Trip Report
Middle Fork Snoqualmie River: Taylor River to Concrete Bridge
645 CFS. Very low water. Lots and lots of scraping. Not recommended at this level. No unavoidable strainers. The scenery is stupendous.
- Sat, Apr 22, 2023
- Snoqualmie River (Middle Fork - Upper Middle): MF Trailhead to Concrete Bridge
- Packrafting
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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We put in right before the bridge at the Taylor River. From Taylor River down to River Bend the class II+ drops were fairly continuous and reading the river to find a way down the cobble ramps in this low water very difficult. After River Bend the river mellowed considerably. From Russian Butte to Concrete Bridge was class I with intermittent class II drops. There were no unavoidable strainers. We had one mandatory portage across a cobble bar due to the low water conditions, but some paddlers got out and lined their boats numerous times. We all scraped our boats countless times and everyone got hung up to a complete stop at least a couple times. I would not run this route again under 800 CFS.
We watched a Bald Eagle attempt to dive bomb a Merganser countless times who was diving underwater for it's life continuously to avoid the huge Eagle's talons when it came up for air. Better than a NatGeo show!