Middle Elwha River - Packrafting WA - 1600cfs - Class II-III(IV) скачать в хорошем качестве

Middle Elwha River - Packrafting WA - 1600cfs - Class II-III(IV)

After over a decade of action sport including water and waterfalls and I finally made it out to the Olympic Peninsula for a trip. I cliff jumped heavily from 2014-2019 and despite having some awesome spots I never made it out because there was always something else that caught my eye. The same has gone for packrafting, I have neglected the region and after finally making the trek out here I regret having not come out here sooner. We set off for the Elwha River with a bike in the car and decided on the way we would do the hike in section to Glines Canyon Dam rather then the lower section out to the Strait. We parked the car at the 101 bridge and began our journey up the road, I threw my boat on my back and Brandon carried his rolled up, neither method seemed easier than the other. We got to the gate on the road and everything got cool, we were walking on old grown over pavement and we were soon at the washout that closed the road. The washout is significant, and the trail around it sucked, it seemed like it gained way more elevation than it needed to carrying the boats. Back on the road we soon passed the old boarded up ranger station which felt like an apocalyptic movie. The Altair Bridge came soon after and we knew we were close. When we finally got to the Glines Canyon Dam site we basked in the glory and ate some snacks. The rapid through the dam site looked fun but I would want a solid crew with me to attempt it. We put in where the powerhouse was and began our journey back to the car. The first few rapids were fun class II+ and we soon entered the lower Glines Canyon, a class IV rapid that we had underestimated from the scout up. Brandon chose to walk it and I just dropped in, thinking it would be a little more chill than it ended up being. It was a little rowdy and I was stoked at the bottom, especially having finished in my boat. The Altair Bridge was soon below and marked the end of the canyon and the start of the floodplains. Below Altair the river mellows out a bit but still has plenty of class II+ boulder gardens before the washout. The washout is a must portage section, and it makes the most sense to just follow the old path of the road, which is what we did! It was cool and once again apocalyptic. We put in and floated on down, quickly approaching Fishermans Bend, a fun class III zig zag through some bigger boulders. Unfortunately there was wood in every outside bend so it was really more of an avoid the logs type rapid than a fun class III. Below Fishermans Bend was a couple miles of fun class II-III+ boulder gardens that ended in a fun class III wave train into a mini canyon before the river really tapered off. As soon as the houses along the banks began to appear we knew we were nearing the end. The bridge soon appeared and we pulled out on river right and followed a small trail back up to the car. The walk up took us roughly 3 hours to get from the highway 101 bridge to the former Glines Canyon Dam site, we spend about an hour at the dam and then hopped on the river and it took us just under an hour and a half to make it back to the car, including the portage around the washout section. This video was recorded on 12-7-2025 and there were numerous wood hazards on the run including at least two riverwide strainers in the washout section and wood that could create problems in Fishermans Bend just downstream. The gravel bar section have wood typical of rivers of this nature but nothing riverwide. Due to the everchanging nature of rivers, especially this recovering watershed, expect everchanging river features and do not use this video as a guide or reference to any current river features or hazards. River was flowing around 1600cfs when we put in and slowly rising.