Sunshine Creek (Backyard)

This one flowed through my backyard growing up.  Its a tributary to Johnson Creek that flows through Gresham.  Highlights of this stream included Beavers damming the culverts that resulted in drops, boating the stream at flood in old bathtubs, K-Mart rafts, pool toys and whatever else we could find to float on (we lost a lot of "gear" on several occasions), a 2 foot mudstone ledge with a fast lead-in, foamy boating during low water periods, seal launching off bridges, zip-lining into the creek, running the dam we built, and kayaks were even used on some occasions.  Best at flood level, but always something to do if it happened to be your backyard run.  Usual suspects: Nick Hymel, Alex Hymel, Luke and Elijah Anderson, Kyle the neighbor, Gresham Union High School football team, extended Vogt and Cruser family, etc.

This bathtub saw plenty of whitewater action before we lost it in a logjam on a flooded Johnson Creek.

 There is a reasonable chance I taught Skylar how to wet exit before pushing him off this bridge.

Sandy

This one is in a lot of PNW guide books and gets run all the time, I grew up near this river and have done countless trips on various sections.  One of the most memorable was an overnight rafting trip starting at Sleepy Hollow and finishing at Oxbow, we camped in the beginning of the Sandy Gorge, which I have also done in kayaks.  Here is a report of my dad and friends running all the guidebook sections in a day.

Sandy River in a Day