Drake Run

Until people can get in and remove the wood I would consider this creek unrunnable. Me and Brant counted 7 necessary portages and the major runout rapids were all filled with strainers. There was even a portage before ignorant.

Even with low water, this is a fun run. You always need to watch for wood on this run, but as of 1-15-07, someone has been doing a great job clearing wood.
Same ledge, different view.

The river right, downstream of the put-in bridge,land owner is the nice one that Sam described(He's the one with the barbed wire across the creek). He has put a lot of fence up and doesn't have much parking anymore. He wasn't home last time I was there.

There are a couple landowners that you may happen into that are unfriendly when setting your shuttle for Drakes. The fellow that owns the land upstream of the bridge at the normal put-in will have your car towed if you leave it on his property. There are't any 'no tresspassing' or 'no parking' signs to give away his dislike for people parking there. Andy at Riversport reports that there is an alternate put-in one quarter of a mile upstream of the regular put-in. Use that or have someone drop you off.

Keep your eyes open when you get to the second put-in bridge. The landowner on the right has barbed-wire stretched across the creek just below bridge. Pull over, jump out, jump the fence and jump back in. Please leave the guy's barbed wire alone, it keeps in his horses.

When walking out, you can either walk the dirt road or the rail road tracks. If you walk the tracks, watch out for trains. I prefer the dirt road above the tracks. But the catch is that you can't take it all of the way. You will come to a gate with a few 'No Tresspassing' signs. This landowner is very mean(read insane, armed and dangerous) Do not tresspass or attempt to approach these people. Cut down to the railroad tracks BEFORE this gate. There is a trail a couple hundred feet before this gate. Walk the tracks for a short while and then cross them and walk out on the Riversport/Paddler's Lane Bed & Breakfast driveway. 5-2-06

Though the house is for sale, the neighbor at the put-in on the left just passed the bridge (coming up from Confluence) advised that boaters can park in his yard. Stop in and see him and I'm sure he'll let you park.

It's the neighbors on the right after the bridge (coming up from Confluence)that will give you a hard time.

Martin at the top of the final drop of Ignorant. Note the big rock at the bottom that you want to miss. Keep in mind that what you see here is approximately the last 20% of this rapid. Out of view and above this drop is about 150 yards of very busy water.
Look carefully and you can see that Martin is riding the edge of a rock. Don't slide off the rock too early or you'll need to duck the undercut rock on river left (right edge of the photo). River right is a very bad place. Note the logjam on river right. The logs are held in place by the severely under cut rock that I am standing on with the camera.
From the 2 images (Martin at Ignorant and this image), I hope you might get an idea of the vertical drop and length of this portion of this drop. There is a whole lot of busy water just above.
In spite of the hazards on his left and right, Mike makes the slide on the edge of the rock look easy.
I think almost everyone got some down time here. Martin watches as a paddler, a creek boat and 1/2 of a paddle totally disappear.
Piton Special! The trick here is to miss the submerged and exposed rocks in the boof area,, oh yea,, and also not get surfed :-)
Sam and Mike (white helmet) watch Zach on the final few feet of the run. We took out on river left after the second bridge.

This is the last ledge before decending over the final and largest drop in Ignorant