Miller, West Fork

Upstream of Miller Rd. Bridge

Reach banner
DifficultyV+
Length1.3 mi
Avg Gradient312 fpm
GaugeWest Fork Miller (estimated)
Flow Rate as of 23 minutes
80 cfsbelow recommended
Reach Info Last UpdatedMay 1, 2009

River Description

SEASON: Fall rains and spring snowmelt

FUN FACT: Extreme steep creeking

TAKEOUT: Turn onto NE Old Cascade Highway from Hwy. 2 at mile
45.9 (you'll see the sign for Money Creek campground). Follow this road
0.9 miles to Miller River Road (FR 6410). Drive to the West Fork bridge
(mile 3.5 and elevation 1270'). Check road conditions with [Mt. Baker - Snoqulamie National Forest](http://
www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/);
follow link to the forest road conditions report under the recreation link.

PUT-IN: An old jeep trail, officially closed to vehicles in fall 2000,
parallels the river along river left. The gradient tapers off and you can find
a good put-in after about two miles of hiking and scouting.

DESCRIPTION:

Some extremely steep boulder gardens and a couple of marginally
runnable waterfalls. Tao Berman ran the upper one known as Borderline
and Bryan Urakawa ran the lower one which is Immigration Falls. You can
scout the run as you hike to the put-in. Log hazards have been significant
in recent years.

Submit a comment if you have a good photo, wish to contribute a run
description, or would like to take over as Streamkeeper.

lat/long approximate by Tiger server

for additional information see:

  • Mike Lawson's description in: Bennett, J. and T.
    Bennett. 1997. A guide to the whitewater rivers of Washington, second
    edition. Swiftwater Publishing. Portland, OR.
  • Skykomish Ranger District - [USFS Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie
    National Forest website](http://
    www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/)

River Features

Put In

Distance: 0 mi

Immigration Falls

Class: V+Distance: 0.07 mi (approx.)
Hazard
Waterfall / Large Drop
Immigration Falls

Runnable but challenging slide/falls that you can scout on your way to the put-in. Its about 1/3 of the way down from the put-in. 5+

Take Out

Distance: 2.5 mi
Take Out

CT
Chris Tretwold

Apr 28, 2009


Hale Hanaway and I ran this last spring after a great day on the Little Wenatchee. Scout Immigrant falls so you do not miss the eddy above it. We scouted some rapids on the easy hike in but ended up scouting rapids once on the water anyway. Surprisingly alot of this creek is boat-scoutable due to lots of micro-eddies, but basically once the creek gets going it does not stop until the take-out bridge. In june of 2008 the creek was almost entirely wood free except one 10 ft falls that had a log in the landing zone. Very fun, fast, furious creek to paddle. Good run for a 1/2 day adrenaline rush!

CT
Chris Tretwold

Jun 16, 2008


You can scout Immigration falls on your way up. Portage on river right.
This was a very high quality couple drops about 2/3 the way down.
Typical rapid.
Another typical rapid.