Photo

Photo courtesy of American Whitewater

Description

The name "Chainsaw" does not describe anything about the rapid, but refers to a legendary and unfortunate incident that is not to be discussed here.

Because the right and center of the rapid collects wood, at the top of the rapid, stay to far left. Then when as far left as possible you're forced to turn right against the left shore. Make the turn and take a drop and miss a diagonal log that is slightly left of center. Because it happens fast just keep going past the log -- usually to the right. If you hit the log, don't panic, lean into it and keep paddling to the right. The line is mostly the same at higher water, except there's more power in the turn against the left shore, but there's more manuvering room in the turn and the higher it is, the more you'd need to be right of the log.