Rattlesnake Creek (Naches trib.)

This is a beautiful run with awesome scenery and great rapids. The run starts in a tight canyon with alternating cliffs and steep rapids. It then goes through a broad valley with continuous low-gradient rapids with lots of braids. Next, it enters a winding box canyon with tall cliffs on each side. The rapids here are mostly curves into slightly undercut basalt walls. The run ends in another broad valley with braids and lots of shallow gravel bars.

Despite the class III rating in the guides, this is not a run for class III boaters. In the Spring of 2004, we had to portage logs 9 times. Also, there was a river-wide log in the second canyon that would be very difficult to portage, and luckily can be run (run it close to the wall, where there is a log sticking out - if you are too far left, you could get stuck on the log like I did). If you do this run, take a light boat be prepared for portages, but be prepared to have a blast! This run is worth the hassle.