Flint

Feb. 5 2011
US 19 Downstream Gage- kicking around 10,000cfs or 11.44 feet
36 bridge- just shy of 11 feet

We ran from The Bluff to Podbiddy Bridge, 2 solo canoes. The river was running fast, huge holes in sections, the natural dams were nothing but wash overs, wave trains the role way. Yellow jacket was practically unrunnable, atleast for a solo 14' canoe looking for a clean line(there was no such line). 1 canoe portaged, I was not so lucky. Scouted from island in middle before Yellow Jacket on the left and the 'No Namer' on the right. The no namer looked less forgiving, so I siked myself up, clanked on the on balls of steel, and went for the best line i could find. The river decided it was gonna take me on its own path. It shot me through 2 shoots that are not there at around 800cfs, swamped me but i kept it afloat. Unfortunatelyedly I got turned sideways and pinned on two rocks. Normally this spot is out of the water and covered in river grass. I couldnt manage to unpin it, so i salvaged my drybag and took a swim to the island about 150-200' away. after getting my buddies boat and gear across the river to the island, i set up a Z-drag and added all the muletape(we use it to tie down gear, 1200lb strength) to throwbag, attempted to wade 3x to boat, never successfully made it, and our rope was looking to come up short. I didnt lose much, it was free boat, maybe lost $5 in making my seats. we ended up portaging one more rapid that was river middle on the right side of the island, looked to have a nasty hole and since we were now tandem paddling i decided we should portage. a little under a mile we hit a nasty wave with a deap trough that swamped us and took us for a 100yd swim. we dumped the boat and a way we went. 1 mile of choppy water and to the take out we were. I will attempt to rescue hopefully not a Taco tomorrow. the saying is true 'the river gives the test, and then teaches the lesson'.

Do not run at 10,000cfs unless you have Creek boat or raft!
At the time scouting upstream from the middled i was thinking Yellow Jacket seemed like a Class IV. From seeing the the shoals downstream from island i would say a Class V.
the 'No Name' rapid(falls at current level, small shoot at low level) shall now be known as 'The Michi Rapid'

On a second note, me and my paddling partner have created the 10K Club for the Flint River, more specifically the Bluff to Pobiddy section, If you have ran at or above this level Post Up and Join the Club Paddler Friends.