White Oak Run

If anybody is trying to find this run using the map or directions found on top of this page- you will be heading to the wrong creek!

I'm, like, totally going to hand paddle this at night next time it rains hard. Maybe for TVF 07? Do I hear 20 White Oak laps?

From Joe on the MCC board:

We've actually run that three times but for much of the upper section the word 'run' should really be replaced with 'walked'. :) On the first trip down there Bobby and I really lucked out. It was supposed to be just a strainer removal project when heavy afternoon thunderstorms hit and quickly flashed the creek up to runnable levels. With thanks to Joey Beck, who unbeknownst to us had previously cleared out many of the strainers, we rushed to as high up on the run as the dwindling daylight would let us. We put-in and ran down from about the mid-point of the big stuff, taking out at the base of the last sizable drop after a hard landing knocked Bobby out of his boat. For the second attempt we waited for a big overnight rainfall then headed for the trailhead up on skyline drive for a full top to bottom decent. The group included Bobby, Andy Maser, Ian Devine, and myself. It turned out to be less than 50% runnable and had become more log choked since our first run. That particular day I had to drive home a bit earlier than the rest of the group so while the others were still up battling it out with the biggies I completed the first ever run of the lower rapids which is good fun Class 3-4 for a mile or so before it peters out to cobble bars complicated by too many fallen trees to count. :) It's a fun way to really get your exercise but I'm not sure Whiteoak is really worth it these days-- atleast until the strainers are cleaned up a bit.

The video to watch, if you can find it, is Sucker Punch. There is also an entry into the Big Gun Show's 'You Gonna Eat That?' from a couple years ago showing Bobby's landing off of Flaiming Moe on the 2nd decent.

Joe at Springriver