Moose Creek

I’m hoping to raft Moose Thursday evening. What do you Moose Creek veterans think this rain will do to the water level?
I don’t see an increase on the hydrograph yet. Reading your posts, it looks like the current level 268 is ok to run, but more would be much better.
Jared

It will probably go up some. It always gets higher in the evenings, especially on warm days.

My experience with Moose so far is:

Under 150, not runnable
150-200, bony but runnable
200-250, holes start developing
250-280ish, holes are larger-perhaps the hardest level. This is the level I have seen beginning boaters struggle with the most.
300+, very few holes, very few eddies, and a lot of splashy water
400, I can’t wait!

Thanks John. I appreciate the thorough response. Do you find the description of Moose Creek in “Fast and Cold” to be accurate? I heard changes have been made to the stream, that it has been cleaned up.

The water between 250-280 is hard because of the ultra fast water speed, the holes, and rocks, in combination, makes it really hard, for the first mile to read and run. After the stream enters on the left, right down from the put-in, I would scout the next drop from the river right shore, it is ugly in places. It would also be worth the effort to walk 150 more yards to look at the section below the 2ft ledge drop, which is a half mile of continuous class III+ at 270+.

Thanks Mark, I appreciate the advice.
How does this section of Moose compare to “Baby Su”, Lil Su from Fishook to Edgerton?

Very similar to the first 200 yards of baby su, at a good flow, from the hatchers bridge down.

Take note, when John and I mention holes, we are not talking about unpunchable holes. Most are easy to punch through, but they will mess you up if you don’t hit them right, and there are more than you could count. But, as John mentioned, they begin to wash out at 300 then the creek has lots of splashy waves hitting us in the face.

Honestly, I think we are running it at higher flows than Embick did because he noted lots of rocks, which is true, but 95% are covered above 300. Also, he did note, for future boaters, that it would be much more dangerous at high flows because of wood, but now it is almost all gone, so now it’s safer at high water.

Thanks Mark. Embick mentions a nasty waterfall and a low bridge. I heard these were no longer there. True?
The upper run sounds fun and challenging. Sounds like you and John have put in hours clearing the moose run. I floated from the bridge down to the mat, which is a mess of wood.

Dumb question I guess. The story I heard was that the waterfall structure (and others) were somehow modified by miners and there was money spent to remove manmade obstacles to spawning salmon…

Thanks for the info and tree removal, John N and Mark. Moose run went well yesterday at about 255. Portaged the strainer/sweeper that was not too far below put in at the gated bridge, it looked doable to someone braver than I. Nearly trampled by a moose mother of twins. Removed a strainer from the bottom of the right side of a small island just below where the creek is washing against the edge of the dirt road. We caught up with our escaped boat just below the landslide. Found a lost, but fat & friendly goose by the hammock. Good times all the way to the Glenn. No mandatory portages, but lots of scouting to run strainers at this level and numerous sweepers may be a problem with more water. Can’t wait to run it again!

Attacked by a moose, lost a boat, and found a goose. You guys had quite a day!

Great day! John N, Nice video of the big rock at four water levels. The boat was lost at that rock, just above it, in a partial pin on the exposed rocks. Swimmer hopped out, boat took off. Your sheep creek vids are also baaaaad a$$, that’s next on the list.

John and I ran the creek today at 340, and when thinking back on the run, I think he said it best, after our run, " you kinda feel like you got away with something." Two thumbs up.

Moose is a lot of fun at 300, and just plain crazy at 340+. If water levels stay high (looks like they’re dropping) this should be on every class IV boaters hit list.

A crew of us checked out Moose Creek on a storm day of heavy rains and wind. The creek guage was right about 300 cfs when we put on and almost 350 cfs when we took out at the Glenn Hwy.

As others have written, Moose is a fast and fun ride, especially since Mark and John have cleared most of the wood out of the creek. We did encounter 4 fresh cottonwood sweepers, 3 together approx 1/4 mile below the upper take-out and a fourth about a mile below the old falls. The latter can be skirted by using a tiny channel that likely only runs at higher water levels.

I went up to look at Moose entertaining the idea of running some of it. Ha ha ha, I wimpered away like a little puppy. Anyway here is some vid. where you can hear boulders rolling down the stream, I could hear them a hundered yards away.

That’s INSANE! I can’t believe that… this is what it looked like a little over 2 weeks ago…

Floated Moose Creek for the first time today. Flow averaged 225 cfs. Wood, wood, and more wood We ended up scouting most of the creek because of what we saw on the drive in. We stopped counting at 10 channel-wide strainers/sweepers. I imagine the recent flooding did quite a number on the creek. In one cutbank section next to the road, boulders were rolling down into the water. The water in between all the obstacles was sure fun though.

Sounds like an after ice up cleanout job is needed, my saw is ready.

Lets get up there, when the water drops to a really boney level, and clean it up before next spring. I can pack a chainsaw in the back of an IK, works great and saves alot of time. Contact me if interested