LOGISTICS: East of Snoqualmie Pass drive past Keechelus Reservoir (the one right along I-90), take the first exit, and head north on Kachess Lake Road. Take this to Kachess Campground on the reservoir which is the take-out. FR 4930 runs along the creek. Follow this road up to a put-in where you can first see the creek from the road (the box canyon prevents access downstream of this point). Check out current conditions on the
Wenatchee National Forest site.
DESCRIPTION:
This Run would be good if you wanted to add it to another river in the area on the same day such as the
Cle Elum,
Cooper,
SF Snoqualmie, or if you just want to do something different. One potential put-in is at the first falls named Off-Ramp which is a sliding then vertical 30 foot waterfall. There is one other good place to put-in above. Off-Ramp at a class V double ledge drop with a sticky hole. Right below the 30 footer is busy class III-IV that soon peters out. One of the drops is Gutter Ball, for obvious reasons, which is a very fun but narrow undercut slot. Next comes a little flat water before it canyon ups. There are some nice rapids and some steep drops in there. Also once you are in the Box Canyon don't plan on hiking out. Everything was either portageable and or scoutable. The canyon is mostly III-IV with one IV+ and one V. It then flattens out to the lake. While not a classic, it's a short but sweet run. Be cautious of wood hazards which are an issue on this run.
_Description contributed by Scott Martin_