Wilson

The Wilson is a whitewater gem of the Oregon Coast. During the winter rainy season it runs after each storm comes in from the Pacific. In the summer it dries to a trickle between swimming holes. It flows west through a bed of dark gray basalt and a cloud-shrouded wonderland of mossy coastal forest. The Wilson River's upper reaches are less than an hour from Portland, and it flows through the Tillamook State Forest in the Coastal Range down to the Tillamook, a dairy town whose name is adopted from the Salish tribe of the region.

If you launch at the Footbridge Trailhead you shove off into a big recirculating eddy then drop into the basalt formations with a waterfall coming in from the left. The highway might be up there but you won't notice it. The rapids are mostly easy class III in character with lovely swooping moves to be made and smallish playspots everywhere. There is one sheer horizon on a left bend that makes a stomping big hole but there is a tongue past it on the far left side. There are lots of smaller horizons that open up to easy rapids once you get close enough.

Putting in at the Footbridge Trailhead sets you up for ~5 miles of warmup before you get to the Narrows. You'll know you're getting close to the Narrows when the highway is visible on the left for a mile or more.

Paddlers often take out at milepost 15 to skip the Narrows (class III+).

You'll know you're at the Narrows when the river ramps downhill into a narrow gorge reminiscent of Mule Creek Canyon on the Rogue. By the time the river reaches the 90 degree left bend most of the gradient is spent, but wood does catch here, as well as around the bend. Your best plan is to get a recent wood report from local sources. If you don't know the wood status of the Narrows, it would be smart to scout on river right. I'm told it's possible to portage on the right as well. It's also possible to eddy out after the corner and above the narrowest pinch point. At high flows the Narrows

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