Lost Cove Creek
Trail 464A to Wilson Creek(Hike & Huck: Hunt Fish Falls to Wilson Creek)
| Difficulty | III-IV(V) |
| Length | 8.7 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 104 fpm |
| Reach Info Last Updated | March 3, 2008 |
Pristine Wilderness Creeking!
Trail 464A is over a 2 mile hike-in and permits you to run the entire 5+ miles or so. This upper section is mainly technical boulder gardens with many strainers. 2.5 miles in is a steeper section less than 1 mile in length that starts with Hunt Fish Falls (Class IV+/V-) and culminates with Air Baker. Hike back up the MTS trail (TR262) and huck it again. Nice hike & huck!
If you want a shorter hike-in, less strainers, and get right to the hike & huck you should use down Trail TR263 (Hunt Fish Falls trail) to trail TR262 and put-in a drop or 2 above Hunt Fish Falls. There are strainers in the class II/II paddle out - but at last check in February 2008 only 2 required portages at low water.
Watch the water level because you don't want to run the 2 miles class II/III paddle out at low water. Very beautiful, with many 'Lost Coves' along the way. You may bump into boaters coming down from their Dragstrip induced adrenaline rush. If so, too bad you missed out on Gragg Prong (GP) which has a much smaller watershed/window than LCC.
From this point just cardio it down to the bridge by Wilson Creek.
Please send visuals, and the date and time of your trips with a comment about the level to wilsonvizual@yahoo.com (L,M,H,VH...) Thanks!
Great video of a trip on this from Dec.2024: https://youtu.be/KzCK45V2ivU?si=aCmfuDqf7BebP9no
This 18 foot double-drop is the most difficult drop on the creek.
An 8 foot vertical into a very short but deep perpendicular-left flowing ledge & eddy followed by a steep ten foot slide with a bottom left piton flake and ending in a big pool. At low water we run the top drop right to right center. At higher water you can land a sweet boof on the far left and stay in control to slide on the right and avoid the piton flake on river left.
You tell us, some say it is IV, some say IV+ and some say V-, some guidebooks say V.
Below Hunt Fish there is another half mile or so of fun slides & slots before Air Baker. Don't know if they have names but immediately below the Hunt Fish falls pool is a 12 ft slide, then a tight slot type of drop followed by a boulder garden.
Since it has a name it must be a IV - someone please share the story of the name. Simple left to right move
Once you reach the confluence with Gragg Prong the remainder of the run will be class III read & run at best.
Jun 21, 2023
Really fun day of exploratory kayaking. Wilson was reading +13.
Jul 14, 2013
Ran this creek today, Wilson was at 18' when we drove by on the way up, and 21' when we took off, it might have been higher at some point based on the water on the bridge. We hiked in the Hunt Fish Falls trail (Mainly just not knowing any better) but I think it is a shorter hike. All major rapids below Hunt Fish falls were clear of wood, there was a few pieces in some class 2 run out, mostly below the confluence with Gragg prong. The level was not to low but more water would have been nice.
Sep 21, 2009
Ran this on 9/20/09. Wilson was +14 and falling. We hiked in on the Hunt Fish Falls trail and found the creek low but doable. As with most small creeks, there is a lot of wood. The mile or so starting with Hunt Fish Falls was fun and probably worth a hike back up to run an extra lap or two. After Gragg Prong comes in, it mellows out to Class II for the most part.
A good option when Wilson is too high but you don't want to tackle Gragg or one of the other Gnarly runs up that way.