Skagit

Beautiful float with two 14' rafts, sunny day, saw ~6 eagles. Plenty of small logjams in the river from the high flows, but all easily avoidable as long as you stay vigilant.

11 paddlers in 9 boats from Paddle Trails Canoe Club made our annual Eagle Float today. The river was fast and high, at 7700 cfs, with the biggest hazard for most of the trip being big whirlpools and mid-river eddies after the mild (but speedy) rapids. Boats were occasionally spun around, but everyone did great. Rain had been forecast for the whole day, but we didn't get any until the last 5 minutes on the river.

We counted 56 eagles, mostly before our lunch break, and then a big cluster of them just around the bend from the takeout.

There were trees down, but all easily avoidable until about a mile from Rockport, where suddenly there were trees everywhere. Plenty of room to go around them, but the current was pushing pretty hard toward the wood. The worst was at the sharp left bend here: 48.487392, -121.572854

One canoe was pushed into a log sideways and capsized. Boat and swimmer were recovered without incident- hooray!

Eagle float from Marblemount to Howard Miller with the kids.

Aki takes his grandma down the Skagit Wild and Scenic River for an eagle watching trip.

On the Skagit Wild and Scenic River with Adam and Susan Elliott on a trip where they were collecting information for their Wild and Scenic River guidebook. The water was exceptionally clear and the salmon were visible.

River trip from Sutter Creek to Howard Miller with Representative DelBene to celebrate the designation of Illabot Creek as a Wild and Scenic River.

Eagle float with the kids from Marblemount to Howard Miller.

Spotting Eagles on the Skagit Wild and Scenic River.

We floated from Marblemount to Rockport. The river was at 6200cc. Very nice river level, nothing to hang up on, just have to be sure to stay away from the log jams on the sides. We saw 54 eagles, they were very vocal. So cool.

I just floated the Skagit river from Marblemount to Rockport last weekend. The river was at low runnable level but was quite nice. I had intentionally picked a very placid river because I have not canoed a river in a long time and I had three people with my group that are in there seventies. The launch point at Marbelmount is nice with a good amount of open slow water to get settled before you hit the current. There are good places to eat just across the bridge and a selection of good camp sites. I ended up at Marble Creek camp site. That is a Federal park eight miles east of the launch point. It has no drinkable water but is dense forest with comfortable camp sites for tents. On the river there are only two points you would need to have any boat handling skills at all to get through. About one mile from Marblemount there is a shoot in the center/left of the river. If you are not lined up well at low runnable flow the rocks will hang up on your canoe as you try and get in line. The other point is about six and a half miles in. The clear path is on the extreme left edge of the river. It would not be any stress at all but there are about five big rocks in the line you need to cross to get through and at low water they could catch you. Also the channel runs through the branches of a down tree as you exit the shoot. Take out in rock port is easy and you have a selection of parks to exit through. The scenery is beautiful and the locals very nice. It is a tourist trap for the north cascades highway but the prices are not that bad for gas, food an lodgings. Dann

Enjoying an Eagle Float on the Skagit Wild and Scenic River with Eric and Tina Myren.

Eagle float with Aki.