Duckabush

We had a great trip on the Duckabush with four packrafts and a kayak.

Flows were on the low side, but the weather was beautiful and it was great to get out and enjoy the rivers of the Olympic Peninsula. Ariel and Nick had reserved the Forest Service Interrorem Cabin for the weekend, which served as our home base at the put-in.

We met at the take-out at 9:30 a.m., were on the put-in trail by 10:15, and reached the river at 10:30. We spent the first hour at Ranger Hole, with a couple of us putting in a few hundred yards upstream and running the last two rapids in the gorge.

Once we’d had our fill of the Ranger Hole area, we set off downstream. It took about half an hour to boat through the rapids, which were great fun.

Flows were low, but we had enough water to enjoy the run. There were a couple of spots where we slid over rocks, and we had enough power that everyone ended up getting flipped at least once. It was enough water for a very enjoyable run but I would not want to go much lower.

By noon we were on the flatwater section of the lower part of the run. Flows were sufficient to carry us across the shallow gravel bars, and we had good current all the way to the take-out. We encountered a couple pieces of wood in play, but nothing that required a portage. We reached the take-out at 1:00 p.m.

We traveled back up to the Interrorem Cabin, which Ariel and Nick had reserved for the weekend, and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon there.

In the evening, we did some more exploration of the gorge upstream of Ranger Hole. We found a couple of possible entry points and some intriguing whitewater. It appeared to be a good flow for further exploration—maybe something for next time.

Drive up the river to access sites on a drive around the Peninsula on Highway 101.

Thomas O'Keefe and Mike Rausch hiked in to Ranger Hole and boated from there down to Highway 101. The flow was 1.7' on the staff gage at the USGS gage station. There were great rapids at the start that tapered off as we approached Hood Canal.