KWA Fact Sheet – Rough and Ready Creek
Geology: Serpentine.
Annual Precipitation: ~100 in.
Gradient: 80 ft/mi (average; varies across three sections).
Rapids: Class IV+.
Notable Fish: Steelhead, coho salmon, chinook salmon.
Notable Flora: Darlingtona, rare serpentine endemics (no comprehensive study exists).
Notable Trees: Port Orford cedar, Jeffery pine, incense cedar, Douglas fir, tanoak, Canyon Live oak, Pacific yew.
Primary Threats: Large-scale nickel strip mines and Port Orford cedar root disease.
Floating Rough and Ready Creek properly, as in on enough water to get rad, requires recent & considerable precipitation. More specifically, winter precipitation. The sub-official dirt pull-out parking area for Rough and Ready is located in a rural quasi-residential neighborhood located less than ten minutes from downtown Cave Junction, from there its just a short mile-long walk & drag to the put-in. Generally speaking most kayakers/boaters head down river in the direction of the Smith. We call this "going with the flow", however for purposes related to recon and photography we needed to head up-stream to where the North Fork and the South Fork meet, and beyond. Considerably beyond. Considerably beyond in two different directions—North and South. We determined that each Fork would take an entire day to recon, we decided to hike/float the North Fork on the first day, and hike/float the South Fork on the second day.
Day One (36 degrees, light rain, no wind):
Laurie, JR, Zach and I were forced—due to no trail and/or bushwhackable river's edge— to cross the river several times on our way up-stream. The crossings were very straightforward for Laurie, JR and Zach as they were all wearing dry suits, helmets and PFDs, and but most importantly they were each equipped with paddles and a kayak. In order to get me across the river I was placed into a boat and walked or "escorted" across via teamwork—Zach to hold one end of the boat, JR to hold the other, Laurie to provide commentary and laughter and to hold a safety line in case either Zach or JR stumbled as they were in fact walking over uneven and slippery rocks in the middle of swiftly moving river. Sitting in a wobbly Kayak like Geisha wearing $5000.00+++ worth of photography equipment in a light rain in the winter on a remote river is not as fun as it sounds. After making several portages we accidentally located the "main" trail used by Forest Service employees only, and for that reason, presumably, it's unmarked/unmapped and difficult to locate. After the confluence we were able to stay on the west side of the river for the remainder of the day; we hiked roughly six miles over the course of four hours. Our progress was slow due to the lack of trail and the difficulties associated with dragging/carrying/throwing a kayak through lengthy (and tall!) boulder fields, rotten hummock-like ground cover, downfall, dense timber and snags. We turned around because it was getting dark, and increasingly gnarly to navigate what was at that point a class 5.9 cut-bank. JR, Zach and Laurie put-in and floated the river back down to the confluence. I hiked. On the way down, JR rolled over in a class IV rapid and smashed his nose on a rock while upside down in the dark freezing-cold water. At the confluence the crew stashed their boats under some logs and rocks on the west bank, and pointed in the upstream direction of the South Fork, for tomorrow's recon. From there we all walked out together, hoping the whole time, in the rain and dusky light that the Forest Service trail we found earlier in the day, would get us all the way out (it did!) without having to cross the river, which we would have had to do without boats, which would have sucked, or more, more in this case meaning loss of property or life.
Day Two (31 degrees, 3" of fresh snow on the ground, heavy snow fall ALL DAY long, no wind):
We hiked to the confluence on just one side of the creek using yesterday's Forest service trail which trail proved to be in excellent repair and generous in regards to a series of stunning vantages with iconic views of the creek below. After locating our Kayak cache in a wet blizzard, we hiked up the east bank of the creek as far as we could before getting cliffed-out. At that point, Laurie, JR and Zach paddled across to the far side and continued hiking up-river on the west bank. I continued on the east bank by hiking inland and up several hundred feet. Though it was still snowing heavily and we were now easily more than a half mile apart, and often at very different elevations, we maintained visual contact most of the way up-river. We made it about five miles up-stream before the weather turned worse and visibility became problematic. Using hand signals and topographical-inspired common sense we met on opposite sides of the creek, which was at that point roughly 50 feet wide. At that point Laurie, JR and Zach put-in. Though I was considerably slower on foot, they waited in several spots for me to catch-up and re-group. We made our way all the way down, beyond the confluence, and along the Forest Service Trail to the put-in that way. At which point we all hiked back to our vehicle together.
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