Cowlitz

Took two packrafts out on the Cowlitz. Flow was pretty low and shallow in a lot of places, but never so shallow we had to leave our boats. There were a few moments we scraped bottom but never enough to full stop us. I wouldn't run this lower than 900cfs. Most of the rapids are in the first couple of miles of Wis Wis Campground. At higher flows these might be more intimidating rapids but at lower flow they were beginner friendly. Only one rapid felt like it might warrant the class 3 distinction given to this stretch on the American Whitewater site. Nonetheless we were able to read and run down an easy line through the middle. Overall this run felt a lot closer to class 2 than 3. The beauty in the initial canyoned area was spectacular. Deep blue and turquoise pools against towering bedrock was spectacular. The silty braids of the flood plain provided a sense of the landscape's scale. Really beautiful area.

Once you left the intimacy of the initial couple of miles and opened up into the larger flood plain, the river braided. We were able to read and run all of this section. Plenty of gravel bars to pull over to if there was a need to scout at all. We did encounter one river wide log at 46.64140, -121.63734. Part of the river flows through a jam on the right,but you can approach the jam as a nice pool forms. The adjacent bend to the left saw the river wide log. It's easy to pop out of your boat here and use the gravel bar to walk around the log to put in on the other side. The remainder of the run was easy to read and pick the appropriate braids. Take out was easy with a gravel bar next to the parking lot adjacent to the recommended pull out. There's a convenient parking lot there for day use where you can leave a car.

We did a bike shuttle since La Wis Wis campground is closed for the year. There's a bunch of no parking signs on shoulder adjacent to the entrance so there's not a great place to park a car. It was a holiday so we didn't encounter any work or construction crews. Nonetheless it was easier to leave a bike rather than a car at the put in. So we dropped boats at the campground, one of us took the car to the take out, parked it there, biked back along highway 12, and stashed the bike near the put in.