Sycan River: Coyote Bucket

Photo: Priscilla Macy






BETA
 7.5 miles

Stream: Most of the Sycan River is flat, the flattest part is the Sycan Marsh, where the stream collects water from snowmelt, spilling out into a kid and canoe friendly upper section that can be paddled.  As the Sycan approaches, then combines with the Sprague River, it again spreads out and braids.

The combined Sprague and Sycan.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

Between the upper section coming out of the Marsh, and the flat land where it meets the Sprague, the Sycan drops through Coyote Bucket.  In this section are two long stretches of continuous whitewater, the first "bucket" is class IV, and the second "bucket" is harder.

An example of the boulders that make up the river bed/bank and where they came from.

Photo: Priscilla Macy 

The rapids are made of columnar and vesicular basalt from the Winema Volcanic Field that has collapsed from the canyon rim, similar to the rock found along the Upper Klamath.  The two buckets are split by 20 minutes of easy floating.  The whitewater is like a mix of the Upper EF Hood, Upper Klamath, and NF Payette.

Barret Titus, stirring the mixing pot.

 Photo: Yann Crist-Evans

Access is both easy and challenging, there is no hiking required, but the roads can be tricky to navigate and there needs to be someone in the group comfortable navigating primitive roads using satellite imagery, as when the Sycan has water, some of the roads are not passable.  This can all be sorted out beforehand though, the red roads are elevated to keep them from becoming bogs in the Spring and are used to get to the put in.  The take out is either very easy at a paved bridge if you want to float 6 miles of flat water at the end of the day, or a bit of an adventure if you want to take out at the end of the whitewater.

A high density of mosquitoes at a take out in the vicinity of Chester Springs motivated us to load quickly.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

As a snowmelt run, this river runs when it's warm out.  This, combined with loads of great primitive camping options, make it a good place to spend a weekend.

From the put in, the Sycan rolls around a few lazy bends before slowly ramping it's way from flat water to class IV.  The first bucket has a long section of whitewater flowing through it and can mostly be read and ran, with a couple rapids that are worth a quick look if no one knows the lines, especially since there are sieves outside of the main lines. 

Brandon Lake dodging ordnance from Wile E. Coyote, the stand out rapid from the first bucket.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

 Eventually this fun section of whitewater ends and the river returns to lazy floating where you can kick your feet up for a bit, or there are some nice places to stop for lunch but be ready for mosquitoes on the banks in places.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

Near the end of the meandering the walls start to rise back up, and flat water gives way to easy whitewater at the beginning of the second bucket.  This ramps up to intermediate rapids and eventually there is a scouting eddy on the right above the horizon line at the second sustained section of challenging whitewater, which is a step up from the first bucket dropping 120 feet in the next half mile.  Most groups will want to do an extended scout on the right of both Roadrunner and BoB, the first two parts of this long section of whitewater.

Moving fast through Roadrunner.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

Roadrunner is run mostly center-right, down to an eddy on the right, just across from the largest boulder visible at river-level.  

Yann Crist-Evans nears the end of Roadrunner, with the eddy that needs to be caught in order to scout BoB circled, just across the river from the largest boulder at stream-level.

Photo: Priscilla Macy 

A thorough scout of BoB is in order from this small eddy, as the river bends right through more hydraulics.  It is not so much BoB itself that is of concern, but the eddy that needs to be caught on river-left above Pin-Laden, which is the next rapid and one that paddlers may elect to portage.  This river-left eddy above Pin-Laden has a bugger rock guarding it if you try to boof into the eddy, it worked better to catch the middle of the eddy, don't miss!

Pin-Laden looks to have a line in the middle, but everyone in the group walked it both days.

 Photo: Yann Crist-Evans

Downstream is a long stretch of quality whitewater that is right on the edge between what we were comfortable reading and running and wanting to shore scout.  We always found eddies on river-right when we wanted to scout but they come up fast, and pass by faster if you are not scouting ahead.

                                                                   

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

The last distinct rapid is Fantasia, a rapid that fits it's own definition pretty well, with a boof at the top reminiscent of a scaled down version of this iconic rapid on the Fantasy Falls (1:41) section of the NF Mokelumne in California.


                                                            Between moves in Fantasia.

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

Below Fantasia the river spreads out a bit as it approaches, then splits around an island.  This section can be read and run, but scouting would provide the cleanest lines.  We went either right or center until an island that split the river in two, we took the left channel.  The whitewater abruptly ends as the second bucket pours out into slack water a short way after this island and the action is over.  Some class I-II ends at another island and what can be a hard to see fence going across the river, we took a right channel and were able to duck under it.

Myself, Barret Titus, and Zach Levine at the finish line.

Photo: Priscilla Macy

 

Below the fence it's just a relaxing 10 minute float down to the take out if you parked at one of the upper take outs, or much further if you used the logistically easy take out at the Drew Rd bridge.

Soaking it in as we approach the take out near Chester Springs.

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

Flows:  The Sycan has a gauge, make sure to choose "instantaneous flow" in the drop down marked by the green arrow and box in the photo below. We were there April 26 and 27, and flows felt great both days.

SYCAN R BL SNAKE CR NR BEATTY, OR

 

 

Access:

The area around here is rugged, and many of the roads are primitive.  You will need to be comfortable navigating using satellite imagery on your phone.  Many of the marked roads cross through marshes that are not passable when the Sycan has enough water to kayak.  Fortunately the put in can be accessed via good gravel roads that are raised above the boggy areas.  There is good reception and 4G in the area.

A cell tower visible from the shuttle.

Because of the road situation, there are not step-by-step directions here, you will need to plan your own route.

The put in is here: 42.615212, -121.346747

This is where the whitewater ends (42.548507, -121.313715) there are a couple roads that can be used to reach take outs less than a mile downstream, near Chester Springs.  It's a good idea to park at a spot easily visible from the river so you don't accidentally float by.  Remember to shut behind you any fence-gates that you open, and know the mud is sloppier than it might look.  4wd and clearance recommended if you plan to use one of these take outs.  The road we used was visible in satellite imagery, but not marked on Google Maps.

If you want simple logistics, or are not prepared to drive primitive roads, you can take out here (42.485369, -121.278400) at the Drews Rd bridge, though that would require floating 6 miles of flat water.

The Drews bridge take out, where the gauge is located.  If you use this bridge as a take out, keep in mind the whitewater ends in those hills in the background.

Photo: Priscilla Macy

Note:  If you follow Google Maps from Bend to the put in, it will send you to a ford of the Sycan River, which is not possible when the Sycan is high enough to kayak.  The correct route is to first drive to Beatty, then up the Sycan.

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Joe Anonymous and the Coyote Bucket

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I had never heard about the Sycan River, or noted it on any maps.  It's in an area east of Klamath Falls that looks pretty flat on a topo-map.  After running the Williamson River a couple years ago, a local commented on this website about the Sycan River through the Coyote Bucket and thought we might be interested in checking it out.  Looking at it on a map, I thought it would be a neat trip but a long drive and lots of flat water kept it from being a top priority for me.  Over the last couple years I started clicking in pieces of the puzzle, like locating roads that would cut out hours of flat water, and tracking down a gauge.  Some last minute consultation between Priscilla and the Klamath Lake Land Trust to learn about an area that doesn't have much online info, and friends willing to roll the dice on something new sent the plan into Go-mode.  We knew trips like this always have the potential to be more work than they are worth, but after two trips through the canyon we couldn't wipe the grins off our faces.  What a place to be.  Thanks for the tip Joe anonymous, if I ever find out who you are there will be a beer or two coming your way.



     -jacob

Packers Gulch

 All photos: Priscilla Macy

I try to mix up my trips to the Quartzville drainage these day.  Because the upper section that is the usual draw is short, there are a number of combos that can be had.  The ambitious can head upstream, or even further upstream.  My favorite option is to do the section from Greg Creek down to the reservoir, but sometimes doing a park and plop or adding on a tributary is the ticket for the day. 

This day we did an Upper Qville lap, then with a large group split up.  Some car portaged their rafts around the middle section to avoid Double Dip and Pick up Sticks, others did another lap on the upper run.  Priscilla and I went and checked out Packers Gulch.

The hike in was about 1 mile on a gravel logging road, no shuttle needed.  The first pitch is steep, then it flattens out until reaching a bridge at the put in.  The description in the back of Soggy Sneakers just says "class IV" and that's about how I'd sum it up too.  The run was worth doing once, had a few neat sections, engaging boogie water, problem solving, and two easy log portages.  

We were there January 20, 2019 in the afternoon.

Put In:  44.600335, -122.395380

Take Out:  44.589596, -122.392972

        -jacob

Northwest Fork Washougal: Headwaters

Northwest Fork Washougal: Headwaters

BETA
2.5 miles

Stream: I had my eye on this section above the uppermost bridge for a year or two, and got the opportunity by chance when another mission fell through on December 30, 2018.  We ran Lacamas in the morning, then decided to head over to Hagen.  I wasn't about to put down lap 15 or whatever on Hagen when there was the opportunity to see something new, so decided i'd check out this new section while everybody else ran Hagen.  I was surprised when nearly the entire group wanted to join despite my assurances it was almost certainly going to suck.

Adam Edwards, Ben Mckenzie, Andrew Bradley and I dropped Priscilla off at the Hagen put in with a large group including a raft or two and kept going up to the landing from which we would schwack our way into the headwaters of the Northwest fork Washougal.  The hike was not easy, but also not hard.  Using the GPS function on my phone and pre-cached maps kept us on track.  The final descent to the stream was on an unstable rock field that took extra attention to protect ankles.  From here we were able to get a good view of the creek, and we liked what we saw providing the motivation to make good time down the boulder field.  A small fence of Devil's Club was the final obstacle.

The creek looked promising from the put in, about 2/3 the size of Hagen and dropping along at a good clip. There was bedrock and a decent sized ledge above where we were.  The first couple hundred yards were nrrow and clean, but with branches blocking the eddies.  We shore scouted a couple short ledge/slots, both of which we ran as far right as we could with a left stroke.  Downstream the creekbed changed to open and sliding.  The creekbed was mostly just one long, low angle slide for a few minutes interrupted occasionally by steeper drops or small pools and we were able to read and run this portion with some faith.

There was a log that prompted a scout as the creek seemed to enter a more wood area and I prepared mentally for the portaging to start.  Adam hopped out of his boat for a look and informed us it was all good though, so we ducked the log and the low angle sliding with occasional small ledge drops continued.  We continued reading and running, branches were often present bu tthe never ending class IV bedrock whitewater made it worth dealing with.  After 1.5 miles we reached the confluence with Skamania Mines Creek.

It would be possible for a motivated boater to stop before the confluence, make the easy hike over the small ridge and pick off Mike's Slide, the largest cascade on Skamania Mines.  Downstream the continuous read and run III-IV continues to the bridge.  The ledge you can see just upstream from the uppermost/1200 Rd bridge has a hole that is definitely bigger than it looks from the road.  it is easiest to clear center-right.

We pulled into the eddy below the bridge and sat there for a second, we were all pretty surprised to have paddled a quality section of class IV whitewater when the expectation had been for a suffer-fest. Ben said "I can't believe that just happened".

We even hike up to the Hagen put in to grab vehicles after finishing the run, drove shuttle, loaded gear and rove down to the Hagen take out before the group Priscilla was paddling with finished their Hagen lap.  Not what we expected setting out for an afternoon exploratory trip.    

 

  
Flows:  We had 15" on the NWF Washougal gauge when we ran the creek, this was a good first time level.  I wouldn't have minded more water (remember the branches though), but would have minded if it had been notably lower.

Here are some nearby online gauges from that day.

 


Access:  Take out:  45.6909, -122.239

Take Hwy 14 to the town of Washougal, turn onto Washougal River Road and travel 10.2 miles to the Washougal River Mercantile.  From the Mercantile, head upstream less than half a mile before turning left onto the steep Skye Road.  Continue 3.9 miles on Skye Rd before turning right onto Skamania Mines/412th Rd (keep and eye out, people miss this turn occasionally).  The road quickly turns to gravel, as it winds it's way down to the middle bridge in about 1 mile.  This bridge is where the NWF Washougal Gauge is, on the downstream left side of the bridge. 
From the middle/Skamania Mines bridge head upstream on river left for 1.5 miles, and take the road going left.  This road crosses the NWF Washougal in less than 1 mile and is the take out if only running this section. 


Put In: 45.721, -122.2241

**If you are doing this section, you really should have maps cached on your phone for the hike, use the coordinates above**

From the uppermost/1200 bridge, continue (passing by the Hagen put in) for 1.6 miles and turn right.  There is a gate here, it was open when we ran this section on Dec 30, 2018.  If it's closed and you don't see an alternate route (4WD/clearance), just go back and do Hagen, it wouldn't be worth the hike from here.  If you get past the gate, take the left fork. 0.7 miles later take the right fork until it ends at a clear cut (45.7167, -122.2355).  Cross the clear cut and start bushwhacking.  Stay generally at the same elevation until you cross a micro creek (it took us about half an hour to get to this point).  Climb up the short ridge on the other side of this creek, then follow this ridge downhill, erring to the left until you reach a boulder field.  Scamper down to the upstream edge of this boulder field to put in where we did, watch your footing. 

Goose Creek

Goose Creek can be a long run (12 miles), but I believe most people only run the last 3 miles or so.  We used the upper put in and while I can't really give this stream a fair shake, as the high flows from the day before had dropped out overnight and then again as we hiked in during the morning, I do think the thing to do if you can manage it is the full run. 

Hiking in to the upper put in.

                                                            Photo: Priscilla Macy

 Putting on at noon we had 1/5th the water that there had been the day before at noon.  The Smith is known for spiking fast, and dropping out fast.  None the less we were surprised when we got to the put in bridge after 2.5 hours of hiking and saw there were fish flows in the creek.  

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

We weren't about to hike back out so started ass-jamming our way downstream.  Since it was our mistake putting in at this low of a flow, and not the streams, I tried to picture the rapids as they would be with water in them, and thought they would be fun.  Miles of class IV with two class V's and a number of ledges that were fun even with next to no water.

Photo: Priscilla Macy

   I returned on another trip with Joseph Hatcher and Aaron Koontz to paddle the lower section with more water and tried to imagine the whole run at that level.  I do believe it would be a rather fantastic run.  The lower was nice for a shorter day though.

Joseph Hatcher in Gander with some water.

The last rapid of the creek can sneak up on you, it comes after some easier water.  As I recall we went right around a small island and there was the horizon at the end.  We were able to scramble to an eddy above the lip, and Aaron Koontz went over so Joseph and I followed shortly after.  It was a bit wild, but we all came through upright.  Mind the log on the right, and whatever is going on in the middle of the river, the line was to enter right, then thread through center/right when we were there.

For an informed opinion of this stretch of stream (especially the upper) buy a copy of Dan Menton's New School Guide to Northern California Whitewater.

  



Flows:   On our low water trip there was 3k on the gauge when we checked at 7 in the morning, but it had dropped to 2k by the time we put on, and 1.5k by the time we took off on November 24, 2018.  This was not a good flow, below minimum enjoyable for sure.

When we returned to run the lower on Dec 27, 2020 I thought we had flows on the fun and friendly side of medium.

 

Access: 
Seven miles downstream of Gasquet, CA turn off the highway and drive over two bridges (MF and SF Smith).  Drive 12.7 miles, paralleling the SF Smith to Stevens bridge over the SF Smith, this is the take out.  41.6932, -123.9303

 *4.9 miles shy of the take out you will cross Rock Creek.  I imagine this creek could be used to gauge whether Goose will be in (not a perfect gauge).  From a couple trips up there, I think Goose will have a proportional amount of water in it, though Rock Creek is much smaller.  

From the take out, drive upstream along the SF Smith 1 more mile and turn right, quickly crossing a bridge over the SF Smith.  Follow the paved road called the "Go-Road" 8.9 miles, getting some beautiful views once the road has topped out if the weather is good.  After 8.9 miles turn right onto a small spur just passed a guard rail as the Go-Road turns back to the left.
41.5921, -123.8766

Depending on your vehicle and willingness to pinstripe your car you can knock off quite a bit of hiking by driving down this road.  Even without pin-striping, high clearance vehicles can drive about 1 mile.  If you are going to push as far as you can in a vehicle in the name of reducing hiking, bring both a chain and hand-saw.

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

From the Go-Road, you can hike 8 miles without leaving the road to a bridge at the put in (41.5824, -123.9101).  Those directions are in the New School Guide.  The hike can be reduced to just over 2 miles if you are willing to bushwhack.  Either way, I recommend bringing a paper map and/or having maps cached on your phone since there really isn't time to get lost on a trip of this length.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

Here is the route we took.  The last bushwhack was humorously challenging.  Bush-surfing and tunneling, most of us were laughing but I wouldn't chose that route again.  Joseph went first and barrelled his way through, creating somewhat of a path to follow for the rest of us.

2.5 miles

Click on photos to enlarge.

Here is the route I would take if I went back.  You could knock it down to 2 miles with a second bushwhack after the first half mile. 

3.2 miles

*Amazingly, we didn't run into any poison oak during our bushwhacking.

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Notes
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*As Dan Menton's book notes, Arn's Falls does indeed have a tricky lead in, at the low flow we seal launched in from the right side just at the lip of the second drop.  Watch the pockets, especially the right wall.  This area is probably the most nitty-gritty on the creek, both for the drop and the gorge that you are in.  Don't forget to look around.

Arn's Falls, sans flow.

*Double walls falls is gnarly, I don't see any circumstance where I would want to run it, though it does appear runnable.  It's an easy portage on the left.

*There was remarkably little in the way of wood issues, though it was present.  I believe we had one wood portage in 12 miles.

*We put on at noon, and took out at 5pm.  We were pushing hard to make downstream progress and had no incidents and functioned well as a team.  The hike took 2.5 hours or so.

*The Go-Road goes up to 3800' during the shuttle if you are using the upper put in, so snow is a going to be a show stopper most of the season.  There were rumors of a gate on the road, but it is past the portion of the road used for the Upper Goose shuttle so is a non-factor.

Paddlers: Priscilla, Zach Levine, Joseph Hatcher, Mareike Del, Cyrille Delley, Aaron Koontz (*lower)

Coal Creek

BETA

Stream: This is an obscure Oregon stream up in the headwaters of the Middle Fork Willamette near Diamond Peak that provides an adventure style challenge to the type of local boaters who enjoy that kind of boating.

The first mile is steep, dropping about 400 fpm.  There is a larger rapid in the middle of the run that marks a transition to less gradient (still 150-200 fpm) marked by a boulder garden leading into a vertical wall on the right and the most significant drop of the run.  There are no committing canyons or features out of the ordinary on this creek, and I recall being able to deal with everything at river level.

The lower portion of the creek is more open, and on our trip had a fair bit, but not overwhelming amount of wood.  The run is bridge to bridge.
  


Flows:  Not sure, but we were able to guess a good exploratory flow from intuition so it must run when the stuff nearby is running.






Access:  Take Hwy 58 SE out of Eugene past the town of Oakridge, then take NF-21 up the West side of Hills Creek Reservoir.  Eventually you cross a bridge over Hills Creek Reservoir, 10 miles later turn right over a bridge across the MF Willamette and stay right after the bridge onto NF-2133.  1.3 miles after the bridge a road to the right leads to the take out bridge ( 43.4943, -122.4231).

Put In:  Backtrack from the bridge and continue upstream on NF-2133.  In 4.4 miles Coal Creek goes under the road through a culvert at the put in (43.4401, -122.424).

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Trip Report
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Ben Mckenzie and I had been chatting about this one for awhile.  The gradient was good, and it was a sister drainage to Staley Creek.  At some point Ben got a chance to get out there and scout some of it at low water.  He said it looked neat, and had some bedrock and ledges.  Ben also said he only thought he saw a couple pieces of wood, but that he was also daydreaming for a lot of it so may have missed some.

That was enough for me, so we went and checked it out at some point.  The access was good, we parked at a bridge and drove up to another bridge over a culvert.  This culvert was a fun way to start the trip!

We knew the first mile was the steepest at 400 fpm, and expected to be portaging a fair bit in here (Ben had not scouted this part).  We were surprised when it was pretty much all runnable, even if there was some strange in there.  I walked a couple of the sections that Ben ran.

At the end of this steep section the stream matured and spread out a bit.  There was one long boulder garden that dropped down into the tallest boulder ledge yet with a vertical right wall below (we portaged left) that marked the transition from steep and tight boulder rapids to more open ones with the occasional steeper rapid.  This transition period had a few large boulder ledges, Ben still reminisces about one of those boofs to this day.  It was also down here that the wood started to play a larger role.   Ben started to recognize some of the stuff from his scout, but was surprised by the wood, validating his earlier hypothesis that he may have been daydreaming during the scout trip.

The gradient eased off some more and we made it to the take out bridge well before dark.  Ben scooter shuttled, and he only had to push it up a couple steep hills.  In hindsight the stream was a lot more runnable than I had expected, and a nice little adventure.



   -jacob