The Alpine Browns

The Alpine Browns

Dustin heading to the put in

This jewel of a river is located in Courtenay. I have done a number of posts on the lower section and on the upper Browns. This section, apptly dubbed the Alpine, is located high up close to the old paradise meadows. First paddled a number of years back at a very low water level, missing the lower 2/3rd’s of the river, it has seen a number of trips down it so far this year. There is a great write up by Shayne Volmers on the BC-WW site.

I got a message from Shayne on facebook, one of a number he sent out, asking for people interested in paddling at 4pm on Saturday afternoon, which then became 4:30. It was going to be an interesting trip to test out my new Jackson Villain. With five paddlers it was going to be a bit of a mission. We loaded up at the Mt Washington chain up area and then proceeded to drive up a logging road high into the mountains. One of the beautiful things about this river is the view that you get on the drive up. Arriving at one of the flatter sections you can look all the way down island seeing Comox, Courtenay and down to Mt Arrowsmith. A stellar drive.

We arrive at the take out bridge, yes Bridge. Has to be the easiest take out on the island. Changed clothes for modern paddling garb and heading forth up the river. We drove up to the other bridge, but found this put us at a steep canyon and a log filled drop so we headed back to a spot where it was easier to get into the river.

The first drop is about 250m into the trip. Shayne lead the charge stylin the first drop. The first section of the river is pretty stacked with drops leading down the waterfall and the funnel rapid section. We found a new piece of wood in the double drop which made the line a lot more interesting and a bit sketchy.

Arriving above the waterfall is always interesting. You pull up on a nice big boulder in the middle of the river and then look at the nice drop 7+m drop with the river dropping and twisting away into the distance. We were on the river at 20-25cms which was a high flow for this section. cranked up the commitment factor a little bit.

Looking forward to sharing the video in the coming days. Till then here are a few pictures of that evening. Awesome times with a good crew.

Enjoy!