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.