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Lightning Creek, April 27th, 2003

By Brian Burns

Lightning Creek is a little creek that flows into the Clark Fork River just west of the Montana/Idaho border. Each spring, snowmelt from the Cabinet Mountains in the Kaniksu National Forest brings the water level up to prime boating levels for a few short weeks. Each year about this time I get a call from Tom in Sandpoint telling me we'd better do Lightning Creek before it drops too low to run. When I finally get the courage to answer the phone, I am easily talked into the trip. I feel like Ed from the classic canoe movie "Deliverance," when Lewis (Burt Reynolds) asks him, "Why do you go on these trips with me, Ed?" I don't know, Tom; I think I just need to get scared once in a while to get me in shape for the rest of the summer's white water. As far as I can tell, Tom IS Lewis--tough guy, Vietnam vet, no fear, trivializes danger. What is it with Vietnam vets, anyway? Every one of them I boat with is never scared in white water. Something over there totally redefined the meaning of the word "fear".

Anyway, Lightning Creek is a romp. It's probably rated a solid Class III to III+, and for kayakers, not that big a deal. But in an open canoe, the creek's long rapids, with unavoidable holes and rocks, become a challenging run. After blasting through the third or fourth hole in a rapid, a lot of water is sloshing around in the canoe, and paddling it feels like pushing a Sherman tank around. Added to this, the creek has lots of strainers and logjams lurking at each bend. THIS IS REALLY FUN STUFF!!!

Nothing is sweeter than dumping the water out of the canoe for the last time at the takeout, and then kissing the ground I am fortunate enough to stand on one more time. Thank you Lewis, I mean Tom, for providing one more challenging run to add to my canoeing adventures. Barbecued New York steaks with Jane's freshly picked mushrooms after the run was a great reward for coming back alive!

Hopefully, if you have a canoeing adventure that you're using "Deliverance" as an analogy for, your character will not be the one of Bobby, played by Ned ("squeal like a pig") Beatty...