We had decided to run the Wind on a trip down to the Colombia river gorge for the weekend.  We were a bit apprehensive about the river levels because it had been raining all night and the Wind does not have a gauge.  We decided to do two sections, the upper from Stabler to High Bridge and the lower High Bridge to the Columbia.  The visual gauge for both runs is a rock at the takeout for this run at the High Bridge river access.  There is a rock in the middle of the river with two ‘horns.’  For our run the rock had water lapping up between the horns on the rock, which is a medium flow.  The run would be big water Class V if the rock is under water, or lower if the water isn’t going up between the rocks.  This medium flow was good for a first run.  Everything was boat scoutable, and all of the rapids were Class IV-IV+, but nothing too difficult. 

The gauge rock on the Wind.  Water is spilling between the horns.

The river starts easily in a beautiful mossy canyon, as the river slowly meanders past the small town of Stabler.  The put in is under the bridge at the end of Edgewater Road.  Be respectful of neighbors across the street from the put-in parking.

The river meanders slowly through the town of Stabler, with awesome Class IV-IV+ rapids less than a mile downstream.  Beautiful put in under the bridge.

There is a log across the river in the first ½ mile that could pose a problem at higher flows but we just dodged under it.  Then the real action begins as Trout Creek cascades into the Wind from the right bank.  This is one of many beautiful waterfalls entering the river in this section. 

There are numerous boulder garden rapids and read and run stuff until the first big rapid, Initiation.  This rapid has a large hole in the middle, and was easily run to the right or left.  There are also a bunch of other fun ledges in here that are all boat scoutable.

One of many ledge rapids on the Wind.  This is right above Ram's Horn.

The next big one is Ram’s Horn which had a huge rock/ hole/ pillow in the middle left.  We skirted around it to the left, and Jon went right over the top of it, all successfully.  This was the largest drop in the section, and after here the river mellowed quite a bit.  There are some other Class III rapids and ledges as the river opens a bit through the Wind Valley.  There was really interesting and beautiful geology through here.  There was a large wall of green rock on the right above the High Bridge takeout that had an eddy pool cut into the rock. 

JP in front of the 'Green Wall.'  The takeout is just around the next corner.

The takeout for the section is on the right around the corner from this wall.  This would be a tough run to hitch because the takeout is .7 miles down a gravel road to the river.  Once on the main road hitching would be pretty easy back to the top.

Also check out these other trip reports on the Wind:

Wind River, Stabler to Columbia River, WA - IV+ (V, P) (6.71 ft)
Wind River, Stabler to Columbia River, WA - IV+ (V, P) (5.67 ft)

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