RIVERS — North Idaho river rafters have been watching a log that's jammed into a chute at Eilene Dam on the Moyie River northeast of Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

It poses an unavoidable hazard for rafters trying to complete the river float.

“Its still there, and it still poses a very serious hazard,” Todd Hoffman said in a post today on the North Idaho Whitewater Boating Facebook page. “A group of us went in and looked at it yesterday. We came to the unanimous conclusion that the log is not coming out any time soon. Unless we have a high flow event that manages to knock it loose, its probably going to be there for the foreseeable future.”

PADDLING — The annual Flatwater Canoeing Clinic conducted by the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club is set for May 20 at Medical Lake.

The clinic, for solo and tandem canoeists, covers strokes, equipment, safety and rescue, hypothermia, transporting canoes, launching and canoe trim and paddler position.

Cost: $55 per person, plus club membership.

Sign up: Diane Adams, coordinator for all club clinics, 448-9214, email dianecadams@asisna.com

Flatwater Clinic is a pre-requisite for the Moving Water Canoeing Clinic set for July 7-8.

A three-day Sea Kayaking Clinic will be offered July 19, 21 and 22.

Whitewater Kayaking Clinic is June 2-3.

PADDLING — Today's S-R news story with details about the Gonzaga University student who died on an April 1 kayaking trip at Rock Lake was balanced by two men willing to step forward and talk about safety issues involved with cold-weather/water paddling.

No one involved with the accident would speak on the record for one reason or another, but Jerry Cessaratto and Dennis Andrew of the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club allowed me to interview them on the protocols for a group paddling trip in cold conditions.

Take the 10 minutes required to view the video on cold-water immersion (above), Andrew suggests.

My editor had to shorten the newspaper story to fit the layout puzzle in the paper. In doing so, it may have left the edge that Andrew was criticizing the city parks trip leaders. While many people will do so, Andrew was not criticizing, he was analyzing and offering the perspective of what he teaches in the annual three-session sea-kayaking class he coordinates in late June.

Click “continue reading” below for the unedited ending my story published today. Keep in mind that even this was boiled down from two 15-minute interviews and does not include their comments on the need for outdoor groups to:

• Check weather reports.
• Assess the situation in the field
• Assess the gear and experience of everyone on the trip.
• Factor in remoteness and conditions.
• Have a contingency plan.
• Stay together
• Have a toolbox of options for emergency and rescue.

ADVENTURING — Spokane adventurers Debbie and Bill Pierce will present a free program about their 15-week, 12,000-mile summer trip of kayaking, fishing and wildlife photography in Alaska tonight (April 23), 7 p.m., at the Corbin Community Center, 827 W. Cleveland Ave.

“Carrying kayaks and mountain bikes on our conversion van,  we explored as many roads, trails and waterways as possible,” Debbie Pierce said. “With no real plan or time commitment,  we used  the fireweed as our only timekeeper-our summer's clock.

“Traveling from mid-June to late September, we watched  the blossoms climb up the stem of the  tall plant, knowing that (according to Alaska folklore), summer was over when the petals  hit the top.”

She said their photos include some of Alaska's amazing scenery, “including the beautiful  mountains and wild rivers, the rugged coastlines and magnificent wildlife.”

The program is sponsored by the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club.

KAYAKING — The chilly scene in the photo above is the feeder creek Todd Hoffman and two other kayakers used today to launch their boats before  paddling downstream into Lightning Creek in North Idaho.

I'll guarantee they weren't wearing shorts and flip flops when they got into their boats.

RIVERS — Water in area rivers and lakes may look tempting during warmer weather forecast for the weekend, but experts say rivers and lakes remain deadly cold.

Cold water immersion can render a person helpless in minutes regardless of sunny skies and warm air temps. Hypothermia can kill you in a few minutes more.

Experienced paddlers wear wet suits or dry suits in cold waters and launch in groups to help each other out in case of unplanned swims.

At least five non-motorized boating fatalities have been recorded by Washington State Parks since March 17, the highest in any year since 2002.

On April 1, a Gonzaga University student died from hypothermia suffered after his kayak capsized in Rock Lake. One man is dead after being swept away in the Spokane River this month; a capsized canoeist remains missing.

Useful links:

• Spokane-area weather and river conditions from The National Weather Service/NOAA.
• Hypothermia and boating.

Popular recreation sites around Spokane will be getting a major spring facelift this weekend from volunteer efforts supported by grants totaling $20,000 from Recreational Equipment, Inc.

Projects the Spokane outdoor equipment store is supporting in partnership with local groups include:

Centennial Trail, Saturday 9 a.m. – The 20th annual Unveil the Trail event, supported by a $5,000 REI grant to the Friends of the Centennial Trail, taps volunteer groups to spruce up sections of the 39-mile paved trail along the Spokane River. Preregister to join a group and get a free lunch, 624-7188.

Mirabeau Point boat access, Saturday, 9 a.m. – A $10,000 REI grant to the Spokane River Forum funded an overhaul of the Spokane River access for rafts, canoes and kayaks fall. Volunters plan to finish the work and prepare the area for hydroseeding, which is being funded by the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club.

Dishman Hills Natural Area, Sunday, 1 p.m. – Hundreds of volunteers already are signed up for the Earth Day work project to pick up litter, restore habitat, improve trails and other projects based out of Camp Caro in Spokane Valley.  The project is backed by a $5,000 grant to the Dishman Hills Natural Area Association. Preregister for t-shirt and food at www.rei.com/Spokane.

WATERFALLS — It's been a great, wet spring to experience the power waterfalls from the Spokane River in downtown Spokane to Palouse Falls near the Snake River and many more.

I've written about the some of the hiking possibilities for many of these falls, including those on BLM land at Hog Canyon (near Fishtrap Lake) and Rock Creek/Escure Ranch.

How about a canoe trip to visit the small but intimate Exley Falls at Horseshoe Lake in Pend Oreille County?

The lake's public access is managed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, so a Discover Pass is required, or the Vehicle Access Pass that comes with a hunting and fishing license.

PADDLING — An open online collaboration is plotting a map of kayaking play spots on the Spokane River, complete with directions and a few sparse details.

Check it out.

CANOEING — Despite the bad news recently about paddlers on the area's swollen waters, some canoeists and kayakers are enjoying the season safely.

Going with a group of people with comparable skills, knowing the weather forecast and having the right gear on your body and in the canoe or kayak can make a big difference.

A Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club group was on Hangman Creek Saturday after the river had come down from veryhigh flows the previous week. While rafters like higher flows in the upper river for their thrills, canoests generally look for flows in the neighborhood of 1200 cfs to avoid too much big water and still have enough to float without banging their boats on rocks.

“Saturday's flow was900-940 cfs, which was nice for our group,” said Dan Hansen.

“We ran into a kayaker who mentioned he would have liked bigger waves. I think it could have dropped another 100 cfs or so, and we still would have been happy.

“As it was, (Therese Wittman and I) took on a lot of water at the Big Rock Wave (in Vinegar Flats), bailed out the water, then went back to surf… that’s when we dumped my Dagger Legend.

“Luckily, I had bought a wetsuit … the day before our outing… the best $37 I’ve ever invested.

“I was also glad that I had an air bladder in the canoe (to make it easy to swim the boat to shore).”

Dr. Richard Byrd, a Spokane pulmonary specialist and globetrotting adventurer, died on April 3 after suffering a blow to the head in a fall while hiking a rocky area on the coast of Cuba.

Byrd, 82, was traveling with his wife, Laurie, and a group led by National Geographic Expeditions. The adventure travel organization has clearance to lead Cuba cultural trips that include U.S. citizens, who are otherwise restricted from entering the nation.

Byrd was featured in a 2010 story in The Spokesman-Review for the inexhaustible energy that allowed him to continue a medical practice with the Rockwood Clinic while satisfying a world-class appetite for climbing mountains, paddling kayaks and hiking treacherous trails.

“The group was hiking and he was out in front, as usual,” Laurie said, describing his fatal accident. “He apparently slipped and hit his head. He never regained consciousness.”

She said she finds comfort in knowing he was out exploring new territories and doing what he loved.

“On the other hand, this was such an incredibly active and vital man who still saw patients – and he was gone in an instant. It takes some getting used to.”

Byrd, a former Air Force officer, launched most of his outdoor adventures after the age of 50. He was active in the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club and a veteran, along with Laurie, on wilderness trips in North America.

They paddled off the Galapagos Islands as well as northeastern Greenland, a trip that took 10 years to arrange with permission from the natives.

“It was worth it,” he said.

Byrd climbed peaks such as Kilimanjaro and hiked to the base camps of Mount Everest and K2.

He'd trekked in Nepal, India and Buton, an island in Indonesia. He’d canoed Alaska’s Noatak River into the Bering Sea, kayaked the Strait of Magellan in Chile and rode out 400 miles of whitewater in a canoe, along with Laurie, on the Nahanni River in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories. The Nahanni trip is epic in the paddling club’s history because the group nearly starved.

After trekking 200 miles across England, walking an average of 20 miles each day, Byrd wondered if he was in good enough shape to run a marathon. He proved he could by finishing the Portland Marathon, just before he turned 80.

Byrd’s ashes returned the United States with his wife. The family is planning a memorial on April 27, 11 a.m., at Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church.

PADDLING — Watch Spokane pro kayaker Brian Jamieson carry over the lingering snow to sack the falls and rock slides on Idaho's Pack River.

PADDLING — Brian Jamieson claimed the first kayak descent of Towell Falls Saturday in the BLM's Rock Creek/Escure Ranch area 20 miles south of Sprague

The proof is captured here by photographer Michael Kinney (Tag Ur it Photography).

PADDLING — High water in many of the region's streams justifiably keeps average paddlers on shore where they belong.  But expert kaykers relish runoff, giving them the only shot of the year at some mountain streams.

Close to home, Dead Dog Hole on the Spokane River under the Stateline bridge, attracts a regular clientelle of kayakers working on their play-boating techniques.

Photo above by paddler/photographer Brian Jamieson shows a crew staging on Sunday for some Dead Dog action.

But even the experienced paddlers have their limits, as Jamieson emphasized in this Facebook post:

We had two swimmers out at the dog yesterday, neither was bad at all but remember to keep it safe out there! There's a ton of wood comin down right now so a spotter is key. Also, having a throw rope or two on shore is a good idea in case of problems. The hole should be past it's stickiest stage, but let's be sure to keep it safe out there!

PADDLING — Spokane paddler and guidebook author Dan Hansen couldn't find a scouting report for a stretch of Hangman Creek at high water, so he set out by foot to find out for himself.

Hansen hiked the 10-mile stretch from the Qualchan Historical Monument site downstream to Valley Chapel Road and found excellent paddling water — with a few big rapids to be aware of — at a flow of about 1,000 cubic feet per second.

See Dan Hansen's Facebook page video report of Hangman Creek at 1,000 cfs.

Note:  Hansen previously reported that he floated the river at 3,500 cfs. Here's his retraction of that initial report:

“A group of us ran that section of the creek after I sent that…. It was 1,000 CFS, and it was actually just about perfect. I remember thinking at the time that my initial assessment of the creek was wrong. I’d be scared to death to run it at 3,500.”

This week: On Tuesday, Hangman Creek peaked at almost 3,500 cfs. It's down to 1,700 today but likely will go back up considering the amount of rain in the weather forecast.

Directions to Qualchan Historial Monument:

Drive south from Spokane to Waverly, which is just southwest of Fairfield. From the main street tavern, go north and west on Spangle/Waverly Road 5.5 miles. Turn right and follow North Kentuck Trails Road just over 2 miles to Hangman Creek. Cross the bridge and start looking for the small monument on the left.

• Discovery School students in Spokane have a good history page about the history of Qualchan and Hangman Creek with a link to a HistoryLink article.

PADDLING  – Dwight McCain of the Coeur d’Alene Canoe and Kayak Club will present a free program on paddling the 72-mile Bowron Lakes circuit in the Cariboo Mountains of British Columbia on Monday (March 26), 7 p.m., at Corbin Community Center, 827 W. Cleveland Ave., sponsored by the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club.

RIVERS — American Whitewater, a national river and river running advocacy group, needs support to continue standing up for free-flowing rivers that are always under pressure for water demands.

Last year, the group had a voice in taking down a few dams, protecting flows in rivers and representing paddler interests.

Since 2005, American Whitewater has been involved in the removal of 14 old and uneconomical hydropower dams, restored flows and improved access to 25 significant whitewater runs and supported designation of 1,118.75 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers. I

See a video report on the group's latest projects on this  highlight reel.

Join American Whitewater here or call (866) 262-8429.

RIVERS — The river running season is officially underway on Hangman (Latah) Creek, and it could be over in another day or two.

Unlike most rivers that require spring runoff to get the juices flowing, Hangman is notorious for brief spurts of high flows generated by rain-on-snow events like we had this weekend. 

Expect to see experienced river runners equipped for being on the cold, off-color water testing their river skills on Wednesday.

PADDLING — Some people were content to be inside where it was warm on Thursday.

Blake  Sommers was on the Spokane River test-driving his new kayak for the first time.

He got a little swimming practice, too. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But he didn't let go of his boat.

PADDLING — If the winter weather has chilled your paddling expeditions, it's time to bone up on the kayaking lingo so you'll mesh with the gang when runoff kicks in.