It was a rough winter. Well that is a bit of an understatement, i am not sure winter really ever came to the west this year. We had rain to the high peaks in utah for christmas and new years, and ski areas started closing as early as february (some never really even got started). Prospects for spring flows for whitewater were slim, but Utah is blessed with a relatively large, high elevation set of mountains that did manage to achieve something that can be loosely called a snowpack, even if it was mostly unavailable for winter recreation. Despite the meaager outlook, Lindsay and i managed to get a few new floats in.
Yellowstone
This one was both a gem and one of the worst floats i have done in the Uintas to date. When it was good it was GOOD, but when it was bad... it was horrendous. One weekend in may, needing to get out of the Salt Lake valley, Lindsay and i headed out to the Yellowstone river area. We camped at Swift creek (its been years since i was there, last time was for a ~30 mile run up and over Bluebell pass). Due to the potential for thunderstorms, we set out for an afternoon float by hiking up ~4 miles on the yellowstone river trail from the swift creek trail head. The trail mostly parallels the river and you can often get a view of things, which gnerally looked great! A fast and fun Cl2-3, relatively steep, alpine river without too much wood. After ~4 miles we decided to put in when the trail came back to the river after about ~a mile away (it looks like things could potentially go up another mile or so). After blowing up we started down. The yellowstone fluctuates between cobble lined channels and apparently broad, wood choked and braided floodplain. Within 2 minutes we reached the latter with a tree spanning the river. pulling over to the right bank, we got out to portage, but it was just one log after another, then braids, then more downed wood. In the end the first portage was about a mile and a half and we didnt actually start floating until we were back to where the river left the trail a few miles earlier on our hike up. The next ~2 miles were outstanding. Fast, consistent CL2-3 boogie water that was maybe a bit boney but otherwise just absolute flow state, both engaging and pretty. After about 20 minutes of this we finally hit a small pool where we could catch our breath, only to round a corner and run into another series of log jams. This wood section persisted for another ~half mile leaving us to put back in a few hundred yards upstream from camp. Someday we will have to go back and do the "usual" section of this river that parallels the road, the lower stretches look great, but incoming weather drove us off the following day.
Logan
The logan in logan canyon is probably one of the most often floated rivers coming out of the mountains of utah that i had yet to float. As soon as the guage tripped into runnable flows we were on it, regardless of any rain and/or snow that was in the forecast. We ended up running this one a few times this summer as it went for longer than I initially expected. We ended up running it three times, all generally from the wood camp campground to roughly the third dam, however the first time we pushed almost to the second dam. Generally a lovely and exciting float that gives some good time to warm up, the business, then gets more relaxed towards the end of the stretch. I love the upper bita of this stretch, pretty continuous boogy water that flows nicely. Can't wait for this one to come back in next season!
Ogden
The Ogden was actually flowing most of the season. Interestingly, because the winter was so bad and the reservoir was already low, the state decided to drain pineview a few years early to maintain infrastructure. As a result the Ogden was flowing most of the summer. Unfortunately I only managed to get on it once, but for most of its length below pineview. I have mixed feelings on this one. The stretch below the dam was narrow and had some strainer hazard at 2+. Pretty quick though the gradient picked up and it became continuous 3+/4 for over a mile without much of a chance to rest. If I was closer and had a solid crew to work with, this would be a great skill builder to gain confidence in continuous creeky harder water, i would run it often. As it is, I probably won't run the narrows again too soon though, not just because pineview is likely to be filling and catching any runoff next year.
