Lightning Creek
1. East Fork to town of Clark Fork
| Difficulty | III+ |
| Length | 10.1 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 40 fpm |
| Gauge | Lightning Creek at Clark Fork Id |
| Flow Rate as of 54 minutes | 1040 cfsrunnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 6, 2016 |
River Description
Lightning is a continuous, read and run, class III creek. It is NOT suitable for
beginners or shaky intermediate paddlers. Difficulty increases with water level.
This is a Class III run with Class V consequences. Know how to read before you go.
Riverwide logs are a serious hazard on this section! Scout carefully and don't run anything
blind. Keep your group together, and practice good safety.
Do not confuse this run with Rapid Lightning Creek, which is another nearby Clark Fork tributary.
River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportJust boated the 9 or so miles of Lightning Creek down to Clark Fork yesterday. R2 with a buddy, single boat trip. Not Recomended due to low flow and a ton of wood! 5 gnarly hazards, 2 of which are mandatory portages. Some of the hazards will be washed out during high water but the two mandatory portages may need to be sawn out due to the large size of cedar trees. It would take a big spring melt off to move them. This run is seriously a killer right now for rafts, multi boat groups and pets.
We took two laps on this section in a 3 person paddle raft on Thursday May 22nd, 2014. Flows were around 2300cfs.
The ability to quickly catch small eddies and read dynamic channels is required at these flows. Strainers exist without warning, while the navigation factor may have only been III+ - IV-, class V creeking skills proved to be valuable.
Only 1 portage on the second run after choosing different channels, 3 wood portages on the first run.
For photos and video go to oregonraftingteam.com
Tim Brink