Mattole River near Garberville

The upper Mattole was a run brought to our attention by beer-inspired rereadings of Dick Schwind's classic 1974 book, West Coast River Touring. Schwind rated the upper Mattole class III (2 portages) with clear water. In an El Niņo year we were getting tired of muddy brown runoff (called “golden” by the Chamber of Commerce), so this seemed like a good run to try. Put-in is 20 minutes away from Garberville, and flow is approximately 20% of the South Fork Eel at Leggett, with less lag time after recent rain.

The run from Thorn Junction to Ettersburg is indeed class III sub IV for 10 miles with clear water and A or A+ scenery, somewhat like the looks of upper Redwood Creek, but with more houses. Low gradient creates much class I-II. The two portages Schwind mentioned might have changed; they are class IV now. The first is a class 4e falls (class IV technique, class V danger) with bad undercuts near mile 3. The second is a fun class IV series of boulder drops near mile 6, although a strainer has recently developed below the final drop (1999). Brush hazards are not bad, but downed trees are an occasional problem. We rated this run 6 on a scale of 10, where 01 would be Cache Creek after its typical fish die-off and 10 would be the upper/lower Deer Creek combo. The Mattole is definitely worth trying if you are in the area.

Our shameful portage of the Class 4e	Andy in midst of fun class IV boulder drops

The 17.5 mile run from Ettersburg to Honeydew is also quite nice if you're after scenery and not so much whitewater. Although we didn't run it, we met some guys who run it all the time, and they say they like it a lot because the scenery is good, the water is clear, and the one class III rapid is loads of fun. (According to Schwind, there were two II+ rapids at miles 13 and 14. The first has evidently washed out, while the second has become class III.) Like the upper run, most of the lower run is semi-wilderness with occasional houses. Flow at put-in is approximately 30% of the South Fork Eel at Leggett.

Beautiful green water from the Ettersburg bridge

These two runs would make a nice 2-3 day camping trip with relatively easy shuttle along the Shelter Cove to Honeydew road. The one potential portage (the 4e falls) is quite easy and brave folks might not mind running it.

Below Honeydew the Mattole is class I for 22.1 miles to Petrolia. This section is popular in winter among steelhead fishermen, but the scenery is less appealing than in these upper stretches. As the river moves downstream it collects sediment and eventually becomes rather silty. Schwind remarked that the silt got bad just above the Ettersburg bridge, but as clearcuts have grown back, that is no longer true, and the river remains relatively clear until Honeydew. Unfortunately all the logging-induced siltation has covered over steelhead spawning grounds, so the fishery has declined since the 1950s, and might never recover.

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