“McCarthy’s Forest” (Fox Creek to 7 mile Bridge on Resurrection Creek)
PR 3 – 590 foot drop in 5.4 miles = 110 feet/mile
100-150 cfs
13 miles walk-in from Parking Area on Hope Side
Put in at 60.7318 N 149.7197 W (NAD 27 Alaska)
4 portages (2 beaver dams – 2 log jams)
(1) 60.7318 N 149.7197 W – A beaver dam 15-20 mins after put-in
(2) 60.7360 N 149.7192 W – another beaver dam/jam upstream of Fox Ck ~30 mins below put-in
(3) 60.7433 N 149.7146 W – jam on a bar with two channels down from Fox Ck ~45 mins after put-in
(4) 60.7525 N 149.7029 W – a jam on a bar with 3 channels around White Ck ~1.5 hours after put in
Brad M. and I hiked past Fox Creek from the Hope side (4 hours). “55 Ways to the Wilderness” says that Fox Creek Cabin is 12.25 miles from Hope Trailhead. We walked another half hour or so, to where you can look down at Resurrection Creek from a high bluff about 30 yards from the trail. From there the creek is teeny tiny (see photo) and winds into several mini-canyons that are exciting with their blind corners and lack of eddies. But the flow is so low you are always under control, which is a good thing because there are occasional woody edges and four portages (see above).
This little run is so-named as it’s reminiscent of NW Wyoming creeks – small and woody in boreal forest, clear water, splashy and rocky. We agreed that this is in the same family of creeks as upper Ship Creek above the Arctic to Indian Trail (NOT the Ship Ck canyon sections), and S Fork Eagle River downstream of the tundra section.
Is it worth hiking in for?
Yes!
The section (“Cascades”) below the bridge at 7 mile is very good, too (see my earlier post above, from May 28th, 2007), with one bad piece of wood in the Cascades section (several PR 4 drops). This must be portaged but the other four drops in Cascades are all clean and doable. But also portage-able on river right.
Finally the reach Montymykolas describes (“Resurrected” – see post immediately above) that goes through the canyon between Palmer Creek and Rimrock Creek, then down to the parking area bridge through the reclaimed section is also clear of wood and good to go.
All three sections (“McCarthy’s Forest” – 4 hour hike in, “Cascades” 1.5 hour hike in, “Resurrected” < 1 hour hike in) are suitable for intermediate boaters as a group, or as Brad points out, for beginners following experienced boaters who are ready to make the bump up to something more technical than Twenty-mile and Eagle River.
Six Mile Guage was reading about 10.3 feet yesterday and there was plenty of water in Resurrection.
Recap: 2 hour drive to trailhead, 4 hour hike and a 4 hour paddle of mostly constant PR 2-3 with PR 3 in the “Class III” lower canyon and PR 4 in the Cascades section (which can be portaged and scouted on river right) – look for big boulder, biggest on entire run, on river right to signal Cascades are coming about 20 minutes or so downstream of 7 mile bridge. Also good preview of Cascades from trail on hike in.