Jonas and I head north, two men and one kayak. A friend of friends, John Loehrer, is kind enough to invite us to sleep at his house in Portland. The hospitality of the kayaking world is truly incredible. Hearing of our lost kayak he is kind enough to loan us a Nomad 8.5. We rise early to make a quick pre-work run with John on the Clackamas before continuing up to the fabled Hood River region. Jonas had made a previous with his sights set on Metlako Falls of Eagle Creek. On that trip it was too low to run Metlako. We decided to pull off highway 84 and give flows a look. There is more water than on his previous trip, so we start organizing gear. Metlako has been run quite often these days, and although tall, it doesn't have much of of a move. Is there enough water for the impact at the bottom to be soft enough?

I decided to focus on photography and brought too much gear: a Nikon D600, 24-70 2.8, 70-150mm, Olympus E-M5 and 12-35mm 2.8 and 35-100mm 2.8 plus a full sized tripod and radio trigger. Initially we considering hiking all the way to the top, but after a few miles with all the camera gear on top of kayak and related gear, I'm tired. We take a break to look at Metlako from an overlook. Flows look on the low side but possible. This would be a great angle to shoot from, but with two people communication would be impossible.

We continue up the trail, taking a few minutes to walk down to the lip of Metlako. Things look the same from here, low but probably possible. Certainly not ideal. Punchbowl falls isn't too much further up the trail so at the minimum we'll get to run it.

Below Punchbowl there isn't much room to move around, and the angles are limited. I should have seen this coming, but it's too late to change things now. I setup both cameras and the radio trigger, but don't have enough faith in it to place them too far apart.

Below Punchbowl we cruise a short ways downstream and get out where the trail comes down to the river. We're a couple hundred yards above Metalko and will split here. I'll get the photography gear setup while Jonas scouts. We're still not sure if it's enough water but commit to at least taking a good look.

Hand rolling at the bottom, I wait for a signal from Jonas. Good or bad? He retrieves his paddle and moves across to where we can make visual contact. The marginal signal. The last thing anyone wants to see. I debate for a minute. Originally I'd hoped to rope my camera gear to the base of the falls so it wouldn't take a big hit. My throw rope is nowhere near long enough. Walk back out or run it with too much money of camera gear in the kayak? Laziness prevails, it's a lot easier just to run it. In the eddy above the falls it's apparent that indeed, this is a really big waterfall. Thankfully the line is so simple; the slightest right angle so the curler doesn't deflect you, hold it steady down the ramp into a nice slow paddle toss and tuck. It goes just as planned yet the impact at the bottom is impressive. Even fully tucked with my head half inside the cockpit (the joy of being small) my bell is rung. Later I find a cracked tooth from the impact. Yup, certainly marginal flow. The canyon downstream is beautiful and the impact doesn't hurt our euphoria. I'd written Metlako off as being over-rated, but it's a hell of an experience if not the hardest thing to run.