Chewuch

This is truly an awesome little in town lap if you don't have the time for a full float after work or if you're riding solo. I parked myself at Heckendorn Park where the takeout is just through the gate on the backside of the field. From here I walked up through downtown Winthrop and crossed over the footbridge that leads to the Interperative trail along the river right bank. There is a nifty little put in just above the Fulton Diversion Dam in a massive flat section of the river. From here you can paddle upriver a bit to line up for the dam.

I'm not quite sure where the 'class IV' part of this rapid comes from, at least at these flows. At lower flows it could become pretty technical with boulders everywhere and at higher flows I feel like it'd just wash out into a huge wave train. I'd give this rapid a class III rating as far as technical skills required to navigate and potential danger (unless there's some rebar or some other metal hazards in the dam site that the AW page doesn't specify.). The main line through is hey diddle diddle straight down the middle. The wave train is steep and fast and you'll be at the bottom of the rapid cheering before you even realize it.

After the diversion dam, there are a few fun little holes and waves here and there. The most significant rapid from here to Trapid being just upriver of the footbridge where the river rounds the corner and creates a beautiful 20 foot wide standing wave that has excellent eddy access for surfing.

As you pass under the highway bridge, Trapid lies just below. This is a fun little single move ledge with a variety of lines. Far right and far left are clean, middle left has some waves, middle is a chute between the features but at lower flows a hole opens up toward the bottom of the center chute. Middle right is the preferred line and drops you over a good little ledge hole with a great auto boof off of a small rock flake. I took out just below the footbridge over the Methow and took three laps on this, each lap round trip was roughly 45m to an hour and well worth it. Not sure why local paddlers don't take more advantage of this awesome in town lap.

The takeout at Heckendorn Park can be hard to identify on the river, just stay left after the highway bridge and if you pass the concrete structures on the right bank you've gone too far.

The largest two rapids are in the last mile of this run: The Fulton Diversion Dam (you can walk to it on Town trails) and the Trapid (which can be seen from HWY 20 bridge over the Chewuch) mind the screw trap.