A few weeks ago my good paddling partner Carl and I ventured to Cashmere to meet up with Marco Colella for some early season boating. This was unlike most paddling trips we have experienced, instead of shopping for cases of cheap beer we were playing cars with Marco’s 4 year old son Cino. Late night campfires were replaced with some reading and lights out by 10. Our off river activities although tamer than normal were no indication of our on river exploits. We paddled hard! For those who don’t know Marco Colella, he is an avid paddler from back in the day who still gives er. He is also one of the most exciting paddlers to follow down some chuggin class IV/V. Marco treated us to some sick lines and a non-stop sampling of the finest whitewater in Washington State.
Carl and I arrived in Cashmere to meet up with Marco and paddle Icicle creek. Our first day we paddled Icicle 3 times at varying speeds, we took it pretty conservative the first two runs and the last run Marco and I sped down the creek in 33 minutes, yee haw. Icicle is a continuous class IV-V boulder fest with a few drops of concern and lots of fun boofs. Be sure to scout anything that looks serious, a swim on this particular run would be long and painful. Ricochet is one of the coolest rapids I have paddled; take a good look at this one. Done properly Ricochet is a series of boofs one after another setting you up for endless stylistic moves that you may look back on thinking-”did I just do that?” Horseshoe drop is to be taken seriously for sure. The hole at the bottom of this 8-foot drop will munch you up and not necessarily spit you out. The entrance is the key, a must make move through a strong reactionary sets you up for the final plunge. Done improperly can result in dropping the ledge on the vicious right side and having your ass handed to you, if you take the reactionary too far left and you run the drop backwards. Unfortunately, I found this out for myself on my fifth attempt. The water was a little higher and I came screaming into the entry with too much of an angle. I was instantly spun around and about to drop backwards into a nasty. This very moment I recalled Marco mentioning what to do if you end up backwards- basically you end up having to back paddle like a demon on you left side and hope you can squeeze off a boof. Thanks for the heads up Marco, I surely heeded the advice and was able to get out of the hole after a short but scary side surf. Had I not made the backstrokes I would have plummeted into the hole on the right side and probably swam. The next good drop looks like you are going to finish the drop by taking your head off on the river left rock formation, trust the drop and all will be good, you may get your eyelids peeled back a little but the rush is incredible. Some other drops to note is the Box and various unnamed treats. The run finishes with some good old’ boogie water an easy take out after the fish dam.
Along with the Icicle creek fest we also got on the Tumwater section of the Wenatchee. Carl decided to demo Marco’s Large Villain after the piton master punctured another hole in the nose of his Magnum, RIP Riot. Marco and I chose to paddle playboats for the extra challenge. The run starts with The Wall, a short and steep section of offset holes and ledges. The run then kinda turns into a lake before a 15-20 foot dam, we ran it on the right off a kicker, a little scraper but fun, don’t run it sideways. The Next biggy is Chaos, what a cool rapid. POW was the highlight, blindly following Marco- we charged down the run pretty much getting hammered in every major hole of the run. The second hole gave us all the most trouble and Carl got real intimate with it. Marco and I both ended up going underneath the hole, I was laughing like a madman, a strange response I have to danger, after I emerged to the surface. As soon as my Allstar broke surface Marco came up right beside me with his bow floating up under my armpit our laughing faces were 4 inches away and we had two more big holes to take. Carl decided to practice his side surf in the hole not being able to avoid the shitshow Marco and I had created by essentially blocking the hole. We managed the next two holes and I pulled a sweet boof to avoid pulling a Carl in the bottom hole. From the eddy we could see Carl getting violently side surfed and were preparing for a swim. I guess Carl got tired of the creekboat rodeo moves he was hitting up so he opted to submerge his bow in the upstream and get launched out of the hole. After the rapid that most would scout Marco informed us that only a handful of people actually run on the right side to challenge the huge holes. Word to the wise here- you may side surf for eternity in some upstream turned holes, the only way out is to ender up and load up some buoyancy force by pushing your bow or stern into the hole so you get launched out when the buoyancy releases.
Overall the Wenatchee trip was a total delight; we paddled hard and made the best of our two days. We had planned to get on the Top Tye run but were denied due to lack of water, there are many other runs in the area worth mention but we got our fill of some great roadside paddling and will be back for more. For info on any Wenatchee area paddling contact Marco Colella through World kayak or Crossfit Cashmere.
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