Lightning Creek

Just 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