Skokomish, S. Fork
Browns Creek to Vance Creek (Gorge Run)
| Difficulty | IV-V |
| Length | 11.3 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 36 fpm |
| Gauge | South Fork Skokomish River Near Union, Wa |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 200 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | May 19, 2025 |
River Description
Every year fall rains usher in another flood season for the Skokomish River and Seattle's local television stations show footage of salmon crossing the Skokomish Valley Road. Logging in the headwaters has likely been at least partly responsible for the increased flooding that seems to get worse each year. More than half of the South Fork Skokomish watershed has been logged in the past 40 years and the density of logging roads is among the highest in the nation. Failure of these logging roads has significantly increased sediment loads so that the river bed in the lower watershed is actually increasing in elevation. Coupled with this increased sediment, the diversion of North Fork Skokomish waters from Cushman Reservoir means that total power available to move the sediments out to Hood Canal is now reduced. The result of all this sediment sitting in the river channel is a river that constantly over tops it's banks. It's not uncommon to see salmon carcasses on the road or in the fields after the flood waters subside. The flooding has little direct impact on paddling opportunities which are available in secluded bedrock gorges upstream. Use caution however as you do not want to be in the gorge when flows are rapidly increasing.
The river has two great gorge sections where massive chunks of the bedrock walls have broken off to form challenging rapids. It's a long run and you want to give yourself plenty of time. Outside the gorges the river is class II but at recommended flows the river moves quickly and the scenery is enjoyable. Since this river normally runs during the short days near the winter solstice, an early start is highly recommended. Keep in mind that this is an 14 mile run and you might consider camping at the put-in or grabbing a hotel room in Shelton.
The run starts with a couple miles of easy paddling as you approach the first gorge. Here you pass through some really interesting geology as you paddle through old lake bed sediments from when
...River Features
Oxbow Area, Put In
Access on river right at the Oxbow Area. It will likely require hiking down the spur road to the river which is typically gated at the top.
Nemesis
Entrance to the canyon that is difficult to scout. The standard line is starting center and charging through a slot on the bottom right.
High Steel Falls
Most of the flow heads river left and plunges into a significant hole. At medium and low flows you can scout and portage on the right. At higher flows, the portage is cut off and you must scout from the left but a sneak line comes in on the right.
Bobbing for Butler
Bobbing for Butler is typically scouted on the left. There is quite a lot of action in this rapid which consists of a fun, long sequence of ledges and holes.
Mr. Toads Wild Ride
The final class V- drop on the run is Mr. Toad's Wild Ride which can be recognized by a fun ledge drop and more huge boulders that nearly block the river.
Take Out
Pull out at mile 4.5 on Skokomish Valley Road to a pullout just downstream of the Vance Creek Bridge.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportThe wood situation has improved significantly and there have been some recent changes to the riverbed.
The wood in the first gorge has cleaned up for now and everything has cleaned up from the recent landslide! It's a bit more of a pinch at the end of the rapid but otherwise it's less of a change than expected.
The entrance to the second gorge no longer has the big log across the center-right, and the piece on the left is out of play at moderate flows. You can just bump down the left for a more conservative line at the entrance, though the right now goes.
High steel falls has changed after a recent landslide from the right. The right side entrance is less of a quality option, so the best line is starting left moving center or far right.
Fresh landslide in the second rapid of the first gorge (Big Momba Jomba). Likely will be a portage for a while.
There is wood in both the left and right slots at the entrance to the first border garden in the second gorge. At the flow we had on 1/21/23, we were able to boof over the wood in the right slot but this option could be cut-off as flows drop. This is a tricky spot and not being able to boat past would mean a sketchy portage or heinous hike out.
None of the video links worked, either 'Page Not Found' or '403 Forbidden'....other than that a good write up and the link to the 2003 Oregon Kayaking site has nice pics and write up. Met Jurgen Nickles a number of years ago btw....
A winter trip after a high water event and flow consistently dropping to approxmialtely 625 cfs around the time we set out for the river and just below 600 cfs by the time we got to the take-out. Two groups were out on the river. Our group included Thomas O'Keefe, Omar Jepperson, and Mike Rausch. I shot video on the trip. We had some action in the first gorge with a momentary bow pin at the first distinct ledge that required assistance. One significant rapid, Big Momma Jomba, was a warmp up for more rapids to come in the second gorge (video point). We found the entrance to the second gorge difficult to scout; a ledge on the leftallows a bit of a peek and we found good eddies behind the two bigboulders (video point). The first rapid following the entrance was the the most technical of the drops; we were able to sneak it on the left or you could run the center chute (video point). We enjoyed a rapid just above High Steel Bridge which was visible high agove (video point). High Steel Falls was a fun rapid and the trick was getting lined up correctly at the top by catching the eddy just above (video point). Another group from Oregon caught up with us as we were running the rapid. With daylight waning we picked up the pace through Bobbing for Butler and worked our way past the landslide. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was the final signficant rapid (video point).
Photo provided by Gary Korb.