First full descent of the Cloud River from the headwaters to Canada Bay (Roddington)

October 13, 2007

We have been anticipating this run for a while. A run by Andy Bridge and John Weld in 1994 starting at Twin Lakes, with a portage around the gorge and most of the major drops, left the Cloud still quite a virgin run. The 15 miles upstream of Twin Lakes was totally unrun before, and we had a ride in, by float plane.

It took us 5 days to finally convince a float plane guy to take 8 kayakers, gear, and 8 kayaks to a small pond that is the headwaters of the Cloud. He wouldn’t land in salt water, so we couldn’t get picked up where we intended to take out, which is in Roddington, a small town on the bay, about 10 kilometers from the mouth of the Cloud on the East Coast. We found a small lake about 15 miles from Roddington and 100 feet about sea level to it was fresh. We unloaded our boats after a big breakfast and worked hard to get our boats loaded for the trip. We were packing for a two day, possibly three day trip, in really cold weather. It was below freezing already and windy and mid-day. as we wait for the plane to show up. I was keeping my Patagonia down coat on, my Jackson Kayak beanie, and gloves while we waited and packed our boats. Finally, at 9:30 am, a 1958 Beaver, with floats on it came over the horizon and landed on the pond and taxied over to us. Leonard Payne is his name and getting hunters into remote camps is his game. He insisted on loading the boats, two on the inside, and two on the landing gear. On the first trip we had two Punk Rockers and they fit best inside, but the back seat still couldn’t go upright, so the three guys in the back had to lean forward for the ride. From the time Jesse, Ben, Dane, and Darin took the first plane up until Leonard got back was an hour and a half. It was only a 24 minute ride on the plane to the headwaters from where it took off. Chris, Nick, Joel, and I got our stuff loaded on the plane and Chris got the front seat since he was the heaviest of us all and our boats were trimming the plane tail down.

After Leonard got the carberator temp up to takeoff levels he pointed the plane into the wind and hit the gas. The engine was super load and the nose kicked up as we started down the lake. He lifted the tail and we were airborne at only 45 miles per hour and climbed slowly over the trees into the wilderness. It was exciting to be on our way to new place that none of us had ever been.

When we landed on the lake and taxied to where the other boys were, they had already started a fire to keep warm. We got our boats off and got in our gear right away and started across the pond to the beginning of the Cloud River. The first rapid was a little class 2 in shallow water, but the river would grow in volume and gradient as we moved towards the ocean. Our goal for the day was to get to the bottom end of Twin Lakes in time to set camp. We were able to read and ran most of the rapids, but there was also a series of lakes, of which Dane was convinced that each one was one of the Twin Lakes. We had paddled for about 5 hours before hitting the first twin lake and got to the bottom of the second one at about 6:00. It was too flat and exposed for good camping, especially since it was so cold out, and had been really windy. We decided to probe into the river until we found a more protected area. The first big rapid, we call "The Gimp" got Jesse pretty good. A slide with a huge kicker in the middle and a big hole behind it, and a big curler at the top to try to push you into the kicker with the big hole. Jesse hit the curler and got barrel rolled and slide upside down over the kicker into the hole and got a great big knot on his head and broke the front of his helmet. He is such a trooper that he never let on about his head until we saw it later after he took his helmet off. Jesse is a real team player and an incredible asset to any team. It is no wonder that he and Ben were awarded the "National Geographic Adventure Expedition Heroes" award. Sorry, back to the river.

It was getting dark and we were struggling to find a good place to camp. Grass means marsh, and no grass is either rock or "Tuckamore" which is a twisted pine vine that is so thick you have trouble walking through it. We found a compromise that worked and Jesse suggested that we start with the fire and then move to tents, etc. We got a raging fire going and camp set quickly. This was a good thing because our gear was already freezing and the temps were dropping quickly and we were wet and tired. We got out our food and started cooking. Dane and I had Mac and Cheese and Chicken Polynesian (which Dane mistakenly called it Chicken Polyester, funny)

Everyone had plenty to eat and talk about around the fire. Dane and I decided to go to bed early. Dane has been wearing a one piece fleece suit since the day we got here and hasn’t taken it off yet. He has stayed completely dry in a dry suit and simply took his dry suit off and went to bed. I unfortunately sweat too much when working hard and get wet from the inside out. We got into our 15 degree Big Agnes Bags and said good night and managed to stay warm enough (I dried my unisuit out by the fire and was wearing that plus my socks and a hat). At 7 am when it started to get light out, we went out into a winter wonderland of ice. It snowed some, but the dew froze about 1/8" thick on everything. It was probably in the high teens or low 20’s out. We at powerbars for breakfast since I forgot to bring oatmeal. We got on the water around 9:20 and started downstream. There was one great rapid after the next. Each one has its own special challenge. The one we call the "Bearded Lady" I probed. It was an incredibly sweet boof move into a big hole, followed by a big slide into a big curler hole, into a final big hole at the bottom with ugliness on the right at a mildly undercut wall. My line was simply to boof the crap out of the top drop to get clear of the hole and river left of the big curler and then punch the bottom hole. Instead I had a sweet boof into a horizontal meltdown and big backender. I rolled quickly on my offside before hitting the shallow part of the slide but couldn’t turn around before hitting the first big curler backwards. I didn’t flip but I lost all momentum and dropped into the last hole backwards and needless to say surfed it. I tried twice to get out right side up but didn’t. Finally I got in a blast, tipped over and it pushed me out like that far enough for me to roll and paddle away. Great ride, but not a clean line! Jesse went next and styled the boof, melting down but no backender, but got barrel rolled in the first curler and punched the third hole upside down. Ben, Joel, and Chris all had good lines and we continued downstream.

After some more great rapids we hit the "Gorge". This has never been run before and it was easy to see why. The first rapid was a 40+ footer that was not a clean drop (not an 80 footer as once reported) into a vertical walled gorge where scouting the second drop wasn’t possible once you entered the gorge. After two hours of scouting the drops it was decided to get in the gorge and go for it. I wasn’t interested in having Dane go in this one and started hiking with him and our gear to the top of the rim. We focused on hiking to the bottom of the main section of the gorge until we could find a place to get back in, since running the gorge could be much quicker than walking it. It was a 1.5 hour hike. Nick and Darin walked the first two rapids and found a ravine to get in below the second drop. Dane and I got in below that and made a fire and dried our gear while we waited for the group. Three hours later, they all came out happy. Joel was missing a paddle after a big surf at the bottom of the second slide and it was clearly a major undertaking to complete the gorge. Jesse probed the opening drop. Dane and I were both relieved to see everyone in good shape as they met up with us at the bottom of the meat of the gorge. Nick and Darin enjoyed the final 8 drops of the gorge.

I didn’t get to run the gorge with them, which was the crux of this river (not the only hard class 5, but the hardest of the river for sure and the part we had all heard about from the only other expedition here and they all walked it. I did get to spend a wonderful 4 hours with Dane, hiking together, choosing our line around the gorge, and back in. Our time in the sunshine, warming up by a fire we made right next to the water, with the gorge exit only a few feet away and the sun dropping straight into the gorge was awesome. The gorge was a little bit of a roll of the dice, play it by ear run. A full on 40+ footer with a hard lead in, boils, water pushing hard right into the wall, a big hole, and the next horizon line just downsteam, no safety available for the first to go, etc, etc. made it to where I wouldn’t risk allowing Dane to drop in. Dane considered the falls and would have run it had I suggested it, and likely would have done really well, but then again. This is part of the expedition we are a part of. Dane is an anomaly in expedition boating. At 80 pounds he can paddled like the big dogs, can hang in there and has a great attitude, is ready to rock and roll, etc., but has limitations too. He is over-weighted by his boat which after gear is about 65 pounds. That is like a 180 pound guy carrying a 145 boat loaded boat, with really short legs that makes stepping over stuff hard and makes vertical climbs more difficult when you are finding footholds. Ultimately, that means that he can’t pull as much weight in the group as the others when off the water. The group really seemed to enjoy having him with us, however, and everyone helped him out when needed, like getting his boat over the next steep climb, or through the next thick underbrush, etc.. Dane has it in him to be an incredible expedition boater, and this trip was his first real expedition. Ben and Jesse are incredible leaders that lead by example in this settting, where they are truly at home. Dane can learn a lot about life, risk, being part of a team, and personal responsibility by being on their expedition team. Our expedition team was solid all around, with Chris and Darin spending days before we arrived scouting out stuff, hiking around and getting us mentally prepared for what we should expect. On the water they are incredible boaters, as well as always wielding their video or still cameras to catch the moment. Nick is like family to me, of course, and has the most contagious positive, energetic, childlike enthusiasm that truly is how life is to be lived and brings a lot of fun into each situation. Joel is like a kid at Christmas. He spent countless hours memorizing topo maps before getting here, taking responsibility to be an expert on the available rivers and their respective gradient and drainage size. He was also ready to fire everything up and was always pushing hard for the next big drop. As the team leader of Team Jackson Kayak, I take a front row seat in basic logistics with Ben and Jesse, but Ben holds the role of expedition team leader, and I take a more backseat roll on the water, acting as a sounding board, but let Ben make the on water decisions regarding planning, and action there. It is fun for me to not be in charge there and have a leader forging the way. History will be kind to Ben and Jesse in the years to come as the world becomes educated on their incredible talents, work ethic, and accomplishments, year after year in expedition boating. I will be able to say, "I was part of their team." And be very proud to say so.

Back to the river.

The character of the rapids on the Cloud were a combination of waterfalls and slides. The water is coffee brown from Tanic acid as are most in Quebec, Labrador, and Newfoundland. There is always a horizon line with usually one decent eddy to almost scout from the boat, but not quite. Then you get out and are glad you did as each rapid has its own way of making you take it seriously. Holes that are placed in areas that you want to use to set up, holes that are way more sticky that you would have thought, areas that are shallower than you want for going sideways, but you need to go sideways, and of course, the hard to boof rolling drops that are shallow at the bottom with big petons waiting for anyone who misses their boof. There are also plenty of easy rapids that are totally boat scoutable, usually class 3 and 4. Some really long multi-stage slides that are like a waterpark put the mind at ease and are all fun and not serious. There are also the random fanned out areas of class 1 or 2 that you can bottom out and get stopped if you pick the wrong lines, or even the right ones sometimes. The rocks were very abrasive and boats don’t slide well over them. You lose plastic off you hull very quickly here. A good cross-linked boat was helpful to have, knowing that wearing a hole in the bottom of the boat, or breaking one here would be a real issue. Especially when you have the boat weighed down with camping gear, food, first aid kits, breakdown paddles, ropes, extra clothes, water, etc.

We started downstream realizing that this was going to be a long day. We continued to run great rapids until eventually the river lost steam and the gradient was gone and the flatwater was taking form. We exited the final little lake with a surprise. The current was coming back at us, not going with us! This slowed us down immensely as we made our way out towards Canada Bay. We got to the bay long after sunset and managed see civilization just in time before our only visual would have been the far away silhouettes of mountain tops and trees, like behind us, where there was nothing but the wilderness and a black treeline meeting a very dark blue/black sky. The town of Roddington was off in the distance, just a dozen or so houses along the bay, with only a few with lights on. We paddled for it like we were in an endurance race and it took a really long time to get any closer it seemed. Chris and I went ahead trying to make good time so we could get back to his car, then run up the road 20 minutes to get the shuttle truck where we got picked up by the plane and get back before everyone froze in the well below freezing, windy, dark conditions. We aimed for the "house with the lights on" until we finally got there, and without any talking, we got out, and started hiking up their dock and across their lawn to the road, took a left and started walking. Chris is a VERY fast walker with 80 pounds on his shoulder. I had to move my shorter legs fast to keep up but I did and we kept booking the 1.5 kilometers up the road to his car parked at the Mayflower lodge. We ditched our skirts and stripped down to our dry suits, jumped in his car and started off for the truck. The truck was some 15-25 minutes up the road, on an unmarked dirt road off the left, somewhere in the dark. Both of us were nervous about finding the road, knowing that the only landmark was a small tower. A large tower on the bay didn’t have lights on it, so why would this small tower. After we were sure we passed the road already and knew that we might be in for a long search, we saw two red lights on the horizon. A tower! The road was right where we left it and so was the truck, right on the pond. I jumped in and we drove back, to pick up the others. When we arrived at the take out we couldn’t find the others, or their boats. We checked the lodge and their they were, all warmed up in room 219! A quick run back for all of the boats and then I ran into the room, stripped off the dry suit and uni-suit and jumped in the hot shower. Awesome! My body was tired from the 10 hour paddling day, hiking, and lack of any real food that day. We hit "Lumberjacks" restaurant and celebrated our successful expedition. Incredible efforts put forth to make it happen by everyone, safely.

This was our 7th day of paddling in 7 days and our 6th river. A resolve to paddle everyday goes a long way. Yesterday was our first non paddling day yet, as we looked over a 7 mile lake with a waterfall at the other end of it. We figured that we had a 2.5 hour paddle over, and same back and at 2pm already that meant it would be dark without ever getting to paddle the river. A forecast of .5-1" of rain for last night was our gamble for going South again to hit a couple of the rivers near Rocky Harbor that needs a solid rain to make the rivers run. I am now writing his at the motel window as it gets light out and we didn’t get more than 1mm of rain and it is only lightly raining now. Dane, Joel, and I fly home tomorrow. We may have skunked ourselves for our last day by betting on this rain. Can we get one more un-run river under our belts today? We’ll see.

Time to rally everyone and make a new plan for today. We are all rested from the Cloud and ready for whatever the day may bring.

I am already looking forward to getting home to Kristine and Emily and the first descent expeditions we call family, and Jackson Kayak!

🙂

EJ