Are you prepared for that river?
| River: | Other |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 09/20/2025 |
Always prepare for the worst and seek out further education so you are not the person who doesn’t know what you don’t know. This weekend put a bunch of truth into that statement and became a huge learning lesson for many. For this trip, there is nobody to blame or anyone who did wrong, other than maybe me as the experienced paddler and Swiftwater Rescue instructor who knew of the possible rapid. The odds of pinning a kayak on this section has to be 1 in a 100 and we struck gold on the learning side of things. 
On Saturday I went out paddling with the Deep River Riverkeeper for a beautiful day on the river and their first official paddle trip as a Riverkeeper. Thank you, Deep River Riverkeeper and your team, for the great trip, I had a blast. This is a beautiful section of river that is perfectly suitable for any paddling skill level, and I highly encourage anyone who can to get out there and check it out. As an added bonus, if you go out with the Deep River Riverkeeper you get to learn about some of the great history of the river such as the Endor Furnace and the Camelback Bridge.
I had paddled this section 1 time before in the spring to ensure the river was clear for an outfitter after a bunch of rain. The level was at least 3 feet higher back then and there was one spot that had a few waves from rocks so I assumed there would be a spot this time where we would all end up dragging out boats across shallow rocks. I had already decided to paddle a canoe this trip in case anyone wanted to attend that could not paddle or a paddler needed help finishing the trip. I also knew it was a bunch of flatwater paddling so a long canoe would still be suitable and great for additional trash pickup. While packing up I also packed up one of my good throw ropes and a pin kit as I always do for a river and didn’t think twice about it. I also had my dry bag with emergency supplies such as tape for any damaged kayaks and a small medical kit.
We launched with 15 boats from Camelback Bridge and made our way through the little Class I ripple under the bridge for a great start to the trip. Close to halfway there is a spot where a creek comes into the river under a railroad bridge which makes for a good picture spot, so I stopped to take pictures of everyone. Our group was spread out, so I was there for probably 5 to 10 minutes and did not know that we were just around the corner from that wave area from the Spring trip. After the last group passed I paddled up ahead and got to where I could hear the rapid and see people standing on the rock area. At first, I assumed they were all taking a break and swimming but as I fully rounded the corner, I could see a few paddlers standing in the middle of the flow and quickly realized that a kayak had pinned on a small rock. A few paddlers had moved to upstream and stopped while many of the others were already through the rapid and watching from the bank of the boats. I decided to paddle down through the channel and eddy out at the bottom to help out. At that same time, they had thrown a rope to secure to the pinned kayak. Miscommunication and experience levels caused the rope to be tossed right in the main flow channel, and I ended up running into it. Once again this is more my fault as the rope was already tossed before I fully committed and I knew the hazards, but I still went to get to the pinned kayak quicker. Despite my efforts to get the team to put the rope to the water so I could paddle over it, they lifted it and it caught on my paddle as I went through. The bank side did let go and no harm was done but i did have rope on my paddle for a few seconds. After eddying out I waded over to the kayak and had the paddler and other bystanders go ahead and walk back to the rock bank in the center of the river. The kayak in question was a Pelican kayak and was partially wrapped around the rock. I kept of the more experienced paddlers with me at the kayak. I knew the odds of using a rope of this type of kayak would probably not have a good outcome, but I like to also like to use what I teach. Keep it Simple and Safe. I got the other experienced paddler to stand with me in front of the cockpit to create and eddy and stop the flow from going in the boat. That allowed us to easily move the kayak up and over the rock and free it. From there I flipped it over and was able to pop it back into shape. The paddler was unharmed, the kayak regained it shape and made it all the way to the takeout with no issues, and I ended up in many more conversations on the rest of the trip about that incident. Overall, it was a huge educational experience for many and I am thankful it happened while I was there and it turned out the way it did.
Watching a video that was being recorded at the time, the paddler did what most new paddlers did and leaned upstream when the current got their boat sideways into the rock. That swamped the boat, and they exited in knee to thigh deep water that was moving somewhat fast but nowhere near the depth or strength to have major risk associated with it. The Pelican kayaks are perfect for this type of paddle trip other than they are amongst the thinnest plastic of kayaks these days and that allowed it to partially wrap around the rock making it difficult to move.
The rope thrower was somewhat experienced but had never taken a formal course and had just always carried a throw rope. They could not hear me tell them to lower the rope to the water level because of the noise, another common barrier in a Swiftwater rescue. The team that had gone out to help the paddler had also never taken a course so there were things they did not know either, despite having some experience in rivers.
This entire event lasted only about 5 minutes once I got there but it seemed to have been there for longer waiting on someone who knew what to do. They were essentially waiting for me when I was around the bend taking pictures instead of at the rapid.
I do want to reiterate that there is not a single person to include the leadership that did anything wrong here as we could take another 200 paddlers through there and the odds of it happening again are very slim. It was a flatwater section of river, and they planned everything accordingly, but still something happened. I could be the only one who knew and should have been there. After the recovery, I was offered and happily accepted the offer to take a paddleboard down the rapid. I used that opportunity to goof off. I tried to do “The Crane” while going down, needless to say I’m not that balanced. I also encouraged some to swim the rapid to let the paddlers know it was a safe rapid and not be afraid. I did also have many conversations the rest of the trip about the incident and how to get more training for situations like this.
This is a river and a rapid that I would let any kid I know float down in a tube and I would let any paddler I have ever paddled with take a kayak down it backwards with no concerns. It is a Class I Rapid at a very exaggerated sense of the rating. It is in the middle of a very flatwater deep banked river with very few rocks. That being said would it have turned out differently if the Riverkeeper didn’t require everyone to wear a life jacket? What about if it pinned a kayak and put a hole in it? Had it punctured that kayak, would we have had plan to get that paddler out? Yes, I was paddling a tandem canoe by myself for emergencies so we would have been good. I had tape to tape it up if needed to limp it back. I had rope to tow it out empty if needed. To be fair, I am a certified Swiftwater Rescue, River Kayak, and River Canoe instructor so I should be prepared and experienced in situations like that and I should have the gear, do you every trip? Once again, this is not about anyone on this trip as none of them have taken any formal training on rivers to know this so how they would even know what could happen. Sadley that is more of the normal than the exception these days. I do look back and know I should have been up at the front to scout that rapid prior to the others getting there but even I took the basic flatwater river for granted to an extent.
Take our lesson and learn from it. Always prepare for the worst even if it is a flatwater river. Are you prepared for an incident like that on your river trips? Do you keep repair kits, spare paddles, wilderness/water specific medical kits and the knowledge to use them? A river by definition is a body of water that is moving to another body of water somewhere so it is moving, even if very slow but a chokepoint can change that quickly. It doesn’t have to be a whitewater river to be dangerous.
Seek out the training and get the information so you are not the person out there without the knowledge. I teach different levels of Swiftwater Rescue at many different times of the year, specifically for this club I teach a Spring and a Falls class for the club. Most of what I teach is just a 1-day River Safety and Rescue course and that is for anyone who paddles any river, not just whitewater paddlers. Everything that happened and played out in that scenario is usually covered in a 1-day class. Find one and take it, it is just as fun as paddling I promise but the lessons you will learn could save your kayak or even a life one day.
Stay safe and I will see you all on the river!