Methow
3. Averill (at McFarland Creek) access to Pateros(Black Canyon)
| Difficulty | III |
| Length | 17 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 24 fpm |
| Gauge | Methow River Near Pateros, Wa |
| Flow Rate as of 47 minutes | 3960 cfsmedium runnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | June 24, 2024 |
Projects
The Methow Valley is one of the most important landscapes in the state of Washington and of national significance for outdoor recreation with a diversity of opportunities for the recreational pursuits our members enjoy. Every spring, whitewater boaters enjoy the experiences on the Methow River, Chewuch River, and Twisp [...]Read More
River Description
The Methow is a bigwater snow melt run with its headwaters in the peaks of the North Cascades. The river features plenty of waves and holes particularly at Black Canyon Rapids, the highlight of the run. The run can easily be broken up into two separate runs as the first half is a class II+ run from McFarland down to the Burma Road Bridge. The second half features several great class III rapids from the Burma Road Bridge down to Pateros.
McFarland Creek Access to Burma Road Bridge, Class II+, 8.2 miles
This section begins with several big bouncy class II rapids dispersed over the first couple miles. If you want to shorten the warm up, there are alternate access points just upstream of the town of Methow where Highway 153 crosses the river (put-in under the bridge on downstream river left). Another access point is Lightning Pine Camgpround, a private campground on river left across the river from the town of Methow where boaters sometimes camp and utilize the private launch.
Continuing past the town of Methow, which is not readily visible from the river, the Methow comes back along the highway and you will pass a great playspot for the kayakers on river right. Locals or those passing through on a road trip sometimes enjoy this as a fun park-and-play spot. Engle's Slide is a named rapid less than half a mile downstream of the play spot that is an easier class III rapid.
More fun class II rapids continue down to the Burma Road Bridge across the Methow a couple miles downstream which marks the midway point of the run and a potential access point.
Burma Road Bridge to Pateros, Class III(+), 8.2 miles
This is the classic Black Canyon section of the Methow featuring some wonderful class III action.
The first major rapid on this section is the class III+ Black Canyon Rapids just after you pass the confluence with Black Canyon Creek and the river takes a slight bend to the left wh
...River Features
Averill at McFarland Creek Put In
Averill Access at McFarland Creek is well-marked along Highway 153 and is just upstream of the bridge. River access site administerd by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The site includes parking and a toilet with an unimproved access to the river. A Discover Pass or a WDFW Vehicle Access Pass is required to park a vehicle at the site.
Burma Road, Upper Access
The high bridge at the northern end of Burma Road provides access on the downstream river left side of the bridge. This can be used as an alternate to McFarland Creek river access but it cuts out about three miles of whitewater.
Zahn's Access [private]
This is a private access point that has been utilized by outfitters for many years. Please secure permission before using.
Playspot
Fun little play wave on river right just downstream of the town of Methow where the river comes up against the road and a footbridge is visible.
Burma Road, Lower Access
The low bridge at the southern end of Burma Road provides access on the downstream river right side of the bridge. There is limited parking on the west side of HIghway 153 and additional parking across the river on the far side of the bridge.
Rice Access
This developed river access has a large parking area on the east side of Highway 153, a vault toilet, and two short trails to the river. The site is administerd by Washington Department of Fish and a Wildlife Discover Pass or WDFW Vehicle Access Pass is required. This is overall a much more functional access than the Burma Road Bridge located 1/2 mile upriver, but you do need a parking pass and you can't back a trailer to the river's edge here (although the walk to the river on the trail is fairly easy).
Bridge 1 Access
Access on river left just downstream of the bridge. This is a good access at the end of the signfiicant rapids and is a standard take-out option.
Pateros Take-Out
The Douglas County PUD provides this take-out facility on the Methow as a condition of their federal license to operate the nearby Wells Dam on the Columbia River. There is a large parking area with no permit requirement, a restroom, and some informational and interpretive signage. This site is located about 0.7 miles upriver from Highway 97 on the river right. Red buoys in the Methow mark submerged hazards but also indicate the location of the take-out, which is partially screened from view from the rier by vegetation.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportTwo packrafters on a sunny spring day, flow measured at (methow river at pateros gauge) was 4310 CFS, the higher end of medium runnable. We decided to skip black canyon section, given small party size, and parked at Burma rd. bridge (SE side) for our take out. Biked to the put in at Averill DFW put in site. River was running fast, as we ran this 8.4 mile section in 75 minutes. Rapids were in the II to II+ range, with lots of splashy sections that are likely more calm at lower flows. There was no wood obstructions, and wildlife was mainly Canada geese, ducks and merganzers.
Fun trip with the local crew: Tom, Jonathan, Liza, Chris, Nelson, and Ned.
I was in Chelan for the 2022 US Open of Paragliding and we had a day that was too windy to race gliders, so I pulled the packraft out of the car and did a personal first descent of the Methow from McFarland Creek river access to just above Pateros.
The river was flowing well with snowmelt but wasn't terribly cold and I was able to get by on this 90ºF sunny day with a pair of shorts and long sleeve splash jacket in a decked packraft. I saw no other boaters out on the river except for a raft group that was already nearing the take-out when I was shuttled upriver. Although there were a few pieces of wood on the banks and near couple bridge pilings, no wood was in play and there were no atypical hazards on the run.
I stopped for a break at the formal river access that is located about 1/2 mile downstream of the Burma Road bridge. This river access has two trails from the parking area to the river and a restroom but requires a parking pass. It's a much more functional put-in or take-out than the Burma Road Bridge but you can't back a raft trailer to the water's edge like to you can at the bridge (but there is a lot more parking at this site).
The rapids were fun in a packraft and there was just enough punch that I chose to avoid a couple holes so I didn't get a packraft beat down out there on my own.
I took out at the Douglas County PUD river access that is about 3/4 mile upriver from Highway 97. There are several red buoys in the Methow that help identify the take-out site which is screened a bit by vegetation. After letting my gear quickly dry in the sun at the take-out, I was headed back to Chelan. Total time on the water for the 17 river miles from McFarland to Pateros was about 2-1/2 hours--pretty quick at this flow!
Sunday 5/22/2022 my father, brother and I took a float down the Methow starting at the Burma Road access under the bridge on 153. We were all running in packrafts and found the eddylines behind the bridge pilings to be fun to ferry back and forth across the river with.
Starting off, this section down to Burma Bridge is very fun and has plenty of fun class II/II+ rapids. We kept our eye out the whole time for Engles Slide but we got down to the Burma Bridge and didn't really think anything down to there deserved a class III rating. We didn't even know where Engles Slide was on the run because it must not have stood out as being any more difficult than the rest of this section. Lots of fun wave trains and holes to play in all over this section.
The river tapers off a bit after the Burma Bridge with a few fun rapids here and there until Black Canyon. We played around a bit here and there But kept moving cause we were stoked for the big stuff ahead. At the flows we had, Black Canyon had a busy and fast channel on the river right side that my dad and brother took and found to be quite fun at this level and was a bit tamer than the river left channel. The left channel was a couple small picket lines of holes before the channel came together and formed a big wave train into this huge hole on the river middle/left. After this there is a big wave train of like 15 big rollercoaster waves. After this Staircase comes pretty quick around the next corner and is a steep boulder garden with a couple pretty huge holes river middle and left toward the bottom, most people would say Black Canyon is the highlight of the run but I personally found Staircase to be a lot more fun. My dad swam above this and he got out at the top of the rapid but we couldn't get his boat until the bottom, we hiked his boat back up to where he rested at the top and we ran the rapid again. The lap on this is doable but kind of a crappy bushwhack through huge boulders. Shortly after this was Corner Rapid, which felt a lot more Mellow and spread out than the rapids above. Corner rapids is pretty much just a big long continuous boulder garden with lots of wave trains and holes. The rapid above the little bridge with the huge rock in the middle was a lot of fun, the line to the right of the rock being a little more rowdy. Roadside Attraction was a few rapids down and felt very similar to Corner Rapid, as it was a bit more tame than some of the other bigger class III rapids and was just a long boulder garden full of waves and holes. As you pass under the big hwy 153 bridge this next rapid is a bit more intense than the last few class III's. Bridge rapid has a steep band of waves and holes on the river left side and then whips around a corner and river right slams over a bunch of big boulders to create a funky band of waves/holes, mostly holes at this flow.
From here on down the river tapers off a bit and as we passed under the next highway bridge we found Metiorite, which was a very oddly placed boulder as it didn't seem to share any of the same geology of the rest of the valley (besides one more rock just downstream out of the water). The river from here had several fun wave trains and surf waves. There was one more rapid that came the second time the river butts up against the highway after Metiorite. This rapid had a lot of holes to dodge and towards the end had a very wide fan of boulders that created a pretty nice ledge hole.
The river loses a lot of punch and drops down another small set of rapids before splitting into a couple different channels. My dad and brother went right, I went left and then right at the next island. If you We're to go left and then left again, it appeared as though there was a river access point here on river left that cuts out the flatwater at the end. I'm not sure if this was a public access point but it had a vault toilet so I am assuming so. This access would add quite a few more minutes to the shuttle so it may not be ideal. The flatwater paddle out sucked in the packrafts but it was what it was. The entire float took a little over 4 hours with a few stops for snacks/surfing.
There is a huge log completely blocking the left channel of the Methow River. It is visible from highway 153 at the intersection with Lazy L Lane.
Shoals below meteorite
Hole at the bottom of shoals below meteorite
Ran from fishing access down. A nicely runnable channel forms down the river right side at this level.
Trip with rafts and kayaks through the Black Canyon including one big boat full of kids. The run was from McFarland down to Pateros.
A trip down the Black Canyon section of the Methow.