Winner Creek Gorge

5/17/25

2 miles
Class III

200cfs
(Glacier Creek @ Alyeska Highway)

With many rivers still waking up for the season and flows looking favorable for Winner Creek, Olga and I found a partner, Zach, to lead us down the intimidating gorge for our first time. He had paddled it the day before and his partner had lost a paddle in a swim. Starting at the Winner Creek Trailhead, a pleasant hike found us at the put in. Nearly immediately we were eddied out above the initial drop into the canyon; the tales of Winner Creek being intimidating on your first paddle held true. A proper class 3 drop led us to an incredibly scenic run with steep walls guarding either side of the tight slot. Occasionally the walls peel back a bit and you find yourself with lush green rainforest rising out of the water. At 200cfs the rapids were slow and manageable, never feeling too big to be scary. Halfway down the canyon we executed a paddle recovery in one of the bigger rapids on the creek. Beyond there, I took one short swim after a botched brace on the final rapid before the cat bridge. At the bridge, Zach headed back to his car in hopes to have a longer Sunday while Olga and I portaged the waterfalls that define the confluence of Winner and Glacier creeks. We put in on Glacier Creek just beneath the hand tram to continue our day.