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Trip Report    

Packrafting- Samish River: Prairie to Belfast

This was an exploratory trip down the Samish River. Only 50cfs, which was not enough, but even if there'd been more water, there were big trees down EVERYWHERE. Not a navigable route.

Sam Westover Sam Westover
June 08, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • This was an exploratory trip and our conclusion is that this is not a navigable route.  The water flow was very low (50cfs), but even had it been much higher, there was far too much wood.  We walked more than we paddled, and had to climb over countless trees, some of them huge!  

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Our original trip plan was to hike into the SF Nooksack and paddle the class II, but upon arriving, we saw signs that prohibited use by all watercraft between June 1st and October 31, for the protection of salmon.  So, we scouted the nearby Samish River, and though it looked small, we thought it would be a fun place to explore.  We knew that previous trips had been successful on lower sections of the Samish.

We put in just across from a logging road at the north end of Upper Samish Road, after running a vehicle down about 5 road miles/ 7.5 river miles to Belfast.   About 100' down the river we got to a gravel bank we had to get out and walk.  Then another, and another, and another.  Seldom did we find a stretch of river more than about 100' that we could actually stay in our boats for.  If it wasn't too shallow, there were trees down.  Some of them, we were able to portage around.  Most of them, we had to climb over.  At least with such a low water flow (50cfs), and a mostly muddy bottom, there was little danger of foot or boat entrapment.  

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What we paddled, before walking back

It took us nearly 3 hours to travel 2 river miles, at which point one of us suggested that we try to make it out to a road and walk back to the cars.  We looked at the map and realized that if we went any further, we'd be committing to probably another 4-5 hours on the river, unless it really cleared up. 

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7.5 miles of intended paddling

But it wasn't showing any signs of having less wood or more water.  So, we made an exploratory climb up a bank, to find a lovely looking farm.  Unfortunately, there was also a lovely looking, but very large, farm dog guarding the place, and no fences between him and us.  He headed our way and we fled up river.   Fortunately, we found an unoccupied house just around the bend and were able to scramble up the bank with our boats and make it out to the road.  

Our trip leader stayed with the boats and the other two of us walked/jogged back about 2 miles on the road to our cars.  I do not recommend jogging in wetsuit booties.  

In conclusion, it was a beautiful day to be on the river, and I think we all had fun.  But this was more an extended portage with small snippets of paddling.  Not recommended for future trips.