The Upper Klickitat has been on my list for a while, but logistics and timing have made it a difficult one to catch. The run is usually best done in late May and early June, when lots of other rivers are running. Also, it's a 4-5 hour drive from the Puget Sound area. Despite this, a small group of us decided it was worth the trouble.We had 2 IKs, 2 rafts, and a cataraft on the run. There were two other groups running the river that day, but much of the time we were alone. The shuttle roads were better than expected, but the shuttle directions didn't make it easy (no road markers where we expected them). We got on the river close to 1PM.
The river was easier than I expected. It was still continuous class III, but at 2000-2100 cfs, it was very straightforward. We were lucky that there were no problem trees, which was our big concern. The run took longer than we expected. It was around 20 miles, but we expected the current to take us down faster, so we were surprised when we got off the river after 6PM.
Some of us drove home, which meant we got home after midnight. I think that in the future I will make this a 3-day trip: Run the entire run on day 1, run the entire run on day 2, and then run just to the hatchery on day 3 and go home.
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