Arroyo Seco

 

                                             BETA

                                   Class IV.  2.5 mile hike, 3 miles of paddling. 

Stream: The hike in is about 2.5 miles long, and mostly on a gated road with a gentle grade.  Views of the creek allow you to get a feel for water levels, but the crux of the run is not easily visible.

There is a spot along the hike where a game trail leads down from a pull out to a view of Big Cajones.  This is not a necessary side excursion.  36.225020303697065, -121.49795711544319

At high flows, paddlers sometimes but in at the bridge over Santa Monica Creek to avoid "The Recirculator" just upstream.

At the end of the good part of the road, this sign marks where to head down the trail to the put in.  The vehicles in the photo were Forest Service employees with a key to the gate.

The put in, when we were there the footbridge had collapsed.

Things start off easy, with one or two small rapids but mostly class II.

The first notable rapid is "The Recirculator".  It looks like a nice boof, but can develop a nasty hole at high flows, and non-precise lines can end with contact with the left wall.  When we were there, the tannins in the water were creating lots of foam.  The deep recycle from this ledge kept the foam from moving downstream, and the depth was such that even if we had landed the ledge upright we wouldn't be able to breath while paddling through the foam.  Then we thought about how hard it would be to rescue someone if they swam, so Priscilla and I both portaged.

Just downstream Santa Maria Creek enters on the right in a small boulder garden, then come the flume rapids.  At our flow we were able to easily scout them on the left, this may be tricky at high flows.

The line through was center left through the main flow for all three.  The third it is worth noting had two channels, we went center-left in the right channel.  This photo shows the first a second flume.

Shortly downstream is Little Cajones.  A fast ramp with a rock on the bottom left leads quickly into a shoulder boof to avoid some rocks on the right.

Next up is Mucho Cajones, the tallest drop of the run.  There is a hole along the landing on the right, that is next to a slightly undercut right wall, so be sure to boof out and away to the left, which is fairly straight forward to line up.  The higher the water level, the further left you can be and the easier the line.  

Just below the water exits through a narrow cleft in the rock, which has reportedly been swum through, but it is nice to be in your boat for.  There is a pocket on the left at the top of the cleft that would be dangerous at higher water, and is worth noting that gear has been pushed into it in the past and made for a tricky retrieval.  At our flow it was trivial.

Below Mucho Cajones the bedrock is left behind and there is a good bit of rock dodging class II and III, with at least one small surprise ledge.

After this waterfall can be seen entering on the left, be ready for a blind boulder jumble. 

 It would be possible to shore scout the boulder jumble, but the line is hard to see.  If you look in the following photo you will note the large rock at the bottom of the rapid, this is a good marker.  Priscilla is running the only good line I am aware of in the rapid.

Below here it's all breezy down to the take out at the bridge and day use area.

  
Flows:  The level we had felt ideal for a first-time run.  It was the first large rain of the fall, so the water was rather murky and the tannins created lots of foam, which created hazards in some areas.  We were particularly worried that the slot below Mucho Cajones would fill in with foamand be unpassable but fortunately, it was not.  I have read 100-500 cfs is the range people shoot for.  I have seen photos of people running the creek at levels lower than what we had, as well as higher.

Arroyo Seco NR Greenfield CA - 11151870

Access:  There is a $10 day use fee to paddle this run, or do what we did and pay about $40 to camp there.  If you camp at the Arroyo Seco Campground, it is possible to hike to the put in.  Then, at the end of the trip, walk from the takeout back to your camp.

Access points as related to the following map

Take Out:  Arroyo Seco Recreation Site (36.23572656637525, -121.47815919446326)

Trailhead: Gorge Parking (36.23376860146424, -121.48745736046857)

Put In:  Marble Peak Trail footbridge (36.218931277872464, -121.50201161871438)

The Campground is adjacent to "The Lakes"

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Story/Notes
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The Arroyo Seco had not had water for many months, we just happened to be driving through when the first storm of the season hit, and took advantage.

Briggs Creek: Middle

 BETA

2.7 mi hike and paddle, no shuttle.  Class III-IV(IV+)

Stream: A short, quality hike-in run not too far from the Rogue Valley.  After hiking in, boaters decide whether to tackle the put in rapid or not.  The top of the rapid is fun, a set of narrowing ledges.

The second part of the rapid is a hallway with an undercut boulder blocking most of the water, the line appears to be to the right of the boulder, but I walked this part when I paddled the creek.

Downstream the creek enters a boogie section with a few fun ledges that pop up amidst the boulder gardens.

When the creek steepens slightly the next notable rapid appears at an island and should be scouted.  The left line is a fast flume that pillows off the left wall, and a right channel that is runnable at higher flows.  This pushes quickly into a small ledge best run left.

Downstream the whitewater continues with read and run, and another ledge or two down to the confluence with Red Dog Creek.

Below Red Dog Creek it's class II-II+ down to the take out.

  

Flows:  Like a lot of the small creeks in the area, flows can be hard to nail down.  Here are the 3 data points I have, using the two most common proxy USGS gauges in the area.

-Yellow bars are dates that were just barely floatable, too low for a repeat trip.  

-Blue bar was from the friendly medium flow day.

Chetco @ Brookings USGS gauge

Illinois @ Kerby USGS gauge

There are some more flow musings on the Lower Briggs report.

Access:   

Put In:  42.40131014049408, -123.73591864665532

Take Out:  42.37701161080251, -123.76343377340532

It's good to mark the take out when dropping the vehicle.  Then, cross Soldier Creek and start following the old road uphill and upstream, a map is nice for the first quarter mile.

Once moving upstream the hike along the road is easy-going (you could drive it with an ATV if you can cross Soldier Creek), eventually reaching a slightly open area and the road starts to drop to the creek.  Don't follow the road, instead head off to the right and find the trail. 

 Follow that trail upstream another mile or so and you will pass the obvious put in rapid.

If you walk another 100-200 yards, a trail will head sharply uphill to the right, stay left and put in when the trail reaches the creek in less than a minute.

Watch out for poison oak, it can be avoided but is often present.

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Story/Notes
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I had run lower Lower Briggs Creek years ago, and while that last section before reaching the Illinois River is the obvious whitewater run, my eye had drifted upstream on Briggs Creek as well.  Up there the gradient was lower, and the access less obvious.  I had written it off as likely class III with wood.

Fast forward a number of years and I'm more interested in class III-IV than I once was, and while visiting Priscilla's parents in Grants Pass decided to have a look.  The first time we checked it out, we thought flows would be too low so just went for a hike.  Turns out the flows looked ideal, and we should have given it a go.

Yann on the scouting trip, shortly before his dog found a discarded diaper full of diarrhea, which the dog found delicious.

The next time we were in the area, we weren't going to miss another opportunity, so when the Illinois gauge (the default gauge for an area without many gauges) showed higher flows than our scouting trip we set out with an ambitious plan.  The shuttle was very roundabout and would have been 2 hours one way, so instead of spending many hours in a car that day, we drove to the put in, with the plan to hike back up the trail from the take out.  I did as much searching the internet as I could to ascertain the condition of the trail, but it seemed people hadn't reported hiking it straight through in many years, so I was worried about the middle section being overrun as many trails in the area are not maintained.

We put on to lower water than we had hoped from, and drifted downstream. 

 The first bit was pretty and intimate, but lacking much whitewater.  There was a log portage or two, but nothing problematic or annoying.  In fact, the first few miles were rather unremarkable whitewater-wise, so we just enjoyed the setting; an unmolested forest with clear water and pitcher plants.

Eventually, we reached the middle section of the run, which turned out to be the good part.  This is the section described on this page in the "Stream" section, and the part I would return to with the better logistical situation and better whitewater.

We worked our way through this section, which I thought was high quality intermediate whitewater with a couple more notable rapids that Priscilla walked and I paddled through.  We wished that flows had been at the level of our scouting trip, but it is often the case that our exploratory trips are done at low water and I'm ok with that.

We reached Red Dog Creek and while we could have started our hike back upstream here for a shorter hike, I wanted to paddle down to the more logical take out "for the sake of completeness" as Pete G would say.

After the last mile of boulder bars we set up our packs and began the 5-6 mile hike back up to our vehicle at the put in.  The first couple miles were easy, and we had done it before on our scouting trip (this is the hike recommended for the run, starting at the take out, and hiking up to the intersection with the Phone Trail).  Once we passed the put in for the middle section, I ferried across the creek to see if the trail still existed on river-right as shown on the maps.  It did not.  So we took the backup option which was to climb steeply uphill on the Phone Trail, we crossed our fingers it connected like it showed on the map and grunted out the 800' vertical gain over 1/4' mile and were glad to see it meet up with a marked road. 

High above the creek.

 It was here that I worried the trail would not continue, but I felt relief to realize that it did, so back down we went as the trail headed upstream, and we completed the bypass of the discontinued section of trail, reaching Briggs Creek near the Courier Mine and Onion Creek confluence.  Here we descended a little further than we should have, and Priscilla did not walk to retrace or route, so we hiked up the banks of the creek for 45 minutes or so until the map showed that the trail was not too high above us and we headed up the hill and regained the trail. 

Orange dots show our detour route.

 It was in a burned area, so we would lose it at times but eventually, we were out of the recent burn and the trail became easier to follow.

The trail became a two-track mining "road" for ATV's at some point, and crossed the creek a couple more times.  We made it back to the put in with light to spare, tired and beat, but satisfied.  

We headed out along Taylor Creek, instead of the Onion Valley route we had come in on, and checked the Taylor Creek gauge as a reference for next time.

Too low for Taylor, too low for a repeat of Middle Briggs.

We had a cool adventure, but I'd recommend any boaters with interested in these parts of Briggs to stick to the middle or lower sections and avoid the upper half of what we did.

Gladiator Creek

AFTER ALL THE TRIPS I DID ON THIS CREEK THE ACCESS HAS CHANGED.  BOATERS MUST NOW PURCHASE THE BLACK ROCK ACCESS PERMIT FROM WEYERHAEUSER TO RUN THE CREEK.  LAST I CHECKED A VEHICLE PERMIT WAS ABOUT $350, AND A WALK IN PERMIT WAS $75.  ANY REFERENCES TO FREE ACCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NO LONGER CORRECT.

WEYERHAEUSER PERMIT PAGE

 Photo: Adam Edwards

Gladiator Creek is my favorite run in Oregon's Coast Range.  It's been on ongoing project for me since my first year at Western Oregon University in 2008.  This was one of a group of three creeks in the Valsetz area of the Coast Range that laid the foundation for what boating means to me, through the challenges they presented both on and off the water.  Iv'e written about the different sections of Gladiator Creek a few times on this site, but this is the page that puts them all together.  Access is both straight forward and tricky, linked below is a story from the superstars of Oregon exploratory kayaking detailing the challenges they faced paddling the lower section for the first time in the early 2000's

Oregon Kayaking: Commando Creekin        

**ownership has since changed and there is no longer a legal barrier to running this creek.**

Photo: Priscilla Macy

It's not a typical PNW creek.  The creekbed is sandstone, and seems like something you would find on the East Coast.  Also like the East Coast, flows can rise and fall quickly.  This means the best laid plans can be laid to waste if a storm you are counting on the night before drops too little or too much precipitation overnight.  For me, the rewards have been worth the consternation.  While the 7 waterfalls stand out as highlights, it's the numerous class fun rapids between them and unique setting that keep me coming back.

After many scouting trips, failures, and a few successes on the lower few miles of Gladiator creek, the biggest piece of the puzzle was placed when Ben Mckenzie, Emile Elliott and I paddled the middle section in 2015.  We got lucky with flows and had a great time, with the highlight being perfect levels for the first descents of the ultra clean Vesuvius Falls.  Then in October 2019, a decade after first seeing this creek on a map, Ben Mckenzie, Adam Edwards, Joseph Hatcher and I ran all three sections top to bottom over a two day period with Priscilla running shuttle for us.   After years of work, and many weekends agonizing over levels and access it had finally been put together top to bottom in one push.   With the information gained on these trips, I now feel comfortable going to Gladiator any given weekend the conditions line up, with the logistics as locked in as I could ask for.
And while it's not a run for anybody, now that access is sorted out and no legal barriers are present, despite the effort required everybody who has done it has been glad they did and have been up for returning.

 Photo: Dax Kirkwood

Looking back on the influence this creek has had on my thoughts and decisions over the years, I don't think any other stream has defined kayaking for me more than Gladiator has.  Each time I paddle the creek, I leave thinking there is not another stream in Oregon I feel more entwined with than this one.

Photo: Priscilla Macy

Below are links to descriptions for what you can find on each of the three sections of this creek.

UPPER  (3 miles)
IV-V+

This is the most adventurous section, and if you want to give the big drops a real look, plan on doing this section over two days.

MIDDLE  (3 miles)
IV-V

This section is a contender for the best day of creek-boating you can get in Oregon.

LOWER  (4 miles)
III(IV,V)

While there are only 3 notable rapids, they are 3 of the more unique and enjoyable rapids in the state.

Lastly, the part I paddle most often, with the most bang for your buck.

ROCK QUARRY ACCESS (1.5 miles)

IV-IV+

This run begins part way through the Middle section (below Vesuvius Falls) and gives a good option for those not interested in Vesuvius Falls.  This is the section I'll do any given day, there is plenty of class fun whitewater without the commitment of what is found upstream.  It starts 1.5 miles above the Lower put in bridge.

FLOWS:  The gauge is located at the only place the creek runs along the highway, the creek is visible here through the vegetation if you are looking for it.  This proximity occurs just as you are entering a small town if coming from the east.   There is a guard-rail there, and if you park on the west side of the guard rail (across from the liquor store) you can walk back to the east 75 feet to where some yellow paint is splashed on one of the posts supporting the guard-rail, marking the point along the guard-rail closest to the gauge.  The gauge is just a few wooden shims with numbers on them, glued onto a rock.  It's behind a couple trees adjacent to that yellow paint and about 20 yards upstream of the small riverwide ledge/hole/wave (depending on flow) visible in the photo below.

The visual gauge on Gladiator Creek, and what you might be able to expect based on an approximate correlation to the flow in the Salmon River below Slick Rock Creek Gauge.

Data points

There is more information on each of the section pages about how flows pertain specifically to that section.  There is also more detail and the opportunity to nerd out on this other page where I keep notes on historic flows and jot further notes on levels.

ACCESS:   As of 2020 the private logging company who owns all the land the creek runs through allows walk in access.  Access is detailed on each individual page.

 I have stuck with the moniker given to the creek by Oregonkayaking.net, who were paddling the creek under the radar on the first descent of the lower section.  While the access situation is improving, and currently there is no red-tape or legal barriers to hiking in and paddling the creek, leaving the name off the internet seems like a good way to keep that status quo.  Along that same vein Iv'e always tried to keep a low profile when hiking into and paddling the creek, but smiling at anyone working back there and think that mentality will go a long way towards keeping access from being barred to future paddlers.  I have left enough information about how to access the different sections on their individual pages (linked above) and this one that someone who has the wherewithal necessary to paddle a creek like this will be able to sort it out just fine.  If after all that you think you have the logistics sorted, but end up failing at your attempt and leave this Rock un-turned, you could always give your luck another try at the nearby casino.

 Photo Emile Elliott

While there was a time that driving to the put in was allowed on weekends during hunting season, public vehicle access has since been barred.  This has come at the gain of the public being allowed to hike into the creek on nice gravel roads any day when the fire danger is not high, though I try to stick to the weekends to keep from getting in the way of daily operations or getting skunked if they are blocking the road.   I personally prefer the new situation to the old, given how uncommon it was for this creek to run at a good flow on a weekend during hunting season.  While the hiking is straight forward, the distance is not short (3-6 miles depending on the access point and section).  I typically use these, but a variety of carrying systems have been deployed, even the old shoulder.

Does smiling with a kayak strapped to your back count as a lie?

Photo: Dax Kirkwood

RULES

 

There are some rules to be followed if you plan to kayak this creek.

Follow this link to zoom in on the map and bullet points(zoomed to in second graphic).  The areas inside the green on the map are open to walk in access.  As of 2020 the Gladiator Creek watershed is entirely within the green area. You can double check the kiosk near the bottom gate before starting your hike for updates.

Sometimes they leave the gate open for logging traffic and contractors, even on the weekends. 

Be like Alicia, earn your turns and you too can smile knowing your toiling will go towards keeping access un-compromised for future paddlers.

NOMENCLATURE

Jason Rackley started the naming scheme on Gladiator Creek, I tried to stick to the theme he started.


Romulus and Remus: The first couple slides that start the upper run.  Romulus and Remus started Rome, which ended up being the naming theme for this upper section since gladiating occurred most famously in Rome and I ran out of applicable Gladiator terms.

Stout set of 4 drops:   Whoever runs them first can name them. 

Castrum Road:  A castrum was a building, or plot of land, used by the Roman military as a fortified camp.

Triumfallades: A Roman Triumph was a huge parade sometimes given after a successful campaign that passed into the Pomerium (sacred part of Rome behind the walls).  The Triumfallades on Gladiator are a parade of big falls and cascades, passing through two pillars into a place that is as sacred a place as any to me. 

Pomerium: Meaning “behind the wall” in ancient Rome, it was a sacred open space located just past the Triumphal or Pomerium gates.  On Gladiator it is the space past the large bedrock pillars that the Triumfallades pass through, surrounded by massive rock walls and only accessible through the gate. 

The Skirmishes: A long section of continuous boulder gardens starting below the Pomerium and lasting to the middle bridge. The water was low for us during this section and while we only had one wood portage, there were plenty of other struggles navigating our loaded boats as we dodged wood, dealt with route finding, re-routing, rock-dodging, trying to stay studious about communication while keeping our eyes out for each other and downstream, along with pins, flips, traffic jamming, and deflections.

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Vesuvius Falls: Mt Vesuvius was where the first battle of the third servile war (led by 3 Gladiators) happened, it is also the first notable obstacle on Middle Gladiator.  To get down the mountain the slave army had to use ingenuity to create ropes and ladders out of vines, it also takes creativity and involves ropes or a leap of faith to portage this falls.

Ludi: Games in general, and festivals involving games and parades.   These games could be private, public, or extraordinary, all things that are true of this parade of playful rapids that begin at the Rock Quarry access.

Venator:  Venatores were skilled spearmen, usually pitted against carnivorous beasts.  The hole at this drop is of the carnivorous variety, then the whole paddle/spear metaphor seems to work.

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Arena: Named by Jason Rackley and Pete Giordano, presumably because you can watch the show from the bridge.

Punisher:  Named by Jason Rackley and Pete Giordano, presumably because of the punishment this drop is capable of handing out, especially at high flows like they had.

Coliseum:  Named by Jason Rackley and Pete Giordano, presumably for the high cliffs overlooking the drop on river right.











This stream has been an ongoing project for me, and required many scouting missions and saw a number of failed attempts, these people each helped with a piece of the puzzle:  Rebecca Vogt, Sage Cruser, Tim Brink, Bruce (Ox) Reed, Pete Giordano, Jason Rackley, Rob Cruser, Dan Mccain, Ben Sigler (and his dogs), Bryan Carrington, Rick Cooley, Nate Merrill, Melissa Fowler, Rylie Coiteux, Jake Banta, Victor Repeto, Michael Freeman, Lucas Reitman, Willy Dinsdale, Ross George, Ben Mckenzie, Emile Elliot, Adam Edwards, and Joseph Hatcher.
 
 


  -jacob