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Etna
Creek
IV-V
IV-V
Every report I had heard of Etna Creek sounded about the same. All sources said it was fun, small, and had lots of wood. I put on expecting lots of portaging, and ended up with a surprisingly pleasant day. From where I put in, Etna Creek is steep and very continuous. The run is more or less a two to three mile boulder garden broken up by a short hundred yard bedrock gorge. Recent flooding made Etna Creek have no mandatory wood portages, and perhaps three rapids with avoidable wood. This could change every year.
Take out is easy enough to find, take Highway 3 into Etna and then turn onto Main Street. Follow Main Street until the very edge of habitation and take out at one of several dirt roads that lead a few yards to the creek. Continue on up the road until you see some corrals on your left, if you go over a bridge you have gone too far.
The bridge actually goes over Mill Creek, and if you put-in at the corrals you are on Mill Creek and will have one quick log portage, or you can just put-in below the log portage that lies just downstream of the corrals. Within a few hundred yards Etna Creek will come in and more than double the flow. No outstanding features on this run, but it is pleasant and worth paddling at least once. There is rumor of waterfalls and lots of wood higher in the drainage.
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