First Descent Minnehaha - The time and effort put into...

This is Minnehaha Falls in the Hiawatha Highlands right outside of Sault Ste Marie at "normal" flows May 2010.

Crystal Creek is a tiny creek going through this rather nice recreational area, the falls are just below a dam going into a gorge with several more little drops and rapids.

I first looked at those drops last fall in really high water and figured that if you could get into the first pool it would be doable and actually fun.

Now with the winter we had it took a while to actually make anything in the area runnable. Early April there was not a single creek, rapid or river that didn't have a massive icepack on it.

So I had to wait for this...

to turn into this

And this

into this.

And not just that.
Once I figured that the flows were high enough to make this worth it there were other things to consider.

Like wood on the lip...

And no access to the pool. Or eddies or ledges to put in on..

And no eddies at the bottom pool either.
And an ice blocked exit rapid...

Oh yeah, and it all being fenced in didn't help either...

Well, thanks to rain and melt the water stayed high for a few days.

I kept coming back in the evenings after other more common runs in the area and throwbagged the wood out, roped into the pool, kicked the ice out and after lots of scouting figured out the only way to put in.

Luckily there were enough of the local crew keen to see this paddled and helped me out - thanks guys!

After everything was figured out, Jorma did this sketchy, rope assisted climb right into the first drop, we let my boat down to him and I followed.

With him holding my boat I was able to get in, slide into the pool, turn around, ferry to the river left to line up for what I though was the cleanest line...

And cash in the rewards with a boof to reconnect.

Was it worth it?
I think so.
Definitely not your everyday boating mission though and if this was what kayaking was I'd probably get tired of it pretty quick. But having an unrun drop 15 minutes away from home running at reasonable flows made the whole adventure worth it.
And to be honest, even the scrambling and climbing around beat sitting at home, right?

Out to hopefully find some big water further south,
Sven