Class: IV-V
Quality: 5
Location: White Salmon, WA, USA
Trip Time: 1-3 hours
Level: There’s a visual gauge in the town of Husum 5 miles down the highway from the Take-out. 1.5′ is very low, 2.5′ – 4′ is a good medium flow, 4’+ is high.
The Put-in and Take-out are pretty easy for this run. Take-out is at the park in BZ Corner about 12 miles up WA state highway 141 from the town of White Salmon. There’s a big parking lot with a trail leading down to the river. Put-in is a little less clear but still on the highway 141. The pull off is 5 miles up the road from BZ-Corner. At about 4 miles up the road you will see a big clear cut off to your right after going down a big hill you’ll see a pull off on the right leading to a big green truss bridge way over the river. This is logging property but its ok to park at the highway and put in here. Follow the trail right of the bridge and scramble down the cliff to river level to put-in.
The run slowly builds over the first mile before you get to the start of the big Class V drops. The first really significant rapid you get to is called meat ball. The rapid starts with a small slide after the river makes a tight bend to the left. After the slide follow the flow through the left channel and off a small boof. There’s only a short pool before the next rapid, Bob’s Hole. Bob’s is a double drop normally run right and then center. Watch out the top hole can be quite sticky on this one. Just around the corner from Bob’s is Big Brother. Scout on either side or portage on the left. Big Brother is the biggest drop on the truss and at high water it can be one of the stoutest waterfalls around. The normal line is boof the flake on the right side and avoid going in the cave at the bottom. At high water so much water pushes into this cave people usually opt for the left line to avoid going near the cave. During the winter time the cave often fills with ice and the left line can be a good option then too.
Little Brother is a clean 15’er immediately below Big Brother. Enjoy your reward for running the stout with a nice ear dip or lean off Little Brother. A smaller boulder garden takes you right to the lip of Double Drop. The tradition when I first ran the Truss was to run Double Drop blind and first of the group if your a first timer. Go off the center and try to hit both boofs. There’s a good pool at the bottom but the pool drains into the last in this sequence of rapids, Karen’s Box. This drop is just like little brother but half as tall and three times as sticky at the bottom. Don’t miss your boof on this one! A good left boof will send you on down stream.
After Karen’s Box the action eases up for about 2 miles before the Zig-Zags. This section is loaded with quality class IV and if your there in the spring or summer there’s springs that enter the river on the left you can drink from. Zig Zag Canyon is a long constricted section of ledge holes lasting for about 400 yards. Scout on the right or if your feeling stout just drop in a try to duck and dodge your way through the Zig Zags. After Zig Zag Canyon is another long section of class IV. The rapids build in intensity as you approach BZ Falls. The drop is the most portaged drop on the Truss. At high water its a huge hole and at low water theres a good chance of pitoning. If you decide to portage make sure you don’t miss the small eddy right at the lip or portage from higher up if your unsure. Pick one of a number of seal launch options and paddle the last 400 yards down to take-out.
The Kayak State 