Sauk River 2010

We took a day trip to go white whater rafting on the Sauk River. It was about an hour and a half drive up to Backman County Park which is a couple miles south of Darrington, Washington. This is where we met up with the crew from North Cascades River Expeditions who were our guides for the trip. We all got into our wetsuits and rafting clothes and got into their two giant vans to drive to the put-in site about 8 miles up river. We left our cars at the take-out site for easy departure.

At the put-in site, we got our PFDs, helmets, and paddles, and figured out who would be in each of the 5 rafts we filled. Jerry Michalec, the owner of North Cascades River Expeditions, gave us a short orientation on rafting commands and skills as well as some tips and safety procedures, and then we were in the water.

Scouts picked up the skills very quickly and our rafts maneuvered well through all of the class III and IV rapids. With rapid names like Alligator, Demon Seed, Guide Trap, Jaws, Popeye, and Whirlpool, you know it was a great roller-coaster of a trip. Along the way, we passed beautiful forests, saw several snow-capped peaks, and sighted several water birds and a river otter.

We stopped on a sheltered, rocky beach for lunch. Our guides quickly whipped out hidden collapsable tables and had a feast laid out for us in about 10 minutes. We had turkey, ham, tomatoes, pickles, lettuce, peanut butter, jelly, a couple kinds of bread, brownies, and apples to eat, and hot cocoa and mochas to drink. In the downtime, Jerry demonstrated how to properly float down stream and exit the river without a boat. After that nearly everyone practiced the skill at least once. That water was cold!

Once we got our gear back on and everything cleaned up, we got back in the rafts for the last half of the trip. We stopped at the point where Clear Creek joined Sauk River, paddled a short distance up the creek and pulled our rafts up on rocks. We hiked up the creek for maybe 1/4 mile to a spot where a tree had fallen across the creek about 10 feet above the creek. It was deep enough that we could jump from the log into the creek. Very cool! Most Scout and adults did it at least once. Once everyone had gotten their fill, we got back into the rafts and finished up the river trip.

We landed at the take-out site, helped clean and stow gear, rinse out the rafts, and got dressed. We thanked our guides and headed out with a fantastic trip under our belts. - MHG

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