West Fork Chena River

Has anyone floated the West Fork Chena River? It looks like hiking from the Chena Dome trail onto a ridgeline and dropping to the West Fork where it meets Olympia Creek could be a good access. Not very familiar with the area, but any input would be appreciated. Thanks, Justin

I have not floated the West fork of the Chena - I would check were the road crosses it before heading out to verify that there is enough water. I have thought about attempting it but every time I am in that area the water level at the confluence of the West and North forks do not inspire confidence that it would be float-able higher up. The Middle (also called the East) fork and the South Fork of the chena both offer pretty good packrafting options if you are looking for other options in that area. The middle fork can be reached by hiking in from the Far Mountain ridge system or from the Angel Rocks for day trip and offers pretty fun floating and very good hiking. The South Fork can be reached via the Granite Tors trail or by the summer trail into Nugget Creek cabin. The south fork is pretty slow moving, so it can be a longish mellow float. Both the middle and south fork do not appear to get much traffic outside of hunting season and feel surprisingly remote given how accessible they are.

If you do end up floating the West fork you be sure to post about how it goes.