I didn't go into detail but it was life threatening. At a spot about a mile and a half below crossover bridge the river splits. On the right side it gets extremely shallow , and the left side carries most of the water and is plenty deep. We took the left side. Wrong choice. We got hung up in the tree across the river and damn near lost it. If it wasn't for our oar lock getting stuck up under the log I think we'd have rolled it over, lost our gear, and possibly drowned. We some how got out of the situation but not without getting completely submerged in my waders. My grandpa'a allstar rod got broken somewhere in the tustle. We had to pull the boat upriver and pull it down that shallow shoot. With about 6 hours left to float we were thankful we had our lives and tried to make the best of it. Horrible for my first float. I should've checked the drift out more and stopped to evaluate any situation I was unsure about.We had to get out and drag the boat 5 or 6 times and the drift took us eight hours.

The Cowlitz is our next drift, and I would hope it will be MUCH easier. How long do both these drifts take? barrier dam to blue creek and down to mission bar.