I ran SoFo (7/1) from as far up as possible in the alpine - with the moraine near the lakes well in sight. Ship Creek guage was 5.58. My first time on the creek. Seemed to be flowing good but still quite bumpy and bouldery. I swam a couple times in the middle section. Took out after the South Creek Rd culvert thinking the lower section was the most difficult, but apparently I had already made it through the spiciest section (likely in the boulder drops where I swam) according to the initial SoFo report on this forum. With a reported seven portages in the lower section, I don’t regret missing out now.
There was at least one sweeper and one logjam that were questionable (must portages for me) in the middle of the middle section, if I remember correctly. It all seems manageable if you’re paying attention and aren’t uncomfortable swimming, as I’m a noob and (perhaps stupidly) did it solo.
Brad, since you run it a lot and did so yesterday, was it running relatively high, low, or moderate?
Yeah probably wasn’t a good idea to do that middle section solo, those two log jams are pretty bad and must be portaged. Almost same with the boulder garden if the water level is low.
Ran SoFo upper and middle sections Thursday and Friday evenings. Ship gauge at ~5.2’ Thurs and ~5.25’ Fri. Far more forgiving at these levels then when I ran it in the heat of early summer meltdown when Ship gauge was at about ~5.6’, but the lines aren’t as clean (more exposed to only slightly submerged rocks).
I portage the trail bridge. Other than that, there are three portages all in the middle section in this order: the red driveway bridge (not long after entering the forest), a nasty log sweeper shortly after the triple drop at a sharp left turn, and an impassable logjam shortly before the South Creek Rd culvert. The lower section appears to be a significant step up in mankiness with a lot more wood in the water.
The APU packrafting class put in right below the straining, lower moraine at Eagle Lake on Wednesday, Sept 4 when Ship was running at 5.8. One of the party of 12 even ran the first drop out of Eagle lake into the little pond below, then portaged the straining moraine and continued.
Super fun amusement park ride. Not many eddies above the usual put-in for the “upper SoFo” (i.e. below the short hanging valley on the south side of the creek) but as a couple others noted later in an email, Since the upper section was above tree line, we felt reassured that there would be no strainers. And the narrow channel eliminated most decision-making."
Took out at the trail bridge as the next section is a little too spicy – and especially woody – at that level for beginners, but the upper section (above the foot bridge and below the moraine at the Lake) with high flow is hard to beat – safe and straightforward with plenty of action.
Not sure if there is a better beginner whitewater run in Anchorage. Plenty of smiles on all the ten APU student faces, and only two swims.
I know its short notice, but if anyone is up for hiking up to run the upper and middle sections tomorrow (10/13) we will be heading out from anchorage around 9am.
Could meet there or pick you up on the way.
-A
Floated the upper and middle sections this evening (6/26/14). Ship gauge at 5.88 when I left ANC, 5.85 upon return. SoFo was good from just below the rocky moraine below the lakes. The upper section is clean with no portages, just some bony areas, butt scraping, and scooting.
Middle section is pretty similar to last season; there are still three mandatory portages (see earlier posts).
The red driveway bridge is first (you can see it coming). Make a quick portage here (probably best river right and away from the home) and avoid the landowner. He’s not friendly or sympathetic to paddlers.
Then, after an extended stretch and the triple drop (there are some noteworthy drops earlier but the triple drop is significantly bigger so it should be obvious when you’re through it) PAY ATTENTION: at a sharp left turn shortly after the triple drop there’s a bit of orange flagging on river left. Get out at or before that flagging, just around the blind left turn there’s a nasty creek-wide, mandatory portage sweeper. It’s easy to walk around on river right. This is the only mandatory portage you can’t see before it’s too late, so heed the warning.
Shortly after you put back in after the second, blind portage you’ll see a logjam; this is the third mandatory portage. I’ve always gone around it river left. Taking the river left route, you can put back in right after the log jam on some boulders and push off to run a fun drop right away. From here it’s a short stretch back to the South Creek Road culvert and take out for the middle section.
I’ve run a few hundred yards past the South Creek Road culvert (you can take out river left and a short schwack will get you to the road right around the trailhead), but I’ve yet to run the entire lower section due to wood and general mankiness…not worth all the portages to me.