Humptulips, E. Fork

It had been a while since I went down this sweet little section of the white waters. The water was wet, but it was a bit low, still fun though. As always, I was a bit worried bout the wood in play, but to my suprise, the fish ladder and most of the run was the cleanest I have ever seen it. There was one river wide log with a tiny little route underneath at this low flow, but this would become a madatory portage at medium-high flows. Luckily, this log isnt in a rapid and it isnt in the steep canyon section, so there should be an eddy/portage route around it at higher levels.

It was dumpin all dat rain all day and I was all like, 'Ah dang mang, I bet dis riva gon' be really wet very soon, ahhh dang', and sure enough, the river blew up over night, going from 1,680 cfs the day of the paddle, to 10,000 cfs the following day. I imagine some new wood is in play. So if you go, always watch for dat wood 'round dem corners. Ah dang.

Love this river.

Ah dang.

On 12/9/18, we put in at 1100 cfs and it was bony but still enjoyable for the scenery and the salmon spawning. Ran the slopy seal launch on river left that drops you in just below the sieve. Be mindful that there is a large boulder just under the surface just downstream from the landing zone.

If you are running this section for your first time (as we were), be careful with the hike-in. If you blindly follow the trail, it will lead you to a large bar that is an impentrable jungle of thorns. Leave the trail before the final steep part and head downstream where the thorny bar ends.

11/17/17 logs in both sides of the center boulder

As of 01/23/2010, the Narrows is clean! Do not run the falls however, as it is backed up with nasty wood, but the Fish Ladder goes and so would the seal launch on the right into the pool below the falls. The Landslide below Goforth Creek is also runnable far right. There is a good hole and some burly water to plow through but is Class IV- at the low flows we saw. You can portage this on river left, if you desire.

Ran the Narrows Satuday, 10/30/2004 @ 2000 cfs on the combined gauge. Plenty of water. One log portage early in the run, above the falls at Flatbottom Creek. All channels were full of wood at the rapid at Goforth Creek. We removed what we could, right side is clean. SCOUT THIS DROP!

No other wood problems, but a couple of very small slots due to wood. Pay attention. A full trip report is posted at this site.

Friends from Wisconsin, Helge and Steve, came out to Washington State and we had a chance to enjoy the East Fork Humptulips. It was a good run at 1850 cfs.

Tom, Dawn, Victor, Ed, and Grace enjoyed a trip through the Narrows with Ed and Grace paddling OC-2 and the rest of us in kayaks. At 620 cfs flows were too low for a proper whitewate run but it was still a scenic trip down the gorge and the river is navigable even at this low flow.

Video From the Trip

My friends Chiharu and Tadano were visiting from Japan and I wanted to take them on an Olympic Peninsula adventure. I had not run the Humptulips Narrows before and when we arrived snow covered the shuttle road. We hiked up to the put-in through the snow and then descended into the gorge. We barely made it out before nightfall so it was a proper adventure.