Sherman Creek

Sherman Creek is primarily a snowmelt fed stream draining out of Sherman Pass toward Kettle Falls. Thus, it will be a spring whitewater run with great flows often early May to Memorial Day or thereabouts before it drops out for the year.

The creek is mostly near the highway with only a small forest buffer so hiking off or onto the run is not hard.

Sherman creek is nearly continuous class III rapids with serious hazards from wood, because it is rarely paddled and certainly not kept clean. The best practice would be to scout the run before you do it and paddle with relatively small groups so you don’t run out of eddies above any hazards.

When putting in at the Log Flume historic site you will find yourself already on continuous whitewater and from here to the takeout there are few places with a real break in the action. None of the drops are terribly difficult but class IV boating skills are needed to safely maneuver and negotiate the stream.

In 2025 there were several sections with trees that needed portaging and these were best noted by scouting the creek prior to boating.

About 100 yards above the takeout there is a wooden low head dam used to divert water to the fish hatchery. Be careful with the dam since it is shallow and a boat could easily pin or piton resulting in a bad swim in the hydraulic.