Methow River
Methow to Pateros, Class III—IV
11.5 miles - 5 hours overall, Late April - Early Aug.

The Methow River in the dry, arid Eastern Washington near Lake Chelan is simply an excellent river for whitewater adventure. This is the favorite of our River Rider Guides. The Methow is deceptively gentle at the start. You'll put in at the top "class II" stretch that allows you to perfect your paddling technique just in time to address the churning "class IV" that make this trip a challenge every time. When you reach “Black Canyon” be ready for big waves and a good soaking and then in quick succession you'll be tossed down "The Staircase”, “Hurricane", Shoshone”, “Green Giant” and other great, crowd-pleasing rapids. Have no doubt this river's a thriller. The Methow is famous for sunny river rafting and continues to thrill both the intermediate and the advanced paddler.

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Methow River Rendezvous Instructions

Where to Meet:
Your guides will meet you at the launch point just west of the town of Methow. Allow three and a half to four hours of driving time from Seattle (approx 180 miles) to the meeting site. Use a Washington road atlas to help you with your travels and planning and how to reach the town of Methow on HWY 153. We meet between mileposts 11 and 12 just west of Methow. Park in the open grassy area down The driveway entrance is marked with our River Rider sign and a mailbox marked "ZAHN". Follow the gravel driveway down to the grassy parking area beside the pear orchard. Please drive slowly in the town of Methow and down to the parking /launching/BBQing area. We will bus you back to your vehicles after the rafting trip. We’ll have your wetsuit/booties waiting for you from our “rolling rental shop” (no presizing needed!) so just show up with a swimsuit or T-shirt/running shorts (something that can get wet) under your street clothes and we’ll take care of you from there when you get signed in.

Lunch:
We provide everything you could possibly want for lunch on the river whether carnivore of vegetarian. Our caterer prepares a scrumptious and varied array of food including BBQ’d meats, burgers, dogs or veggie burgers, fresh vegetables and dip, melons and fruits, breads, chips/salsa, and water or lemonade to drink. No alcohol is served. If you have special dietary needs just let us know and we'll be happy to try to accommodate you. The morning trip meets at 9am, goes rafting and finishes with the BBQ afterwards - and for the 1pm trip come hungry at 1pm for the BBQ then rafting later in the heat of the day.

MAP

Weather

What You'll need

Lodging