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Hmmm…” I thought, “So elbow pads are highly recommended for this run? Well, that’s…comforting, I suppose.” The thought of running Cherry Creek on the Tuolumne River made me a little apprehensive. Dad showed me a description of Cherry Creek from an old-school guidebook by Lars Holbeck and Chuck Stanley: “Are you a macho man (or woman)? Cherry Creek is a hurdle all prospective macho Class V river runners must overcome. This is where they come to strut their stuff or get stuffed while strutting.” This did not help ease my anxiety at all. Do I have what it takes to “strut my stuff”? While I’ve paddled Class Vs such as North Fork Payette, Burnt Ranch Gorge on the Trinity, and Tobin on the North Fork of the Feather, Cherry Creek is California’s premiere Class V run – the one everyone talks about! It has nasty, mean, deep holes that are chunky and window-shade those who miss their lines --- those that “get stuffed while strutting”. Dad sat me down and told me not to worry. He said that I had already run much more difficult sections of river during national level slalom competitions. “No rapid in Cherry Creek is even close to comparing with Durango’s 300-meter Senior Team Trial course at 2,500 cfs with 7,200 feet of altitude”, he assured me. He’s probably right. I can look at a Class V as an easy slalom course. The difference is that if you biff a move in slalom, you get a 50-second penalty added to your time, but on Class V…well…yeah…it’s not going to look as pretty as a penalty mark on your scorecard if you know what I mean! “A typical Class V rapid requires two to four must-make moves, a slalom course requires at least 18”, I assured myself. “A typical Class V rapid has lines that are four feet wide, while a slalom course requires lines that will place my boat within inches of a gate”, I reminded myself. “On a Class V rapid, you can stop at an eddy to catch your breath, on a slalom course, you paddle like crazy for two minutes until you get to the finish line”, I told myself.
Slalom is what’s going to make all the difference! This realization provided the confidence I needed. I’ve learned from slalom racing that confidence will definitely boost your performance. Panicking is going to get you nowhere except downstream whether you want to go there or not. Yep, I’m ready to strut my stuff at Cherry Creek! It was August 13 when my Dad and I drove up to Casa Loma to meet up with the group headed by my slalom mentor and favorite course designer Keith Kishiyama. There was a large group of people at the put-in which is good in that there is safety in numbers; but at the same time it was slightly intimidating because this was the macho all-male Class V crowd. Once I got in the water, did a few rolls, and actually woke up for the first time in the day, I started getting really anxious. There were several warm-up Class 3 and 4 rapids before the first big one, Mushroom. The Tuolumne River during summer has a tight three-hour flow release window. As I did not have the time to scout the bottom of the rapid, I did not have a precise, clear line in my head of how to run it. On the slalom course, all my strokes are planned meticulously – I never roll the dice and take any chances. My decision to portage was a comfortable choice -- my slalom background made all the difference. After Mushroom, I relaxed and started to enjoy the run. I did awesome on the rest of the rapids and was online on everything. The rapids were just pure fun! The Miracle Mile, where the gradient drops 200 feet within one mile – featured a mile-long Class 4 that adds to Class V. We eddy-hopped and boat-scouted our way down continuous whitewater. My slalom training taught me about precision boat control. While I’m not paddling a sleek carbon fiber slalom boat, I could still place my stubby plastic Riot Sniper creek boat within a foot or two of where I wanted to be. I was paddling well within my comfort zone, having a blast, and that made all the difference. Next was Blind Faith which is a fun boof move over a drop that my big cork boat handled like a dream. Next up was Sky King. It’s this drop where you definitely don’t want to go left. There is this large curler wave just right of center that you want to use to kick you right up against a rock wall. It was a much better idea to be friendlier with that rock wall than what was on the left side of the drop. -- a large sticky hole that was famous for keeping in paddlers for a good chunk of time. A couple miles down was my favorite rapid, Lewis’s Leap. We boat-scouted on river left where we all huddled in an eddy as Keith pointed us out the line. It starts off with a boof at the top into some friendly foamy water, it wasn’t a really nasty hole, then paddling through squirly water to get to the “Leap” which was another boof about 6 feet. You had to go over with speed because there was a hole behind it. And if you did drive over with speed, fluffy water greeted you instead of the sticky hole that you just jumped. On this rapid, our group had a peanut gallery of the boaters ahead of us and some people scouting it. I made it through and gladly I strut my stuff, it was awesome. Keith said I got some good air time on the boofs and it felt like it. I had an immense grin across my face after I paddled over the leap and floated backwards to look back at the impressive rapid. I even got a few compliments later on downstream about how I did on it and I thanked them back with that grin on my face. “Time to strut your stuff or get stuffed while strutting…” I ran Cherry Creek’s sweet drops and made all my lines while strutting my stuff. I paddled Cherry Creek a few weeks after I turned 15 . I am the youngest woman ever to run it. Paddling Cherry Creek just like it was a slalom course gave me all the confidence I needed and that made all the difference!
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Cherry Creek Tuolumne River, CA August 2005 At 15 years old, I was the youngest woman to run Cherry Creek!
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