Chewuch

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.