Sol Duc

A hot spring soak in the morning, a fun & scenic paddle, followed up by a bike ride shuttle on the Olympic Discovery trail - what a great way to spend a day! Despite low flows, the Sol Duc served up some fun whitewater and great wildlife viewing. Flows were 17.65ft on the Quialuyette gauge on 4/5/26. Ariel, Brad, and I paddled from the Salmon Cascades to Klahowya campground.

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After a wakeup coffee, we dropped a bike at Klahowya campground. The gate was locked and campground was closed so it added about a quarter mile walk to the logistics. We then drove to the Sol Duc valley inside Olympic National Park, America the Beautiful / park pass required. The Sol Duc Hot springs road is gated over the winter, and had just opened up at the end of March. There is a hike in option via the adjacent forest road that stays open during the winter when the np road is closed.

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After a sunrise soak session at Sol Duc Hot springs, we headed to our put in below Salmon Cascades. Some photographers were taking shots of steelhead trying to make their way up the Cascades. We didn't see any trying to make the leap, but didn't watch for long. We did however see a big steelhead swimming not far downstream of the falls. We also saw several pairs of harlequins along the river.

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The rapids up top were a bit low, but fun to navigate. There was one cobble bar right bend just above the NF confluence where we got out river right and portaged a log jam hazard on the left bank. With more water it probably would have been possible to run further right to sneak it. Ledge drop was fun! We passed under the typical forest rd bridge takeout to extend our paddle on a nice sunny day. We eventually took out at a nice sunny beach at Klahowya.

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Ariel bike shuttled back to Salmon Cascades. The trail follows the Olympic Discovery Trail, SF Sol Duc forest road 2918, and a bit of the Sol Duc Hot Spring rd. What a nice bike shuttle with minimal cars! A worthy bike ride in its own right. Because the campground gate was closed, we had to walk our gear a bit more than a quarter mile to the park entrance. All in all, made a wonderful day.

Cyn and I enjoyed a fun OptOutside day on the Sol Duc River. The level was just below the concrete base on the left side of the gage tower, roughly 3 feet or about 700 cfs (it was 18.25 on the Sol Duc River near Quillayute gage). Flows were on the low side in the upper reaches, and route-finding was a bit challenging. We took a few rock hits in tight rapids, but overall had enough water to move through. We made one short portage just upstream of the confluence of the North and South Forks, where the river is beginning to carve a new channel and several trees have come down, creating wood hazards. At higher flows it is likely possible to navigate on the right but at this level it was a little tight. Fortunately, it was an easy drag over the gravel bar on river right. Below the confluences, the river picked up nicely with plenty of water, and the big ledge drop was a highlight of the run.

Good flows for a late afternoon trip. We had paddled the Bear Creek reach earlier in the day and several of us decided to head upstream for a quick run on this section.

We found the river at a great level but the gate was closed over the Thanksgiving 2017 holiday. We went up the Forest Service 2918 road and ran from the South Fork confluence down and continued on down through the next run finishing our run at Klahowya Campground.

5/27/17

High water on the Sol Duc made for a fast and fun run. It's probably the highest I have had an opportunity to run it.

A great day on the Sol Duc over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

On the Sol Duc River with Wild River Life.

We had a couple groups run this at a range of flows over Thanksgiving weekend. Rapids were all good to go and the road was open to Salmon Cascade.

The Thanksgiving holiday included heavy rain on Thursday, sunny skies on Saturday, and another series of light rain on Saturday. Rivers were flowing at medium levels over the weekend. River level at the old USGS gage near the take-out was right at the base of the concrete below the stage plate at 3.35' corresponding to approximately 975 cfs. The DOE gage a ways downstream was at 20.75' and 3500 cfs.

The recent high water moved some wood on this run. At Salmon Cascade, the right channel is now clean all the way from the top but the center still has some wood in it. And the logs that had accumulated at the ledge just downstream from the confluence with the South Fork (described in other comments) are now completely gone!

The road is still washed out near Salmon Cascade but the Park Service has installed barriers and restricted traffic to the one remaining lane in those sections. Repairs may occur in 2005. The run was good on 27NOV2004, but the log jam is still in place just downstream of the confluence with the North and South Fork. We were able to get by on the left but you might want to take a look at it as new wood could collect up at any time. You can see it through the trees near road mile 5. Other than that we had no other wood issues from Salmon Cascade down to the FR 2918 bridge.

The rain stopped early the evening before and with the cold weather the rivers started dropping relatively quickly. Levels were still good for Saturday though at 4.5' on the staff gage corresponding to approximately 1075 cfs. The gate was closed on the Sol Duc Road due to a washout that occurred back in October. We did a bit of scouting to search for an alternative route in but didn’t have much luck. We went up the Forest Service Road and eventually stopped at the South Fork confluence. Eric, Boris, and Willie decided to run the South Fork and reported it to be at a good level (note for future reference that this is a good option the day after a big flood pulse). The rest of us ferried across the river and hiked up to the road on the National Park side of the river. It was a bit of a scramble though the woods to get to the road but after about 20 minutes we were all together and putting our boats together on carts to begin the trip up the road. We were getting close to the put-in at Salmon Cascade when a women who lives up the road stopped and offered to help transport our boats. She did a couple shuttle trips placing the boats in her back seat with the doors open. The river was at a great level and it was one of the best trips I’ve had on the Sol Duc. In one of the early rapids Jan flipped and cut his head. We were able to perform a rescue relatively quickly, and Mike was with us to provide medical attention. After we had Jan all fixed up we were on our way again. We had more fun rapids until we got the main drop below the confluence of the North and South Forks. This rapid was blocked by several logs and although there was a potential line weaving through the mess we all elected to portage. A short distance downstream we found a great surf wave that kept us busy until darkness.

USGS gage tower on the Sol Duc River. On river right downstream of the confluence of the South Fork and North Fork. Not currently in service but you can read the staff gage.

We had nine boaters on this run: Dave Pearton, Jan Tackett, Omar Jepperson, John Ross, Russ, Jen O'Neal, Jay and Aaron from CA, and Thomas O'Keefe. After spending half a day searching for the elusive put-in for the Sitkum (the 29 road was closed from the downstream direction and we were attempting to access from the headwaters) we took advantage of what available day light we still had for a quick run on the Upper Sol Duc. We put in at Salmon Cascade and took out at the forest road bridge downstream. The river was at a good level and was mostly continuous class III+ with one drop near the end that pushed class IV-. The river is quite open with fewer woody debris hazards than many of the other runs on the peninsula.

The flow as 3.3' on the upper Sol Duc staff gage corresponding to approximately 950 cfs. Rivers were coming off a peak on the 24th when the Queets was up to 35k and the Hoh was up to 9k. On the 26th the Queets was at 10k and the Hoh was at 5k, while the Quinault was still near its peak of 7.3k.