Bower Creek

This shot shows the typical overhanging branches and wood which make scouting this blind left-hand bend (before putting on) so important. Any wood in this area, or low-hanging branches such as shown here could be catastrophic if you just came screaming around the bend without first having scouted, since the current will be fast, and there will be no good eddies nor any reasonable way to get out to portage. You would be swept into whatever lay in (or low over) the river. This particular day, there was about a 3' wide line which was 'open', but even that involved passing under an over-arching tree just downstream. Being just a foot or two off your line would mean eating tree branches, followed by being clothes-lined by a 3-4' sapling at chest height in a surging wave train! (I put in below all this for my run on this day.)