestles are what worried me at 8.5 grand. ... ... At the bottom (or during the 2nd part) of the rapid big there is almost a River Wide plethora of haystacks & breaking haystacks ... awesome to hit, might not be fun to swim. ... ... There is a sneak line just to the left of 'Satan's Eyeball.' Using this line you feel like you can reach out and touch 'the eyeball' as you go by. ... I could be wrong, but from the little I've seen 'Satan's Eyeball' looks like a hole with a big, flat, slanted rock wedged in an upward like direction, giving the appearance of a big fluffy hole, When in reality It may be pretty munchy. Just after the eyeball (or right at the eyeball), and it might be my imagination, there seems to be a small break in the action of the rapid as the river seems to take a relatively steep drop in gradient. It seemed like th safe route through the 2nd part of 'Rock-n-Roll' was center, comming in kinda on ' the tail of the 'eyeball' ' : I took that line & still got in there somewhere & hit a nice haystack wave for a 10 ft. raft. ... ... ... Other than that, in regards to everything after the dam, next time at 8.5k I'm going bigger. Haystack waves everywhere! Some cool 'fast moving pools' with some nice scenery behind you too. Look back every once in a while. -Jared