Trip Discussion's: Chiwawhat? Discussion Thread

Chiwawhat? Discussion Thread

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Printed Date: 05 May 2025 at 8:11pm

Topic: Chiwawhat? Discussion Thread

Posted By: Yotes
Subject: Chiwawhat? Discussion Thread
Date Posted: 03 May 2007 at 4:09pm

This is the Chiwawhat? discussion thread. Please post any questions below.

Remember the actual Trip Details are located on the Chiwawhat? | Trip Page

Saturday morning. Road's clear enough to get a decent run of it if not get all the way to the normal put in.

Replies:

Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 04 May 2007 at 10:25am

I'd love to get on the Chiwawa...but I'll be at the Green River Cleanup on Saturday.

Please post a road/wood report after your run, and have fun!

Posted By: RemAcct2
Date Posted: 04 May 2007 at 11:22am

I might be up for this trip...I'll call you later...

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Posted By: Yotes
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 8:46am

We ended up doing the run on saturday, long day. The whole middle section is clogged with wood right now. We made it through with only two portages. The first one is at a left hand corner where there has always been a big logjam that was passable on the left. A new log has filled the open channel on the left side. There are some micro eddies on the left above the corner with some decent brush to grab, and there's also an eddy on the left just above the log, although there's another log partially blocking the entrance to that eddy. The second portage is a riverwide log in a straight section with a number of logs coming in from river right (this is described as the second "gorge" in the guidebook). The second riverwide log is submerged and difficult to spot from upstream. It creates a riverwide ledge with a powerful hole at saturday's flows and I can only imagine it becoming more hazardous at higher water. Take note that this is in a section lasting over a mile where nearly half the trees on the right bank have fallen combined with more gradient than other areas of the river. The good news is that the river is clear from the chiwawa river road bridge to the chiwawa loop road bridge. Higher water will likely move a number of the trees in the middle section downstream, but for now I would say the river should only be run by very strong class 3 boaters with the ability to react quickly and catch micro eddies and the occasional idaho eddy (branches hanging in from the bank).

Posted By: Hydro
Date Posted: 07 May 2007 at 9:46am

The Chiwawa was a lot of fun - busy but not really hard. I'd say the presence of all the wood definitely bumps the river rating up by a point since you're reading more than just water.

We were on our toes -not bowstalling unfortunately- at every corner scanning for wood and working out the contingency plan. Both portages we did came with a little surprise and slight sense of urgency. As Yotes said, higher spring flows will definitely shuffle a lot of trees around down there causing new problem spots.

There was some fun catch on the fly surfing, and a few eddy spots with decent waves. And it's always a good time to float a new river, especially one that feels kind of isolated out there.

For the record, our flow that day was around 1100 cfs.

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