Sol Duc

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.