Pilchuck River

A pleasant paddle with packrafts on March 4, 2026. Flow was 400-500 cfs so on the very low end of 'medium'. I would not paddle this at much lower level.

We rode the centennial trail to the start. A very pleasant bike ride. The put-in had very small rapids. No real wood issues on the river. One spot had a strainer river-left that can be easily spotted and lined or paddled around carefully. Other minor wood can easily be spotted. Some fun little whitewater with lots of easy eddy practice

Had a nice 1st time float from Ok Mill Rd to Pilchuck Park at about 350 cfs in a couple of Kokopelli packrafts. Shallow in several spots and we scooted over the bottom twice. Very pleasant spring weather with lots of birds and ducklings. We portaged 3 times to avoid logs spanning the river (at least the channel flowing at the time). These portages were very quick and easy. There is ample time to see the log and eddy out- though be aware at high/pushy/flood flows that it will be hard to eddy out to avoid these features. You can see the logs on Google Earth.

-1st log jam was just above Dubuque Br on river right. Someone flipped there in the morning and apparently didn't have a good time. Walked boats about 100 feet.

-2nd log jam was about 2000 feet upstream of SR2 on river left, passed our boats under and climbed over on the right.

-3rd log jam was at the sandbar just after Morgantown park on river right. Pushed boats under and walked around.

About 3hrs river time to flow the 7ish miles, and about 5 hours total from start of shuttle to car pickup in the end. Could maybe be done with a bike shuttle by a fit, motivated person using the Centennial Trail!

Log spanning river below Dubuque is gone!! We floated down with two IK's and one canoe. These flows were high enough to cover a lot of the smaller features making for some small fun holes. Not very many rapids. One set at the clay banks and another just a bit further down. A bit of wood though: just before Dubuque road, under the power lines by the fire fighters training grounds, and just below three lakes, but all of it was easily seen with time to maneuver around. This river changes dramatically with each flood, curious to see what it looks like after the next big rain and snow melt. It is a fun backyard float!

**Hazard Downstream of Pilchuck Park** do not recommend for beginners, see below

Ran this section on a iSUP twice, once on 4/23 and another on 4/24. 420 CFS.

4/23 put in was at Dubuque River Rd and take out was at Snohomish River Boat Launch. All hazards are easily avoidable at this water level from Dubuque Rd to Pilchuck Park. The log across the river just downstream of Dubuque road that the previous commenter mentioned now sits about 2-3 feet above the water level and it is easy to pass under when sitting down (this log is also easily visible from the adjacent bike path if you need to scout). This river is perfect for a mellow float and did not need to portage. Past Pilchuck Park however I do not recommend. After snaking through the farm land, there is a hazard under the train bridge. Hazard is rapids created by boulders jammed under the bridge. There is no option to portage around as the river banks are too tall and steep. This section under the bridge is split in two by a concrete bridge support and on the right side is a short rocky rapids that are a bit tricky and do able if it isn't for the two logs spanning just a foot above the water level. Left side of the supports is equally as tricky short rapids that lead straight into bushes if you don't paddle fast enough. Rapids don't extend beyond the bridge. There was no mention of this hazard in any reports before so it may be new this season. If inexperienced or a tuber it will be rough. Pilchuck Park is the last take out before this hazard. Other than that, its an easy float to the Snohomish and then the take out shortly after that.

4/24 put in was at at the Pilchuck Water Access Site off of Ok Mill Rd with take out at Pilchuck Park. This stretch was a great with easily avoidable hazards. When speaking with other paddlers that day, they confirmed that from the turnout on Russell Road to Ok Mill Rd was equally as easy with no significant hazards.

Ran this section 3/31/21 at 500 cfc. There is a fallen log covering the entire river shortly after the Dubuque Road bridge before the turn to parallel South Machias Road. At this flow it was about 10 inches above the water at this flow but could turn into a sneaky It come around the corner quick if you are not ready for but easy to portage at this flow. There is also a long even log on river right a few bends later. It’s a mellow section and you can see it coming but at this flow it acts just like a low head dam, scary when you look at it from downriver.