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 Topic:  rating and difficulty 

Forums -> Hazards -> rating and difficulty Page 1 of 1
Posted to flow site: Battle Creek - At Coleman Fish HatcheryLatest PostNext TopicPrev Topic
 Author  Message 
dave blau
Member
Posted: Jun 6, 2010Post Subject: rating and difficulty
lower battle creek has a lot of brush on shore, making takeouts and scouting more difficult. this in addition to the continuous nature of the run it should be considered essentially class 4.
georgew
Member
Posted: Sep 14, 2010Post Subject: ? class 4 ???
Lower battle creek isn't a class IV. It is barely a class II. Brushy banks don't up the rating of a rapid. These kind of ideas only will put people into harm by making them think they can run a class IV rapid when they have no true idea what a class IV rapid is. I would caution any thoughts of drifting in this line of thinking. Brush and trees do make paddling difficult and hazardous. But it doesn't raise the scale of rapid classification.
This is simply a bad idea.
dave blau
Member
Posted: Sep 14, 2010Post Subject: difficulty
better to over rate it than to have cl3 boaters expecting no difficulty. less risk in this than the converse. we had a swim and a lost paddle amongst experienced boaters on this cl3.
georgew
Member
Posted: Sep 15, 2010
I would still have to disagree. It is the over rating that has gotten people in more trouble in the past. I would question your skill set for what type of boating you intend to be doing. Each river, or creek is unique in its own. Brush, log jambs, gradient all play part. But a brushy class II doesn't make it a class IV. Brush does present it own difficulties. And often are more dangerous than steep drops and lots of large boulders. It is just one of those thing you have to have a contingency plan for. Improved paddle skills in divers scenarios are more important than over rating a rapid to fit unskilled paddlers. In time you will look at this same run and wonder why it felt so hard. I remember when Battle Creek scared the crap out of me on my first paddling expeditions. Now its a run that I would easily do solo with no thought of there being anything that would be over my head. Give it time. You'll be there. Keep paddling.
Dana69
Member
Posted: Mar 27, 2017Post Subject: rating
This is definitely not a class 2 run! Class 2 means you can take a beginner down it. Way too busy for a beginner. Above 1,000 csf the crux rapid starts turning into class 4 and somewhere over 3,000 it turns into class 5. I run class 5 and I walked it (solo). Above 3,000 it is pretty much one continuous rapid for 9 miles. Easiest flow with everything filled in nicely is around 800csf. But the S Fk can have one or 2 potential pin spots if its low.
rrogerskayaker
Member
Posted: Mar 30, 2017Post Subject: Battle Creek Run
Having paddled this run perhaps 70 times over the last 35 years at many different flows, I can attest that by putting in on S. Fork, it is primarily a class 3 run with one long class 4- rapid. The N. Fork put in is significantly steeper and is class 4.

This write-up is accurate, but shows and describes a low water condition.

http://www.cacreeks.com/battle.htm
Edited twice.  Last edited by rrogerskayaker Mar 30, 2017.
Forums -> Hazards -> rating and difficulty Page 1 of 1