Flatwater packraft - Duwamish Waterway

Eight packrafters enjoyed a paddle down the Duwamish River on a sunny October day. Because this was an experience paddle for the Flatwater Packrafting Course, to allow time to practice rescues and paddling strokes, we ran the 7 river miles from Codiga Park to he?apus Village Park; a longer (13-mile) trip could start at Fort Dent Park and take out at Jack Block Park. The ~450 ft carry to the river from parking at Codiga is a pleasant walk through the woods carrying packrafts, but sea kayakers may find it a little long.

We put in at a low flow and a relatively high tide of about 10 ft. Because the tidal backwater extends upstream of Fort Dent Park on the Green River, at rising tides the current can be negative (flowing upstream); we planned the trip for a falling tide, but the downstream current was still slight, ~0.5 mph.

Our trip included some of the Duwamish River, which is relatively-unchanged from its historic condition, and some of the (definitely changed) Duwamish Waterway. The river retains its original meandering pattern and streamside tree cover downstream to about North Wind’s Weir; the Weir is a rock outcrop exposed in the river bed at lower tides, portions of which were just starting to de-water at the time we passed through.

Early Packrafting on the Duwamish River, 1906 (Tukwila Historical Society)

Duwamish River (all photos by Max McDermott)

Gathering up to practice rescues

Downstream of this point the river transitions to the straightened, dredged, Duwamish Waterway where we enjoyed checking out ships and varied scenes of industry past and present. The Duwamish Waterway Park in South Park was a pleasantly quiet, grassy spot for lunch with a wide and gently-sloping sandy take out.

Take out at Duwamish Waterway Park

 A sunny autumn day on the Duwamish Waterway!

We ended at he?apus Village Park on the left bank of the Waterway's only remaining original river channel; the park has a sandy, low-bank take out and a tree-shaded, grass flat for de-rigging.