Whitewater Forum: Whitechuck River Road

Whitechuck River Road

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Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11319
Printed Date: 20 Sep 2025 at 1:44pm

Topic: Whitechuck River Road

Posted By: BRoss
Subject: Whitechuck River Road
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2011 at 10:30am

Washouts have been repaired on FS23 at least up to FS27. As far as I'm aware, this section of river hasn't been accessible to boaters since 2003. Not sure how good the run is, but AW says its class 3-4.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPyhQoY6BdkOyoCAGixyPg!/?ss=110605&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=STELPRDB5335090&navid=180000000000000&pnavid=null&position=News&ttype=detail&pname=Mt.%20Baker-Snoqualmie%20National%20Forest-%20News%20&%20Events - FS23 and FS27 open

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"That boated a lot better than it looked." "It always does until it doesn't."

Replies:

Posted By: huckin harms
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2011 at 12:38pm

Thanks for the heads up Ben... good to know of.

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Posted By: franzhorner
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2011 at 2:58pm

Awesome!!!!

Does that mean the road is open up to the trail head for the Glacier Peak climb?

I have done a couple of trips on the lower sections of this run. Once we tried to scout the supposed toughest rapid but couldn't find it.

The lower stretches of the run are class 3, 3+ish but there was LOTS of wood hazards. Its also a very narrow river and as I recall its narrow despite the open nature of the valley.... Its been probably close to 10 years since I've been down any section of that river....

I believe wood is always a major issue on the Whitechuck.

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MORE RAIN PLEASE

Posted By: BRoss
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2011 at 3:33pm

Originally posted by franzhorner

Does that mean the road is open up to the trail head for the Glacier Peak climb?

It sounds like there are still a few miles of road that are permanently gated to reach the old roadend trailhead. And the word is that the trail has pretty much completely gone back to nature, with washouts, old growth blowdowns, and brush.

I'd be down for checking this run out with an exploratory mindset once we get some more rains

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"That boated a lot better than it looked." "It always does until it doesn't."

Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2011 at 10:53pm

Cool to hear. I ran the last 100 yards on Saturday... for what it's worth. I would have headed up the road for a look had I known it was open.

According to Bennett, there is one loggy class 5 that is a portage early on in the run. Of course this is a very young river that changes often so a run now would be exploratory. Looking at the satellite photos shows tons of wood, so it would likely be a portage fest.

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