Lower Suiattle - July 2006

This was my first run on the Lower Suiattle. This river tends to have a bad reputation for wood, and some people simply refuse to run the river because they are scared of log hazards. For me, it's no worse than many other Washington rivers. We have lots of trees falling into rivers here, and it's something you have to be careful about. On the Lower Suiattle, the trouble spots tend to be within the first couple of miles and then near the end below where the logjams line the channel on both sides.

The flow for the Lower Suiattle can be a little hard to determine (just like the rest of the Sauk drainage). The trick I use is to subtract twice the flow of the Upper Sauk gauge from the main Sauk gauge. You want between 1200cfs and 4000cfs, and lower is better for the first trip.

Click on the small image to see a larger image.