HEADLAMP: High Water Willow Creek

The seasons change, not on a calendar-labeled day, but with each tree that leafs out and each vertical foot of mountainside that emerges, radiant, from beneath the snowpack. Alaska’s creeks and rivers climb along with the snowline, as early summer’s sunshine liquifies the snowpack. Local creeks like Willow run high, turning normally creeky, technical runs into high-volume flumes of whitewater. After skiing Hatcher’s snow all winter, now you paddle it as it flows out to the sea.

Willow Creek has two commonly paddled sections of whitewater: Red Gate and Guard Rail. For both, the takeout is the washed-out Shirleytowne Bridge, located several miles east of the Parks Highway on Hatcher Pass Road. At medium water levels (approximately 600-900 cfs on the USGS gauge), Red Gate is a mellow Class II run that starts off with a boulder garden and then eases into several miles of riffles and gravel bars with occasional surf holes and standing waves. The put in for Red Gate is at, well, a red gate with a roadside pull off. Park off of Hatcher Pass Road and walk down the driveway to the put in, making sure the gate stays closed. This is private land owned by legendary Alaska mountaineer Art Davidson, so please be courteous as a way of thanking him for protecting paddlers’ creek access.

Guard Rail starts higher up on the creek, and was marked by a large red mark on a guardrail across from some paved pull outs. The guard rail has been replaced, so now the only landmark is the large paved pull outs and a well-used trail that leads several hundred yards down to the creek. At medium flows, Guard Rail is a perfect place for paddlers to try Class III whitewater, since it has recovery pools after major rapids.

At high water (approximately 1,000 cfs and higher), Guard Rail changes character dramatically and is more of a Class IV creek. With each additional drop of water from snowmelt, the waves get larger and the pools between rapids shorten. As the river reaches 1,300-1,400 cfs, the river’s two most challenging series of rapids become one very long rapid with no real pools in between. The waves and holes are immense, and it is extremely difficult to recover boats and paddles if paddlers capsize. At 1,600 cfs, the formerly well-defined features of rapids become blurrier, and the river begins to take on the character of a several-mile long wave train interspersed with huge holes, roiling eddies, and precious little opportunity to recover lost gear after a capsize. Nearly all Guard Rail paddlers continue on down through the mellower Red Gate section and take out at Shirleytowne Bridge, which is a more convenient take out than Red Gate.

While the river’s features--holes, waves, swirling eddies--increase in size as the river’s volume increases, the river also presents additional routes for the paddler. There are “sneaks,” or easier routes that avoid major holes, through pretty much all the large rapids as Willow Creek exceeds 1,500 cfs. You just need to know how to read water well enough, and fast enough, to pick the right line. At high flows, the river is moving so fast you have to look far downstream to identify and avoid the massive holes and breaking waves that you’ll want to avoid.

One a typical June day, sunlight sparkles on Willow’s clear, frothing waters and new birch leaves quiver on a light breeze. It is hard to imagine a more idyllic place to careen down series of rapids whose power is leavened by the crisp lightness of early summer air.