Trip Report
Quinault River (North Fork)
Sublime. The class III whitewater gorges and Old Growth forest are in a class of their own. There is nothing like this in the Cascades.This river reach is essentially only accessible by packraft due to the hike in. For us it was a 5.75 miles hike with a 600 foot gain with several log crossings.
Logan DeGrand
- Sat, May 17, 2025
- Quinault River (North Fork)
- Packrafting
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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Quinault River at Quinault Lake: 1530 CFS
Humptulips river below hwy 101: 432 CFS
Hoh river at us highway 101: 1380 CFS
3.5 hrs. 6.2 mile hike. 2.5 hrs. paddle on 9.2 river miles. Best action and beauty from Halfway House to Rustler Creek. Couple more good class III drops after Rustler but really widens out. 3 wood portages, all river right, from Wolf Bar to NF Campground.
Hike was on well maintained trail most of the way. The view from Wolf Bar gave us an indication of the wood hazard potential to come. As it turns out, we didn't have any wood portages until below Wolf Bar to NF Trailhead but were kept on guard the whole way. This is not a river for casual boaters. 
There were a few log crossings and Wild Rose Creek required a derring do log crossing. This is a sacred walk amongst the hundreds of years old Big Leaf Maple and Sitka Spruce. The habitat is unique on the Earth.
The Wild Rose Creek crossing bridge is gone. An Old Growth serves as a bridge. Choose your own adventure. A careful log walk for some, a butt scootch for others. 
Some of the old growth logs that spanned the river we could paddle under. Others no chance. 
Th confluence with East Fork has a very fun wave train into severe swirly eddy lines. The river character changes below this point as it broadens. It is class I/II- from here down to the lake. The bridge is shortly after the confluence.
We all were eager to come back and do the no-car-shuttle route, starting and ending at NF Campground; hike up to Elip creek for more Class III and less class II. This would require an 8 mile hike with 800 foot gain to be rewarded by 4 miles of exceptional class III from Elip Creek to Rustler Creek.