Cowlitz

Decided to do this as I am new to captaining a 12ft cataraft after many years of being a whitewater passenger. The other boat in my group was a 14ft self-bailer. We wanted a chill low stakes day float that included a bit of white water and mountain river views. Most white water was within first couple miles of put in, read and runs in beautiful moss covered mountain canyons with forest above. There were two class II rapids then another II+, which was a wave train after a drop on river left that piled off a canyon wall as the river bent right. Nice eddy above this rapid for any vessel to scout, and there were some alternative routes, though bony. The glacial valley has shallow parts yet there were many winding splits to choose from. We took out at the bridge at Packwood on river left. With the bridge in sight, we were on river right and came upon a strainer in slow water with an easy eddy above it. We had to portage around, which wasn't bad for a day trip. Getting to the beach at takeout required getting out of boats and lining them over in shallow water.

At put in we had to walk through a campground in La Wis Wis, which if we didn't find an unoccupied camp to walk through it would have been an issue. Camphost said A-loop and D-loop are next to river. We had to walk boats and gear up, over, and around a log. Luckily we found an eddy and nice beach to launch from.

Take out was unpleasant. Some cool restoration work is happening on the river, so there's no boat ramp. You have to walk everything to parking lot up a rocky sandy beach and across a narrow wooden bridge.

My more experienced companion and other boat captain said they really enjoyed the float though it was low key as it still required some technical maneuvering and there was good opportunity for guest passangers to take the oars.  In a raft, not sure I would want to run lower than 2000 cfs. Looks like it would be really fun for smaller craft. Cold water!