Upper Hutchinson Creek - Packrafting WA - 180cfs - Class II-IV+ скачать в хорошем качестве

Upper Hutchinson Creek - Packrafting WA - 180cfs - Class II-IV+

Hutchinson Creek is one of the main low elevation tributaries of the South Fork Nooksack River and while recently added to AW it has the potential to be an epic creek run during heavy rainfall. While the base rating for this run is class II, you should not attempt this run if you want to have a good time unless you are a confident class IV boater. The run started off at the bridge off the old logging road past the yellow gate, there is a gauge on the bridge which makes it easy to identify. Downstream of the put in the creek meandered through some brushy class II+ before I reached a logjam that I was able to skip over river left but at lower flows it probably wouldn't work. Not too far downstream the creek went through a cool S bend that was easy and scenic before I reached a riverwide logjam that I did have to portage on river left, it may have been passable far right but I didn't want to commit. Two huge boulders in the middle of the river signals the start of Fish Ladder Gorge, which had a nasty logjam in the entry and a riverwide log in the runout that may have been duckable in a kayak but the flow was ripping and it looked like a face slapper so I portaged and put in below. This upper gorge minus the wood is a furious class IV+ chute that has crashing waves and holes scattered throughout. Below the gorge the creek mellows out to class III with one slightly harder rapid that has a big red metal barrel or something on the river right bank. A little more boogie led to a rapid I'd like to call "Jumble" because it is just a big jumble of boulders with the current snaking between them. I got out to scout this one because the boulders obscured my view but it is really not harder than the rest of the rapids in this section of the run. Another riverwide log portage was just before the entrance to the lower gorge. The first rapid is a fun class IV rapid that chutes through the walls and into a short pool before dropping into another long class III/III+ section before the real rapids of the second gorge begins. There was a riverwide log going in that would be a difficult duck at this flow and I decided to portage and the only way out was up the walls. Dropping below here you are committed and some sections may not be scoutable or portageable at river level and there could be wood at any point. This section downstream is more difficult than the upper gorge even if there was no wood, and at this flow rates a solid class V. I walked back up to the road that paralleled river right and looked at the turbine station for a few minutes and tried to scout downstream in hopes it would be worth it to make it out to the Nooksack. More wood through the gorge into Off The Wall led me to turn back and walk back to the car. It was an interesting walk back, I swear I heard voices at several points and turned around to check if anyone or anything was behind me. The float took me roughly an hour and the walk back up to my car was about a half hour. I think it would be fun to go back and explore this section at a little lower flows. This video was taken on 12/17/2025 and there were numerous wood hazards on the run including several riverwide logs. Due to the nature of this being a smaller creek expect wood hazards to change at any time and do not use this video as a guide or reference to any current rapids or wood hazards.