Bob Marshall Packraft (Looking for Dave Chenault)

Dave is in New Zealand last I heard. So until he gets back I see what I can do to help out.

First Dave has a lot of flow information on his "Crown of the Continent" guide. You can compare that to historic flows and get a reasonably good idea when to schedule.

My trip with Morgan was July 14-17 if I recall. Some of those rapids might have been a bit scary with higher water although it has definitely been done before. I think with the high snow that year the levels were a bit higher then normal.

I went back towards the end of July and the same float was much easier. I posted a video of it on Vimeo that shows some of the rapids at lower water. At 2.13 there is a small wave train. I think this was the one that scared me on the earlier trip. Those weaves were about 3 times as high the first time. At about 2.30 there is a rapid upriver of a narrow spot with a tree across it. Note the hole river left. Those waves will be a lot bigger if the river is high and that hole would be scarier (I didn't even see it the first time, I snuck through river right). You can actually find that spot on Google Earth Pro.

Edit – On my trip with Dave I think the flow was 4500 and that was pushy but nice. I'm pretty sure the flows with Morgan were a bit lower then that.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, Luke!

Yeah, 2014 (when I presume your trip was) had higher than average flows. During your trip the flows at Twin Creek look to have been about 2500 cfs, rather higher than the average.

I think you're answering my question.

And, yes, I have Dave's guide, though it's from 2013 so he may have updated it.

I've been squinting at the Twin Creek gauge very intently for a while now, and I'm thinking second week in July. Dave recommends >3000 cfs for the White River and anything >1000 cfs for the South Fork. So The South Fork should be floatable all of July- the issue is White River. I certainly don't want to do it at 8000 cfs…