Chiwawa

2 of us in kayaks ran from a little above Grouse Creek CG to the Chiwawa Loop/Pine Tree Bridge at 1650cfs on 5/9/2026. No blockages/portages anywhere. We took out at the river right side of the bridge. The upstream side has a log pile, but we could catch eddy behind the logs. Fun and bouncy for almost all the way! The eddy is not small, but when the current is fast like today, it can be tricky.

Three of us (2 kayaks and a packraft) paddled the Chiwawa today from Huckleberry Ford to Plain at 960cfs. Lots of wood up high but everything was navigable without portage. Lots of new-looking stream restoration projects on the left bank downstream of the put-in (engineered log jams). Popped out a couple times to scout a few blind corners. Guidebook said 13 miles but we got 16.5 miles on GPS track--went quick but felt like a long day.

Huckleberry ford campground had no signage on chiwawa river road, we found it relatively easily via downloaded maps.

Our first time on this run and it was wonderful.

This is a follow up to previous report about logs in the chiwawa. I have run the river twice recently and the log below meadow creek campground definitely got my attention. Both times I was able to run left of the log without difficulty. Not a lot of room but enough for my kayak with room to spare.

We paddled from Huckleberry Ford campground to Chiwawa Loop Road and found some changes to the river-wide logjams. The first portage around a single log is still there. The bigger logjam just downstream from there is no runnable on river right against the wall. Looks like wood was cut, and can be seen downstream on the right side. Finally, we found a new river-wide tree fallen about 1.25 miles downstream from Meadow Creek Campground. Portage on river right. May be passable on river left, but didn't look good to go to us. Great flows and beautiful natural wood out there!

Was able to make it to the huckleberry campground. Snow is gone. Small patches on turn off to campground. There is one massive log jam 1.1 miles down. Everything else is good.

See my track with pictures here: Chiwawa

I tried to get to Huckleberry campground but the last mile was snow covered. Should be clear in a week. Went down to the alternate takeout and put in there. Very fast moving continuous rapids until the takeout. Only took 52 minutes. No portages. Fun flow. See the track here: Chiwawa

Ran this again the next day at 2800cfs.

We did the run from Huckleberry down to Chiwawa Loop Road (the standard run). It was all good to go except one river-wide log portage (above Surfer's Corner). It was not too bad to portage for kayaks but required some dexterity as there was not a great eddy upstream of the log (just some slower current along the bank). It would be trickier in a raft. We encountered a few logs in play in a few other places along the run but we were able to paddle around them. We did not encounter any access issues and were able to drive to the river at the put-in and take out on river right at Chiwawa Loop Road. Flow was right around 1000 cfs which was bank full and a fun level.

Site visit to access point in Plain constructed by the PUD.

From post on WKC forums. 5/12/16 1700cfs About 15 min river time from the Grouse Creek launch and before the rapid known as 'Thread-the-Needle' is a mid-river island that has both right and left channels blocked by trees. It is a mandatory portage on river left.

Does anyone know if the road to the putin at Huckleberry Crossing has a locked gate on it in 2013?

As of June 2011, there are no logs that block the channel. There are places where there are logs that force you one way or another, but it isn't hard to get around them.

Another log on the Chiwawa

Sunday trip on the Chiwawa. As of this weekend the river was clear of wood aside from a number of trees that extended into the river but were easily avoided. No portages were required.

We ran the Chiwawa on the 27th of May 2002. The river-wide log is still there, with a few more logs piled on top of it. It is several miles into the run, after a right bend. There are a few small eddies river right just above the log.

The first few miles of this run contain many logs to be avoided. In one place, a river-left log leaves a small chute next to a rock. It's fine to manuever in a kayak, but a raft wouldn't be able to use this chute.

I ran the Chiwawa River in WA yesterday (5/28/01) with 3 friends. We had 2 kayaks and a 14' cat and ran the Huckleberry Ford to Wenatchee River section. At approximately 1 hour 20 minutes into the trip we came up to a new downed tree (pine needles and branches still intact) that spanned the entire river. It's 20 - 30 river minutes before the bridge near Goose Creek campground, in the Big Meadow Creek Gorge. It's a heavily forested area making portage for kayaks difficult, and pretty much impossible for rafts. There isn't a good eddy for an oar boat above the tree, but there is a log to side up to on river right about 80 feet above the tree. We had to line the cat around trees and thick brush, a saw would have helped tremendously. Lining the cat added about 1 1/2 hours to what should have been a 3 hour trip. The tree poses a serious hazard to boaters.