Pilchuck Creek

Updating 1/20/23 report, small trees in pool above the falls are gone.

650 dropping to 600 cfs today - minimal flows. Not much wood in upper section and all easily manageable. Small trees with stumps slumped from the right bank into the pool above the falls. At low flow we could get around the left small end of the logs, but at higher flows it will be tight with the river directed into the unrunnable left slot of Pilchuck Falls. Downstream the big riverwide tree noted in Nov is of course still there and easy to see. 3 more logs toward the end were not fully spanning but warrant caution at higher flows.

Although the upper was fairly clean, there was new wood in play in the lower section starting with a log that blocks the customary line over Pilchuck Falls. The larger log that was there for years is gone. Thanks to fixed lines on the steep muddy upslope and downslope, the portage was a reasonable project. A few rapids downstream a new log spans from the left bank to the log jam on the right. We were able to slide over it and at low flow you could limbo by the root wad on the left. A very large tree spanned the entire river in one of the biggest rapids and we barely ducked under on the far left. It wasn't pretty but portaging is probably not bad here. The first two pieces of wood probably won't last long, but it's best to figure that the wood situation may have changed by the time you read this.

The upper section was clean at 1,000 cfs but wood is in play several places below the falls, including a couple of nearly-blocking logs that were difficult to see. The first obvious log was in the first drop after the falls, with a clean sneak far right. A landslide a few weeks ago deposited wood into the last walled gorge. There was clear passage on the left but consequences on the right and center if you were out of control in Class III. Expect that this report will be out of date in the next few days as more heavy rains are expected.

As of 3/21/09... the run is relatively clean. There is one portage just as you enter the first canyon above the falls there's a couple logs all the way across. Portage right. The rest of the run way pretty clean... there's some wood, but most was easy to get around or under.