Five Lakes Creek, 1st D

Five Lakes Creek involves 2,000 vertical feet of climbing to the top of Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, then bushwacking 1,000 feet down the backside to the river. Though this may not be the best way to get to the river, our indecisive group: Rush, Charlie, Mac, Merlin and I (behind the camera) were tired of not kayaking and wanted to get on the water. It took us four hours to hike the four miles over the ski resort and down the backside. Luckily, we ended up getting to the river just before it became totally dark.



Five Lakes
All photos courtesy of Epicocity
View more steep creeking photos here


We found a sweet little campsite next to the river and checked the flow and guessed it to be about 200 cfs. Once settled at camp, we cracked open the Brazilian liquor-in-can called Boshitzna, (or something similar) turned on portable speakers, and partook in your other overnighter customs. All courtesy of Mac I might add.

We woke up and paddled some class III for a mile or so until we came to the first gorge. It had three cracky ledge style drops so we were stoked to see some whitewater. After pulling a log out of the first drop we all successfully gave her.



60-foot Slide...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


Next rapid was a stout one, a twisting 10-footer that flowed directly into a 40-footer. The drop itself looked pretty good, but there were nasty pockets on both sides of the landing and no real way to set up safety. After everyone eyed it for a while Rush stepped up and dropped it in a semi-successful manner. He had a great line but when he resurfaced he was pushed right and momentarily pinned on the outcropping of rocks forming the river right pocket. Teetering in between washing out of the cauldron and recirculating back into the pocket, he fought his way into the outflow of the cauldron in a commendable manner.



Marginally Scoutable...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


Next was a clean 15-footer followed by a fun, pillowed out rapid. Around a couple more bends the river changed in character. The river gorged up and we knew from the topos that this is where most of the gradient was.

First rapid we came to was awesome! It was a boulder maze with vertical walls on each side, which all led directly into a narrow slide. Below this slide was another cool 15-foot boof, which we all ran in a narrow slot on the right. Then we came around the corner and found a marginally scoutable drop, which looked good to go if you moved from right to left. After probing it, the rapid turned out to be a little bigger than expected. After this drop we came on a burly 60-foot twisting slide that only Charlie ran. My photo doesn’t do this drop justice because it turns to the river right and keeps dropping. Once he got in the meat of it, he made it look about as full on as it really is.



A Narrow Slide...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


After this rapid the river dropped into some super gnar mank and we all portaged high until we found a good spot to get back in. So we dropped back in to the gorge and paddled a quarter mile until we came upon "The Beast." This fall consisted of a 25-footer with a death cave on the left wall that lead directly into a 30-foot slide, which dropped off of a 40-footer at the bottom. The drop is definitely runnable, but we were all pretty beat at this point from all the hiking, portaging and paddling. One day someone will probably run this drop.



The Beast...
All photos courtesy of Epicocity


A half mile of some more mank and we arrived at Hell Hole Reservoir. Now all we were left with was five miles of flat water across the lake. The lake didn’t claim any swimmers and we all ended up making back to Auburn in time for some quality burritos.

Five Lakes is an adventure and is worthy for someone who may be training for a triathlon. For me though, it will be a one-timer. The amount work it takes doesn't really outweigh the run. There are some quality rapids; you just have to be willing to put up with some mank, flat water and mountain climbing to get to them.