Little Woodward Creek
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| | Raps:7-9
Red Tape:Access is Restricted Shuttle:Required 15-20min Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 26 Feb 2022
"Skamania County presents: Canyoneers on Ice! Icy conditions in the creek made travel slower, but cool to see. Water level lower than expected - somet |
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| Best season: | Apr-July, BEST in May-June
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45.6547, -122.0641
45.6440, -122.0753
45.6475, -122.0586
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Weather forecast
Waterflow
Introduction
WARNING Sometime in 2024, the area on both sides of the creek were logged. It is unknown how this might have affected the creek. It appears Little Woodward is largely on private land.
Lesser tributary of the Woodward Creek. With a significantly smaller watershed than the main fork, this creek has historically been a good choice when others are running high. LWW can sport higher water earlier in the season, but seems to become beginner-friendly somewhere in March or April. The creek diminishes to a trickle in summer. Don't bother if you're looking for water. LWW sports mostly short drops and ramps; all the rappels are pretty friendly. There are some beautiful areas of exposed bedrock. A good creek for training and practice.
- Water catchment: 0.6mi^2.
Approach
Lower Trailhead
From SR 14, follow Woodward Creek Rd north ~2mi to an intersection and turn right (unsigned). The road is paved, but is in the process of being reclaimed by the forest. Follow the road downwards approximately 0.5mi to a small pullout on the left just before a bridge across the West Fork of Woodward Creek. There is room for a couple vehicles.
Upper Trailhead
Head back out and turn left at the junction. Follow Woodward Creek Rd south ~0.6mi and take a right on Mars Landing Rd. Follow ~0.5mi to Jct 953 (end of county road). Turn right onto Duncan Creek Rd (not signed) for another 0.4mi to another junction. 2WD vehicles can make it at least this far. The road ahead, however, gets progressively worse as you approach the clear-cut. High clearance and likely 4WD might be able to make it further. In 2017: we got as far as the clearcut, then parked when the road became a muddy swamp. Higher up there were a number of logs down across the road. You're likely better off parking and hiking the rest of the way in. Do not block any roads.
== Continue on up the road to a Y-jct. Turn right here and follow the old logging grade east a short distance to a second Y-jct. Here, bear right again and follow the overgrown powerline access track downwards to the southeast. At the last tower, turn left onto another access track which serves an even smaller powerline heading off to the north. This road grade varies from pretty good to very overgrown. Keep following the road northward. You can keep going to where the powerline corridor crosses Little Woodward, but it's faster to break off into the forest just before you get there and and thrash down to R1. It's best to suit up before the bushwhack.
Descent
- R1: 40ft ramp. May need to climb over a number of fallen logs. Walk downstream 5min.
- R2: 25ft ramp.
- R3: Very long ramp / multi-tier drop. A 200ft rope (SRT) will get you all the way down. (Alternatively, this pitch could be broken up into multiple rappels.)
- R4: 20ft.
- R5: 15ft. Short walk through a mini-narrows below.
- R6: 8ft.
- R7: Two tier: about 20ft high in total. Might be downclimbable?
- R8: Rappel down a 50ft low-angle ramp to a 30ft vertical. Anchored on a tree DCL. A doubled 200ft rope is just enough to get you to the bottom.
This is the end of the technical section. Continue downstream another 5-10min to the confluence with Woodward Creek. There are some nice old growth cedar trees at the confluence. If the logjams are annoying you, it's possible to exit DCL up onto the ridge and walk down to the confluence.
Exit
Upon reaching Woodward Creek, the water level will triple.
Slow Exit
Just continue downstream 20-30min to the bridge and exit. There are no technical obstacles.
Fast Exit
At the confluence, look DCR to spot a huge cedar tree high on the bank which overhangs the creek below. It is literally just before Little Woodward reaches the main Woodward Creek. Look on the right side of this tree (not obvious until you are close) to spot a dirty root ladder which can be used to scramble up the bank. Atop the bank, locate a faint use path which traverses above Woodward Creek before eventually descending to a swampy area under the powerlines. The trail dumps you into a small creek heading into the swamp... follow it. Keep going wherever is easiest until you can easily exit the creek DCR. This area has become quite overgrown. About 10ft away is a large fallen tree (marked with tape in summer 2018). Duck under the tree and find a faint trail leading to the lower parking area. For folks accustomed to bushwhacking the fast exit should take about 10min.
Red tape
Virtually all of the waterfalls on Little Woodward are on private land. It would be best to obtain permission from the landowner before running this creek.
Beta sites
CanyoneeringNorthwest.com (archive.org) : Little West Fork Woodward Creek- Super Amazing Map : Little Woodward Creek (West Fork)
Trip reports and media
Background
Creek was first descended by Keith Campbell and Kevin Clark in 2015.