Wenatchee

Drive by site visit to access sites on the Wenatchee River.

A great stretch of river for beginner boaters when most other stretches are blown out and nearly eddy-less. A flow of 10900 cfs on the gauge at Plain makes for a very quick-moving main current with a handful of smaller wave trains, a couple mid-stream eddies behind islands, and some stronger eddy lines alongside cliffs.

A couple of isolated log jams that could be in play for unaware swimmers, but otherwise minimal hazards. The first notable logjam exists river left past the first wave train as the river bends to the left and back right. It is not in play unless someone is in the water and unable to swim away on their own. The second notable jam is slightly downstream of this, approximately .25 mile. It is on river right and composed of two large, old growth logs situated in an upstream V near the right bank. Again, not in play for paddlers in their boats. However, if one is towing a swimmer to avoid the jam on the left, keep heads up and plan on catching an eddy well below the jam on the right.

If you put in at the lake, you’ll have about an hour of flatwater until you reach the intermediate access point that we’ve christened “Mosquito Eddy”. From there, you have about half a mile before it starts to pick up slightly. The surf wave that develops river left below the Railroad Bridge is large, but can be skirted far left to set up to avoid the swirling eddies on the right bank. The wave could also be avoided to the right, but then be aware of stronger eddy lines and swirling eddies that we have affectionately dubbed “Toilet Bowl”. Nothing of major note, just gentle Class Fun read and run.

            As the river’s speed picks up on its way to Plain, there are increasingly difficult eddies to practice catching and gentle currents to work on ferry angles.

June 25, 2021
Flow: 7,350
We put in at the headwaters, with a Raven II inflatable kayak, a Sea Eagle Raft, and a Body Glove inflatable SUP. We drifted down to the Plain access, where we took out. Upstream of the confluence with the Chiwawa was flat and fast, with a few strainers here and there, but all easily avoidable. After the confluence things picked up, and it was a proper class 2 most of the rest of the way. A couple downed trees straining the river at corners were easily avoided, as long as you were paying attention. The best series of rapids was just upstream of the bridge.

Literally the most difficult part of today's float was the takeout. We pulled out at the halfway point, just past the bridge to Plain. We had used the same takeout last year, and knew exactly where it was. But we had used it at substantially lower water, and even though we knew the concrete stairs are just twenty or so feet downstream from the big bridge, they weren't visible until we were right on top of them. And there wasn't a clean eddy next to the takeout right now: there was a decent current flowing right past it. Consequently, two out of our three boats actually missed the exit. The teen on the SUP wound up holding onto his SUP and some bushes about thirty feet downstream, and the raft wound up clinging to an overhead branch about ten feet past the takeout. With a little scrambling we got everyone back up to the takeout, with all the gear intact, but I can't say that it was fun, and I will be in the doghouse with my wife (she was in the raft with me) for several weeks.

At the current flow, I would strongly advise against trying to float this stretch unless you honestly know what you're doing. I've canoed/rafted dozens of rivers over the years, with and without guides, and I was pretty confident that we could handle it, but we still managed to get into a scrape at the takeout.

We took SUPs from Lake Wenatchee (Discover Pass req'd) to Plain on 7/17/2020. Flow was 2600cfs. Mostly Class I, with some class II near the takeout. Watch out for the generally strong winds, might make inner-tubing difficult. There was some wood, but it was easily avoided. Chelan PUD's new take out had a good-sized parking at the southwest side of the bridge, there's 90 stairsteps to the river. 2 hours on the river, 30 minute bike shuttle (narrow shoulder w/ fast but minimal traffic).

Access at the Beaver Valley Road Bridge developed by Chelan PUD.

Most people put-in at the South Lake Wenatchee State Park - either the beach or the boat launch. Be sure to have your Discover Pass and pay the launch fee if you use the boat launch area.

It is a good fall colors trip if you don't mind low water. Taking two days to go from lake to Tumwater Campground is a good idea if not doing it in the spring.

On 8/12/12, we stopped at the Tumwater Campground and talked with a lady who works for the company contracted to manage the USFS campground. Our question was where to take out since the WA DOT construction has the usual take out blocked. She said folks can park in the picnic area of the campground (to the right as you enter) and take out on river left before the bridge. Landing there looked very feasible, but entering the short gravel road by vehicle, down to the take out, looked hazardous from the west side, due to the sharp turn required on the narrow, curving Tumwater Canyon highway. You might want to drive toward Leavenworth until you reach a place where you can turn around and then approach it from that direction. There was a porta potty between the highway and the take out when we were there.