Boulder Creek (South Cascades)
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| | Raps:4, max ↨70ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Required 30-40min Vehicle:High Clearance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 29 Jul 2017
"First time in Boulder Creek. Some very nice waterfalls, but expect a good bit of stream-walking / boulder hopping along the way. Significant distanc |
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| Best season: | July-Sept
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46.2559, -121.6519
46.2576, -121.6498
46.2372, -121.6435
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Waterflow
Introduction[edit]
A classic canyon located in the upper headwaters of the Lewis River. There are a number of deep pools. This canyon likely sees much higher flow earlier in the season, but subsides around mid-late July and becomes beginner-friendly. Trickiest bit is finding your way to the upper trailhead.
Approach[edit]
Directions: Lower Trailhead[edit]
From Portland, take I-5 north to exit 21 (Woodland/Cougar). Turn right off the exit onto WA-503 east. Follow WA-503 (eventually becomes FR 90) for 46.5mi - passing through the town of Cougar. Just past the Pine Creek Information Center, turn off right to stay on FR 90 (may be signed for the Eagle Cliff campground & store). Follow FR 90 (Lewis River Rd) a further 28mi to the bridge over Boulder Creek (signed). Drive with caution. As of summer 2017 this section of FR 90 is in somewhat poor condition riddled with numerous potholes and short sections of gravel (2WD okay). Drive-time from Portland is about 2.5-3hrs.
Just past the bridge on the left is a small parking area. On summer weekends you may find people camping here. The bridge is a good place to check flow on the creek.
Directions: Upper Trailhead[edit]
Getting to the upper trailhead probably requires high clearance or a 2WD car that you don't love too much. Drive-time: 30-40min.
- Continue east on FR 90 for another 2.1mi and turn left on FR 23 (signed).
- Go 2.9mi and turn off left onto FR 2334.
- Go 1.1mi to a T-junction and turn left to stay on FR 2334.
- Go 1.3mi - beware one gnarly washout - and turn off left onto FR 250 (signed).
- Go 0.4mi to another T-jct and turn left.
- Go 0.1mi to another junction.
- Go a last 0.4mi to a turnaround at the end of the road. This last segment of road was somewhat washed out as of summer 2017 and 4WD might be recommended. If you don't like it, park at the previous junction and walk the final distance to the end of the road.
Hiking in[edit]
From the parking area at the end of the road, head southwest into the forest. The area is a little overgrown, but not that bad. After a minute or two you'll encounter a tributary stream on your right. Make your way down the bank wherever is easiest to drop into the creek and head downstream. After 5min of walking, reach a 15ft drop just before the confluence of Boulder Creek. Rappel or climb out of the tributary DCL and make your way down a steep embankment to reach the main creek. This is a good place to suit up.
Descent[edit]
Boulder has a good bit of stream-walking, but for 1.5mi it seems to pass very quickly. In some areas are nice stretches of bedrock that make for good walking. After a short walk down the creek, a tributary enters DCR. A short 20ft falls is visible just upstream.
- R1: 35ft ramp into a swimmer. Anchored off a tree DCR.
- 10ft downclimb with quasi-swimmer at the bottom.
Short distance downstream, make your way through a boulder jam to the top of the next falls.
- R2: 25ft. Fixed anchor off a large rock DCR. Swimmer at the bottom.
Continue downstream through some nice canyon to a strange area of striking yellow-orange bedrock. Makes for easy walking.
- 15ft drop. Can be easily downclimbed DCR - or carefully DCL into a cave-like space. Possible jump, but check the pool is deep enough.
Below are some other short downclimbs. One passes through a nice short narrows. Eventually a tributary enters DCR. A 35ft ramped waterfall is visible just upstream.
- R3: 20ft. Anchored off a log 40ft back. Deep swimmer at the bottom. Can be carefully bypassed by downclimbing DCL.
- R4: Boulder Creek Falls 70ft. Fixed anchor off a pinch DCR which puts you on a great line down through the flow. Swimmer. In higher flow, rappel from tree DCL.
Further downstream is another short drop that's downclimbable carefully DCR. This marks the end of serious obstacles on the creek.
Exit[edit]
Keep going downstream another 5-10min until your reach the FR 90 bridge over Boulder Creek. Just before the bridge is a small user trail allowing you to exit DCL directly into the aforementioned parking area / campsite. If people are in the campsite, continue until you're under the bridge and exit DCL on the far side.
Red tape[edit]
None.
Beta sites[edit]
CanyoneeringNorthwest.com (archive.org) : Boulder Creek
Trip reports and media[edit]
Background[edit]
Further Explorations[edit]
An alternate approach might be to drive or hike up an old road west of Boulder Creek and drop in via one of its western tributaries. This might cut off some stream-walking but still be able to see the best bits of Boulder Creek. The tributary contains at least one rappel.
