Contacting Jeff Bennett
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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=9908
Printed Date: 04 Nov 2025 at 1:00am
Topic: Contacting Jeff Bennett
Posted By: theoneinventor
Subject: Contacting Jeff Bennett
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2010 at 12:12am
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I have a question for Jeff Bennet (author of A Guide to the Whitewater Rivers of Washington which we all know and love)
The e-mail address which he provides in the book is no longer in service. Does anyone know of contact info for him where he wouldn't mind receiving a friendly inquiry? I'm not looking to spam but Jeff due to his knowledge of Washington rivers very likely would have some ideas for me that I have as yet been unable to get anywhere else. Thoughts? Much appreciated, Andrew |
Replies:
Posted By: huckin harms
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 8:00pm
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well Andrew... I certainly don't know how to contact Jeff Bennet, but maybe you could share what questions you have to your ideas and maybe somebody who reads this forum could share thoughts. ------------- |
Posted By: theoneinventor
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 12:30am
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I have been doing some pack rafting lately, my latest trip was on the upper stretches of the Hoh river. I hiked up the Hoh river trail and rafted down starting at the confluence of the Hoh river and martin creek.
Do you guys know of any other stretches of river in the state or nearby that would make for good pack rafting? The conditions for "good" pack rafting being: a) Class I-III b) deep enough to float without scraping on/through rocks the whole time b) Not along a big road, ideally would require something of a hike otherwise I would just kayak it. If you have any input on good stretches of river or rivers to explore I would appreciate it greatly. I don't mind doing some exploring but I wouldn't even really know which rivers have potential. Around here seems like a lot of the more remote parts of rivers end up being steep creeking. Thanks all, Andrew |
Posted By: water wacko
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 6:19am
| The Upper NF Sky might be a good one. Drive up to the washout and start hikin!! :) |
Posted By: huckin harms
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 8:29am
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Andrew,
First off, good on you for getting up the motivation to do that hike up into the Hoh. Sounds like a great trip.
Unfortunately, not to many rivers come to mind that fit your parameters as described.
One option that popped into mind is the Suiattle. That did have a trail and is a relatively flat river bed, but I am not aware of the specifics. The trailhead maybe unreachable by car due to floods in 06.
Upper reaches of Stehekin maybe an option, but I'm just guessing.
The NF Sky could be an option but has several falls in the canyon upstream of where the road ends. And below that are a few more hazards - 90' deer falls, bear crk falls and then class IV to trout. So probably not what your looking for.
I'd look over the rivers in the state on a few good maps. Then check gradients and trail access. I'm sure there are other options and a few folks around here probably have some good ideas to share. Hope it helps.....
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Posted By: James
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 9:33am
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Andrew, I would love to hear about a hike up the Green River Gorge. Check this putin ( http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.214047,-121.430417&sll=47.223106,-121.365163&sspn=0.009822,0.016286&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16&iwloc=near - 47.214047,-121.430417 ) That would give you roughly 30 miles before reaching howard hanson where you will most likely be met by security (could add some fun) use either the http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Nat+for+Dev+Rd+54&daddr=47.214047,-121.430417&geocode=FQDR0QIdPAHF-A%3BFd9t0AIdbx7D-A&hl=en&mra=ls&dirflg=w&sll=47.21427,-121.429245&sspn=0.004912,0.008143&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=47.27294,-121.381073&spn=0.157006,0.260582&z=12 - access in from Easton (Google Map) Or you could gain access using the Pacific Crest Trail. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.223753,-121.362482&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.630055,66.708984&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16&iwloc=near - Closes intersection looks like here (47.223753,-121.362482) Either way you shake it , that would be a trip to remember, and quite possibly a first descent although it is probably just about all class I-III |
Posted By: franzhorner
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 10:21am
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I was lucky enough to go on a trip down the Green above HH dam back in 2002. The company I worked for got hired to take the Army Corps of Engineers down the river so they could assess whether or not salmon could live in the river above the dam as they were considering putting in a fish ladder. How crazy is that? Uh...do you think salmon could live up there??!! Anyway it was meandering class 2 as far as I remember and pretty damn scenic. I think we pretty much went up as high as you could with rafts...I'm not sure what it would be like even further upstream where it was less flow and narrower...I believe we did about 7-8 miles up from the dam. It was not a first decent on the trip I did it. The owner of the company and some of his guides got to go on the first decent with Richard Bangs the week before I went..... ------------- MORE RAIN PLEASE |
Posted By: dylan
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 10:22am
| The Napequa |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 10:45am
sweet. Love these sorts of discussions. Reminds me of why I stick around here
 yeah, not feeling very opinionated these days, and not really knowledgable of where the super-dope class II runs in the state are (I'd like to know where all the Gourmet class II is for sure-- cause most of the class II in the state seems to suck ass.)
It does seem that once the creeks tumble out of their extremely rugged class V wilderness pockets, they just go through sh*t tons of private land and/or shallow wide gravel beds and braided channels.
As a day trip i gotta say the lower White Salmon is one of the finest stretches of class II I've seen in the stae. But it's only a few miles and isn't a wilderness/hike in trip.
The Humptulips, while class III is nice, but I guess it doesn't meet your hike in criteria either.
Tell ya what, dude- if you wanna hike into some remote parts of the state, I'd consider the area around Early Winters. The N.Frk Sauk might be worth checkin out too, upstream of the class IV-V stretch above the falls.
The Skagit dainage, The upper reaches of the S. Frk Stilly? I don't know...
just some ideas
------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: tradguy2
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 1:04pm
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The Napeequa? It is class 2/3 in the valley but I'm pretty sure the canyon section drops at over 200fpm for several miles. Plus, that would be a brutal hike in. I do know it has been run before. ------------- ... preparing for a river beating! |
Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 9:20am
| How about the Waptus? |
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 10:32am
| I'd trade the Duwamish for the Rogue...... seems fair right? |
Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2010 at 4:49pm
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Here's an idea... albeit not too well thought out... Hike in to the upper chilliack river in Washington and float down to Chilliwack lake in BC and paddle the lake too. You'd have to contact the Canadian customs and immigration ahead to see what their policy is on backcountry entry. But it might be pretty kewl. |
Posted By: SOPBOATER
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2010 at 11:25pm
| I have always wondered what the chilliwack would be like crossing the border and on the US side. |
Posted By: BRoss
Date Posted: 25 Oct 2016 at 3:02pm
http://www.canoekayak.com/videos/video-solo-first-descent-napeequa/#imUP2YO6GyDIQ4jo.97 ------------- "That boated a lot better than it looked." "It always does until it doesn't." |
Posted By: jalmquist
Date Posted: 25 Oct 2016 at 3:19pm
| First descent? Pretty sure Jim Bonner and co (or some segment of that early exploratory crew) got in there and paddled / portaged that run. |
Posted By: Jimmy
Date Posted: 25 Oct 2016 at 6:58pm
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Originally posted by JoesKayak Here's an idea... albeit not too well thought out... Hike in to the upper chilliack river in Washington and float down to Chilliwack lake in BC and paddle the lake too. You'd have to contact the Canadian customs and immigration ahead to see what their policy is on backcountry entry. But it might be pretty kewl. It would make for a much better camp fire story if you didn't contact them first though. |
Posted By: BIGWATER
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2016 at 7:45am
| You have the right idea heading to the Olympics. Hiking into the Queets would be great pack rafting. |
Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2016 at 9:05am
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Originally posted by BRoss
http://www.canoekayak.com/videos/video-solo-first-descent-napeequa/#imUP2YO6GyDIQ4jo.97 Awesome vid! I've been wondering about that river for years and years ever since I saw pictures of the amazing valley it flows through in hiking guidebooks. What an amazing trip... some of those drops he portaged.  |
Posted By: Kiran
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2016 at 6:41pm
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Regarding the Suiattle, you can now drive up just past the Sulphur Creek campground. The section below here is mostly Class III, becoming Class II below the next bridge about 7 miles downstream
You up the trail and I have found 2-3 great places to put-in but this upper section is fairly busy and FAST Class III+ with wood that shows up. I was out there hiking it this past weekend |
Posted By: jonlcrain
Date Posted: 27 Oct 2016 at 8:35am
| South Fork Calawah sounds like what you are looking for. |
Posted By: jalmquist
Date Posted: 27 Oct 2016 at 10:25am
| SFC is a great run. But I'm not sure the original poster is looking at this thread over six years later... |
Posted By: chipmaney
Date Posted: 27 Oct 2016 at 12:54pm
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Originally posted by tradguy2
The Napeequa? It is class 2/3 in the valley but I'm pretty sure the canyon section drops at over 200fpm for several miles. Plus, that would be a brutal hike in. I do know it has been run before. Tom Bath lives!!! ------------- sitting all alone on a mountain by a river that has no end |
Posted By: chipmaney
Date Posted: 27 Oct 2016 at 1:03pm
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Wynoochee River (Olympic Peninsula; 20-30 miles with excellent fishing)
Klickitat (Columbia Gorge; multiple reaches) John Day River (long, high desert, multiple reaches) Grande Ronde River (long, high desert, multiple reaches) Queets River (Olympic Peninsula) ------------- sitting all alone on a mountain by a river that has no end |