Sol Duc, N. Fork

While the AW description for the NF is not quite a ringing endorsement, we were drawn to the opportunity to hike in and paddle through some old growth. We also noticed that the river upstream of the typical put in, had seemingly boatable gradient, and a hiking trail that paralleled the river. Seemed like a perfect mission for some packrafts!

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Everyone said the NF was gonna be too low. But for our first time on a run that has limited beta and a reputation for wood, we like low flows. So we set out to prove them all wrong! Well, they were right. The typical NF run was way too low! But it ended up being a good first time flow for the section above the typical put in, which was a bit of a hidden gem. So it ended up making for a very worthwhile trip! We want to go back to explore more of the upper run.

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On Saturday, 4/4/26, the Sol Duc gauge was at 17.75ft at the Quialuyette. Ariel, Brad and I, caught the Edmonds ferry over to Kingston and swung by the Borrowed Kitchen Bakery for some fresh bread and some breakfast sandwiches / burritos. Highly recommend! We then continued on to the Sol Duc Hot springs road which had just re-opened a week or two prior. We pulled over where the road almost touches the national forest road 2918 and stashed a bike.

(48.04826, -123.97298)

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We headed back to the car and up to the NF trailhead.

(48.01079, -123.91111)

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We stuffed our backpacks and headed up the nicely maintained trail. A mile or so later and we were at the typical put in. We forded here to get to the trail that heads up river right. Even at these low flows, the spot we crossed got about 2.5 feet deep. So consider putting your drysuit bottoms on for the crossing.

(48.00910, -123.89443)

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The next mile of trail hugged the river, so there was ample scouting opportunities. The trail itself was really pretty, though a tad muddy in places. Eventually the trail went up a bit of a hill as the river disappeared into a gorge below. We decided to put in above the gorge.

(48.00056, -123.87061)

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The gorge was really pretty and contained some fun action! In fact, the next mile had a pretty consistent blend of class III-IV creeky drops. At the low flow we paddled it at, the drops got a little tight. But the channel held its water well. I would like to go back with a bit more water next time. But the low flows were forgiving and even granted some small recovery pools between drops. So we were cool with that for our pfd run. I’d expect it to get pretty continuous at medium/high flows. No wood portages for this upper section. We did have a couple light pins that were fairly easy to resolve. Before we knew it, we were back to the typical put in.

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Excited that the upper section went so well, we were optimistic for the rest of the run. But it wasn't long before our optimism was dashed. We had to get out of our boats a couple dozen times over the course of the next few miles. We kept running aground on boulder bars as the river fanned out. There were about a half dozen wood portages as well. The rapids did not hold their water well, we scraped and bounced our way down them. Even the canyon section above the NF bridge was a bit scrappy. Oh well, at least the river and forest was still beautiful. Overall, would not recommend running the typical NF section this low. It seemed to need a considerable amount of additional water. Not sure how sketchy some of the wood might get a higher flows.

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After a rough ride down, we were happy to see the NF bridge and to meet up with the additional flow of the main stem. While still low, it was fairly smooth sailing from here down to the bridge. Ledge drop was lots of fun! Very impressive doug firs flanking the banks. We got to the forest road 2918 bridge takeout and hung out while Ariel went on a nice 4 mile bike ride to get the car. All in all, a great day.