This evening was my first of hopefully many Green Truss experiences. I was lucky to have gone with an amazing crew of paddlers. There was a women's paddling clinic in town, so I got to paddle with a few of the most talented female paddlers in the world, plus local Todd Anderson and playboating expert Nick Miller really make it an awesome group for my first time. We put in late at 6:30, but the summer really paid off and we were getting off at 8:30 with a bit of light left.

The run starts with an arduous drop down a rock cliff to the put in. This is one of the most dangerous parts of the run, and I wouldn't recommend doing it without lowering with a rope. There is a fixed line at the Green Truss bridge, but it is still really sketchy.

The run begins with some really fun Class III+ warm up rapids. Each one ends in a pool with a bit of recovery and they are easily boat scoutable. These continue for a while before you enter the first difficult drop, Meatball. This is a spot where the river splits around a big boulder in the middle and then goes over another smaller ledge. We ran left although it can be run either side.

Right below Meatball is Bob's Falls. Bob's is a stout ledge drop with a strong recirculating hydraulic at the bottom, especially in the middle. At this level we ran boofing right off the right side. At lower flows the left side is better. This is an easy scout, and a good place for safety, considering that the action continues just downstream.

A few corners down is Big Brother, a sometimes runable 25 footer with a cave and a very small landing zone. The left side has rocks down at the bottom, while the right side has a cave that a lot of boaters get pushed into. It's a pretty gnarly drop. We all portaged, but it is regularly run at lower flows. Scout and portage left.

Nick Miller and Todd Anderson contemplate Big Brother.

Big Brother from the front. You can see the cave through the mist at the bottom river right.

Jonathan Blum lines up Big Brother. The righty boof is about to kick the bow left to steer clear of the cave you can see through the mist at the bottom right.

Right below Big Brother is Little Brother. Also known as The Faucet, this drop is sweet and straightforward. There is a great boof in the middle off the rock shelf. Todd and Nick nailed it. At lower water the line is on the left side with right angle.

Todd sails over Little Brother.

Below The Faucet, there are a few smaller rapids leading up to Double Drop, a monstrous 18 foot double falls through two huge holes. The first drop is about 12 feet straight into a huge hole. This part is best run a little to the left side. Drive hard and get ready for the next hole. If you flip in the top hole, the water is pretty deep and tucking and waiting it out may be the best bet here. We had 2 of 7 swim in this drop, so it was pretty juicy at this level.

Looking back up at Double Drop. The top drop is larger than the picture makes it look.

Below Double Drop there are a bunch of mellow rapids before arriving at the Upper and Lower Zig Zag rapids. There is one rapid where you need to stay far left at the top and then cut back right over the weird volcanic rocks that look totally different than the rest of the run.

Looking deep into Upper Zig Zag. The line is right down the seam in the middle, boof the rock/hole at the bottom of it, and then hug the left wall before cutting back right at the bottom.

Right below Upper is Lower Zig Zag. This one is pretty straightforward, but the rapid feels a lot bigger than the first one. At 3 feet there is a huge flake in the middle that you need to dodge left of and then cut back hard right to avoid the monster hole in the middle. We all totally loved this rapid, and thought it was one of the most fun on the run. Really really fast rapid.

Heather in good spirits before running Lower Zig Zag mostly upsidedown.

The Orletta Creek Section comes in right below Lower Zig Zag. There are a few fun rapids such as Triple Drop, and The Flume before running into BZ Falls. Nick decided to fire it off in his Bliss Stick SCUD, which was pretty sick. He got pretty worked against the left wall, but made it out sweet. Really nice drop.

Nick coming up below BZ Falls. Sick line.

OOverall the run was awesome. The Green Truss really is a creeking gem in the northwest, and the flow was just right to cover a lot of the bad rocks and open up some sweet lines.

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