Tualatin River Headwaters

 

BETA

9 miles, class III (IV,V)

Stream: This run starts at the confluence of the Tualatin River and Sunday Creek.  At this point, Sunday Creek is actually larger than the Tualatin, and when the two combine the stream is of a decent size and worth paddling.  

The trick is getting to this point, as most of the area is blocked off by timber companies.  We chose to paddle down the very headwaters of the Tualatin, which you can read about in the stories segment at the bottom of this page.

Regardless of your approach, there will be some of this.  It was about 1/4 mi of it for us from where we parked the car to where we put in.

Below Sunday Creek the river opened up and was read and run.

We did have the occasional wood issue, but mostly the river was open and easy with clear routes.

We found ourselves running a couple of enjoyable class III-IV boulder gardens before seeing a cement wall on the left at the water intake for Hillsboro Reservoir, and eddied out just below it on the left.

Just around the corner from the water intake was Haines Falls.  The right side had three big holes, the left side was more approachable.

It really was a nice rapid, dropping about 20' total from the top of the rapid to the bottom.

Downstream of Haines Falls there was a short section of engaging class IV boulder gardens.

These boulder gardens quickly eased off into easy floating down to Lee Falls, which we scouted on the left (watch out for poison oak at Lee Falls).  There was a center line and a left line, Emile ran them both, I just ran the easier left boof.

Center line

Boof.

More easy floating downstream of Lee Falls.

There was a small ledge, then the river turned left and went over a larger ledge at Little Lee Falls, which was easier to scout on the left if you stopped early enough.

Little Lee Falls had both a right and left line, but had problems in the center.

Below here was more easy floating and a couple small surf waves before reaching the take out bridge.

We started hiking around 10am, and got to the take out bridge at a little after 3pm with a short lunch break.  

  

This was a nice adventure, fairly low hassle with a few entertaining parts among mostly easy going sections.  I enjoyed seeing the upper reaches of a river well known in the Portland area, that is mostly flat in the easily accessible stretches.  

Flows:  Emile Elliott and I paddled the run March 15, 2026 and I felt this was a perfect flow for being friendly but padded.  It could be done higher or lower.

TUALATIN R BL LEE FALLS NR CHERRY GROVE, OR

Be sure to choose "instantaneous flow" from the menu at the link above

Access:  We put in at the most convenient access, at the highest point that the Tualatin is floatable, this was at the confluence with Maple Creek.  This was the easiest access, but the first mile down to Sunday Creek was full of wood and not fun, but also not the worst boating Iv'e done.  If you could find access at the Sunday Creek Confluence, or even on Sunday Creek (it was larger than the Tualatin at their confluence) the hassle factor would be low once on the water.

In this photo you can see where we parked, the red marker in the NE corner. We hiked down the short nose of land to the confluence with the Tualatin and Maple Creek.  The road was gravel and would have been no problem in a Subaru, and even a lower clearance vehicle could have made it the day we were there.

Put in: 45.468494350283684, -123.38725320383003

The take out is in Cherry Grove, we used the SW South Rd bridge.  The parking situation is not good here but there is a spot to park, we were lucky to have a shuttle driver to pick us up.

Take out:  45.443699211538714, -123.24005011045068

To connect the put in and take out use Turner Creek Road.  At times this road can be gated, we were lucky that a family friend uses that road a lot and was able to confirm it was open and had been most of the year.

If this run is for you, that should be enough beta to get you sorted out, I'd recommend looking thoroughly at satellite imagery and maps if you are going to head up there.  The put in road is not currently shown on google maps.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story/Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We put in as high upstream as I would deem the Tualatin floatable, at the confluence with Maple Creek.  This only required a short 1/4 mile trek along an animal trail.

The creek was very small at put in, but looked floatable and certainly not too high, a minor miracle when guessing flows.

We had a few of portages, along with a lot of passable wood hazards.

Luckily small creeks often allow for this type of scouting at blind corners.

We did get at least this one rapid in (I am standing above a log that we portaged while taking this photo).

Most of the portages were easy, but this one was a little cumbersome.

Luckily we only had a mile of dealing before reaching Sunday Creek, where the increased flow upped the visibility and lowered the wood density and hassle of the run significantly. 

If I went back I'd look for a way to drop in directly to the Sunday Creek confluence, or maybe start paddling on Sunday Creek.  For this trip, it was nice seeing the full extent of the Tualatin and I just considered that first mile the price of access.