Couple of folks who know I live on the river asked how the river has been to be on this year. Actually not bad as Dec. & Jan go. The tides and Olympic / Upper Chehalis have not matched up to cause real mayhem. Lot of debris coming down but most of the boats I have seen go by are being careful as far as I can tell. Did see about half a tackle box of floats and plugs float by so somebody had a not my finest moment moment.

I am seeing more boats than normal for this time of year which is a bit puzzling considering the water has not cleared up but for a day or so in a month. That dance Satsop clears upper water arrives then Chehalis almost clears and then another storm arrives has been the general rule.

So yes the Chehalis is runnable but just got to be careful especially if foggy, which has not happened much this year so far. The large trees have mostly been bushy Alders or Cottonwood but the other junk that is just chunks now that crap has been rather prevalent. So be careful if out and about with careful being the key word. The tides are moving water upstream on the incoming which bunches up trash but after this storm flows are to go below average according to NOAA. Just put your cursor on the dot and info is displayed.
https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/rfc/