4500 cfs

If you're a river person you know that's a significant flow for our river.  When it is high, and brown and cold there is some risk in river running.   This flow requires a bit of skill and attention because significant hydraulics are present as our local river park turns into a class IV feature.

Here's a picture of the water at this flow.  This is about a 4-5ft hole/wave for perspective.

So if our little Benny were to paddle through a wave like this it would look like

That's the flow we ran it as a family this last week.  It had Brad a little worried so he had a few of us portage while everyone else that is going on the MF of the Salmon had to run it.  So Kenzie went with Jordan on his boat and Ben and Riley boarded Brad's boat and a they used the few helmets they had with them.

They ran it clean!  Here's a little clip if you want to watch the hard part (sorry it's a little shaky, Anna and I were running to be able to capture it all, remember Brad made us sit this part out).

We did have a few mishaps on the second half of the float, the "easy" part.  Jake got hit by a lateral wave while riding cowboy and fell in.  Then the same wave took one of Jordans passengers so we had two swimmers at the same time.

The raft run was warm up for the boys who went back to make their first kayak runs at this high flow.  There was more drama but everyone made it though alive.

Again, all made it through safely.  Here's a quick peak at their run through on the kayaks.  And here's some good pics.

Jordan leads the pack....

 comes out easily enough.

Brad takes a deeper line and comes through in good shape.

And Ben, although a little more nervous than the other two...

makes it through just fine.
We are pretty lucky to have this river in our backyard.  The boys have been at it for 2 yrs now and are finally successfully running class IV water.  They tell me it is quite scary.

Jordan takes on corner pocket like a champ.  Dad wishes he could be as fearless as the boy.

The rest of the week was taken up by work for Brad and I, free time (mostly) for Kenzie and Jacob and wrestling for the boys.  Jordan went 11 wins and 1 loss (155 lbs.) in his bracket at the wrestling camp and Ben went 6-6 in his bracket (wrestling with the highschoolers).  Riley didn't get to participate in the duals but enjoyed the week camping with his brothers.