Stream: A tiny, woody stream near Eugene. From a bridge about 3.5 miles upstream of the Fall Creek confluence, to about 1.5 miles above Fall Creek, the North Fork is a mess of downed trees. There were a few bedrock slides to pick off and some boulder smashing but mostly just carrying boats down the middle of the creek over, around, under, and through logs. It took Ben and I 4 hours to go the 2 miles. About 1.5 miles above the Falls Creek confluence the North Fork of Falls Creek picks up a bit of volume from a tributary and there are a handful of wood portages from there down. There are also a couple runnable ten foot waterfalls and some other class III and IV bedrock rapids.
Once on Fall Creek it's 1.5 miles of fast moving class I-II down to the take out bridge. If the reservoir is low, there are a couple bonus class III's.
Flows: Ben and I were there January 22, 2019. This was an ideal flow for rock boats. The last 1.5 miles could have handled more water, but the upper reaches would have been sketchy. Below are a couple gauges in the area.
Stream: This is an obscure Oregon stream up in the headwaters of the Middle Fork Willamette near Diamond Peak that provides an adventure style challenge to the type of local boaters who enjoy that kind of boating. The first mile is steep, dropping about 400 fpm. There is a larger rapid in the middle of the run that marks a transition to less gradient (still 150-200 fpm) marked by a boulder garden leading into a vertical wall on the right and the most significant drop of the run. There are no committing canyons or features out of the ordinary on this creek, and I recall being able to deal with everything at river level.
The lower portion of the creek is more open, and on our trip had a fair bit, but not overwhelming amount of wood. The run is bridge to bridge.
Flows: Not sure, but we were able to guess a good exploratory flow from intuition so it must run when the stuff nearby is running.
Access: Take Hwy 58 SE out of Eugene past the town of Oakridge, then take NF-21 up the West side of Hills Creek Reservoir. Eventually you cross a bridge over Hills Creek Reservoir, 10 miles later turn right over a bridge across the MF Willamette and stay right after the bridge onto NF-2133. 1.3 miles after the bridge a road to the right leads to the take out bridge ( 43.4943, -122.4231). Put In: Backtrack from the bridge and continue upstream on NF-2133. In 4.4 miles Coal Creek goes under the road through a culvert at the put in (43.4401, -122.424).
Ben Mckenzie and I had been chatting about this one for awhile. The gradient was good, and it was a sister drainage to Staley Creek. At some point Ben got a chance to get out there and scout some of it at low water. He said it looked neat, and had some bedrock and ledges. Ben also said he only thought he saw a couple pieces of wood, but that he was also daydreaming for a lot of it so may have missed some.
That was enough for me, so we went and checked it out at some point. The access was good, we parked at a bridge and drove up to another bridge over a culvert. This culvert was a fun way to start the trip!
We knew the first mile was the steepest at 400 fpm, and expected to be portaging a fair bit in here (Ben had not scouted this part). We were surprised when it was pretty much all runnable, even if there was some strange in there. I walked a couple of the sections that Ben ran.
At the end of this steep section the stream matured and spread out a bit. There was one long boulder garden that dropped down into the tallest boulder ledge yet with a vertical right wall below (we portaged left) that marked the transition from steep and tight boulder rapids to more open ones with the occasional steeper rapid. This transition period had a few large boulder ledges, Ben still reminisces about one of those boofs to this day. It was also down here that the wood started to play a larger role. Ben started to recognize some of the stuff from his scout, but was surprised by the wood, validating his earlier hypothesis that he may have been daydreaming during the scout trip.
The gradient eased off some more and we made it to the take out bridge well before dark. Ben scooter shuttled, and he only had to push it up a couple steep hills. In hindsight the stream was a lot more runnable than I had expected, and a nice little adventure.
Tire Creek is a silly little creek that flows into Dexter Reservoir about 30 miles SE of Eugene.
It caught Emile's attention because even though it is so small, it is well channelized through interesting bedrock features and finally one day Ben went and soloed it. He swam in the first rapid so that caught all our attention since Ben doesn't swim very often.
Ben, redemption run on Flat Tire.
Not long after Ben's trip, another opportunity presented itself when everything seemed too high, which meant Tire might be perfect. We headed down and Ben made it through the put in rapid without swimming, while the rest of us put in below. Downstream were a couple ledges and then the main event at the bridge, a series of small ledges leading into a ten foot drop that was hard to stick but not particularly challenging to roll up after.
Ross, finessing it.
We took out here, pleasantly surprised by this fun little slice of bedrock boating and headed up to Staley Creek.
Two less than perfect lines from Tire Creek are shown between 1:56 - 2:20 in this video by Nick.
I don't recommend traveling to run Tire Creek, but if you are a Eugene local you might get a kick out of sliding down it once or twice when everything else is blown out. The part we ran is less than 1/4 mile long.
Logistics: Just drive to the lowest bridge over Tire Creek, the best part is visible right there (43.7968, -122.5537). Figure out a place to put in a short way upstream, the further you go the more wood issues there are, but also there are some more rapids to pick off up high. The more water the better, we had 5-6k on this gauge. I would look for a closer gauge to use in the future though, probably Winberry Creek. We there sometime in the first half of February, 2015.
The Blue River drainage is a staple for the Eugene boating community, and its a drainage that I have been wanting to check out for awhile now. After a long weekend of driving, we were happy to stay in the valley for MLK day. We woke up to the Blue running over 1,000 cfs so decided to give it a go.
January 18
Being turf of the Eugene boating community, I garnered all my beta during the week from Nate Pfiefer's Wheels and Water blog aside from a helpful hint from Bobby Brown on another creek in the area.
Bobby's contribution.
Priscilla and I collected Emile Elliott on our way south, then met Ben Mckenzie in Eugene. He is recovering from a shoulder injury, so was taking pictures today and making it possible to maximize our boating options by running shuttle.
Ground Support for the day.
All photos in this report by Ben Mckenzie unless otherwise marked.
First on the hit list was the Upper Upper Blue River
(Beta Here).
We wanted to skip the portaging in the upper stretch, so followed the overgrown 535 road which branches off the main Blue River shuttle road 1 mile past the Quentin Creek bridge. We followed this overgrown road to a point where we could easily access the creek. This occurred where the road started to disappear and an obvious route down to the creek was visible.
Our path is highlighted in black. Route modifications are available.
We put in just below a bit of an island and just around the corner was the odd box noted on Nate Pfiefer's report. A direct hit in terms of where we wanted to enter the creek.
Our Put in on the Upper Upper Blue.
This run was full of non-stop class III+ or IV- slides with a couple more channelized rapids near the end.
We had only one wood portage and made it to the take out at the confluence with Quentin Creek in short order.
I think we were all the most excited about this one because of the fun looking slide/falls. Unfortunately for us, less than a half a mile up the shuttle road we came across a logging unit whose work site blocked access further up the road. We decided that the mile+ hike in and bushwhack would eat up the rest of the day. We had more fish to fry, so saved this one for another time.
Nate Dogg has gotten in there, here is his POV of the run.
We detoured to Cook Creek, where another road block (this one in the form of numerous logs across the road) turned us back yet again. That was probably ok, as it didn't look all that good on the maps.
We had beta from Bobby Brown that Tidbits Creek was pretty fun, so drove upstream to where Ore Creek flows under the shuttle road via a large culvert. Emile and I paddled through this culvert and into the non-stop action of Tidbits Creek.
The run was fast paced class IV fun with a couple of ledges and two short log portages.
Status Quo on Tidbits Creek.
There was one ledge that was pretty ugly which Emile ran right on verbal beta from me. The result was of the sort that I then chose to portage, sorry Emile.
For anyone debating whether it is worth touching up on those play boating skills, Emile makes a strong case for doing so in the clip below.
Just downstream of this dubious ledge was a short portage, it was fortuitously placed as Emile found a whole bunch of Ganoderma Oregonense, a mushroom which can be made into a tea and are reported to boost ones immune system. Also called the "mushrooms of immortality".
We passed these mushrooms off to the ground team at the second portage.
Below the second and final log portage was more fast paced, fun whitewater that was all boat scoutable. Near the end of the run was a ledge we had seen driving up. We scouted what turned out to be the signature drop of the run.
Boofing through Tiddlywinks.
While waiting in the eddy downstream for the ground crew to shuffle around for photos, Bobby Brown (the boater who had told us about this run) showed up with his dogs. There was one more sticky hole that was easily punchable on the left, then some more fun cruising down to the confluence with the Blue River.
The sticky hole, fortunately its an easy move on the left.
Bobby had his boat with him so we decided that a quick lap on the classic section of the Blue sounded like a fun thing to do, we all drove up to the put-in where Brian Ward happened to show up as well.
Priscilla, Emile, Bobby, Brian and I then joined forces for a fun lap on the Blue River. There was one quick wood portage on the right (gone as of Feb 2016), and the rest was fun and splashy III-IV with some neat moves and friendly hydraulics. Bobby and Brian knew the run well so we were able to move along at a nice clip.
After finishing that one up, we walked up the road for a quick trip down the Lookout Creek slide. It was enjoyable and next time I'll aim to paddle more of what is upstream on that creek. Next we ran shuttle and headed over to scout out the headwaters of Quartz Creek. While we were not overly impressed by what we saw on Quartz Creek, we were pretty impressed with Bobby's snow driving ability. Nate (Merrill this time) has run some of the stretch above the normal put in and reports at least one unique IV-V rapid that is not visible from the road. The sun was setting at 5PM at that time of year so that about wrapped up our day.
Lookout Creek Slide.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the whitewater in the Blue River drainage and hope to return again some day.
The wood situation is pretty good right now, so get it while its hot.
Here is a map if you want to orient yourself with the streams mentioned in this report.
Stream: Start out at Clear Lake, get loosened up and exit the lake into the Mckenzie River when you are ready. The first part of the run is fast and splashy III+, keep an eye out for wood, the stream can be a bit blind in the beginning. As the river starts to consolidate, tread carefully. Small ledges quickly build into a 5-10' ledge. Scout your take out eddy before running this ledge, and possibly, portage. The stream quickly accelerates below this ledge and after some offset hydraulics roosts off Sahalie Falls, an 80 foot waterfall. Scout/portage Sahalie from either side. If you are thinking of running Sahalie your boat will need to end up on river right eventually, as most people who run Sahalie skip the lead-in and peal out of an eddy at the lip on river-right. It is possible, and necessary to set good safety below Sahalie as the river quickly enters a class V rapid with wood. Even with safety, things can go awry quickly.
Below the class V, more fast class IV with ledges mixed in moves quickly downstream. It's a good idea to scope this part out from the trail on the left, there is a last chance eddy that you wouldn't know was your last chance until you were passed it before the Mckenzie goes off the next waterfall. This is a 20 foot cascade that would be good fun if it were not for a log jam at its base. After portaging this cascade, you can drop the boats and walk down the trail a ways further on river left until you get to Koosah Falls, a 70 foot drop with another tricky lip into a pool that is friendlier than Sahalie's. Safety is set by scrambling down a steep path on river left, which might take some poking around to find. A portage could be done on the same path.
Koosah Falls
Photo: Emile Elliott
The pool below Koosah shallows out 100 feet from the base of the falls, then moves along into a class II rapid with a log jam at the bottom. This log jam sometimes collects gear for boaters who have swam, it poses a minor hazard to boaters running Koosah. Below the log jam is a short class III canyon with wood potential before the Mckenzie enters Carmen Reservoir and the take out. Flows: 500 cfs is a good level to shoot for to do the waterfalls, and both have been run as high as the 700+ cfs range, and down to 400 cfs. You can run the section (not the waterfalls) as low as 250 cfs in the summer if you are just looking for something new to do when not much else has water.
Access: Head about 70 miles East of Eugene on Hwy 126 until you see signs for Sahalie and Koosah Falls. You can scout the big ones out here and decide if you want to run them, and suss out some of the eddies that will need to be caught along the way. To get to the take out, head back towards Eugene on 126 0.4 miles to NF-750. Follow this road 0.7 miles (stay right at the fork) to the bridge over the Mckenzie River as it enters Carmen Reservoir, this is the take out. To get to the put in return to Hwy 126 and head 1 mile back towards, then past Sahalie/Koosah and turn right onto NF-770. In half a mile you will find yourself next to Clear Lake, pull off at a wide spot and walk down to the reservoir to put on.
Original Write-up
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Koos-fraba
Last weekend six of us calmed our nerves and fell off Koosah Falls on the Mckenzie River. 4 of six stayed in their boats.
Emile's friend Liz was out there for the day, and made this video.
Stream: This is a unique run in Oregon's Coast Range, with fun slides in the beginning (unusual for Oregon) and some boulder gardens in the second half (typical of Oregon). The run starts right where the lake exits into the creek, just upstream from a bridge with the foot gauge on it 44.1617, -123.5707.
The first 1/3rd of the run is made up of slides and can be scouted from a nice walkway and mini-park at the end of the walkway. This scouting area is accessed by parking here 44.1594, -123.573.
The slides start out low angle, gradually tilting steeper as they approach the only vertical drop of the run (10-15').
The main line on this drop is down the center, what to do after landing is the biggest cause for pause.
When there was still a log in the main line people used to put in on river right at the lip of this drop (missing out on the low angle slides upstream) for a fun hop, skip and splash.
Joe Kemper running the right side of the first drop, back when there was still a log in the main line.
(log gone as of 2016)
Photo: Lucas Rietmann
The runout here is odd, but people bounce their way through. Alternately, boof into the eddy on the left next to the fish ladder to do a quick portage around the boulder pile.
Next is another fun ramp run on the left that ends in a short drop, with a nice eddy to regroup in just below on the left. Good clean fun.
The trickiest slide is next. Here a tough to scout (if flows are up) boulder garden pushes left at the lip of the slide which is not where you want to be. Either make a quick portage of this lead in on the left or stay in control and drive back to the right through a couple small holes to run the final slide center or right and avoid a nasty log and root-wad on river left at the bottom.
Both the paddle and portage routes are shown here.
The slide below, with the log hazard visible at the bottom left.
It is possible to lap one or more of these slides, but generally it is not considered convenient enough to do a whole bunch of laps on all of them. The easiest to lap is the middle slide if the water is lowish.
The pool below the final slide exits into the IV-V (depending on flow) boulder garden stretch, which takes up the middle third of the run and blind parts should be scouted for wood, though the run was portage free in January 2021.
The boulder gardens are pretty steep and considered fun by most Willamette Valley boaters, but not by all. The final drop in this section is the most unique and can provide exciting lines.
Below this airplane move, the last 1/3rd or the creek eases from III-IV down to moving flatwater as it approaches the bridge. Stay on guard here as Iv'e seen a couple hiccups through here and wood is usually still present.
The only thing left to do is reset shuttle and head up for another round. While the first lap can take a couple hours, 20-30 minutes laps are common once the wood situation is known and lines are dialed.
Flows: The definitive gauge is the visual "Triangle Lake gauge" that exists on the put in bridge. The gist with some wiggle room is 7.0-7.5 is low but fun, 7.5-8.0 is medium, 8.0-8.5 is pushy.
- Over 8.5 (water even with the step in the concrete) is high but even at 10' it did not look un-runnable (most paddlers would not run it at that flow though).
- Minimum is users choice, people have been known to slide down a couple of the slides in the Summer. Though most boaters, myself included, would consider flows under 7' too low and 6.5 an un-floatable flow.
To ballpark flows before heading out, use the Siuslaw Gauge near Mapleton. Look for between 6' and 9' for class IV/V levels, though it goes much higher (looked doable for the elite at 18'). Keep in mind the Siuslaw gauge is far downstream on a much larger river, so is only reasonable for estimation purposes.
If you get there and it is too high for your taste, check out either the Play Run or Sweet Creek.
Access: Find Triangle Lake on a map (West of Eugene). The run begins immediately as the run exits the lake on the south side.
There is a gravel parking area near the Blachly Lane Picnic area (44.161891, -123.570914), and path leading upstream to a convenient put in.
The take out is at a bridge about 1 mile downstream (44.147849, -123.582892), after a turn onto Fish Creek road. There is limited parking, refer to the map below.
We joined Nate Pfiefer and crew last weekend to check out the section of Lake Creek exiting Triangle Lake. There have been many descents of this section, but up to this point no online documentation aside from a short video from Oregonkayaking.
This section has got a lot of descents this year, and the general consensus is that it cleans up as the water starts to rise, but once the rocks are covered, it becomes hard class V in a hurry. Emile ran it years ago in a playboat on several occasions at 10-12' and said it was good to go, but they did not run the boulder gardens below the slides. There are rumors of it being run even higher.
Here is a video of Kory and I running it in 2015 at about 7.75' on the put in/Triangle Lake Gauge. 0:00 - 1:30
This run is really not to be missed if you are a local, its short, but a blast. 3 good slides and a half mile of 4/5 boulder gardens depending on flow. The river carves through sandstone instead of the usual Oregon Basalt, providing unique rapids.
