Oregon Class 3+ Creeking

[milkman]

Recent low-water run of Butte Creek with three canoes, three kayaks and an IK: http://youtu.be/tzHknBgkJCo

[GSG]

Thanks for the vid, always enjoy them.

Is there decent paddling in the summer in your parts? Thinking of heading down for a week or so once our rivers dry up.

[milkman]

Summer rivers include: Clackamas (from Roaring River rapid to Bob's), White Salmon (2 runs), North Santiam (1 run), McKenzie (3 runs) and North Umpqua (3 runs). We pretty much just run the Clack and White Salmon and head down to the N. Santiam a few times. We do a weekend on the McKenzie in August--great place to camp. North Umpqua is a bit of a drive so we have to be really motivated to head down there--you could spend a week though rotating through its runs and not get bored.

[ezwater]

Did the Clack at about 450 cfs. Wasn't bad, but was rather different from the guidebook descriptions!

Tagged along on a Husum Falls run of the White Salmon, long ago before anyone dreamed of taking the dam out and lengthening the run.

Did an easy portion of the North Santiam, very nice.

Sister lives in metro Portland, so we get out there every 3 or 4 years, but always in summer when the water is low.

[milkman]

Must have been a really bad water year in terms of snow pack for the Clackamas to be running 450cfs in the summer. It's generally at least 600 cfs, which is a decent flow for the classic run from Roaring River to Bob's Hole. I've seen the White Salmon get as low as 1.1 feet and still be runnable, though most years it never goes lower than 1.4 or so.