Corner Rapid
It was then a short paddle to Corner. This is a fast swoop, followed by a couple of rollers, then curling haystacks heading straight for a vertical cliff. The best way is to go down through the center of the haystacks, and then move out on the right side just before the cliff face and continue on down the rapid. If you come out on the left, you get swept into a gigantic eddy, known as the toilet bowl.
(To see and hear the rapid again, Right Click on the picture and then click 'play'.
You can just see Brent and Russ bailing on the right)
Last time, Warren and Peter ran this rapid, Warren thought he could keep them dry by crossing some of the diagonal curling waves broadside, then back paddling out before hitting the haystacks. WRONG - they rolled. This time they pointed the other way and punched through the first diagonal curling waves cleanly. But the rapid had changed a bit, and the second set of curling waves was at 90 degrees to the first set. Once again, the canoe started to roll in the curling wave, but this time Peter kept his hands on his paddle, and Warren with a mighty heave kept the canoe upright. Warren and Peter zoomed into the calm water where Warren pulled out the camera and started taking pictures of Brent and Russ.
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They came down the centre, through the haystacks, swamped, rolled and were swept around into the eddy.
At this point, Peter pointed out to Warren that they really weren’t in an eddy, and had were starting to go down the second part of the rapid. Warren quickly stowed the camera, guided the canoe down the rapid, beached it, and dashed back up to help (or just take photos) of the others.
Brent and Russ, after being circulated once around the eddy, managed to grab the shore, drag the canoe up on some rocks and began emptying the canoe. Meanwhile, Jason and Craig came down the middle, but managed to exit to the right and also continued to the foot of the rapids.
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Brent and Russ restarted from the eddy, and made a big draw to try to get into the stream, but as soon as they were in the haystacks, got pushed at a high rate of speed towards the cliff face. Russ assumed they weren’t going to make it, and stopped paddling. Brent responded by bellowing “Paddle, HARD, HARD”.
They managed to clear the cliff face by at least 5 feet, before continuing down the rest of the rapid, where they joined the other canoes at the campsite below the rapid .
At this point, Russ started expressing sentiments about maybe having swum enough for one day. The rest smiled as Brent’s emails had referred to himself as “Brent (hasn’t dumped in 4 years) Clark”. It was time for lunch of hard salami, hard bread (pumpernickel) and a chocolate bar, before we left for Barker Lake.