Chewuch

Trip with Tom, Bill, Kanako, Aaron, Jim, and Hieu. The run time was 3.5 hours that included a half hour stop for lunch. We had no riverwide wood and no portages, as has sometimes been the case in prior years, although there were a couple places where wood hazards had to be avoided. GoPro Video of the trip: < https://gopro.com/v/0woW5LoEVlMEb >.

After a fun float on the lower, we went up to scout some of the upper run. While scouting from the road, we saw a very nasty riverwide strainer just after the beginning of the Boulder Creek rapid. This wood is a serious hazard and should be avoided at all costs. We found a put in on the west side of the river just upstream of Falls Creek campground. We floated down to a dispersed campsite we had claimed for the night just across the river and slightly upstream of where Eightmile Creek pours out.

The Falls Creek rapid was a lot of fun, fairly continuous long class III boulder garden with a few decent holes here and there. There was no wood in the rapid at the time and we didn't find any that blocked the entire river for the whole float. After the Falls Creek action, the river really settles down to class I with the occasional class II rapid or wood move. We would've preferred to takeout right above the Boulder Creek rapid to add a little more to the float but someone was camping there so we couldn't use it as an access point. We would've extended the run further upstream but were running fairly low on sunlight. Boulder Creek rapids looked awesome, super long continuous waves with a meaty looking dam just after the rapid ends. The dam looked slightly retentive in the middle but if swam, you'd more than likely flush out although your boat might get surfed for a minute. The sneak line is so narrow even at this flow it wouldn't be practical for all but kayakers to get into, rafts probably wouldn't even fit.

Road scouted the Middle Chewuch on 4/23/21 and saw a couple wood hazards. Nasty river wide strainer in the middle of a swift rapid, I think it's called twentymile creek rapid. Strongly recommend road scouting a place to portage it, or to just put on downstream of it. Can be scouted from the road on river right .7 road miles downstream from camp 4. Another river wide strainer at the end of Boulder Creek Rapid about 100 yards downstream of where the river comes back together after splitting at an island. Can be scouted from the road on river left about a .3 road miles upstream from 5 mile bridge. Also read a report of a log blocking the entrance to the fish ladder at the diversion dam.

A trip on the middle section of the Chewuch River. It was a good flow and a fun trip with a few wood hazards to avoid.

There is a full river log obstruction a couple miles down from the camp four campground put in. easily portaged on river left.

The view looking upstream from the take-out