Late into the summer after most rivers in the PNW are out of water, one awesome run is just dropping into its prime. The Cispus is a great run that is inaccessible for a lot of the year due to high water and snow covering the pass to get there. It is located in a vast, sasquatch infested forest between Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainer in the middle of nowhere. Basically you drive past the last building in Trout Lake and then go 50 miles into the woods on a dirt road thats caving in off the side of the mountain in spots until you get to a bridge over the river. Due to its remoteness and pristine nature, a trip to the cispus is more of a state of mind than a river… it’s a great little 5 mile run through an AWESOME gorge with many fun high quality drops, a 30ish footer, and a side hike up a most jah slot canyon! Enjoy these hurr pics.
Chris Stafford looking like he is about to crush this boof…
Morelli sending it at Island Drop
The first time I ran this river was with fellow recent east coast transplants Chris Morelli and Chris Stafford. None of us had done the run, it was early in the season at real high water, and we knew there was a boxed in canyon with a sticky hole right before the 30 footer! Recipe for an awesome day of adventure kayaking. Also we did not set shuttle. It turned out to be an awesome day picking our way down a new run except for at 1 little rapid we have dubbed ‘the captain’ which is a unscoutable slot drop into an overhung wall with an aids rock perfectly out of sight to deflect you into said wall, causing most of us to eat a boulder pretty hard!
Stafford rousting Behemoth, the 30ish footer
Lifestyling this rock below the behemoth gorge
The side hike may be one of my favorite things about the cispus. The perfect way to end a great day of charging some fun whitewater! Its only accessible via running the shit. You pull over and hike 1/4 mile up a canyon to an amazing waterfall into a crystal clear pool! Then there is a fun traverse/cliff jump as you make your way back to the river.
Side Hike!
A slot canyon most jah!
- Awesome camping at the takeout in the middle of sasquatch country
There is great camping on the river at the takeout, completing the Cispus river experience! Cheers, hope you enjoy.
Clay