Snoqualmie, Middle Fork

I had an opportunity to introduce writer and photographer Tim Palmer to packrafting on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie as part of a research trip for a new book he is working on. We met at the Middle Fork Trailhead after breakfast on a Sunday morning. We hiked the trail on river left to a point just downstream of Cripple Creek and paddled back to the trailhead. The hike took a couple of hours, and we were on the river by noon after a quick lunch and inflating our boats. We spent a couple of hours on the water.

We found a couple of pieces of wood in play, including an undercut bank with roots protruding into the main flow and a tree spanning the channel that still had a line through the branches. The good news is that the major logjam that previously spanned the river last year is now gone, likely as a result of the December 2025 flood event.

The flow was approximately 570 cfs at the Tanner gage and slowly declining. While this seemed much too low for the Middle-Middle segment of the river, it was adequate for this section, which held its water better than I expected. At this flow, the run from Cripple Creek down to the Taylor River confluence is a great Class II paddle, and we had a beautiful day to enjoy it. This is one of the best packrafting trips in close proximity to Seattle and is the perfect destination to test out all your systems for more ambitious packrafting adventures.