Sol Duc, S. Fork,

FR 2920 Bridge to FR 2918 Bridge

South Fork Soleduck

South Fork Soleduck
Photo of Eric Bessette by Tom O'Keefe taken 1JAN03 @ 2.8'

River Description

FUN FACT: Fun river when there's water to fill in the boulder gardens.

SEASON: Winter rain storms. Generally best when rivers are moderately high but not flooding.

ACCESS: From Highway 101 mile 216.4 turn south on FR 2918. Follow this road to mile 3.0 and the bridge across the Soleduck. This is the takeout or use an access downstream closer to Highway 101. To reach the put-in continue up FR 2918 (bear left at the fork) and get a visual peak at the level from the bridge at mile 4.1. Continue on up to mile 5.5 and turn right on FR 2920. It's 0.2 miles to the bridge across the South Fork.

DESCRIPTION:

If you arrive to run the Sol Duc in mid-winter and find the gate to the National Park road locked you can always go and run the South Fork. This is a great little run with constant action all the way to the confluence of the Sol Duc, a distance of 1.8 miles. It's one of those runs that packs plenty of action into a short distance. Once on the Sol Duc you still have another 1.5 miles of fun whitewater including the nice ledge drop upstream of the gauge station.

You can get an idea of flows as you cross the river on the shuttle and at the put-in. If you've got enough water to bounce down through these boulder gardens, the gorge section will still be really fun. If the rocks are all covered and the river is high you'll probably have your hands full in the gorge. Look for something in between.

The run starts out with continuous boulder gardens and short little ledges for about a mile or so. You'll be moving fast and the eddies are tight. There is a lot of wood in this system so stay alert and keep your spacing as you may have to make a portage or two.

As the bedrock walls rise up on both sides of the river you enter the gorge. The gorge has about 5 great rapids with the entrance rapid and Ross's Drop standing out as the most challenging of the sequence. These drops are mostly IV+ with good recovery sections in between but at higher flows this whole section could easily push class V. You'll likely encounter a couple of good-sized holes. Use caution as portaging could be difficult and log hazards could be significant.

The gorge walls slowly peel back with more fun class III rapids and a beautiful waterfall that cascades in from the left, before you reach the confluence of Tom Creek. The FR 2918 Bridge and the confluence with the Soleduck is just around the corner. The river then dumps into the main stem for the final section of the Upper Sol Duc run.

lat/long approximated by Tiger map server

for additional information see

• Korb, G. 1997. A paddlers guide to the Olympic Peninsula. third edition.
• local expert: Gary Korb & Carol Volk, 4930 Geiger Road, Port Orchard, WA 98366, 206-876-6780
• Pacific Ranger District, North - USFS Olympic National Forest web site