99 Problems

Photos

By Darin McQuoid

Chris Korbulic and I headed out of the Sacramento area planning to set shuttle for a not so secret three day first descent. Our shuttle crew bailed on us, leaving us with a shuttle that would take hours to drive, and days to hike. We’ll, we’re up here already, and we knew our good friends the Knight brothers were going to do one of our favorites, the South Branch Feather. The Knights would be joined by South Branch virgins Shon Bollock and Chiseki Mconnaughy, but little did the plan on Chris and I rolling up as they were about to put on!

The energy of Ryan and Devin Knight combined is infections, and when combined with Chris and I, it was all smiles, some fun waterfalls, freewheels and one swim before we arrived at the first portage. At this point I had stood at the top of this 45 foot waterfall six times, and seen it run four times. Years ago Devin Knight had the first descent, which was followed last year by Ryan Knights run, and Devins second run. Earlier this spring I’d taken photos of Josh Bechtel and Andrew Holcombe running the drop.

The first line ran was left, and involved what seemed to be a three foot wide landing zone – too high risk for my taste. When Devin ran it his second time in 08 he ran right, transfering onto the slab and said it wasn’t a hit at all. I’m not sure if I really believed him, but once more people had run the same line and had no problems (besides one very dented boat from someone who didn’t go far enough right) I started thinking about the drop.

We started calling the drop , because from any angle you scout it, it looks terrible, and there are 99 reasons not to run it. My seventh time at the lip I was convinced that I would run it, although it didn’t look good past history had proved that the falls were good to go, and looks can be very decieving. Devin ran first, and came down the middle a bit slow but sorted things out, smiling and giving us a big thumbs up at the bottom.

I opted to go next and came down the middle with speed, took a big boof stroke and then airplane turned my boat to transfer onto the slab, which happened sooner than expected, shooting me into the pool upright and surprised at how soft the hit was. Possibly the softest waterfall of this height I had ever run. Chris Korbulic, Ryan Knight and Shon Bollock all ran the drop as well, illustrating how soft the landing was, and that it certainly was an optional portage at this point.

I came away from the run humbled by how confusing reading water can be, with all 99 visual problems, the falls was clean and soft. The next few weeks showed the opposite end of the spectrum, just because something looks good doesn’t mean it is…

Darin