Summit Creek First Descent

Earlier this year I had visited Summit Creek in hopes of big drops and good whitewater; when I arrived at the lower gorge I knew I had found just what I was looking for. As soon as I found the goods I called Cody Howard and the next Saturday my brother, Cody, Brett Adams and I left for the first descent. Highlights of this run were running some super smooth slides for the first time, and scouting the massive Skate Park Drop.
I was really satisfied with the First D of the lower canyon, but I also knew that there was an upper canyon likely to have drops of similar magnitude and style. After hearing Cody's positive report about the upper gorge Erik Boomer, Evan Garcia, my brother and I went out to get some for ourselves. The upper gorge started out with some gnarly log portages, but slowly turned into the most amazing 10-30ft. slides.

Sliding a smooth 20 footer
After boat scouting and running a number of these smooth drops, we came to what seemed to be the start of the first gorge. A quick scout revealed a sweet triple-tier slide as well as a stout 60 foot waterfall all within a beautiful deep gorge. Third in line to run the triple-tier drop I ended up running the last section backwards but was able to correct before landing in the pool below. We took out below the triple tier and spent about half an hour scouting the 60 foot Summit Falls. The waterfall had a pretty smooth lead-in but also a small landing zone and questionable runout into two 20-30ft slides. After much speculation, Boomer decided to give'er. He landed flat after a sweet boof, but with his imploded skirt was forced to run the two slides following with a boat full of water. After Boomer's sweet First Descent of Summit Falls I knew the stout was good to go and decided to give 'er. Instead of taking a boof at the end of the drop, I went for the plugger line and ended up resurfacing against a rock below with an imploded skirt and boat full of water. Luckily I was able to swim to shore before the slides, and my boat got caught in a nearby eddy below the slides. Stoked as hell, I got up on the shore to watch Evan huck a huge boof, and again end with an imploded skirt.

Scouting the Upper Gorge

Flying off Summit Falls

Summit Falls was the end of the first gorge, but before too many log lams we arrived at the second gorge. Already knowing our lines, we were able to run this section much quicker. Our only stop was at the 50 foot Skate Park Drop, where we all went big and stomped some huge autoboofs. With a 40 foot vertical drop leading into a smooth 15 foot horizontal kicker, this drop is like no other, and is one of the most unique I've ever run. After a couple more smooth slides we ended the run with huge smiles across our faces. With two of the most beautiful gorges in the Northwest and with its amazing whitewater, Summit creek has become one of my favorites.

Erik Boomer drops into the Skate Park

Photos- Erik Boomer