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The Chehalis/ Black River system has provided a shortcut to the Puget Sound, thus bypassing the Olympic Peninsula, for trading parties, hunters, and explorers far back into the mists of time.  Paddling up the Pacific coast, they would enter the Chehalis, paddle upstream to the Black and take it all the way Black Lake, just a short portage to the sound where Olympia now stands.  In the mid 1800's, a narrow gauge railroad was built along the edge of the Chehalis to harvest the timber.  The railroad is long gone, but parts of the log trestle works can still be seen from the river, now straddled by the Chehalis Indian Reservation.  Most of the flow is through rural areas and often feels very remote. We will start at the Black River Put-in at Hwy 12, paddle 4 miles to the Chehalis River, stop for lunch, then paddle 5 miles on the Chehalis to the take-out below Oakville, Wa.