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  Washington Kayak Club
Fun and safe kayaking through trips, education, skill development, and conservation

River Wood Hazards

Twisp River in the section from Buttermilk Creek t...
John Kelly
From John Montgomery
The hazard is located on the Twisp River in the section from Buttermilk Creek to Twisp City Park.
On the night of 5/20/2016, an adult Douglas Fir tree fell across the river to create a river-wide hazard. The trunk of the tree is suspended above the waterline by broken branches so that all the water (at 900 cfs and lower) is flowing through the branches creating a tight sieve. There is no way around, over, or under this hazard in your boat; it must be portaged.
The location of this tree is approximately 300 yards above the fish hatchery weir in the river right channel.
Just above the hatchery, the river is split into two large channels. The RR channel is the route boaters have been using since the RL channel is smaller and has wood in it.
The tree is located in the RR channel about 100 yards after the river splits into these two channels.
As you're paddling downriver, the tree is visible from about 50 yards above it.
The tree is located in the middle of continuous rapids with limited eddies, so it would be a difficult place to get a large, bunched up group of paddlers off the river in time.
The easiest eddy/portage is on RL.
If you wanted to hike up to the tree from the fish hatchery in order to scout or flag the hazard, you'd have to do a lot of bush-whacking AND cross the RL channel.
If you want to bring a large group of Class II/III paddlers down this section of the Twisp, I'd recommend sending a couple experienced paddlers ahead of the group to find and flag the best eddy and to pull in the other boaters as they come in to shore to land.
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