VTR: Owyhee River, Middle Section
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
- Video trip report of the owyhee river.
The owyhee river runs through some of the most beautiful, rugged, and uninhabited sections of Oregon. The owyhee has multiple sections that can be ran by wide range of crafts. The lower owyhee is a popular section that sees a bulk of the boating traffic. The middle section of the owyhee is a less used section for a few different reasons. The middle section of the owyhee has a higher classification of rapids, but overall less rapids on the run. The middle owyhee is also a lot more dependent on flows for larger boats. The middle owyhee is typically ran from 2k and up, and for a snowmelt river that is based in the desert that is sometimes hard to time. The middle section of the owyhee can be ran below 2k CFS but requires either portages or a higher chance of pins while running oar boats.
The middle section of the owyhee is most famous for widowmaker rapid. It currently is rated at a V+ and I think it gets that rating due to the remoteness of the canyon, and the incredibly difficult time you would have trying to line boats down this section.
0:00 intro
0:17 The Ledge
1:52 Halfmile
3:57 Raft flip
4:23 Widowmaker Gorge
5:32 Widowmaker
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Great video, and commentary. You have a very insightful, peaceful way of explaining your moves, and the thoughts behind them.
I really appreciate that.
Thanks Cody!
Appreciate the support Sean!
Ummm, very possible this its the best rapid description and video I have ever seen. You coverd it all and left out all the bs. Nicely done, thank you for sharing
Thank you very much for the thoughtful comment.
Thanks for posting this and for sharing your observations. You are spot on that there is a dearth of info out there on this run. Well done!
Nice work Cody! Great lines and commentary!
Thanks dude! Illinois season is looking promising this year.
That thumbnail pic 😮💨 awesome video
Such a beautiful canyon
Great video. I’ve been down the section a number of times at different levels. As flows move above 8,000-9,000 Ledge gets easier and the wholes and waves in 1/2 Mile become very large and pushy.
Thanks dude! I for sure, could see how halfmile could get like that at higher flows.
Love the videos! Thanks! Who do you recommend for an Owyhee shuttle?
owyheeadventureshuttle.com/
Great. I’d like to do a Lower Owyhee trip starting May 31st but worry there won’t be enough flow. My group all has 14ft rafts. Thoughts? Got a crystal ball?
@@bigbadb80 just have a good backup plan to head to a different river if the flows get to low. You could probably snag a cancellation permit for the rogue around that time.
That’s the plan. Would you say the trip is viable above 800 in rafts?
@bigbadb80 As the water level drops, the owyhee gets harder. You and your crew have to come to a no go level on your own.
Nice video! Is this upstream from Rome or downstream? Thanks
Upstream. The section downstream of Rome is the lower section and the more common ran section.
2 questions: I noticed you both were in cats. Do you think this needs a cat to run, or would a 16’ raft be suitable? Second, how would you compare Widow-maker to Green Wall?
You could run this in a raft easily. I personally wouldn’t take my 16 foot round boat down it, unless I knew I had 4500 CFS the entire time. Rapids like the ledge as water level drops would become really tricky in a larger boat and a huge risk of pins. I would take a 13ft round boat down anytime.
I would say that widowmaker and green wall are very similar. I think the crux move is harder, but the crux is at the bottom of the rapid. On green wall the crux move is dead center of the rapid.
I have heard from other paddlers that you run the middle section, and then if you feel comfortable you head to the Illinois.
@@PrivateWhitewater thanks! Very helpful information. That explanation on the raft size to flow makes a lot of sense. I’m hoping flows on the lower hold up until the school year ends so I can get on it. (I got lucky with that in 2019, fingers crossed.)
4 ft drop tops
When you ran it, you thought it was only 4 ft? I looks and seems a lot bigger than that.
2 foot drop
“That’s about an 8 foot drop” 😂
Sorry you disagree with me, but the camera doesn’t do it justice.
Have you ran it?