Tamolitch

Paddler: Scott Baker                                   Photo: Lucas Rietmann
April 11, 2018 @ 1,100 cfs 

Tamolitch is an interesting waterfall along the Mckenzie River.  The river flows through lava fields of vesicular basalt, which creates a very permeable and porous ground.  When the aquifers below are not filled with water, the entire flow of the river runs underground leaving the surface completely dry.  There was a time when the aquifers below the surface filled each Spring, allowing the river to flow for weeks at a time, but those days are gone.

There is now a dam upstream, holding back Carmen Reservoir.  Water is not released from this reservoir at a consistent enough rate to keep those underground aquifers full.  Thus, even when there is a big rainstorm on top of a full pool height of the reservoir it can still take three full days of high flows to fill the aquifers before the river is able to flow above ground all the way down to and over Tamolitch Falls.  Most of the time the entire river bubbles up from the ground into the pool at the base of the bone-dry falls, before emerging and continuing downstream as a conventional above-ground river again.

Because it is so rare for this waterfall to flow, and even more rare for it to flow at levels suitable to kayak over, it does not get paddled often.  In fact, while rumors existed of someone paddling it "back in the day" when Eugene was considered the place to be for professional kayakers, no one I knew of could say who it was or had seen any photos or anything.  I found that intriguing so set about sorting out when the falls might run.

I certainly wasn't the only person interested in this waterfall, some had even tried to go to the falls when flows elsewhere were high only to be skunked by a dry falls.  By 2013-2014 I thought I had sorted out a way of making an educated guess as to when the falls might run.  In 2014, such a day came and while I needed to work (and waterfalls aren't really my thing anyway) Priscilla got a group together to check out the drop.  That story is told from her perspective further down this page.

Nowadays, the information is there for those who want to drop this beautiful and rare 50' treat.  Even if you don't have any intention of running the falls, it's a remarkable place for anyone to check out.  Whether it's dry or flowing, it's a must-see for any Oregonian.  Just be aware it's one of those place that has become overrun in the social-media age.  There might be 100 people walrusing at the falls on any given Summer weekend.  On the other hand, after three days of rain you might just have the place to yourself.

April 12, 2018 @ 1,150 cfs

Paddler:  Ben Mckenzie                                                               Photo: Priscilla Macy

Once you are done at the falls, you can paddle and hike the trail back down to the trailhead.  Some people will choose to just hike the trail the whole way.  For those that want to try and paddle some, there is a class IV section not far downstream of the falls with plenty of wood hazards, before it tapers to class II-III.  Eventually it becomes so woody that paddling isn't very justifiable.  Fortunately the trail is close to the river (river-right) the whole way, so it's reasonable to bail off the river at any point that the right wall is not prohibitive.



Flow Information:  According to the USDA, the falls typically starts spilling when the Clear Lake Outlet Gauge has been flowing over 900 cfs for three days in a row.  That is for predictory use only. 

Use the following gauge to determine if the falls is currently in, people typically shoot for at least 1,000 cfs. 

USGS 14158740 MCKENZIE RIVER BL PAYNE CR, NR BELKNAP SPRINGS, OR

 It takes very large, sustained storms to bring this falls in.  Check the gauge when everything else is flooded, or when they are doing maintenance on Carmen Reservoir dam upstream.

Access:   Tamolitch Falls is a waterfall on the Mckenzie River, a little over an hour East of Eugene.  To get there take Hwy 126 to the turn off for "Blue Pool" onto NF-730 and follow that to the Blue Pool trailhead, which is the take out.  The NF-730/Hwy 126 junction is about 13.5 miles NE of the bridge over the Mckenzie within the town of Mckenzie Bridge, and 5.5 miles south of the Sahalie Falls turnout.

To get to the falls from the Blue Pool trailhead:

Option 1 is to hike upstream 2 miles on the trail to Tamolitch/Blue Pool.

Option 2 is to return to Hwy 126 and head upstream 2.3 miles to a spur road heading towards the river.  If you go that route, have imagery downloaded on your phone so you don't get lost.  At the end of the 1 mile road, a steep trail leads down to the falls.  This road is often gated.

Option 3 if the gate is closed to the spur road involves either hiking the road, or bushwhacking down from just passed the gate to the river and across to the Mckenzie River trail and following it half a mile downstream to the falls (I don't recommend boating the river down to the falls). 

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Resurrecting Tamolitch, by Priscilla Macy

Tamolitch Falls, also known as Blue Pool is a unique waterfall on the McKenzie River.  This area is where the McKenzie River comes back up after being underground just after Carmen Reservoir. It's known as a dry falls, only coming into existence after long periods of rain when the river will flood over the lava bed.

Tamolitch from Below. You can see some of the water coming from under the lava beds on the right.

We could not confirm or deny if anyone had run the falls yet, due to the rarity that it comes in at a runnable flow.

Making the first run down

There was not a huge boil with the minimum flow, so there were a couple hard hits.  All around, good lines and an excellent time at a beautiful and unique spot.

 Brian, with the best line of the day

Dalton's Turn

Lucas' line

We used the McKenzie River@Trail Bridge Gauge on Pat Welch’s site.  When we left in the afternoon it was about 2600 cfs, this correlated to about 200 cfs at the falls.  We all agreed that at twice this flow, the falls would be ideal; definitely worth the trip if you are lucky enough to get it when it’s running.

If you have time after the falls, the McKenzie has some great play waves with eddy service when flows are high.

Brian playing in a fun set of waves on the McKenzie

Tamolitch from PMacy on Vimeo.

-Priscilla

A group returned a few days later with more water and felt the falls cleaned up nicely with the additional flow.

Tamolitch Falls - A Church Story from williamsaunders17@gmail.com on Vimeo.

North Umpqua: The Gorge Electric

photo: Priscilla Macy

This run starts out in the pool below Toketee Falls.  Either walk the short trail to the viewing platform and lower boats down the steep hillside, or drop over the falls (a V+ endeavor that I am not going to describe here).  The pool at the base of Toketee is a beautiful start to the run, consider taking a moment to paddle around in it and enjoy where you are, being in a kayak it is easy to paddle to river left and walk around over there for a unique view of the falls.

photo: Priscilla Macy

The rapids begin immediately out of the pool below Toketee, starting out then maintaining a nice class IV grade.  The first horizon line after some read and run is reminiscent of Sidewinder on the White Salmon River.  Look at the landing and the walls closely, or sneak the left side channel.

Ben Mckenzie does it right.

Each notable drop seems to be slightly more challenging than the last until a final rapid that channelizes the river against the right wall feels more like IV+ than IV.  

A fun one in the middle of the run

Though a clean, intuitive line is always present, if it's your first time down it is worth scouting the rapids to find the hazards.

photos: Priscilla Macy

Downstream of the IV+ rapid a short way is a fun bedrock rapid that can produce interesting lines and is easy to carry back up for on the right for additional fun.

 Lucas Rietmann

photo: Priscilla Macy

Brian Butcher

photo: Priscilla Macy

Sam Swanson

photo: Priscilla Macy

Ben Mckenzie

photo: Priscilla Macy

Myself

photo: Lucas Rietmann 

Not far downstream is a bridge, powerhouse, then a short pool.  If the powerhouse is releasing a lot of water, the next obstacle needs to be portaged along an easy path on the left.  If levels are low, it is sometimes possible to run that drop.  Make a good decision here.

Below here you enter the Electric Avenue, and if levels are up the rest of the run is fast and splashy down to the take out bridge at Slide Creek, if it is low the scenery helps pass the time until Fish Creek enters and adds some padding.  It's a special place.  On our second trip down, there was a lot of water in the system and an aqueduct was backed up and overflowing just above the take out.  It made for a captivating scene.

   -   If Toketee (at the put in) is at a good flow, the gorge below is too.  However the gorge could feasibly be run higher.  We had ~375 cfs on our first trip, and 450 on our second trip.  Both were good flows and I'd go back higher (or a little lower).  This section is heavily dam controlled and rarely runs at a good flow, so when its in it is worth heading down there.

 Toketee Gauge

February 11, 2017 was a good flow

Video from our first trip down.

CCC and the Gorge Electric from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.




There are a number of take out options, the most straight forward is at the NF -4775 bridge near Slide Creek: 43.2961, -122.4782  It is possible to continue to the highway and get one more large rapid, but to avoid dealing I recommend taking out at Slide creek.

Click to enlarge

       -jacob

Mexico: Part II, Lower Jalacingo

Here is the 2nd edit from our recent trip to the Veracruz region of Mexico. We bagged the Jalacingo on our last day in the region before heading back state side. The run itself wasn't as difficult as I had pictured it to be especially given the high water, but it was incredibly fun. Countless boofs of all shapes and sizes featured prominently and the run was locked inside a tight bed rock gorge. Most folks chose to hike in below the two top drops (60 foot Twisted Pleasure and 40 foot Dirty Sanchez.) We would have done the same, but no one one in our group had done the run before... so we botched the hike-in and ended up dropping in above this section. I'll tell you right now that the portage around these big waterfalls is taxing, to say the least, but the drop that we earned by putting in up top was one of the better water falls of the entire trip. A clean 20 and change with a late boof into a walled in cathedral. In my book, it was worth the hike back out of the canyon and around the biggens. The 2nd to last drop shown in the video is directly below Dungeon and is worth a second look when scouting. The two paddlers who tried to ride the toung (what looks like the best line) were both caught in the boil, resulting in one blown skirt and subsequent swim. Dan and I ran the far left side and had better results. Dungeon is a sweet looking waterfall, but after 45 minutes spent dilliberating, we ended up portaging. Looking back on it, I really wish I'd run the twisting 30 footer. It's a very unique drop and is 100% good to go. Our issue lied in the run-out from the waterfall as we couldn't see where the majority of the current was going (from our vantage, it looked to be flowing into a nasty undercut). We learned later that this hazard isn't nearly as bad as it looks from 90 feet up in the air. Oh well, I've got something to go back too.

Enjoy

Nate Merrill

Lower Jalacingo from Nate Merrill on Vimeo.

2nd Edit from our January 2014 trip to Veracruz, Mexico. We ended up paddling the Lower Jalacingo on our last day in Tlapacoyan. Most everyone had cleared out from Tlap after the race and we were looking to paddle one last section before heading back state side. Everyone said that it would be a supremely bad idea to attempt the Upper Jala without a guide, so we opted to try the Lower section and figure things out for ourselves. After botching the hike-in and portaging around the 'Twisted Pleasure' 'Twisted Pleasure' series, we were treated to countless ledges and amazing scenery. Boof's for days. The lower Jala served as the perfecting ending to our Mexico vacation.

Beaver Creek Falls, OR

 Beta

Stream:  This is usually run as a park and huck, but there is another rapid or two upstream and while wood is present in the creek downstream from the falls you could continue on if you liked.  There is even a bridge half a mile downstream of the parking area.

There is a trail to the base of the falls from the parking area for safety and media.  Boaters carry their gear up the road and find a way down to river level above the falls.  Scouting is easily done from the lip on river right before putting on.

At low flows a shallow lip complicates the take off, so the more water the better.  It has been run middle, but close to the right bank is most common.

It's worth having someone in the pool below as swims can easily result in lost gear as it takes off downstream.

If you want to do laps it is reasonable to walk back up on river left.



Feb 16, 2014

Beaver Creek Falls from Rogue Specimens on Vimeo.



Flows:  The photos on this page were taken with Germany Creek fluctuating between 350-400, the Nehalem @ Vernonia at 2000cfs, the Naselle was at 2500cfs, and the Coweeman at 1200-1300.  Those three drainages make a triangle with Beaver Creek in the middle, so looking at them should give you a sense of what Beaver Creek Falls is doing.  The media on this page came from a day with minimal flow, where the shallow lip was affecting people's lines.  The higher the flow, the better for this one.  It takes a lot of rain to get it going.

Access:  Take exit 36 off of I5 just south of Kelso.Take 432 west for about 4.5 miles and turn left at a light onto 433/Oregon Way.  Cross over the Columbia and turn right onto Hwy 30.  5 miles later turn right onto Beaver Falls Rd where you will begin to parallel the stream.  And in another 3.7 miles the parking area for the falls will be on your left.  From here follow the trail to the base of the falls to scout, then walk up the road to run the falls.  There are other put ins and take outs if you want a longer run but most people just do the falls.  46.1045, -123.1243

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Story
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 ~as told by Andrew Bradley

The first time I scouted Beaver Creek Falls was two years ago when a bunch of friends and I were in search of a respectable sized waterfall to step up to.  Beaver is a short 45 minute drive from Portland, it lies just off Highway 30 outside of Longview, WA.  After the massive amount of snow and rain the northwest received just the week before, we decided to rally a crew and head to the infamous 45ft. tall Beaver Creek Falls!  Upon arrival, the falls seemed to look like a runnable level and the group started to get excited. Further investigation of the lip however would suggest that complications could arise.  It was determined that yes, paddling over the falls would be fine and it is definitely "running". However...the speed you would gain approaching the drop mixed with the shallowness of the lip could make for some interesting lines; and sure enough...interesting lines were had! Here are two gauges you can use as an idea Nehalem @ Vernonia was at 2000cfs and the Naselle was at 2500cfs.

Ben Mckenzie, Jacob Cruser and Andrew Bradley scouting the lip of Beaver!

 Photo Credit: Patrick Heindel

The lip at a closer glance.

Photo Credit: Taylor Hazen

Tony Skriv taking the 45ft plunge as Jacob Cruser waits in the pool below.

Photo credit: Patrick Heindel

Andrew Bradley hucking and tucking after getting hung up on the lip.

Photo Credit: Chris Bensch



   The video Taylor made of the day.



Beaver Creek Falls from Rogue Specimens on Vimeo.

     ~Andrew



Wiley Creek

BETA

Stream: 

Wiley Creek is a class III-IV run near Sweet Home with some wood, lots of read and run, and a couple of low end class Vs.  

Above Richochet the creek is nondescript, but can be entertaining if there is not much wood.  If you are driving just continue up until the creek no longer looks like something you want to paddle and put in there.  If you are hiking, put in below Richochet (44.323889, -122.537968).

Whether you are hiking or driving will depend on whether the gate is open.

Portaging Ricochet in 2020.

The creek is fun below Richochet, the next notable spot has a creek coming in from the left over a cascade, and a nice ledge in Wiley Creek.  This ledge can offer a good boof, and can be lapped.  It's worth a scout, as the hole can be sticky.

Not too far downstream is Taint Natural, we were glad we scouted from the road on the way in circa 2020 because there was tricky wood in the lead in, and eddies are less prevalent here than other parts of the creek.  We had a quick portage on the left in the lead in, from which point we could scout Taint Natural itself.

Taint Natural has a couple ledges, the first has a notable hole.  At 450 it was no problem punching over/through.

Downstream the fun continues for a bit, then some wood was present in 2020 as things transitioned to boulder bars.  This boulder bar section lasts for awhile, and islands present decisions to make.  Pick the right route and you may not have to get out of your boat the whole time, pick the wrong route and you are likely to find a strainer.

Below the boulder bars things consolidate for the final mile, my favorite part of the creek.  The first rapid is Cascade Falls, a powerful, unique and fun rapid with minimal consequences.

If you have enough daylight, it's worth doing a couple laps here.

Cascade is below the gate, so this last mile can be run more often than the full run.

*Sean brought this tail stand down cleanly.

Downstream, fun ledges dot the creek all the way until the last 1/4 mile where easy floating leads to the take out bridge at the rock quarry.

If you have seen everything else and want to see check out something new, head to Wiley creek, it'll leave you with a smile.

 
Wiley Creek with the CCC from Jacob Cruser on Vimeo.



  
Flows:  500-1,000 is going to be the most friendly and clean, people run it from 300-1,500 according to the guidebooks.

Access:  Just East of Sweet Home, Highway 20 crosses over Wiley Creek.  The first road on the East side of the creek is Wiley Creek Rd, follow this upstream 4 miles and turn right at the confluence with Little Wiley Creek.  In less than 1 mile you will reach the rock quarry at the take out (44.36354421526515, -122.61037721129792)

To put in continue upstream on the same road.  In about 1.3 miles there is a pull out at Cascade (44.34968938492463, -122.5928280449569).

If you are hiking past the gate to the put in, or flows are high, you'll probably want to put in here (44.326233531316895, -122.54251620796829), just below Ricochet.

If you are driving, continue upstream until the creek doesn't look fun anymore and put in there.

  

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Story/Notes
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Whenever I hear someone say Wiley Creek an image pops into my head of Nate with his fist raised, crying out "Wiiileeeey!!!" similar to the way Simpsons character Mcbain cries out "Mendoza!!!"



I talked to Nate after doing this TR and he informed me the original comes from star trek.  Clip shown below.

)

That image came about after we had been thwarted yet again by this reputed mediocre creek in the Mid-Willamette Valley on a day other good stuff was in.  Nate had been jonesing for Canyon Creek but Anna had cast a charm by posting on the Facebook and convincing us that Wiley would put a smile on our faces. 

We ended up giving up that day when confronted with low water and a gate.  It was one of those days everything went wrong and after hiking off a different run, cracking a boat, and various other mayhem we all had a sour feeling towards Wiley (except Anna).  This culminated in Nate raising his fist to the sky and and proclaiming to the world he would never have another day of kayaking impeded by Wiley Creek.

    -jacob