Hamma Hamma
2. Hamma Hamma Campground to gorge (Lower)
| Difficulty | III-IV |
| Length | 4.6 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 40 fpm |
| Reach Info Last Updated | March 7, 2026 |
Projects
American Whitewater is proud to be a leading partner in the Wild Olympics Campaign, a collaborative effort to protect the wild rivers, ancient forests, and salmon habitat of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Working alongside conservation and recreation organizations, American Whitewater helped launch this campaign with the leadership of our local [...]Read More
River Description
This run has some good whitewater but also some sections of braided channel. It typically comes in with fall rains and can flow through the winter and then into the spring with snowmelt.
The river starts off at the bridge just upstream of Hamma Hamma Campground with a fun rapid and after a couple bends the gradient starts to flatten out a bit. You will soon come to an area of active channel migration where you should be prepared to portage log jams that form in this reach.
The gradient starts to pick up again and the character noticeably changes as you pass Jefferson Creek where the additional flow and steeper gradient create some fun class III rapids. You soon come to point where the river drops away in a turbulent furry and disappears around the corner into U Turn. This rapid is difficult to scout but with some effort you can scramble along the rim and get a few views from high above. At medium flows the run starts with a couple of holes at the entrance and then a couple more as you turn the corner before tapering off into a good recovery pool at the end of the gorge. It's another half mile with one more distinct class III rapid before the river plunges over a horizon line into an unrunnable canyon. Take out just above here.
for additional information see:
- Korb, G. 1997. A paddlers guide to the Olympic Peninsula. third edition.
- Hood Canal Ranger District, South - USFS Olympic National Forest web site
River Features
Forest Road 2480 Bridge Put-In
At Highway 101 mile 317.9 Take FR 25 (Hamma Hamma Road) as it runs west into the National Forest. Head up this road past Hamma Hamma Campground and go left across the Cabin Creek bridge and then Hamma Hamma River bridge. This is the put-in. Decent access is available on the upstream side of the bridge on river right a short distance upstream of the Hamma Hamma Campground.
U Turn
Rapid through a fun gorge. Challenging to scout but can be done from river right by hiking up along the rim. The river plunges through an entrance rapid before makiung a hard turn to the right where two more drops await. A good recovery pool is at the bottom within the walls of a very scenic gorge.
Take-Out Above Gorge
To reach the take-out from the put-in bridge, take FR 2480 which heads downstream along river right (this road can be blocked by low elevation snow during winter and unfortunately paddling out to Highway 101 is not an option due to the presence of an unrunnable gorge between the take-out and Highway 101). Follow FR 2480 3.6 miles from the put-in bridge to a pull out along the road. The take-out is on lands administered by Washington Department of Natural Resources. From the river the take-out comes after you encounter a distinct class III rapid a short distance below U Turn. Continue to a small tributary (2' wide) that comes in on river right. The river drops over an obvious horizon line into a deep gorge a short distance downstream. On the downstream river right side of the tributary, hike throught the salmonberry to the bench about 50' above the river. Here an old logging spur provides a trail up from the river with the remants of the road eventually fading as you come into more recent logging operations adjacent to the road. It is approximately half a mile with a 150' elevation gain and should take about 15 minutes to reach the road.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportWe had a great day and beautiful weather on the Hamma Hamma with three packrafts. We were on the water at 11:30am. While the flow was low we had enough water for a great day (neaby SF Skokomish was at 600 cfs and Duckabush was at 260 cfs). The braided section near the start had some wood but was surprisingly clean and the one portage we had was just downstream of that (and easy landing on a gravel bar and step up onto the logs). Once Jefferson Creek came in we got a little more water and the pace started to pick up. We boat scouted U Turn which at this level was a series of three drops with small eddies in between. Even at lower flows the rapid had plenty of power. There's always a little apprehension as you approach the take-out on this run. It's about 10 minutes downstream of U Turn after a class III rapid and a short distance above what I would consider a fairly obvious horizon line into a deep gorge. We arrived there at about 1:00pm. Once we packed up our boats and found the old logging road it was about a 15 minute hike out to the main road. We had intended to hike back to the put-in but a pick up truck happened to be passing by and we caught a lift back upstream.
Had a nice time paddling the Hamma Hamma on a warm sunny day!
Flows were 260 cfs on the Duckabush gauge. Felt low but passable. There were a couple places where we had to get out and drag over cobble bars. U-turn still had plenty of water.
There was one easy log portage. Another section had a couple fun winding bends through newly cut channels that looks prone to collecting wood.
We broke down our packrafts on a sunny little cobble beach, then headed up towards the old decommissioned road. We were going to hike back to the put in via the active first road, but didn't make it more than 100 feet before a kind couple let us hitch in the back of their pickup.
Decommissioned Forest Road: 47.568559,-123.076818
Suggested Takeout Parking: 47.56339, -123.07783
Photos of the put-in and take-out.
There's no trace of the spur road to the take-out visible from FR2480. We drove past it 4 times and never guessed where it was. From the first left-hand turn off of 2480 (about 4 miles), we backtracked for probably less than half a mile to a pull-out that looked like it was in roughly the right place when we compared Google Maps and the shape of the river map, and cut across toward the river. In a couple hundred yards we did come across remnants of the spur road, and followed that to the river. But it vanishes into the landscape before it meets the road.
New Year's Eve trip with Thomas O'Keefe, Megi Morishita, and Guy Erb down the Hamma Hamma River with the nearby South Fork Skokmish at 1320 cfs. This was a good flow that was plenty of fun in the rapids but not too pushy as we approached wood hazards. We scouted U Turn which took a bit and found it clean. We took out shortly after the this gorge and hiked back up through a clear cut to the Forest Road.