Washougal River Post-Holiday Paddle

Washougal River Post Xmas Paddle
What better way to shake off the post holiday hangover than a little bit of icy cold water in the face on a wintertime Washington classic?  This year, after consuming entirely too much food (and maybe too much alcohol) on Christmas, I begrudgingly rolled out of bed for an early morning lap on the Washougal River near Camas, WA.  The Washougal has been one of my favorite winter runs for years because of its easy access from Portland, lovely rapids that range from very benign to fairly exciting, and surprisingly pleasant scenery for a river that lies just 30 minutes east of downtown Portland.  After spending some time at the fisherman’s takeout about 3 miles up Washougal River Rd. shaking off the cobwebs and realizing that one of our crew forgot his drysuit (sorry, Pete), we dressed for the cold and piled into Scott’s Tacoma and headed up the road.  The Washougal has several good spots to access the river along the road depending on how much excitement you’re up for, you just have to be respectful of private property.
For the classic “Big Eddy” section that we had chosen for the day, a permit parking boat ramp pull off at milepost 8 is an ideal spot to put on as it gives you easy access to the river and a little bit of a warm up paddle to get your blood flowing before you reach Big Eddy, a steep, boulder garden that is foreshadowed by (you guessed it) a very, very large eddy above the biggest drop on this section.  Having scouted this drop on the way up (pull off the road on the right after milepost 7 and a green chain link fence that punctuates a large bend to the left in the road), we were all confident in our lines and dropped in, diving through holes and hopping from one eddy to another as we worked our way towards the bottom.  This was an exciting experience for me as I chose a new-to-me line down the left hand side of the river that climaxed with a fun little slot move between two fairly large boulders right at the crux of the drop.  I couldn’t help but let out a little “yip” of excitement after a solid line through this challenging rapid, and after sharing some stoke in the eddy at the bottom I no longer wished that I had stayed in bed.
Peeling out & heading downstream we were treated to some warm sunshine as well as the rest of the run rapids that the Washougal has to offer.  Immediately below Big Eddy is a fairly straightforward class III rapid that is punctuated by a nice hole toward the bottom (small at our flows but with the potential to be huge, frothy & mildly terrifying at high water) that is easily skirted by working left as you near the bottom of the drop.  Smooth lines were had by all as we navigated our way downstream through the boogie water and around a few holes that punctuate the next major rapid downstream (look for a bridge over the river as a good indicator).
We weren’t the only ones out enjoying some post Xmas sunshine, the banks were dotted with anglers and we even had the requisite “you’re crazy” response from one drift boat full of fisherman after they asked us where we had put on and whether or not we’d run through Big Eddy.  Chatting with the locals ate up some time during the meandering flatwater stretches between fun surf waves & boulder gardens that characterize the Washougal, and before too long we had navigated our way all the way down to another drop that makes the Washougal one of my favorite rivers, Cougar Creek rapids.
Cougar Creek starts with the river splitting into two channels around a small, gravelly island (both channels go just fine) and rejoins above a decent sized ledge hole and then crashes down through some surging waves that amplify midway through the rapid as Cougar Creek enters from the right.  This rapid offers incredible scenery near the bottom and features some very fun and challenging moves with a clean, flat run out, making it an ideal spot for working on skills.  After slicing this drop up by catching some nifty little eddies, we hustled downstream towards the takeout, catching the occasional wave on the fly and enjoying a short surf to break up the monotony of the boogie water between us and the takeout.
The river’s flow on this day (around 6 feet or 1,000 cfs) on the Hathaway gauge) was on the low side of medium and made for a great experience overall.  This section of river is a great intermediate run as it has great features for skill building (ample surf waves, a few circuits to run) and a challenging rapid or two dotted in along the way.  Toss in a great crew and some sunshine and I didn’t miss sleeping in at all.  Happy holidays!
-David Trageser