Blackwater

There is still some wood in the Lower Blackwater, but as of March 15, 2013 everything is passable with caution.

A few things to update from several runs in 2011.

In the lead in to Rock and Roll, the current bounces off a boulder and turns right. There are a few annoying F-U rocks in there, especially below 400cfs, and they can put you sideways into an inconvenient hole.

As for Rock and Roll itself, two main lines I've run. All the way down the right is fairly straight-forward, and then the left line involves a series of tight turns. At low flows, its a narrow line with lots of piton/head impact risk, but in the 4-450 range its a really fun line.

Left out of Mark's description is a rapid in between Rock and Roll and the Slide that deserves a look your first time down. You'll run an easier rapid after rock and roll, and then there will be a BIG boulder on the right with the current channeling left. Its essentially a broken off-angle drop in an L shape. The right side falls off early into a crease, and the left side lands on a junky rock ledge. About 20yds downstream is a pretty nasty pocket hole on the left that is easy to avoid on the right when you are upright. A boater who flips in the top ledge almost always ends up in that hole though, which can be tough to surf out of. I've run it all 3 ways, and finding the middle line to be ideal ideal, but the left side is definitely the junkiest of the routes, especially in the 3-400cfs range.

As for wood, there is one log that is probably the same spot as Nori mentioned in 2006. It's about a mile after the Slide in one of the many boulder garden rapids. You can see it early enough to avoid it to the left. There is also a tree on the far left at the Waterfall, but, its not really in the way of the left line. The center line is more fun anyway.

This photo shows the crease on the river right side. Out of frame on river left is the junkier part of the landing. The ideal line is off the hump on the right side of the picture.

first drop in krakatoa

310cfs was low-ish but fun. Both of Krakatoa's undercuts are visible in this image. One is on the extreme left edge of photo (river right). The other is the large boulder in front of the red leafed tree in background.

The tree in lower blackwater is back again. After all the big rapids there was a tree on a drop that has a huge boulder in the middle. Old one flushed out two years ago but there was a new on on July 8 2006. This tree is only constricting the right side and left side is wide open.

Just a little description here of the run for those who might be looking for such details:

- The rapids begin immediately at the putin, so take a breather after the long carry in before launching. The first few rapids are nice technical boulder drops. Then you come to Krakatoa.

- Krakatoa is a sloping ledge into a mean hole followed by a second ledge. Scout this on the left. At lower flows the first ledge can be run left/center with left angle and the second can be boofed off a center shelf. At higher flows, the first ledge hole is harder to clear and the hole feeds undercuts on either side.

- Boof or Consequences (a.k.a. The Ledge or The Boof). This is not far downstream of Krakatoa. Most of the river is constricted over a 5-foot-ish ledge in the center of the river. Scout this as well. Boof the right corner into a right eddy. The pourover created in this drop literally spits sprays of water from the hole.

- Rock & Roll. This follows after some boat-scoutable drops. It is easy to scout this on the right by taking out just above the congested and blind entrance. There is a lot going on in this rapid and it's steeper than it looks, but there's more than one way to approach it. The rocks at the constriction at the bottom are undercut.

- The Slide. On down the river there is a long low-angle slide that goes on for a couple hundred feet with flow that shifts from left to right. Be sure to skirt the big hole at the bottom.

- The Waterfall. Midway through the run there's a 12-or-so-foot sloping waterfall with numerous lines and numerous junky spots. The left and center area seems to be easiest to navigate. There's vertical far right line where the flow lands on a rock shelf.

Other Notes: People complain about the carry in, but the final 2 flat miles once the gorge widens out seems worse to me. There's plenty of Class IV fun in between the descriptions above. At lower flows there are inconvenient rocks in almost every rapid. At higher flows, there are several places where a boof will make the day go more smoothly.

This large and intimidating ledge-hole feeds two undercuts. Scout it, and don't feel like a wimp about walking it!
You want to boof this one hard right.

Scott below the second ledge of Krakatoa