Trip Report
Whitewater Packraft - Cispus River: Twin Cedars to Copper Canyon Creek
Report on both Saturday (class II) and Sunday (class III) trips
Alex Bond
- Sun, Apr 26, 2026
- Whitewater Packraft - Cispus River: Twin Cedars to Copper Canyon Creek
- Cispus River: FR28 Bridge to Copper Canyon Creek
- Packrafting
- Successful
-
- Road suitable for all vehicles
-
Flows: On the NOAA gauge, 950 CFS on Saturday and 850 CFS on Sunday. On USGS gauge, 1150 CFS on Saturday and 1100 on Sunday. I'm not exactly sure why they don't align but I suspect due to conversion formulas from feet? Regardless, this was a good flow. A little low and had to look for the only channel deep enough to run at moments but nobody ran aground, and there were still some big waves on the lower stretch. We moved quite quickly too. I'm not sure I'd want to do it much lower, but this was just fine.
Weather: Sunny and low to mid 60s both days, great weather.
Saturday:
This was the class II run from the FR 28 bridge to Twin Cedars - very scenic with Tower Rock above us. The run started with some winding curves down gravel bars with lots of wood on the shore - we definitely needed to have a scout ahead with space to the rest of the group, but eddies were consistently big and easy. We portaged once for wood but I could imagine having to do it more on a different trip. The whitewater was easy, mostly II- gravel bar drops. One participant swam when a tributary came in and created a small hydraulic where the two flows met.
About 5 miles into the run (a bit more than halfway) there was a submerged log that we paddled over. 8 out of 9 participants did so without incident, but one caught the boat on a small knob or branch and somehow tore a massive hole in the boat, a rip maybe 3 feet long on the outside of the tube, even reaching into the tube to make about a 1.5 inch rip on the paddler's side of the tube as well! I've never seen anything like this from wood, it was like it was done with a knife. There was nothing hard inside the boat to create a pinch point, the paddler just managed to find a razor sharp prong and put enough pressure on to make the incision and tear. We recovered downriver and weren't able to inspect the hazard.
The participant with the torn boat and an assistant leader packed up and hiked half a mile back to the road, and the rest of us hurried to the takeout and drove back up to pick them up. Other than the huge disappointment of the torn boat, it was a nice run and a good difficulty for recent students. It took about 2:40, including a long time to handle the boat situation.
After this, some participants went home and some did a second lap of the stretch in about 90 minutes. Those who stayed camped at Twin Cedars on Saturday night, it was a nice spot although no restrooms nearby. Iron Creek Campground was closed.
Sunday:
This was the class III run from Twin Cedars to the Copper Canyon takeout/Lake Scanewa. It went great, super fun. Lots of swimmers - two on Let's Make A Deal, one on Rollercoaster, three (!) on Lion's Jaw. All swims were drama-free, in general each rapid had its largest waves and hydraulics at the very bottom and that was where people came out each time, so most of the swimming was in flatwater below the rapids. Double Trouble was relatively easy at this flow. We had no wood portages and didn't really even come close to wood, but I could definitely imagine that being different another year.
The run took 2:08. We considered a second lap, but having to run a double shuttle to get cars from Twin Cedars, drive back to the takeout, then back again to Twin Cedars, then do another whole shuttle afterwards, would have taken awhile and folks were generally ready to go home.
I will definitely be back, especially for the class III section below Twin Cedars which was a ton of fun. I would enjoy trying it with more water, but this was a good flow too. I don't think I'd enjoy it with much less. There is wood hazard and the torn boat is definitely a sign of that and how seriously it must be taken.