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We're going to try to get up there, not sure what the road conditions are like.  This river is not to be missed if at all possible!!!

9 Miles of awesome class 4!!!  It never flows.

You need 4wd and probably more clearance than a Subaru can provide, but my Jeep made it far enough to walk in.  It will be a bit of a walk through as the snow is fairly deep, but the road is plowed for the dam...

I need another paddler though since we have one stuck in the middle of the I-5 flooding closure

Anybody?

This may continue through tomorrow and maybe even the weekend due to the amount of snow up there and temperature...

I would, but my creek boat is broken, and looks like I won't get another one for a couple of weeks

Edited by leifkirchoff - 07 Jan 2009 at 10:26pm

That is going to be one big messy/muddy slog in. 

Yep, sweet fun run IF you can manage the slog fest, shuttle logistics, and length:daylight ratio.  Hoping some of the wood issues from past years clears up. 

Well it didn't work today...  Not enough interest early enough.

Dammit!

Turns out today would have been a great day, the gauge confused me too, don't look at the one linked from the main page, they are "flushing gravel" there is another gauge on that site that shows the flow below the diversion dam...

Look here
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?site_no=12138160

and subtract 1300 (max that they can divert, as they will definately be doing now...)

so at 9am today:  @ 4030, so 4030-1300=2730 (big water time, this is for the last part of the run)

There is also this gauge at the diversion:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=12137800
this shows how much water is up there, the river is picking up tons of water all along its length getting bigger and bigger near the bottom.

So at 10am this morning, it was at 1500...  As long as this stays above 400 it should be good to go!!!

One last small thing to note, the guys at the powerhouse say there may have been another slide from a blip they saw on the gauge... (I don't see it, but Tom O'Keefe told me so I'm passing it along...)

Tomorrow may be a great day too.  Those waiting for the weekend: this thing will fall off fast!  I wouldn't bet on Saturday...

I can provide both 4x4's to get up there... who can resist???  Awesome run, snowy 1.5-2 mile nature walk, then 9 miles of some of the best whitewater in Wa???

I want to meet in Sultan around 7am for daylight reasons, may even want to take out at the powerhouse since the lower will be BIG, stompy and take more time...

Who's in???

franz, there is a pic of a cat boat on the Sultan on the AW website, so apparently it's doable.  not sure how he got the cat down the slot in the pic, though....  

I am just guessing but part of that soggy hike would require taking the cat apart or hiking with it on end. Its a really tight little forest towards the end of the hike. Also, I would run the lower along with the upper. She's a tasty treat at high flows. Never been over 2200 but I am sure its fine... As far as best whitewater in WA. We might have to agree to disagree on that one, but an obscure dijour 4 sure!

I agree its a great run and since its soo close it is a classic, but not the "best" whitewater in the state... I just wish that there were deeper mud at the putin...