Bottleneck Canyon

Bottleneck Canyon is a short and sweet route in the Wynoochee River Valley on the Olympic Peninsula. Blink and you’ll miss it as you drive by, the creek drains a very small catchment on the east side of the valley, with surprisingly good bang for your buck. The only real entrance fee is a short but annoying bushwhack through some dense vegetation with a great many fallen and rotten logs to navigate. The approach will soon be forgotten as you descend a rapid fire set of small but scenic falls and end up right back at the road where you started. Fast groups could easily combine this canyon with Clark Creek further up the valley for a full day of canyoning. Flows are known to become quite low in both canyons by mid to late summer. This canyon may also be a good winter route due to its low elevation, easy access, and small catchment. This canyon requires rigging a traverse line to access an exposed anchor. Groups should be familiar with how to rig retrievable traverse lines. Please do not leave fixed traverse lines in canyons! They are unnecessary and potentially unsafe as they often cannot be fully inspected for damage prior to use.

Driving Directions: From Olympia, take Hwy 12 from Olympia to the town of Montesano. This is the last stop for fuel and other supplies before heading north. From Montesano, take Wynoochee Valley Road north for 33 miles until it abruptly turns to gravel and becomes NF-2312. Continue another 6.8 miles until the creek for Bottleneck Canyon appears on the right side of the road. Find a suitable spot to park along the side of the road. Canyon Approach: From the creek, walk up the road (north) and look for a suitable place to cut into the dense forest. There is no official route here. Some trimming and flagging for future approaches may be helpful at some point. (If a decent approach route is established, it would be great for someone to record a track and update the KML map in the near future). The first rappel is at approximately 1,400' elevation.

DCR = Down Canyon Right DCL = Down Canyon Left R1: DCL - 50’ From a tree. This anchor allows you to rappel in the flow DCR through a curved chute, or the dry side DCL to avoid the flow. R2: Center canyon - 25’ from a log. Downclimb: Directly after R2, downclimb into a small pool. This downclimb may be tricky for some, so a human anchor may be necessary for some members of the group. R3: DCR - 25’ from an old log. The log is quite old and rotten and caution should be taken. Another option: use a human anchor to send a teammate or two down. They can then spot other members of the group when downclimbing. R4: DCR - 20’ traverse line from unlinked bolts to a 60’ rappel from a bolted anchor. Please leave the traverse line bolts unlinked, and do not leave a fixed traverse line. Groups should be familiar with how to rig a retrievable traverse line. A traverse line might not be necessary in low water. R5: DCL - 10' from log. Below: downclimb through a logjam. R6: DCR - 70’ from a tree. This rappel requires navigating a pile of logs that have collected at the bottom of the rappel. Care should be taken both during the rappel and also the rope pull, as the rope is likely to get stuck in the log debris. R7: DCR - 60' from a tree. The watercourse splits at the top of the falls here, with most or all of the flow on canyon left. This rappel line takes the lower flow/dry side of the falls.

Walk the road back to your vehicles.