Whatcom Creek

Looking straight down at low flow

Took a little stroll down the lower section of the creek today and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. From what I have read in the description/trip reports on this run, I believe that all three drops on Man Eater have cleared of wood and are currently runnable if you're marbles are in a bag. There are still numerous wood hazards along the sidelines of the rapid and below the drops so make sure you're on line and have good safety set. With this rapid cleaning up I believe the entire creek from Bloedel to Woburn is runnable again depending on your skills with a few portages. The only absolutely mandatory portages now are the main falls, and a pair of logjams roughly 200 feet above and below Pixie Falls. From Pixie Falls to Woburn street is pretty messy with a lot of branches overhanging into the creek and some potentially creating wood hazards.

We started at the rusty bridge below the upper dam in the eddy just below the bridge on river left. There was a good surf wave here at the put in created by some old concrete bridge structure. From here down to the Derby Pond it was pretty much class I, there were a few small pieces of wood on the railroad bridge but nothing that completely blocked any of the channels. The slalom course is still intact and was fun to play around on, although we were on Kokopelli Recons and we have no idea how river slalom works.

     After portaging the dam at the Derby Pond and the following waterfall. We put in at the base of the falls and played in the powerful jet coming out from the upper falls for a minute. The rapid below the falls is really easy and has some good eddy pockets to play in along the side. Just before Prison Love the brush overhangs over most of the creek but there's a good slot middle right. Prison Love was low and the middle line was not sticky at all and the right side line dropped into a big pillow. We surfed in the wave just downstream of the drop before exiting the creek on river right just upstream of the main falls.

     Because of the wood just below the Stone Bridge we had to put in a few hundred feet downstream. This section was fun, there was a good S bend with a surf wave on the right at the bottom of the bend. There is a good splat rock just upstream of the green bridge middle right, it has moss and is very friendly. The rapid into the green bridge pool is a fun chute, just watch the log on river left, not much of a problem but it's there. Pool has good eddylines to ferry across the little jet.

The run downstream of the green bridge is a bit more intense than the upper run, the drop out of the pool has wood on the left and has a good wave in the middle. There is a spot downriver above the double boof that had wood in the left channel but the right and middle channels were clear. The double boof was fun, not too sticky and it had a good chute through on the right side. There’s a shallow rock just after the first ledge if you’re too far right on the chute it kind of sucks if you hit it cause you lose all of your speed but it is easy to avoid. There was a riverwide log just before the wooden bridge that is passable on the river left but is a significant hazard middle to right. There is a micro eddy big enough for one packraft at a time before the log on the left or another good backed up eddy below the log. The pool here is backed up by a unnavigable logjam just below the bridge.

We put back in on the creek below Hole in the Wall (the rapid that wraps out of the cliff jumping pool, it is runnable but you better hold onto your marbles because this is a nasty place to swim). There is a huge Boulder on the river right side below the exit to this rapid and a small eddy/seal launch for our packrafts just below the main outflow to Hole in the Wall. Just below the creek drops off a fun 2 foot ledge that forms a fun diagonal hole. The logjam below is passable on river left around the bend, same with the next. After the second logjam the creek straightens out and offers an awesome class III/III+ straight line under a couple more logs and sadly is over before you know it. The canopy opens up and the creek bends hard left at the end of this rapid. The takeout is under a log on river right, there is a big eddy but we bounced over a few shallow boulders on our way in. This is a must hit exit if you’re not a solid IV/V boater. Man eater is just below and has a couple nasty pins so make sure your safety is set.

Just below Man Eater the river rubles through an awful canyon with crazy undercuts and logs and then is fairly woody down to pixie. We walked down and we ran pixie, I took the middle/right line and my kayaker buddies took the left line. The seal launch from the log was a little sketchy because the logs are slick but the drop in wasn’t bad. We pulled out here and walked back to the car at the main lot because the brush is very overhung on the banks of the creek we didn’t feel like eating spiders the whole way down.

Overall lots of walking, some decent whitewater and very little driving if you live in the area.

The run is currently navigable down until Man-Eater, the first drop of the rapid can be run, but once the mini gorge is entered it is difficult to portage and after the first drop there are numerous insurpassible wood hazards.

If anyone has any info on trying to get the city and the park to open the lower section of river for paddling as well as adjusting logs to allow for safe passage of paddlers, fishermen and swimmers, please post to the river stewardship forum about Log removal or contact me directly through this site.

At extreme low water this drop has been run in its entirety, but at anything but boney flows, upper and lower become one drop with no good line. Lower Man Eater was the site of the worst/scariest pin I've ever seen. The cave/sieve can be seen in the pictures of Lower Man Eater.
The Cave/Sieve just above and behind Hales head was the site of a near fatal pin.
With some slight modifications this hole could be a great end swapping spot. As is now, the lead in is too shallow, and by the time the water is high enough, you'd need someone with a throw bag you to get out. City lights would make it a night time spot too.
I've only run this drop at bony levels. There always seems to be wood guarding the entrance. The higher the water the scarier this drops looks.