
Trip Report
Whitewater Packraft - Sauk River: Bedal Campground to White Chuck River
Very enjoyable river section. Continuous class II+ rapids in a beautiful setting. Watch out for wood
- Sun, Jun 16, 2024
- Whitewater Packraft - Sauk River: Bedal Campground to White Chuck River
- Sauk River: Bedal Campground to White Chuck River
- Packrafting
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Flow rate at the Sauk above Whitechuck gauge was 1,100cfs. This is a great level for this river section. Rapids were active and fun. It was rare to hit rocks.
You can judge the river level at the Bedal launch site. The bridge pier has a flat footing. At this water flow we found about 1 inch of water over this flat footing.
This section ends with a class III rapid. There are two places from which you can scout this rapid. From the bridge you can see the lower section where there are several drops around boulders. From the Beaver Lake trailhead you can walk downstream toward the bridge. This trail leads you to the river bank where you can view the middle section of the rapid where there are several possible routes through boulders. Between these two sections there is a calm pool to regroup.
The lower rapid can be avoided. Land on river right, somewhere near the gauging station, and hike the trail back to the trailhead.
Today, the river was wood free for about the upper half. At 48° 8.6371′ N, 121° 25.7745′ W we came to a section with many trees spread across a broad gravel bar and spanning the river channel. We portaged this river right. Below that there are several more places where water runs into logs on the outside of a bend but you can paddle past on the inside of the bend. At one of these, however, a sharp right bend, most of the flow goes into the wood and we portaged river right a short distance across a gravel bar.
At another section the river forks around a gravel bar island. There is a lot of wood piled up here. Most of the water flows right. A log spans most of this channel from river left, about 3 ft above the water. You can sneak around this on river right but it is tricky. There are several small droops over rocks and another log sticks out a short distance from the right bank. Good boat handling is required. It looked like one could land at the head of the island and portage.
8.25 miles. 2:20 moving time.