Passage Creek

Ran at about 600 cfs on 5/16. Only from Elisabeth furnace to the hatchery as it looked like all private property around route 55. Beware though the hatchery road closes and floods over when the level gets high enough to run. Super fun, any strainers were avoidable, the portage around the dam is grown but findable. Water was fast and holes were big, class III for sure but I wouldn't wanna be upside down in the bigger rapids.

March 1, 2012 ran from E. Furnace down to Buckton at 5.01 on the website gauge and 460 cfs. A great level that at the lower section offers too many options that can end in strainers. There was one notable strainer in the bypass channel around the dam that may be a problem at higher flows. A great fun run at this level though. Mike Aronoff

Ran this on 4/14 @ 800 cfm. It was a great run with minimal blockage. Saw it at 1400 one day earlier and was too high to safely navigate through the trees. Red hole was a fun drop. You'll know when you hit it then quickly eddy to river left and look upstream. Someone has written its name on the rocks. Overall fun for a beginner/intermediate run.

running the rapids above the red hole

this creak is great for beginners and novices i find it to be more of a challenge when water levels are lower. you can run the creek down to about 60cfm and i have run it as high as 1800cfm. watch out for strainers. my brothers and I do our best to keep a clean path down the creek but new strainers pop up all the time. I have only been 4 times this year.

concur with advice to use left channel at the tree blockage (referred to as beaver dam by paddlers I was with). Looked at left channel, leader in group chose to go right instead, portage was very difficult and lonnngggg through downed trees and vegetation (good 1/8 mile!); once back in main flow, could see upstream where left channel came back into main flow, unobstructed after it rejoined the flow.

Fun 2-3 run at 5 ft on the online gauge. Wouldn't want to do it any lower.
1 mandatory portage due to major Beaver work. You'll know it when you see it, there's no surprise.

Stop in Waterlick Grocery for a snack, paddling partner, rental or a shuttle, if passage is running, Gooney usually is as well. Two fun creeks in one day.

USGS gauge is online. On 4/17/07 it was 9' on the route 55 bridge, about 4.7' / 290 cfs USGS.

This is the putin for the lower 'rapids' section. An alternate putin/parking lot is further downstream just ahead of the first class II drop.
This is the first 'real' drop. At higher levels it forms a halfway decent surf wave with good eddy service.
Huge tree down across the entire stream. Unfortunately a mandatory bushwhack portage.

Typical drop.
I believe this is the top of Out Of Sight. At this level it's just rock dodging mostly.
Left at the island...
This is the last main drop. It flows over a couple rocks and pushes against the road support wall. Nothing threatening, just unusual.
What creek isn't complete without one of these? Don't even THINK of boofing the lip, there's no pool at the bottom. Flat concrete.

3 ways of dealing with this. Portage left and bushwhack, portage right along the concrete wall, or take the tiny, bony side creek channel just before the dam on the left.
This strainer is on the lower section below the fish hatchery. We managed to squeeze in on the left side, but at higher water that wouldn't be an option.

boogie water below the fish hatchery dam