Big Bend Creek

  Photo: Priscilla Macy






BETA

Stream: Ben had found this creek some how or another a few years ago while driving around, then saw it had this mention in the back of Soggy Sneakers.  We had made a couple goes at it over the next couple years, but whether it was snow or logs across the road we had not made it to the put in.  

We were finally able to get on the creek near the end of 2019, and found the Soggy Sneaker description to be perfectly adequate. 

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

It had been a dismal Falls as far as water levels go, so we went for it even knowing it would be very low.  The one class V rapid (or it would be with decent flow) was steep and bouldery, lasting a couple hundred yards.  Each segment of the rapid could be broken down into individual drops at the flow we had.  Most segments we ran, a couple we portaged.

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

Below the confluence with Bulldog Creek, the creek matured a bit and the rapids were a little more quality.  Most of the run was bouldery read and run, with the occasional tease of bedrock. 

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

We had a handful of quick portages, all at water level.  In fact everything could be handled at river level.  

In this instance, I was able to hold up a log while the other two went under.

That's about all you need to know if you want to check out the creek, you might consider paddling down Steamboat Creek a ways to add some more rapids and floating if you head that way. 

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

  
Flows:  Iv'e had two visuals on Big Bend Creek.  The first time the Steamboat Creek gauge was at 3500 cfs, this looked like a medium flow.  We were not able to do the run due to logs blocking the road that day.  When we actually ran the creek on Dec 14, 2019 flows dropped below 1,000 cfs on the Steamboat gauge.  These flows equated to scouting the creek with our kayaks, we were able to paddle the whole way, but it was too low for interesting hydraulics to form.

Access:  Take Highway 138 East from Roseburg, in a little under 40 miles turn left onto Steamboat Creek road.  Follow Steamboat Creek road 11 miles until it crossed over Big Bend Creek.  You can take out here, or at the next bridge downstream on Steamboat Creek, which is what we did.

 After crossing Big Bend take the first immediate right turn, in 2.7 miles is a very old road dropping off to the right that could easily be missed.  We drove half a mile down this road, cutting logs as we went.  Eventually we decided it was faster and easier just to drag our kayaks down the hill.  It only took 5-10 minutes to get close enough to the creek to schwack down into it.  

The South Fork of Diamond Creek

All photos by Priscilla Macy

BETA
3 mi, 200 fpm

Stream: This was the third year in a row we had made an attempt to paddle the SF of Diamond Creek.  The first year we had been stopped 3 miles short by snow in the Spring.  Last year levels weren't there when we met at 6am in Gasquet, so headed to the SF Chetco instead.  This year, flows again looked low as we met in Cave Junction.  However Yann was in touch with a friend and got a visual update that the pipe gauge was at a runnable flow (~11.5) for Diamond around 8am.  Given this was our third attempt, we decided even if it was low we wanted to check it out.

Where as in years past we had planned to continue through Diamond and into the NF Smith for a long day, this time we were going to take out where most people put in for Diamond Creek.  We figured this would reduce stress and increase our chances of success.  Since we would pass by the put in first, we decided to drop boats off.  The spur had a gnarly little entrance, it took some digging and Barrett gritting his teeth and channeling some optimism to get his F150 up and over.

After dropping the boats off, we started the long drive down the notoriously rough road.  Eventually we realized we could hike as fast as we were driving, so decided to leave the cars a mile or so from the take out and walk back up to them at the end to save daylight for paddling.

We weren't too worried about traffic, so set up Yann's changing tent in the middle of the road.

We left the truck, packed into Yann's vehicle and crawled back up the road.  We walked the spur road this time, and upon reaching our boats headed cross country down to the creek.  The walking was straight forward for the Siskiyous, we had good visibility and followed a ridge down to the creek with minimal bush-whacking.

Planning out our route.

What had looked like a good flow from the top of the ridge, turned out to be a paltry flow once we reached the creek.  Enough to float though, so on we went.

 Low, but enough water to check it out.

It's both hard and easy to describe some of these small Siskiyou Creeks.  They tend to be fairly uniform, ledges and boulders, boulders and ledges.  Nothing stands out a whole lot, but they tent to be consistently entertaining and engaging.  Nearly everything was read-and-run on this one, though we did scout a few times.  

The only downside to the creek, were there were stretches that had dense brush that we imagined could get sketchy at high flows.  Other than the brush, it was 3 miles of quality class IV whitewater with no boring sections.  If it were closer to home I'd run it regularly.  

An example of the brush.  While it was manageable at low flows, I'd be apprehensive about it at high water.

There was one quick portage near the end at a bedrock pinch.  There was a wire across the creek here, and the log broached in the pinch was hard to see from above.

Our take out was obvious enough, where the road extends down to the creek just above the confluence with the NF of Diamond Creek. 

 We walked our boats up to a landing, and Ben and Barrett each took a lap down Diamond Falls on the NF.  Boaters continuing through the regular Diamond run would have this option as well.

Two from the group walked back up for the truck, while the other three waited.  The road only got rowdier down here.  We all reasoned if we ever ran the main Diamond run into the NF Smith, we would put on either the SF of Diamond again or the last couple miles of the NF of Diamond to avoid the road.


You might even save time putting in on a tributary if you are running your own shuttle, given how slow that road goes, not to mention the wear and tear and stress.

And of course you'd get more whitewater too.

  
Flows:  I don't know the Smith drainage all that well flow-wise so take my recommendation with a grain of salt.  From my experience in the area, I'd imagine 10,000 in the Smith @ Jedediah is minimum. Or 12' on the NF Smith pipe gauge.  15,000-20,000 might be a good range to shoot for, or 13-14' on the pipe with some wiggle room.   High water would be oh-so-fun, but the brush would worry me.

Our flow

Access:  The road is gnarly, don't even bother trying with a Subaru.  Get a truck with clearance and preferably 4wd too.  Most people would choose to hire Bearfoot Brad (707-457-3365) out of Gasquet to run your shuttle and continue down through the mainsteam of Diamond and NF Smith back to Gasquet for almost 20 miles of boating.  The hike and SF of Diamond took under 3 hours for us, we spent am similar amount of time driving on the Diamond road.  So if you go the SF route, it will probably only take 2 hours longer than if you drove to the NF/SF Diamond confluence with the added benefit of additional whitewater.

Do some mapwork before heading in there, and cache the map to your phone.  The spur road leading to the hike starts here:  41.996418, -123.865714

Good directions to the NF/SF Diamond confluence we used as a take out are here.  The left turn onto the spur is 2.6 miles after turning off 4402 onto what he describes as a "very small and shitty looking road", called Wimer Road on most maps. 

The cross-country portion of the hike starts here: 41.990895, -123.863165.  Put in is here 41.983462, -123.861375

Click on map to increase resolution.

The hike was pretty straight forward, at the end of the spur road it forks.  We went right, then took the path of least resistance headed downstream towards the canyon rim.  Once we got to the point where we could see into the canyon, the route down a nose of land was obvious.  

A trip to the Siskiyous doesn't feel complete without some Darlingtonia Californica.  The South Fork of Diamond's river-right canyon rim is in the background.

Notes:  While there is fun whitewater on this run, it is not for everyone who would be paddling Diamond Creek. There is a lot of class IV whitewater on this creek, at high water expect a class V experience.  And really at any flow class V competence is probably needed.  The hike in is not bad, but it does descent about 650' and might be daunting for boaters who are not accustomed to hiking with their boat.  While the regular Diamond run through the NF Smith is pretty splash and giggle, the SF of Diamond is a more serious run.  The creek bed is small and there is brush and wood in the channel, requiring good decision making and group cohesion.  Large groups are a bad idea.  While I would personally never drive down to put in at the normal Diamond put in, with the argument that the tributaries give you more whitewater for less driving, there are no doubt others would would not enjoy the extra challenges the tributaries deliver.  Make the choice that is right for you.

       -jacob

Steelhead

Ran this while in the area doing other things.  We put in on the south fork 100 yards above the confluence with main stem.  We had fun but I wouldn't do it again.  Ben Mckenzie named the rapid halfway down "The Rapid" as it was the only one. It fed under the left wall, but was only a class IV move.  Under a handful of log portages.  Boaters were Ben Mckenzie, Kory Kellum, Andrew Bradley and myself.  Do not recall water levels but Steamboat was medium low and this creek was low, low.  

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Story

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I had injured myself earlier in the day when, while descending down into Toketee Falls, a large rock had been dislodged from above and landed hard on my shoulder.  Anna Herring hiked my boat back out and the group decided to paddle Steamboat Creek instead.  I still wasn't feeling like I could take strong strokes, so was going to just run everyone's shuttle.  At the put in was this dinky little creek with a small ledge.  I figured it was so low I could just rudder down the creek, and still get on the water so told the group I was going to do that while they paddled Steamboat.  For some reason Andrew wanted to join, then Ben and Kory.  Despite my assurances it would not be a creek with any redeemable qualities we went in with a group of 4 while the rest started down Steamboat Creek.

We laughed and giggled our way down this silly creek, pushing ourselves under logs and running exactly one defined rapid.  We got to the take out and even though there was only 15 minutes left of daylight, a rest of the guys decided to add on the 5 mile section of Steamboat creek too.  I jumped out and drove the car that had been left at the confluence down to the take out, while the other three paddled into the growing darkness.

After collecting the people who had begun their day on Steamboat hours ago, we headed back upstream to find the guys who I was pretty sure were hiking out about now.  Ben had bailed about 2 minutes into the trip so we found him near the put in, about 20 minutes later we found Kory and Andrew slogging up a sloppy hillside with big grins on their faces.

You really can't overestimate what boating with people who you can have fun with in any situation brings to the table.  The next day we ran the Gorge Electric for the first time, and the weekend was chalked up as a big success as far as a fun time goes.

Still Creek

This creek is a tributary to the Zigzag River (my favorite river growing up). They converge in view of HWY 26 on Mt Hood.  My dad and I ran a short stretch down to the confluence at one point. I recall it being class III and enjoyable.  There is an upper section that is steep with wood, but appears runnable.  That upper section might be an interesting roadside adventure for the right type of boater.  The Sandy gauge is probably useful, but I never took note of the correlation.  Zigzag runs often from rain on snow and snowmelt, Still Creek needs more rain.