Lusk Creek

I'd like to spend a little time touching upon some comments made by others while offering my own two cents.

As already warned, Lusk Creek can double or triple in height in hours. Conversely, the creek drains about as fast as it crests. Even in just a moderate light rain, I saw it rise from 4’/150 cfs to 8’/1600 cfs overnight on 3/29/2018 and then drop down to 4.5’/300 cfs by the following afternoon on 3/30/2018! Catching it at a sweet spot that’s neither dangerously high nor disappointingly low will be a mix of luck and lust (or “Lusk”). At high levels with pushy current there will be genuinely dangerous obstacles and difficult-to-nonexistent portaging. And accesses off the creek and out of the wilderness forest are very limited, via arduous trails, and far from any main roads.

I paddled this probably somewhere in the 250 cfs range, as it was dropping at the time. I recognize that for serious whitewater paddlers this is an almost laughably low level. However, it's plenty paddleable at this stage. Sure, there will be some scraping in the shallows and fords, and nothing rises about Class II. But it's still really fun and breathtakingly beautiful.

The thing is, at high levels, all manner of huge debris will be whisked downstream and inevitably lodged against the larger boulders. Immediately upstream of the Saltpeter Cave ford crossing is a big, long log pinned against a boulder on the left that juts to the right in a right-hand bend. In other words, the current pushes you toward the log pretty formidably. Skilled paddlers should know how to dodge such an obstacle, but it bears mentioning that the higher the creek, the greater the number of such dangers.

Also worth mentioning are two sets of double boulders to watch out for -- the first upstream of the canyon, the second immediately downstream from the canyon. The first is preceded by a 2-3' chute right above the rocks. In other words, at the base of the rapids one has to pivot a full, hard 90-degree turn to the left (where the current flows) to avoid being swept into and pinned against the rocks. The second set, mentioned above as a recommended portage, does collect a ton of trees and debris, but there was plenty of open water on the right to thread through without having to portage -- at least at low levels. Nonetheless, it's prudent to keep these in mind and anticipate them beforehand.

Immediately downstream from Indian Kitchen are these two ginormous boulders in the middle of the creek. There's no passage on river-left, and typically too much tree debris collects in the middle. Either portage right or thread your way through (if open) on the right without getting out.

There was a small rainbow radiating off the shower-effect from a waterfall in the canyon.

After the canyon and Indian Kitchen, the environment is wooded but generally rockless, and the creek flows slowly with hardly a breath of current until after the PITO at Ragan Rd.

From behind a waterfall veil

Some old-timers never do make it out of the canyon...

Kayaked Lusk from Blanchard Crossing to the Eddyville Bridge on 4/24/2011. Two friends and I got on the water at 4 p.m. with the USGS gauge downstream reading 2,630 cfs. It would rise while we were on it to almost 4,000 cfs. It was certainly Class III+, with some Class IV spots that looked impossible because of strainers. The Rock Garden, just downstream from the Kitchen, was unrunnable. My buddy flipped on some huge waves just upstream from where Bear Branch enters and had to kick out, losing his kayak. Found it the next day at the Rock Garden, pinned 10 ft. up. We were very lucky. Anything over 1,000 cfs is serious whitewater, and proper gear and training are an absolute must. That being said, it was the float of my life and couldn't be happier to have experienced it.

On Lusk Creek, the canyon itself has no rapids, but it is a very impressive site with the vertical walls and small, tall waterfalls. However, there are several class II to class III rapids leading up to the canyon if the flow is above 400 CFS. There is also a large standing wave immediately downstream from the mandatory portage at the bottom of the canyon. At flows above 1000-1500 CFS, Lusk becomes more difficult and it is not recommended.

Bear Branch is much steeper and more difficult than Lusk Creek. It has a much smaller drainage area and, therefor, lower flows than Lusk, which can be nice. However, if you follow Bear Branch (at a decent flow) all the way to Lusk, Lusk may be over 1000 CFS.