Hinkle Tinkle Creek
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| | Raps:6-14, max ↨110ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Optional 2.2mi Vehicle:High Clearance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 26 Apr 2026
"No other anchors were found, so this was probably a first descent of Lower Hinkle. Found a nice trail leading from the road pretty much right to the t |
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| Best season: | Apr-May
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46.6638, -121.6516
46.6669, -121.6350
46.6548, -121.6299
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Weather forecast
Waterflow
Introduction
Hinkle Tinkle is merry, burbling, friendly creek likely named back in the 1950's when you could get away with this sort of thing. The creek drains the eastern side of Butter Peak (on the south end of the Tatoosh Range) just above Packwood, WA. Despite it's laughter-inducing name, Hinkle Tinkle is quite the good little canyon descent with great access. It's an ideal creek for beginners & practice, or when everything else in the neighborhood is flowing just too high to contemplate. It's quite a pretty creek with photogenic falls and colorful bedrock. There are several options here:
- Run Upper Hinkle: R1 - R7, exiting at the midpoint. (3C II)
- Run Lower Hinkle: R8 - R14. Midpoint to the bottom. This section is a little more technical. (3C II)
- The Hinkle-Tinkle Grand Tour. R1 - R14. A full day outing from top to bottom. (3C III)
Waterflow
- Hinkle has a watershed of 0.56mi^2 with it's highest point being north of Butter Peak at about 5300ft elevation. We're suspicious that Hinkle is largely snow-fed and may dry up / reduce to a trickle in the summer months. It's probably best visited in April and May after the road is open.
- Note that the creek passes out of the Tatoosh Wilderness at about 2400ft elevation.
Approach
Parking options:
- For Lower or Full Hinkle, drop a shuttle car at the very bottom. There are several pullouts and campsites along the main road once it turns to gravel.
- Midpoint: there's a muddy parking area/campsite with room for 3-4 vehicles just before reaching the creek.
- Top: This is the trailhead for Tatoosh South.
Descent
DCR - down canyon right; DCL - down canyon left.
Upper Hinkle
From the Tatoosh South parking area, follow Trail #161 west about 1mi. At about 0.7mi, the trail reaches a switchback just above the creek. This is a good place to check the flow before committing to the canyon. If the flow looks good, continue on up one more switchback and drop in the next time the trail nears the creek. You should drop in just adjacent to where a smaller tributary from Butter Peak enters.
- Downclimb 6ft.
- R1: 20ft from tree DCL.
- R2: 35ft from DCR.
- Below R2, downclimb a mini-slot between a boulder and the canyon wall DCR.
- R3: 15ft or bypass DCL.
- Number of downclimbs.
- Long 70ft curving ramp. Downclimb DCL or rappel.
- R4: 50ft from tree DCR to platform; R5 comes immediately.
- R5: 30ft from tree DCR.
- R6: 15ft nuisance rappel from log DCL.
- 10ft drop, bypass DCR.
- R7: 90ft from dead snag DCL.
From the bottom of R7, follow the creek downstream to the road. It may be easier to exit the creek DCR and parallel it on a gentle downhill through largely open forest to the road. If you left a shuttle car at the midpoint, there's an easy exit here.
Lower Hinkle
Where Hinkle flows under the midpoint road, look just DCL of the creek to find a reasonably nice maintained trail that leads most of the way to R8 (0.2mi). Break off and drop down to the falls.
- R8: Hinkle-Tinkle Falls. 110ft down a neat chute from convenient tree DCL.
- R9: 30ft from a fallen log high DCL. Beware a second, unfortunate log that's fallen across the falls. You can duck under it by rappelling DCL. Make sure to throw the pull line over the log.
- 6ft step on the creek. Bypass DCL by climbing high and around.
- R10: 30ft from chockstone under a boulder DCL.
Walk downstream a short distance. It appears that R11-R14 are on private property, so it's best to keep a low profile and don't overstay your welcome. It is also possible to exit the creek DCL here and bushwhack east over to the exit.
- R11: 110ft down two stages into a narrows from a single bolt DCR. Bypass the root ball at the top of the second stage and make sure the rope goes under the roots. The geologic strata visible at the bottom of this falls is fascinating.
- R12: 50ft from a log mid-creek.
- R13: 30ft from a tree up high in the brush DCR. This is an awkward rap due to brush and snag at the top. There is also a small overhang half way down that can be a hard to see. The last rappeler should consider going double strand for an easier pull.
- R14: 110ft two tiers from tree high DCL. The extra rope is needed for the horizontal distance.
Exit
From the bottom tier of R14, abruptly exit DCL. Follow logs and side-hill a short distance, ascending to cross the nose of the ridge. Find an old logging grade and follow it as it switchbacks upwards. At the top (re-entering public land), break off climber's right and bushwhack, descending east through relatively easy open forest. Eventually, reach a stream and descend the DCR side to locate a user trail that will take you to the bottom. Cross the squelchy swamp to the winter gate, and walk the road back to you car.
Red tape
- Note that FR 5290 is gated at the Gifford Pinchot boundary during the winter for wildlife (just outside of High Valley) and is not open until April 1st. The creek can still be accessed, but it might be a ridiculously long hike or bushwhack in.
- While not visible from any houses, R11-R14 are on private land. If planning to run these drops, it's best to keep a low profile and don't overstay your welcome. Please help pack out any trash and leave the place cleaner than you found it. It's also possible to skip these rappels. Just exit eastward from the bottom of R10, staying on public land until you can drop down to the winter gate.
Beta sites
Trip reports and media
Background
First descent of Upper Hinkle was by Kevin Clark, Wade Hewitt, Ashley Driscoll, and Trey Schutrumpf in June 2023. Lower Hinkle was first descended by Kevin Clark, Trey Schutrumpf, Sabrina Wolfe, and Michael Schoenheit in April 2026.