Euchre Creek

Ben Mckenzie, Emile Elliott and I ran Euchre Creek January 23, 2017 with the Siletz gauge just under 4,000 cfs and dropping slowly.

The put in was roadside and there was a short warm up before a steep and bouldery three part rapid that we portage, though it had a line.

 Putting back in there was a fun ramp along the left wall, before entering a bouldery rapid leading up to an island that looked like it was worth a scout.

The island had a tricky, but doable line on the left, or a sneak channel on the right with pin potential.  This island rapid reminded me of the rapid called Island on the Little White Salmon River.

Below this island we were able to boat scout about a mile of class IV rapids, mostly bouldery but a couple ledges too, down to Euchre Falls (which is easily scouted on the shuttle, just upstream of the take out).  This 10 foot tall ramp could be run just about anywhere, we chose center-right.

The take out bridge was a couple hundred yards below Euchre Falls.

Directions to Euchre Falls

click photo to enlarge

                                                                   click photo to enlarge

After the first class V rapid, the rest of the run is IV-IV+.  I wish I would have run this creek when I first heard about it from Rick Cooley back in college.  I would have certainly run it a number of times on days when I only had a couple of classes.  The run is short (1.5 miles) and shuttle is easy. I jogged it when our scooter malfunctioned (again).

NF Alsea

Photo: Lucas Rietmann

The NF Alsea is one of those runs that is on a lot of Oregon boaters list of streams they want to paddle.  It is also one of those runs that stays there year after year as people put it off for something closer, logistically easier, or just a little more well known.

The trip is an odd combination of intermediate difficulty and mini-adventure.  In the past paddlers spent hours driving around logging roads on the shuttle, often coming out on a different road than they went in on.  This kind of adventure is usually not sought after by those honing in their skill set.  Then once boaters acquire an advanced skill set, they may feel the whitewater is not worth the effort.

It's a bit of a drive from Portland too.
Less than half an hour to the take out for those Corvallis boaters though.

 I would encourage both demographics to seek out this river, I feel confident both would find the experience rewarding.

I was one of those paddlers who had the run on my list, but never pulled the trigger before because I just couldn't justify a one hour each way shuttle for what I (incorrectly) interpreted as a class II run with a couple class III's and two decent rapids.  Plus, when this run has water, lots of other runs do too.

Lucas Reitmann has been in there a couple times and has had good things to say about it.  When he decided to plan his third trip in there, I figured it had to be good if he was returning yet again and for his second time this year.  Plus he had figured out how to cut the shuttle down to 30 minutes.

Typical shuttle view, with the NF Alsea being just before that final ridge.  Keep this proximity in mind if the question of hiking out presents itself.

There was potential for a large group, but by the time we met in the morning it was down to Lucas, Priscilla and I.  We drove the short distance from Corvallis to the Alsea Fish Hatchery take out and left a vehicle near the staff gauge (reading 2.25) at a parking lot complete with porta-potty.

We also had about 800 on the Pat Welch Gauge, on January 24th, 2016

Loading into Priscilla's vehicle we headed back the way we had come on HWY 34, turning left onto a gravel road in about 3.3 miles.  Staying on BLM Rd 10 for 9 miles brought us to the put in.   Lucas had only done this run low and high, so was pleased to see it at a nice flow, a little under medium.

The falls comes up quick.  As the river bends left stay right to give it a scout.  It had a log in it on this trip that created an awfully thin line on the right.  None of us were sure we would avoid the log so made the easy portage along the right.

Falls with the log

Vanhorten Falls from a park a huck session a couple summers ago.

A large group went back on Feb 18, 2017 with the hatchery gauge at 2.5' and the NF Alsea gauge at 1,100 cfs.  Almost ten people ran the falls that day, the log proved to be avoidable.

Lexi Esperanza avoids the log.

We continued downstream through some interesting channels separated by tall grass islands and banks.  The whitewater wasn't eventful, but the islands were unique enough to keep us engaged as we moved downstream.  There was one log in this stretch, but we were able to get under on the right.

Eventually things picked up and before long we were running some engaging class III rapids.  This portion of the run was better than I had anticipated.

These built towards class IV before a larger horizon presented itself.  We eddied out on the right to scout a large ledge.  At first glance it looked a little funky, but upon further inspection there were two lines that looked good.  We all chose the one furthest to the right, sliding through a small trough into  a bit of a pillow and off a short drop into a hydraulic.

                                                           Photo: Lucas Rietmann

Below here things tapered off and eventually we were floating past farms with grass again lining the bank.  A dam at the fish hatchery caused the water to go flat for the first time on the run.  We did the portage on the right, wondering where people had ever run this heinous drop in the past.

It was a short float below here to the take out, passing the staff gauge and a multitude of fisherman.  One of them indicated he would prefer we paddle as close to him as possible, as opposed to as far away as possible like we had been doing.

If you have this run on your list, I would recommend checking it off sooner than later.  I would say it like many others have said about the Grays; "The NF Alsea is one of those rivers you keep putting off, but once you do it you wonder why it took so long".

Logistics can be found on the AW page.

  -jacob

Big rock Creek

I have been hoping to get on this one for a couple years now. On the maps is an intriguing pinch with high gradient.  The levels lined up and while I needed a late start due to wanting to watch my buddy Alex throw javelin in Salem, I figured 3 1/2 hours was enough time to deal with a mile of gradient.

Jay Kirkwood and Anna Herring both agreed to go along on this trip.  We met in Summit at 1:30 and were at the takeout by 2.  The access was relatively painless for an exploratory trip with a bridge at take out and put in.  We got within a half mile of the put in before finding a gate that had not been there when I scouted last year, not an uncommon occurrence in Coast Range.  We parked at the gate and hiked in.  We were at the river quickly and put in, noting the woody character of the creek.  There was a nice class III under the put-in bridge, followed by a fair amount of wood and mank.  The creek then became class I-II with a couple log portages before we reached the place I originally planned to put in when I thought we could drive all the way.  We paddled some more class I as I assured them that the gradient was coming.  Soon we could see the hill creating the pinch and not long after the creek hit it, turned, and some easy sliding bedrock was encountered in the class II range.

The creek started making its bend to the left where it would drop through the hill and we got out to scout our first rapid.  A fun III-IV double slide with an ominous horizon downstream.  The view scouting this drop was promising with a gorge wall and bedrock.  We made the mistake of getting our hopes up before setting eyes on what was an ugly V+ mess with wood and boulders at the bottom.  Luckily there was a river level portage that wasn't too bad.  A lot of wood had collected in this drop and the boulder garden below it, so we set off on a relatively easy, but still taxing portage down to the next runnable rapid.  This was a neat, but manky boulder garden that went a lot smoother than it looked.  Jay pointed out a promising line that we all took.  At the crux move at the end, Anna went for the 180 and showed us up by greasing the crux stern first!  Below here was a III-IV runout before the next short log portage.  Below here was a drop that was challenging to scout and involved some leaping to get onto an island where the first part of the rapid was visible.  We ended up portaging the top in the name of saving time, but were able to run the lower part, a pinch boof seen in the video below.

 Below this rapid the gradient cooled off and had a couple more fun class III-IV sections.  I think we scouted one more time before the boogie to the end.

 I was still in boat scouting/watch out for wood mode, when Anna passed by me in an eddy giving me a "hey Jacob, its class II now" look and took the lead as we cruised down the runout and one more small slide before getting to the takeout bridge with about 15 minutes of light to spare.  In all the trip went well and I had a blast exploring this place I have been eyeing for awhile now.  I am not planning a return trip, but it was a good adventure and usually that is enough.

We had a stable 125 cfs in the nearby Sunshine Creek on March 3, 2011 and that was a friendly exploratory flow.

The Siletz gauge was dropping from 4,500 to 3,800 from midnight to midnight.  I typically look for the Siletz to be over 4,000 cfs for creeks in that area.


Put in: 44.782027, -123.693687

Take Out: 44.751095, -123.699236

Click on map to enlarge

-Jacob