Photo: Aaron Lieberman
BETA
***This description is a guide for summertime flows. If the stream is swelled from rain things will be different.***
Stream: Most people will give Deadline Falls a look on the drive up from an obvious roadside pull out. Here you can see the whole drop and scout the right side in detail.
From there head up to Baker Wayside and walk a short trail down to the river. I recommend starting from the top of the park at highway level to avoid an attainment, then a ferry.
There is a class III right next to the wayside, then Baker Falls is not far downstream. At higher levels, you'll want to scope it out from the Wayside first if not familiar, there is a pocket hole that while easy to clear on the right side of the channel at summer flows, would suck to end up in if you didn't know where to go beforehand. We scouted from the right bank easily at 800 cfs.
There is some easy cruising through Baker Alley below here, and a nice lunch spot on river-left.
Keep an eye out for ways to increase the fun factor on the small rapids in this section.
At the end of a long flat stretch in upper Cable, with a saucy surf wave for the bold.
A turbulent eddyline next to the Cable access spur is next and offers squirt and roll practice.
Next is Upper Cable which is class III and pretty open in terms of lines.
Eddy out below on the left to scout Deadline in detail. There are a number of lines, but the one we took was off a ramping boof on the center left. And while the hole can be a bit intimidating, the move was straight forward.
There is a short and easy rapid below and then the river eases up for awhile as you pass Rock Creek. There is some more easy floating below Rock Creek before the Narrows. Eddy out either side at low flows or right at high flows to scout. The river pinches down to the left here and travels through a chaotic chute. Aside from powerful hydraulics there are no obvious hazards on this one.
Around the corner is one last ramp that can be scouted easily on the left. The river pools up at this point and but 50 yards downstream is the trail leading up to the parking area.
Downstream of this point is flatwater and class II down to Glide.
All the drops are easily lappable at medium to low flows. With an easy shuttle, reliable summer flows, and being only 30 minutes off I-5, this run is a solid resource.
Flows: This description is for flows you would find in the summer. North Umpqua @ Copeland Creek. Pictures from the following trip report are at 1,300 cfs. The photos above were taken at 870 cfs.
Access: Take Highway 138 out of Roseburg, just after passing through Glide you will cross the North Umpqua ending up on river right. 3.4 miles past this bridge will be a small turn out on the right. If you just want to run the whitewater use this as a take out, a trail leads back up from the river. If you want to keep floating you can, there are other take out options roadside (still steep) or at the bridge you crossed near Glide.
To get to the put in continue upstream along Hwy 138 crossing over Rock Creek, continue another 1/4 mile to a pull out from which you can get a look at Deadline Falls. Continue upstream from Deadline to any pull out you see fit to use as a put in.
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Original Write-up
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This is a nice section of the North Umpqua that reminded us of the Niagara section of the North Santiam closer to our home in the Willamette Valley.
Our day started at Toketee Hot Springs. After a night of camping we went for one more soak before packing up and heading to Whitehorse Falls on the Clearwater River.
Ben didn't want to get his dry gear wet, so ran it without any.
Jesse saw the snow in the parking area and decided gear was worth the hassle.
Priscilla from the side
Priscilla approaches the lip of the right side chute.
Jesse gets lift off on his way through the chute
The left line was a little intimidating, but not too difficult.
Ben shoots through
Everyone hit their lines as planned and we continued downstream through a few class II-III rapids before we eddied out left to check out the Narrows again. Ben got thrown around a bit in his playboat, but the rest of us were able to stay upright in our creek boats.
This rapid reminded me of an easier and shorter version of the rapid with the same name on the North Santiam.
We turned the corner to see another horizon and scouted this from the left. It was a fun ramp into a hole. Ben went for the meat down the middle, the rest of us went left. We saw some locals below here that allowed us to hike up to the road through the property they were renting, most people walk up a short trail to a wayside immediately downstream of the ramp rapid.
We had 1300 cfs in the North Umpqua@ Copeland Creek. I imagine this section is nearly always runnable. When flows get spicy, there is a sneak channel to the left of Deadline that may be worth looking into.
If you felt like the run was too short and want to do another run of similar difficulty (but drastically different character), run the last mile of Rock Creek if flows are adequate starting at Anabel rd. This creek flows into the North Umpqua below Deadline Falls and flows can be assessed from the bridge during the Deadline shuttle. We got down Rock Creek with the North Umpqua@ Copeland Creek reading 1300 cfs.
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