Rapid

Looking for a bushwhacking, log choked Charlie Fox Trot? Look no further, you came to the right creek. Don’t be fooled by the name. There are not that many rapids nor is it little more than a handful of small tributaries that come together to make Rapid River(RR). No matter how one accesses RR, it is going to be a mission, but a scenic one at that. This creek is prime for accessing the Middle Fork via packraft or small craft for the fit and adventurous seeking novelty. The “runnable” portion of the creek is about 13-15 miles long, all of which have been subject to large burns in the past two decades. With few large runoff events since then, the drainage has held on to a significant amount of timber. This has created a plethora of natural dams and charcoal-strainers. Yippee!

The majority of the elevation is lost in the last 4 miles, which does a couple of things. For the most part, this made for reasonable boat scouting the entire way down. It also means that all the fun stuff happens in the last few miles above the confluence with the Middle Fork. This is not to say that there aren’t a handful of sneaky little short (class III+) rapids in the upper 10 miles. Be on your toes for wood below the swift corners. There is a noticeable flat section after about 9 miles, where the creek braids out into a large prairie-like landscape. This is a sign that the last 3 miles are within your grasp. Similar to all of the Middle Fork drainages, the bedrock starts to give way to some erosion and the pace picks up. In this section, Rapid River is constricted and winding, but moving quite fast. The moves are class IV-, but the boat scouting is class V-ninja level. With few straight lines of site and very few micro eddies, this section will keep your PTSD peaked for days afterwards. Multiple blind corners left three kayakers clinging for reeds and willows in fast current while a fourth probed around the bend. With this being said, we didn’t run into wood (2016) and this section

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