Expedition summer report

Sunset on The Milky lakes

A fine evening at hotel California

Mason Robinson takes his second plunge into the depths of the Cherry Bomb

Upper Cherry was the first trip I took this summer,with plans to also do the Middle fork of the Kings again if levels worked out,which they didn't,but all was good in the immigrant wilderness of Cherry creek.While flow was low,group morale was extremely high and we had a great trip routing 6 people(5 first timers including myself)into cherry bomb gorge.A great trip even though we didn't get kings.Easily one of the best class 5 rivers in the world.I'm sure there are other trip reports on this river far more comprehensive than I could be, so I will move on to my next adventure.

Myself at Double Pothole

From left to right:Jim Janney,Chris McCoy,Jordy Searle,and Nick Murphy.Photo by Emily Powell

Suffering for the love of it

It was just another great day the takeout for Little river in AL,a few years ago,and we were talking about summer plans for our first trip to the Middle Kings river."If we are hiking that far for kayaking,we might as well do Bull Lake next year!",someone said.Bull Lake?I had never even heard of this Bull Lake creek.Little did I know that this moment would stick with me and eat at me until I went to BLC myself.A dismal snowpack in Cali had the crew back to the southeast by the end of june from the upper Cherry trip, and though it was a great trip with great people on one of the worlds great rivers,I was hungry,starving if you will.I got word that Knoxville TN paddler Jim Janney was trying to put together a crew for an expedition to BLC,and I contacted him instantly.I soon found out that Jim had an audacious plan to hike in to a set of glacial lakes,known as the Milky lakes for there grey silty water,that lie almost at the source of the north fork of BLC to do an exploratory run on the upper gorges of the north fork.The plan was to get dropped off by a 4wd shuttle bunny,hike 8,10,12? miles over an 11,000 foot pass from Kirkland park,then straight to the lakes thus avoiding a horrible jungle like descent through pine forest that a prior group had expierienced.This path would also allow us to access the upper gorges of the north fork and make for a shorter approach than the 18 mile slog into the south fork.Shuttle options had became thin when our original plan fell through after much negotiation with those living on the rez, and we conceded that we might be hiking into the south fork if we wanted to get on BLC this year.Though many calls and invites were made,only 2 people really showed interest in joining us for this one:former SE boater Nick Murphy and Kiwi paddler Jordy Searle.Nick and Jordy had been eddied out the NF Payette for a few weeks and somehow Jim talked them into joining us for this mission.Jim's brother,Tom,had completed a run from the SF side 2 weeks prior at HIGH flow,so we had good beta from him for the hike,as trails can be non-existent in the Winds at times.Jim had spent a lot of time and effort on the beta for the NF mission and hadn't given up on it just yet even though we were planning to put on the next day.The phone rang,it was Jordy."We have a beautiful blonde with 4wd and a shotgun that is willing to do our shuttle,lets meet at the Rez at 6am!"The plan was hatched,it was about to be on!

 

 

 

Jim soaks in the heart of the Winds

The next moring,sure enough,the boys showed up at 6am with a beautiful blonde shuttle driver named Emily who drove us at least 20 miles of dirt roads into the backcountry until the road became impassable.At this point we gathered our backpack systems and said goodbye to Emily knowing that we were now in it to win it,as they say.The crew embrassed the solitude and the silence of remoteness as we followed what was left of the ATV path to an open alpine meadow labeled as Kirkland park on topo maps.We had entere the "roadless area" and soon after the meadow there no more marked trails or paths to follow,only faint disconnecting fisherman and game trails used by Indians long ago.Jim led us flawlessly across Kirkland lake to the base of the pass where we found an ok path to the top of the 11,200 foot ridgeline that guarded the Milky Lakes and the NF.It was brutal,but the views were breathtaking and made us quickly forget about the climb.We took a nice break here then began the downclimb to the lakes.An hour later, after some route finding issues,the pass was 1500 feet above us and we were trudging through swampy forests occasionally finding a path,but mostly just bashing through the woods.After 2 lakes,10ish miles of carrying loaded boats over difficult terrain at altitude,an 11000 ft pass and alot of soul searching,we had made to the Milky lakes.

The glacial mirror reflects the granite as I float across Little Milky in the late evening

The paddle across the lake to our camp was surreal.Alpine summits of the Winds surrounded us in a place few others have been.We made camp in the pine forest next to the first rapid of the Milky Lakes gorge amd had the treat of seeing the most epic double rainbow I have ever seen tower over us and the mountains and eventually form to complete arches adjacent to one another across the sky,sorry no photos.It was a good night despite a little rain forcing the boys to set up a late night tarp shelter.

Jordy fires into the first rapid right out of Little Milky lake

Day 2 was to be our exploratory day and it started with a nice class 4 ledge drop right out of the lake.We hoped to make it to the confluence with the south fork that day,we also hoped to find some amazing runnable whitewater.Niether of those things happened.
 After the initial rapid,we ran 2 out of 3 of the remaining drops in the lake gorge.Nice 4/5 led us into big milky lake,a truly spectacular place to be.

Jim in the Milky lakes gorge

Jordy exiting the first gorge

Jah Murphy dropping into Big Milky

Sick landscape shot by Jordy      

The glamour was short-lived and we were quickly reminded that this ain't california!Right out of the lake was a beautiful 35er,but the lip was all jacked up so we portaged left on granite slabs.


beautiful falls we couldnt run

We put back in to some manky stuff that we boat-scouted through until the walls starting boxing in around us.We knew there was a large falls around the bend that we had seen from miles away the day before on our hike in.After an extended scout we decided our best way around the falls was to go up and over a dome on river left.Jim had scoped this out on sattelite imagery,and was confident it would be passable.We dubbed this the "Jim Janney portage".We climbed straight up the granite dome and over the backside for a solid 45 mins before reaching river level below the massive falls and runout.

Epic drops on the north fork

Jim Janney portage aka Cougar canyon from river level

We put back in to more manky boulder gardens which led us to a super steep section.2 nice drops that were very tempting unfortunately led into a very unnrunnable 50-60 footer.We portaged again down a nice granite slab on river right.The portage was easy by bull lake standards and put us back into some decent boulder rapids until the next big portage at a wood filled,sieved out canyon.We were able to portage at river level into the next section, which finally yielded a few good drops and dished out some carnage as well!A good lead-in put us at the top of a stout triple drop that I walked.Nick declared it good to go and had a pretty good line through the rapid.

Murphy on the first d of a nasty triple drop

                                                                                                           

Jim followed suit with a good line and sold it to Jordy.Jordy had a little trouble after flipping into the left wall,some bad rocks forced him out of the boat but Jordy is a bad mofo and basically just self rescued himself.We pulled the boat out but the paddle was gone.Jordy got out the breakdown,we portaged some wood in the next drop and it was back on.Next thing we came up on was a rowdy boulder garden into a box canyon like Daves chasm on the Clarks Fork, but mankier.Nick ran first and cleaned it up.I went next and tried to go over a shallow flake rock that kinda threw nick off line a bit.The incredibly manky texture of the rock stopped me,spun me around and I flipped into a deep brace/roll.I got back up just in time to bounce of the large pillow rock in the center of the river.I was now back in control but on the wrong side of the river and headed straight into a sieve.Luck was on my side as Jordy had elected to portage the entrance and was able to pull me out of the siphon without me getting out of my boat!A few more portages on riverside scree around horrid mank deposited us into another small lake.The lake was sick!It was locked in by cliffs forcing us to paddle out of the lake before we could potentially exit our boats again.The walls subsided just enough to allow the crew to check out the next drops by climbing down the bank through thick pine forest.The scout revealed a sick walled in canyon that ended in a 60fter with a huge Runout rapid at the bottom.Portage options seemed non-existent.We were faced with the hardest situation we had come to so far.                                      


What to do?

I was worked both physically and mentally,perhaps a bit more than the rest of the crew.They went out and searched for our best options while I recovered a bit.They decided it would be best for us to go high and try to use a tree line gully to get back to river level.I was getting left behind on the portages at this point,just getting worked.I was pushing hard,just not a lot of fuel left in the tank.As we climbed straight up,I stopped for a rest and saw Jim coming back down.He informed me that he thought we could go down where I was at.This lifted my spirits some as I was now back with the group and going down instead of up.Jim's route went well as usual,and after a ferry or two and another portage we made camp in a short section of flats.8-9 hours of brutal descent had only yeilded us about 3 miles of river that day.Our legs were a mural of cuts and bruises from the numerous hell portages,and the boats looked the same from the sharp,nasty rock found in the north fork of bull lake creek.However,our spirits were good.Even though we didn't make the confluence of the south fork,we had made it to the point where a prior had put on thus completeing the unknown portion of our trip.We had a wooded camp that night that just oozed grizzly.I had a mountain house and passed out quickly,bear spray by my side.It rained again that night,and another late night tarp set up ensued. 

Lakes section of Bull Lake proper

Day 3 started of nice.Good boulder gardens and slides with a few short portages mixed in put us at the confluence within an hour of putting in.We had little flow coming in from the other side,but downstream in bull lake proper we had a healthy medium flow.The 1st part of Bull lake proper is the lakes section.The north fork put us in below some of the drops in this section,in particular the waterfall on the cover the colorado guidebook.We stiil got some great bedrock that culminated in the largest drop of the run,Haagen Daazen.

More Lakes section

Haagen Daazen the grand finale of the lake section

Haagen daazen is huge,with the lead in being the crux.I was feeling good but wanted no part of this thing.Nick seal launched in below the lead in to run the main drop.The rest of us portaged down the right.The next section was filled with stout eddy-hopping and boat scouting that led right to the entrance of the forked tongue gorge.The river split around an island with most of the flow going right through a huge 5+ rapid.We ran a sketchy sneak down the left channel to a short portage and took lunch and reflected on the morning.The 2 channels came back together and the walls closed in after our lunch spot,and we entered an awesome flurry of powerful 5/5+ boulder gardens with big holes.We all walked a nasty 10ftr and then set safety for Jim as he ran the final rapid of the gorge.A long lead in to a huge sloping ledge hole required the best of lines and Jim crushed it.

Jim was the only one to step up to this massive hole in the forked tongue gorge

Same drop in the forked tongue gorge

The river let up for a short moment,we did another portage,then paddled to the start of the first of 2 named portages on the run,the Jim Bridger portage.

Jim Bridger portage

As I suffered over the house-sized boulders and loose scree for 45 mins or more,I thought of the hardships Bridger himself must have faced while pioneering trade routes through these rugged mountains.Perhaps he had stood at the same place I now stood......Each step forward was increasingly difficult.I had reached total exhaustion.If my balance waivered at all,I no longer had the strength to right myself,I would just have to fall and get back up.After the first part of the portage,We paddled a short distance and began the 2nd part of the portage.Part 2 was much friendlier and offered a nice double drop at the end of it.We started bombing again.After a 1/2 mile or so I had to call in my camp card.I was fatigued to the point of liability.The group was supportive of my decision.They led through one more rapid and we made camp.

Rapids leading into camp

I consumed as much food as I could spare in an attempt to recover for the next day.Jim managed a few trout that he and Jordy shared.We watched the sun set behind the high walls all around us until the darkness put us to sleep.Day 4 I awoke feeling comparitively fresh.It was a good thing because right out of camp we had a mile or so of high quality class 5 boulder rapids.Jordy took the lead and we followed his example right down into bull lake itself.Out of the lake we encountered more 5+ boulder gardens that were more marginal than the ones above the lake.Next was the 2nd named portage of Bull lake creek,Bull Lake falls.

Bull Lake Falls

Bull Lake falls portage was not as hard as the bridger portage,but epic none the less.

Absolutely epic!

A nice 30ftr and the end of the 400ft cascade called to Nick and Jim,and they fired it while I set rope and Jordy took photos.Good lines led us to the next challenge.

Cleanish 30ftr at thr end of the cascade

After the falls we entered the rocky mtn mank section,3 miles of continuous boulder garden style rapids that gradually mellow out treated us to some of the best paddling if the whole trip.We took lunch so Nick could do a quick boat repair after this intense section of whitewater.We all enjoyed some sunshine and food in the now open canyon.Back on the river,the scenery had shifted to desert like features.We ran a good stretch of 3/4 boulders gardens for a while until we came upon the last canyon of the trip,the Limestone gorge.The gorge started off with several powerful drops that no one in our group fired up.A few good rapids put us into the main part of the gorge which is essentially a mandantory portage on some of the most unstable rock and sand I have ever been on.Although it short,I felt this was the sketchiest portage of the whole trip.A couple of close calls later and we had made it around the sieve pile and back to river level.Solid class 5 started up again.We knew we were close to the end,so we bombed hard,boat scouting most of the way.Then the boulders dissappeared,and we ran a long low angle slide down into the flats above Bull lake resevoir.We floated through the flats with 1000 ft cliffs all around us.Each buttress was like a giant statue overlooking and protecting the sacred canyons of bull lake creek.

From alpine to the desert.Always huge walls around you at Bull lake.

We considered camping before paddling the resevoir,but the bugs and heat got to us and we made the call to hammer out the lake.The next 4 hours or so was some of the hardest paddling of my life and it was all flatwater!Soon enough though,I reached the takeout 30 mins after the rest of the boys and we were loading boats like any other river day,except this was not any other day,it was a special day.For whitewater,Cali is def better,but for adventure nothing beats wyoming.Is bull lake wyoimings version of middle kings?I don't think you can compare the 2 beyond the numbers.Each is so special in there own way and so different in character from one another.Bull lake was a sick adventure,but just to top off the summer Myself and Jim rallied to the Clarks fork of the Yellowstone to do our 2nd run on one of the classic multiday class five runs in north america.It was a great trip and a great end to my expedition summer.