Question about Graves Creek..

[jjones03]

Jack and I ran down upper piney today so we could get a hike up graves. There are about 4 or 5 big drops/waterfalls within 200 yards or so of the confluence with piney... my question is, can all of these drops be ran? they all looked runnable, some a little more sketchy than others, but i was wondering if most people portaged these or stopped at the first take out...

any pics or video of anyone running graves would be helpul. gots lots of pics of the drops today but cant really get a feel of what they would look like at high water.

[canoe]

Check out OWP, Graves has been run.

[jjones03]

yeah i know it been run and ive read all the info i can on it. i guess i was just hoping for some footage or photos. those last drops, right before piney, i mean its just one 8-10 footer after another it seems. and the last big one that runs into a wall looks pretty cool too. so basically your saying you could run the whole creek without portaging once? other then strainers of course...

[jackatspa]

Definetly some big drops. If only we would have made it there yesterday.
And what about those two country bumpkins we had to pay at Heltons,
Who were they? and what about all those dogs? We left town in two trucks and came back with one. But hey, Snow,Dare,Graves,& Big Piney creeks all in a days work! Had a blast!

lets get the chainsaws ready for graves!!!!

Thanks, Jack H

[Cowper]

If you were finding 8 and 10 foot waterfalls within easy walking distance of Big Piney, you weren't hiking up Graves Creek, you were on another, smaller tributary! Graves becomes relatively flatter as it gets close to the Piney. There's another small tributary that comes in on the same side (river right) several drops above Surfing rapid; the first waterfall is visible from the Piney. I suspect that might be what you were looking at.

If you haven't seen it before, it is possible to miss Graves completely as you float downriver, because it filters in on the right through a willow jungle, at a place where some of the Piney has flowed over into the same willows. Because of this, if you don't know it is there, you usually pass this spot thinking that the water coming in from your right is just a Piney side-channel rejoining the main flow, but the truth is that it is some Piney water, with Graves creek added in.

Junction of Graves with Piney is at about N35.5879 W93.1751

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=35.5879, ... 2,0.02&t=k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[canoe]

That would be Mrs. Helton and her son. They may be country but don't call them bumpkins. Soul of the earth folks, have been caretakers of that land for generations. Don't be dissing the Helton's. Dale

[Cowper]

Chances are those people at Heltons were some of the extended family. They own the land, and our good access at this location and years of parking with no vehicle vandalism or break-ins are a tribute to a decades-long good relationship with the Helton Family. An access fee that is less than the cost of a gallon of gas was only a few months ago is a small price to pay for what we get in return!

[jjones03]

no no no he wasnt dissing ms. helton. we've done upper piney plenty of times and always pay our dues to ms. helton. were referring to two guys, one of which i know is not related to ms. helton, that drove up while we were trying to give ms. helton our money. one of them was extremely rude to us.... and having run upper plenty of times, with ms. helton always being very nice, this guy wasnt cutting it. maybe he was just having a bad hair day....

[jjones03]

and the guy demanded six bucks, and had a six pack between his legs.... some of the nicest people ive ever met come from that area. but jack was just pointing out that this guy definitely was not trying to be friendly with us.

[jjones03]

and cowper you were exactly right. thanks for that information. we've been to the put in before but never up from the bottom. i had heard it was easy to miss but man...we were way off.


oh...and forget graves... i wanna run that creek!!

[jackatspa]

Mrs. Helton is a very kind woman this i know. I have showed nothing but respect and kindness towards her, But when we pulled past the cemetary we passed two guys that were sitting on the side of the road in their truck. we walked up to mrs. Heltons and i started talking to her and then those guys pulled up. im sorry but one of them was for sure a country bumpkin. he was rude and didnt say anything. I have no problem with giving the money to them to park. It was just the way he went about getting the money. Sorry for any problems this may have caused . thanks for letting us play on the river today Mrs.Helton..

Sincerely, Jack H