Big Boat Carnage Gallery

Welcome to California Creeks, an online whitewater guidebook to the Pacific Southwest.

The bigger the boat, the better the carnage! But for pictures of smaller boats messing up, see the original Carnage Gallery or the New Carnage Gallery. For an antidote, see our Safety Talk.

Forks of the Kern, Carson Falls, class V

This 12' cataraft didn't get up enough speed above Carson Falls, and just wallowed into the drop, where it flipped back-to-front towards the left.


Load intact, but oarsman disappears underwater!	Bubba is back on top (bottom?) before the rapid ends

Middle Fork American, Tunnel Chute, class V

This chute, followed by a tunnel thru rock, was blasted by miners back in the late 1800s to short-circuit a section of river so they could pick up gold nuggets in the dewatered horseshoe bend. The first picture shows the easy section before it get really steep. The rough section of the chute is also extremely narrow, and raft guides don't want their boats sideways there! Oops.


Oarless gear boat with guide front-paddling	Despite good posture, guide fails Ruddering 101

Bouncing off one rock, raft bumps the other side	“This is a flip for sure,” Brian quietly surmises

Relieved of heft, raft returns to upright position	Near rescue, but Brian swims thru entire tunnel!

Rogue River, Blossom Bar, class IV

In the 1950s this rapid was blasted into runnability by Glen Wooldridge, driftboat fishing guide. The US Forest Service even gave him dynamite! So enjoy your government-subsidized eddy behind the big horn rock, which appears on the left side of the first photo. The backferry into this eddy is an easy move, even at high water, but some people fail to start ferrying soon enough. The proper route is down the right tongue, towards the bottom of the first picture.


Plan A (backferrying) fails, as an oar pops	180° turn provides an opening for Plan B

Oops, sideways into the undercut wrap rock!	Seems like a better tie-down job was needed

Passenger saves the bow line and lunch bag	An upright oar marks the burial spot

Rogue River, Rainie Falls, class V

Rated class VI in some guidebooks, this rapid's most dangerous spot is towards the center, where a monster recirculating hole could hold swimmers underwater for long enough to drown them. On extreme left, the current washes thru pretty quickly. Kayaks have a difficult time in the main falls of Rainie. Poster boy Andy seems to have this one nailed, but the big reversal at the base of the falls sends him flying in a huge tailstand.

		Almost as good as a roll
Nice left-side entry	Flying lessons!

This cataraft tipped over backwards because it was improperly loaded (too much gear in the rear, according to the boatman).


Turbulence pushes tubes down	Upside down cat!	Swimmer quickly surfaces

Trinity River, Hell Hole, class IV-

Because there is a nice recovery pool just below, most folks go for the gusto when running Hell Hole, rather than attempting any fancy-pants sneak routes. The hole has a tendency to turn boats clockwise and flip them left to right. Rather than force his companion to endure the ignominy of a flip, this guide thoughtfully fell out of the boat instead. He reports that it is an extraordinarily deep swim, but from down under, the bubbly water has a beautiful aquamarine color.


In good position at the outset	Stuck in Hell with one helmet showing!

The guide gets launched across the boat	Surfacing well downstream

South Fork American, Satan's Cesspool, class III+

When our friend brought her friend, little did we know he would show up in the morning drunk. Before the curling wave in Satan's Cesspool, as in many other rapids that day, he lost his balance and fell into the boat, then sat back up onto the right tube just as our left tube hit that curling wave. The result was a beautiful, hard-to-duplicate, tube stand.

	Everybody lowsides left, while somebody - who could it be? - loses his paddle.
	Self-flipping Sotar refuses to flip. The boater with red baseball hat doesn't even get her scalp wet.
	One paddler practices swimming with her feet upstream. Fortunately our cooler full of lunch and non-alcoholic beverages is intact!

For pictures of smaller boats messing up, see the original Carnage Gallery. Here are some overflow small boat sequences.

Forks of the Kern, Confusion/Westwall, class V

SuperDave got his name for unbelievable death-defying exploits, and here is one of them! The undercut “Whale's Tail” rock is very hazardous, but SuperDave avoids it by foots-up swimming over some entrapment rocks.