Tolt
Tolt River Road nr. Carnation to Snoqualmie River
| Difficulty | II |
| Length | 5.2 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Tolt River Near Carnation, Wa |
| Flow Rate as of 41 minutes | 295 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | August 5, 2015 |
Projects
The Mountains to Sound Greenway stretches more than 100 miles along Interstate 90 from the shores of Puget Sound in Seattle, across Snoqualmie Pass, and into Central Washington. Encompassing over 700,000 acres of public land managed by local, state, and federal agencies, the Greenway protects an extraordinary landscape that [...]Read More
River Description
Logistics: The take-out is half a mile south of Carnation where Highway 203
crosses the river just before it joins the Snoqualmie. There is a park here with a road along the river. You can take out at the bridge or anywhere along this road, including paddling into the Snoqualmie and running down to the end of the first gravel bar. To reach the put-in head north towards Carnation and then turn right onto Entwhistle Street. This will turn into Tolt River Road after a bit. Follow this road to the end where you can access the river. You will need a fishing access permit to park here.
Description:
The Tolt is one of those rivers that mainly appeals to locals. It's worth doing once just to see it, but it's mainly a run for people who don't have time to run the Sky or Green and want an alternative to the forks of the Snoqualmie. Still, the Tolt is a pretty river with some nice class II rapids and an easy shuttle, but you may find a couple of logjams. There is often a wood hazard or
two on this run and although you can generally find clean routes through you'll need to stay alert.
The class II gravel bar rapids start from the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Tolt.
Limited access prevents most from starting their trip at the confluence (unless they are continuing
down from a creek run on one of the forks).
Lat/long are approximate.
River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportRan this river today with two beginner friends of mine. We were all using packrafts. At 500 CFS, the river seemed a bit too low. Any lower and a tail would be needed on the packrafts to drag them through shallow portions of the river.
As for the log jams, there are 2-3. They're all noticeable at 500 CFS. One was 1/4 mi portage, and the other two were very quick ones.
A great day on the water, but not a route I'd run again.
I biked out of my house on a foldable bike, with packraft and all accompanying gear (paddle, drysuit, pogies, safety kit, etc) in a backpack on my back. I met up with a friend, and we biked up together to the put-in. There, I folded my bike, strapped it onto the packraft, and floated down; and, once at the take-out, I biked all the way back home, all under my own power 🙂
The Tolt River was running high, at ~1000cfs. At the logjam towards the start (some 7-10 minutes downstream of the put-in), the usually-dry right channel had some water: not all of it deep enough to float in, but enough to lead the packraft on a leash and occasionally to jump into the boats. It made it a lot easier than portaging with the bike strapped in.
Just past the end of the portage (a ~15 minutes walk), there was a river-wide fallen tree. After discussing the necessary move (and what Plans B and C would look like if the current proved too powerful), we successfully crossed the river using our boats, and portaged around the log on the other side of the river. There were no more logjams beyond this point, though we did have to keep our eyes out for wood hazards, and stepped out a couple times. The river was beautiful, and the wood added a puzzle element to the trip.
Our total time on the water (including the portaging/walking) was 1h:43m, covering 5.5 miles. I also did a total of 2 hours of biking, covering ~12 miles. And the setup and teardown of the boats took another 1+ hours.
It was great to be able to do such multi-sport self-propelled mini-adventure; and even to encounter some surprises (the previously-unfloatable right channel, the need to cross the river to avoid the river-wide log) along the way :-)