Stonelick Creek

From an Email from Karl Whipp, received 4/15/93:

Three of us ran Stonelick at 9.5' and still rising about 2 years ago. All I can say is the following:

1. Be prepared for Mach 3 speeds as soon as you peel out of the put-in eddy and it remains that way to the take-out.

2. Good luck finding any eddys along the way. Most all eddys are moving and the vast majority of those are found behind standing trees that would normally be up on the banks.

3. Whenever you see a horizon line, HAUL ASS FOR THE EDGE OF THE RIVER. These horizon lines are uniform broken limestone ledges that form MONSTEROUS holes...comparable to Greyhound on the New at 4'+...no kidding... but they extend bank to bank. You will have about 3-4' on each side of the ledges to sneak your way past, but you will deal with another hazard within the sneaks...standing trees. We were using our hands on trees to weave our way through the forest at a couple of the ledges and at one of them, we were in such 'scramble mode' that we were grabbing at roots hanging off a high water bank to stop ourselves so we could get out with ropes for the rescue mentioned below.

After watching two guys lose their paddles and boats and after rope rescuing both of them from multiple recirculations in firgid water, we decided to walk off. This creek has SERIOUS flush drowing, strainer drowning possibilities at very high levels. It should only be run by parties of very strong boaters at these high levels.