I have been looking at that description in the ‘Paddlers Guide to the Olympic Peninsula’ for 10 years now, wondering and dreaming if it really was what I had been imagining. I tried to go a couple times this spring, but since summer arrived much later than expected this year I thought my window for getting in there this year was gone. Finally, Brett Barton sent a message that said, “Tshletshy next weekend?” After looking over the logistics again and understanding that we were still going to have to deal with 6 feet of snow at the top of the pass, we made plans. Our plan – Hike in on Monday, boat on Tuesday, out on Wednesday, sounded good at the time.

Looking up the Quinalt River Valley

I tried hard to convince a couple paddlers to go, but in the end it was just Brett and I. The Tshletshy is a major undertaking. Once in the N.F. Quinault valley you have to hike up and over the pass by Bear Creek gaining about 3,000ft in elevation, then drop into the headwaters. We met up on Sunday and decided to start hiking. After about 4 miles and gaining about 1,400 feet in elevation we set up camp.

Skyline trailhead

Our ticket to the Tshletshy drainage

Crossing a tributary to Big Creek

4 miles in & Brett is still smiling

The next day we hiked up to the snow line, which started @ 2,800 feet, many hours later we hit the top of the pass at 3,608ft. And started the descent into the Tshletshy.

6 miles in..

..almost at the top.

<

Gearing up for the descent into Tshletshy

It took a long time to get down and we eventually ran out of daylight and had to camp in a bare tree well surrounded by snow. The next morning we leisurely rolled out of camp while we listened to the elk calls from the hills above us.

We had lost the trail the day before in the snow and were going off our maps and GPS to get us down to the put in. The trail down into the Tshletshy had been long abandoned making progress to the river a little harder.

Trying to reach the headwaters

Snow melt at the put-in

At the put in we had what looked like a low flow, but later in the trip it all evened out.. We paddled down to the first gorge with high hopes and found wood in the inner gorge blocking 4 of the 6 drops. We portaged on the right, crossed the gorge and finished the portage on the left. After the second gorge there were many signs of massive flooding in the valley. Many of the tributaries had blown out and sent old growth trees down the creek placing them in mid flow at the wider sections of the creek.

Looking down into the last drop in the first gorge

After a few portages over downed trees we set up camp early and rested for our next big day.

Camp #3

There was a lot of this..

Day 4 – We reached the third gorge called “The Tshlasm” within 20 min. out of camp. Here the creek dropped deeper and deeper into a gorge over a series of large waterfalls. We portaged on the right, continuing to look into the gorge, as we passed by a few drops that looked intriguing.

Brett looking, deep, into the third gorge.

At this point I was beginning to wonder were the Best Whitewater in Washington was.. After a couple more log portages, there it was. Miles of read and run, class IV & V drops in an untouched pristine gorge. We saw many signs of wildlife, even paddling by a bear cub down in the deeper part of the gorge.

Getting into the goods..

We reached the confluence with the Queets River at about dark and set up our last camp on a comfortable gravel bar. The next morning we woke up to light rain and decided to paddle out early.

Leaving camp #4 at 5:30 am, Queets River paddle out

All of the paddling reports that Brett and I had heard of were from 8-10 years ago. Either people had never heard of it or wanted to go check it out.. We went in knowing that there was a big wind storm in 2007 that downed many trees and littered many of the creeks in that area. As well as a couple floods in the past 10 years. We had our fair share of portages in the flat rocky sections, over and under some of the largest trees I’ve seen in a drainage. In the end it was an amazing trip, which does hold some of the best whitewater in Washington, worth every bit of effort that went into it. The scenery is mind numbing and the overall experience is unforgettable! I would highly recommend a map and GPS for this trip, it helped us from walking to far in the wrong direction with a loaded boat a few times, since much of the upper trail was covered in snow.

Trevor and Seth - Starting off the gorge

Trevor - Reappearing below Vanishing Falls

Curt & Tyler in Vanishing Gorge

Vanishing was clear of wood and we proceeded around the corner to a small ledge drop above Frustration. A big boulder had rolled downstream and changed the drop a little, actually making it easier.. Frustration always seems to live up to its name in some fashion. We found a new log that had been pushed down the center of the falls and wedged into the undercut wall and it extended back into the falls. It was clear of the main line, but it made it a little more intimidating.

Tyler - commited

Trevor - makin the move

Curt flyin off In Between

No man's land - falling right of the flake at Final Falls

Many of the rapids below Final Falls are gravel bars and boulder rapids, much of this changed during the last flood spreading out the flow and altering the main channel that used to be there. Needless to say it was a very bumpy paddle out even at this flow. Unfortunately, the one sieve portage below Final didn’t change and is still a portage.

Note: When I returned home from this trip, THIS is the first thing I saw.. So, I feel a need to express how valuable experience and group dynamics are, not to mention how dangerous waterfalls can be if you are the least bit careless. Most paddlers know (and have experienced) that an 8ft drop can do severe damage to your back and running waterfalls takes an understanding and focus that can’t be taught. Sure, paddlers have run bigger drops and it seems to happen on a regular basis, but that doesn’t make them easier for other people. It’s easy to watch kayaking videos and gain a disillusion from experienced paddlers going off waterfalls. The paddlers who are pushing these bigger and bigger drops, or who consistently paddle large waterfalls, are building off their own experience and they have the knowledge to know what to do if one of their friends gets hurt. Time is precious when things go wrong in whitewater, being a great paddler is one thing, but having the assets to help your friends when they need it can be a priceless art.

“The North Fork of the Clackamas is one of those “love it or hate it” runs. Nearly continuous rapids in the harder sections, loads of places to pin, and the constant threat of wood, make the NF a potential nightmare for some boaters.” -Oregon Paddling

I have always shied away from putting on the North Fork of the Clackamas River. Most reports usually have something to do with boat-breaking rapids or scary wood situations. To top it off, if you run the first waterfall and proceed into the waterfall gorge, the portage route becomes much more difficult. But, if you take the easy route, it cuts out some of the most impressive views of the N.F. Canyon.
However, this proved once again that you should just go see for yourself. So, after getting shut down trying to get into the Upper Roaring – again, Jacob Cruser, Hans Hoomans, Paul Meirer, & I parked beside the tree with a big ’3′ painted on it and got ready for the short hike down to the North Fork.

Hans & Jacob starting the hike in.

The water was low, the first half mile painfully so. Once the rapids started, the creek narrowed and it was enough action to alleviate the low water blues for awhile. In less than an hour we approached the waterfall gorge and there was a dramatic change in the canyon walls directly above the first 10ftr. We decided to drop into the gorge and try to portage at water level so we could get a glimpse of the big falls and avoid pulling the raft uphill.

Leaving the easy portage behind..

This portage required a high and steep climb up the left canyon wall,a short traverse downstream, to a rope assisted descent back to the water. It took some time and work, but wasn’t too bad over all. The big falls has a class IV lead-in with a hole against the left wall at the lip of the falls making the left of center line pretty tricky. This hole is where the raft ended up for about 15 minutes as it went back and forth, spinning at the lip of the falls. Finally Hans & Paul pulled the boat back up and sent it over the hole and down the falls.

Jacob waiting below the big falls.

The canyon had tightened at the entry falls, locking in with overhanging walls at the big falls. It then opened up at Stairway to Heaven, leaving just enough of a path to navigate between the cliff walls to access the river. It was well worth the effort to get below the big falls to check it out & enjoy the canyon. From previous reports the portage from the top of the ten foot waterfall to the top of Stairway is much easier.

..riding out Stairway to Heaven.

The take out .

Other whitewater nearby N.F. Clackamas River, OR

South Fork of the Clackamas River

The Deschutes River originates from a 130 acre lake called Little Lava Lake which sits at 4,744ft in elevation 40 miles southwest of the town of Bend, OR. The river flows about 252 miles from the lake through irrigation reservoirs, over falls, into man-made lakes, and between ancient basalt lava flows on its way to the Columbia River. During the early spring the Deschutes River from Bend to Lake Billy Chinook runs at a pretty consistent flow while the canals in Bend are still dry and no water is being pulled from the river. Scott Baker, Dan Laham, and I decided to try and paddle from Benham Falls to Lake Billy Chinook, approximately 60 miles, camping two nights and paddling 3 days. We had a good flow averaging around 1,000cfs. The first day we paddled the upper section with Benham, Dillon, & Lava Island Falls through the Meadow camp run into Bend (with a couple bridge portages) and continued through the Riverhouse run.

Scott Baker in Benham Falls

..and happy to be at the bottom.

Dan Laham at Dillon Falls

Baker and Laham trying to find a line at Awbrey Falls

Much of day two was swift moving water that lead up to marginal to un-runnable falls. In this section of the river the banks were lined with thick brush on both sides of the river making scouting, portaging, and even stopping for a break very challenging. Our goal was to reach Steelhead Falls and camp so that on day three we would only have the canyon section into the lake. We reached Big Falls late in the day expecting it to be Steelhead, but instead of setting up camp, we had another portage through thick brush and a long walk to access the river again. After a couple more miles we reached a State Park just above Steelhead Falls and set up camp.



The next morning we put on the river a couple hours earlier than the previous day and made quick work of Steelhead then proceeded into the canyon. This section of the river had some very impressive canyon walls and fun whitewater. The brush on the banks made any scout look terrible so we pushed downriver without scouting in this section.

Dan Laham at Steelhead Falls

After a few fun class IV rapids spaced apart by large pools we hit the slack water of the lake. We were suppose to paddle a few miles to the boat dock, but after running into another group who were taking out at the bridge over the Deschutes River arm of the lake we climbed out there and saved a couple miles of slow going flat water. All in all it was a great multi-day trip with many different settings to keep things interesting. Portaging the Big Falls and Cline took some work in finding a route back to the river as these falls are flowing through cliffed out basalt walls. The canyon below Steelhead Falls was impressive and definitely worth a return trip for a leisurely day run. Huge thanks to Matt and Andria for helping out with the shuttle! For more information on the individual day runs check out the Trip Reports on Oregonkayaking.net

The Nuclear Flume spitting out surges of water every 10 seconds

Todd Wells & Dan Laham at Big Brother Falls

Team Bigfoot

Kira Watts, Tom Marley, & Hans Hoomans above Lil Brother

All photos by Keel Brightman

Filed under: Events, Lifestyle, Updates, Washington ]]>