Whitewater Forum: Chehalis (Wa) Info..

Chehalis (Wa) Info..

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Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
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URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8810
Printed Date: 17 May 2026 at 8:05am

Topic: Chehalis (Wa) Info..

Posted By: JayB
Subject: Chehalis (Wa) Info..
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2009 at 9:16pm

The W Fork of the Chehalis is one of the runs that came up in the "Intro Creeking" thread a few months back, and it looks like the most recent info on the AW site from 2004. I remember someone saying that this can be a tough one to catch, but on the off chance it's in the right range one of these weekends, I thought I'd tap into the PP knowledge base before heading down there.

The AW page mentions potentially gated access in the McDonald Tree Farm. Any new info concerning access and/or the river, best levels, guage-rocks, etc that anyone out there can share?

Many thanks.

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-Jay

Replies:

Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2009 at 10:05pm

When I ran it, the chehalis at doty gage was about 3000 and going up. That was a pretty optimal flow, and you're putting on a small fraction of that water.

That was a few years back, so I have no idea about access now. I heard some of the roads in that area were flood damaged last year, so that may be an issue.

Posted By: jalmquist
Date Posted: 18 Oct 2009 at 8:47am

The big floods in the Chehalis valley a couple of winters ago totally washed out the road just upstream of Pe Ell at about the top end of the short canyon. We were able to hike up a few hundred yards and put in above the first drop (the island drop) that leads into the canyon. Access above this to the West and East forks wasn't happening... Of course, things could have changed - logging talks, especially in Lewis County.

Posted By: JayB
Date Posted: 25 Oct 2009 at 2:47pm

Thanks for chiming in with the info - and if you've got more recent info - please continue to post away.

What other runs in the area would be good alternates if we drove all the way down there and the Chehalis was a bust? Kalama?

-------------
-Jay

Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2009 at 9:56am

The upper Kalama is a cool run. The whitewater is good, not exceptional, but the river goes through some really neat canyons. This is the time of year to do it too. weyerhauser gates off access to the upper section, but it's usually open during hunting season. There's info on the AW page including a number to call to see if the gate is open.

http://americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2139/

Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2009 at 9:58am

The Tilton is a great backup plan too. The Toutle isn't too much further south either (closer than Kalama)

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