Sultan

On 12/11 Saturday 15 people accessed the river by hiking accross the landslide which has now been chain sawed out somewhat. The PUD was very kind to open the Olney Pass gate and allowed everyone to drive to the clearing up on the FS road. We flagged the old miners trail down to the river which turns right just after the landslide. This trail allows you to put in approx. 1 mile above the old log bridge. Total hiking time was approx. 1 hour. I was in the first group of three paddlers. We started at 10 A.M. and arrived at Trout Farm Road without incident at 3:30 P.M. The level was at 900 cfs in the early A.M. but was down to 400-500 cfs at 12:30 when we were at the Diversion Dam. There is some new wood that fell in the major ice storm last winter but it is manageable. The second group of six paddlers was just downstream of Marsh Creek Falls when they observed and recorded on video a massive landslide that completely blocked the river for a brief time. The second group of six paddlers could not portage over the new and very unstable landslide and was forced to hike up very steep cliffs. It is not known at this time if portaging over this new landslide is possible. I will try and hike in their soon and post an update on the river situation. This landslide is just upstream of the Horseshoe Bend put in trail and it might be possible to paddle upstream to observe the landslide/dam.