Lake Creek Slides

Beta

1 mi

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.  

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Original write-up

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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


Birthday Boating with Kory Kellum from PMacy on Vimeo.

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.

    -Jacob

Sweet Creek

Photo: Priscilla Macy

BETA

1 mi (1/4 mi)

Stream: A short, entertaining section of trail-side whitewater near Mapleton, OR.  A coast town about an hour West of Eugene.  If the water is low, hike up from the lower parking lot.  The trail becomes suspended along a cliff at the steepest part of the run.  Put in as soon as its easy to return to the creek after the suspended part, you will be able to scout all the rapids on the hike up.

If levels are not low, I like to shuttle up to the Sick and Wrong access point, and do the short hike in to the base of that drop.  It's easy slides from there to the crux, and I'll typically walk back up a couple more times to paddle just the crux section.  

Crux section.

Photo: Richie Slocum

The lines are pretty obvious, with the crux move being documented here.  To avoid that situation I try to make sure I am left of that crack with a touch of left angle.  

The main attraction at Sweet Creek is the segment of whitewater seen in this photo.

Paddler: Nate Warren                                                                  Photo: Aaron Zettler-mann

The first lap can be over-stimulating if you are stepping up to this run as everything connects together, but mentally things slow down once you have a lap under your belt.

Below the crux section are three more fun drops, all scoutable on the hike up.  The middle one looks like it has a dubious landing, but if you are in the right spot with a 45 degree angle you will hit nothing but water.  If there is enough water you can slide down the right side.

Sweet Creek is often combined with the Lake Creek Slides, as shown in the video below.

Both are short/lappable and on the way if you are coming from the Willamette Valley.

Sweet Creek footage starts at 1:30

Birthday Boating with Kory Kellum from Priscilla Macy on Vimeo.



 
Flows:  Look for the Siuslaw Gauge to be between 8-9.5' a day or two after a big rain for medium flows.  You can scrape down to 7.5', and it has been run much higher.  Locals like to look for a 2' spike on that same gauge a day or two before your trip. 

Access:  From Mapleton, cross over to the East side (river left of the Siuslaw) on the bridge in town and head South (downstream) on Sweet Creek Rd.  In 4.6 miles you will cross over Sweet Creek, stay left on Sweet Creek road and in 6.5 miles past the bridge turn right into the Sweet Creek parking lot. If you want to put in at Sick and Wrong for a shorter hike and more small slides continue driving upstream about 1 more mile to the upper parking lot and follow the trail down to the creek. Notes:  People who are not in the know tend to get excited for this one when it's raining heavy and the gauge is rising only to drive there and find out it is a whole different beast than when levels are dropping.  I understand the excitement, but it is a flawed approach.  Be patient and stick to the conditions outlined in the "Flows" section to get in right. 

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Original Write-up ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nate Pfiefer and Jason Rackely have good beta pages for this run.  

 For such a short, easily accessible, none committing run, I have sure heard a lot of stories about carnage and beatdowns. Now I have my own story to add to the list.

Dan and I picked up Rick Cooley around 11:30, kinda late, but who worries about daylight on a five minute run?

We took 126 through Veneta instead of going by lake creek, which saved us some time.

We arrived and saw a couple guys in playboats getting ready to go. We heard later one had a skirt implosion that lead to a swim, otherwise they had a good run.

We helped Dan strap the raft to the dolly, then hiked up to the put-in. We stopped in an eddy below the first drop, then pealed out for 45 seconds of some of the most exhilarating boating in Oregon.  Not all that frightening, just good clean, fast paced fun.   The only thing I had run in the same category is Henline, but this was a close second. The main section is followed by three unique, fun drops.

We had fun on the first lap, so like most people paddling Sweet Creek we went for another. 

We got to the top of the gorge again just as Dan was getting up there with his raft. We encouraged him to put in here, but he had high hopes of running Sick and Wrong. We did our second lap, it went exactly the same, except I missed my boof on the third drop of the triple drop and had some trouble rolling in the aerated, turbulent water. I got into some greener water just as the thought of pulling entered my mind. I got up, slid through a hole backwards, then watched as Rick cleaned up on the drop. We slid down the final three ledges with some hikers getting footage.

We then headed up to find Dan, as we passed by each hiker, they each told us how the guy hauling the raft upstream seemed pretty frustrated, I guess hauling a raft on a dolly is just as awful as the last time he did it. Good thing we have short memories. He did impress us by hauling it all the way to the top of Sick and Wrong by himself. We helped haul gear up there, blew up the raft, discovered a hole in the floor, roped the raft off the edge, sent Dan down.  I walked around to the bottom for video and safety, waited, waited...waited...waited. After about forty minutes, Rick came down to let me know Dan could not run the drop because the current coming from Sweet creek falls was strong and kept rejecting him. He had to throw the raft off and I unpinned it from the mess below the falls. Then Rick headed down to his boat and Dan and I were left with running about a half mile of mank, followed by Sweet creek gorge as it was getting dark.  After all that, it turns out there is a short hike in to Sick and Wrong from a different parking area.

With the floor popped, our knees took a beating. The run took about 20 minutes and avoided any swims or pins. We got dressed in the dark and then were on our way back home.  A lot of effort for a short bit of boating, but that can be how it goes.

Level was 9.2 ft on the Lake Creek Gauge and dropping. A medium flow.

One more Lake Creek/Sweet Creek combo video from Emile Elliott

slides from Difficult E on Vimeo.

-Jacob