Salmon River Gorge, Oregon

Since 2000 The Salmon River Gorge has proved to be a challenging endeavor for extreme kayakers looking to push their comfort level.

I’ve been kayaking in Oregon for the past six years. I still feel pretty new to the sport, about the time I started kayaking Tim gross was scouting out Frustration falls in the heart of the gorge. After feeling comfortable on the Little White and running a creek on the east coast that dropped @ 700ft in it’s steepest mile, the gradient of the Salmon drew me in. The rumor of a gorge packed with large, technical waterfalls made me do my research. Each year a handful of boaters made the bold decision to attempt a safe passage down this new run.

As far as I know
Tim Gross and company made the first D in 2000, putting in above Frustration Falls.

In 2001 Chuck Taylor, Tony Crawford, and crew went in. Footage in PDXKayaker 01’ On May 11, 2002, Dave Norrell, Ben Stookesberry, and Eric Seymour put their mark on the canyon with an epic HIGH WATER run with Ben running Final Falls. If you haven’t seen the footage check out NO BIG NAMES 2.

Chuck Taylor returned the next year with a group from the east coast. Video of this can be seen in LVM #8 with two more descents of Final Falls.

In early July of 2004 Chuck came back with Bryan Youngs, Matt Guadette, Luke Spencer, and Dave Grove. Footage in PDX 04’

Somewhere in the middle of all this Isaac Priestly made seven trips through this gorge. Check out a few of his descents in BREATHE. And I’m sure there has been a few more groups’ in there as well.

A week after Bryan Youngs went in 2004; I talked him into going back with Barney Bonito and myself. Water level was low, but it was everything I had expected. We had a very smooth run through the gorge, once we found the put in then made the jump off Final falls and made it out before dark.

Oregonkayaking.net posted after their run “The Salmon River Canyon may just be the Mount Everest of Oregon Kayaking. Huge, marginally portegeable waterfalls combined with crumbly, near vertical canyon walls, and questionable rescue possibilities make this a Very Serious Venture Indeed.” After kayaking this canyon twice myself, that’s a great description. In the crux of the canyon you’re locked in. A rescue situation here would be a nightmare. Since your surrounded by waterfalls in the bottom of a massive crack that’s cut up into the south side of Mt. Hood, still over three miles from the take out, and a seventy five foot waterfall still downstream with no easy portage option.

In 2005, I tried to time it just right. I wanted a little more water than last year. After keeping an eye on the take out and watching the few rain showers blow over I nailed it, or so I thought at the time. It still looked low at the take out, but a little more than last year. The gage rock I spotted had water splashing over the top of it, as the river would surge. Todd Anderson, Ben Rieff and myself decided to go. Barney ran our shuttle for us, HUGE thanks to him because that shuttle SUCKS! We started hiking on what I thought would be a good trailhead. It wasn’t the same one as last year, but it was the same trail and the gorge was downstream of here, how far off could we be? Don’t EVER think that here. Like I said before --This canyon is Massive--. We hiked forever. Up this high in the canyon we were right next to the river, but every time we thought about putting on we saw another log jam. Also getting stuck above Stein falls with no climbing gear was a big fear. After about 3:30 nothing looked familiar from the hike in last year. We soon decided to find the put in, stash the gear and come back the next day. We made it out of the 15.5mile hike at dark. I learned my lesson on that one. The next day turned into four days later.

It’s very hard to find info on this canyon, and even harder to go find the waterfalls that are in there. I realized after my first run how this six-mile stretch of river could test any creek boater’s skills on these technical waterfalls. For the next year I practiced on Spirit Falls to stay in shape for the next Salmon River trip. Then after hiking this canyon from top to bottom on the trail I realized how big and humbling this place is. I think Jason Rackley said it best “ You know that terse, quiet way paddlers are on class 5 rivers when you know that you have a long way to go with MANY challenges yet to be overcome.” On June 4, 2005 as I drank my coffee, heading up hwy 35, crossing Mt. Hood that feeling hit me Hard! It was 7:00am and I was on my way to do the Salmon River Gorge with six people who had never been there before. Four days before I hiked so far with so much gear, just trying to find the put-in, it hurt to walk the next day and I knew what it was going to take to make it threw there. Every way I tried to look at it we were in for a full day of class 5 plus #&$%#.

Here’s what you’re looking at in that situation:
Hike up from the take out (6 miles up the trail) or run a 2-hour (one-way) shuttle then hike in two miles.
Location: Huckleberry Wilderness, Mt Hood, OR
Run: Six Miles Very Remote
Class: V – V+ (VI)
Waterfalls/ Rapids in order from Split Falls: 20ftr, sieve (portage), 15, 20, 8, 18, 15, 40, 25, 75(boxed in), sieve, @ 3 more miles of scary class 3 to the bridge.

Ben got sick and couldn’t make it back with us so Greg Hoskins decided to paddle his gear out. Three paddlers from Bend met us at the take out Eli Pyke, Josh White, and John Givot. Mike Long came up from Portland and Todd was back for more. We also had a ground crew that wanted to hike into Frustration. Barney Bonito and Lana Young. We all talked it over and Barney ran us to the top again. The level dropped three inches on the gage rock and our crew was fired up to get on the river. We started hiking at Linney creek, two miles in, and after hearing Stein Falls rocking the canyon walls below us; we dropped down to river level.

Split falls appeared to have a good flow. The right channel starts with a tight lead in, drops about four feet, turns 90 degrees to the left and straight off a twenty footer. We all had fun on that one then paddled down to the next bend in the river, where we had to portage a narrow log chocked rapid. I dropped into the river and hung out for what seemed to be a long time with out seeing any one else drop in. after about 10min. Todd came down and explained that Josh broke his boat and was hiking straight back up to the trail. Everyone dropped in and we continued down stream.

Soon we came to a horizon line. I jumped out thinking this was Little Niagara. It turned out to be the lead in rapid, which is split into three slots and drop about five feet. The falls looked about the same as the last time I was here and the shelf at the base of it looked just as bad. It’s a straight ledge style waterfall, but most of the current goes left creating a deep pocket in the bedrock. From left of center to the right bank the waterfall pours onto a shelf that looks really under cut. We all ran this one and immediately got out for Vanishing falls.

This waterfall is split into two channels. The river left side pours off a little further upstream and both land in a narrow gorge. The right side is about a boat with wide and drops about twenty feet total. It’s a tricky drop to run because the right side is cut out and directs your boat threw it and close to the left wall while trying to flip you as you come out of the spout. When we checked it out there was a piece of wood (good sized log) propped up against the right wall at the base of the falls. It left enough room to land off the drop and paddle threw, but it was hard to tell what angle it was at. If you pencil in would you hit it? Mike was the only one willing to run it, he came flying off the drop, corkscrewed out of the spout, landed upside down flushing past the log, and snapping his paddle into. After pulling out the break down and scouting the next eight-foot boxed in drop with a nasty hole at the bottom, I ran back to my boat to keep moving down stream. We were still in for a long day.

We all made it past the eight footer and proceeded down to Frustration. I headed over to river right, into the cave and jumped out to swim threw it. On the other side, Frustration was intimidating. The water level looked good, a little pushy, but manageable. I turned on the radio Barney had given me before the hike in so I could meet him here, or at least 700feet below him. As soon as I turned the radio on I heard his voice.

Barney: “Ryan, are you there?”
Ryan: “Yea, we just got out of our boats and we’re going down to scout.
Barney: “I’m going to get set up, let me know when you’re going back to your boat.
Ryan: “O.K., Hey, wave your arms so I can see where you are”
Ryan: “Damn, I didn’t realize how small you really feel in here till now.”

After looking around for a minute, I realized how far away from the outside world we really where! Eli went over to the “bench” (a huge bedrock slab at the bottom of the wall facing Frustration) to set up his camera. Every one else walked up and asked what was up with the bottom drop? At this point you’re locked in, looking at a three-tier drop that brades into several channels as it loses about eighty feet in gradient. You land off the bottom drop and do everything you can to stay away from the wall all of the water pushes into, 60 feet from the base of the drop. You have a couple options to put in at Frustration. Run all three drops, portage the top one and run the next two, or portage all of it by doing a throw and go off the far side of the “bench” with the eighty footer just down stream.

We decided to go in pairs.

Ryan: Barney, you there?”
Barney: “Go ahead”
Ryan: “Todd and I are going to our boats then Greg and Mike will go then Eli and John.”
Barney: “O.K. pass the radio off to some one and have fun. Are you going to the top?”
Ryan: “Yes”
Barney: “O.K.”

I looked back up at where Barney and Lana were and immediately got chills down my spine. If you’ve ever been there you know what I mean. Todd and I went back up to crawl back threw the cave and get ready to run all three drops and make it safely to the eddy in the middle of the river below the forty footer. Todd and I paddled a lot together over the winter and I was stoked to be running this series of drops with him. We had our safety talk and I paddled out into the current.

This drop starts with a tight channel against the left wall. It’s tricky because of the landing, there’s a log on the right where you want to land so you can stay away from the log sieve on the left. I lined up the top drop, came into it slow, pulled one left stroke, landed between the two hazards and into the eddy down stream. Todd came off with about the same line. I peeled out of the eddy and immediately dropped into what we like to call “The Shit” (example: being in the cave at Big Brother over 3.5ft or getting pushed toward Chaos unexpectedly). I landed at the base of the second drop and surprisingly felt my bow shoot right and directly into side surf. I looked downstream and all I saw was a sharp horizon line almost all the way around me and mist blowing everywhere. It sent me from river right to the left and propped me up on a shallow rock. I pushed off and back into the current, moving fast into the center of the fall, which maybe runnable, not 100% sure, but it’s not where I planned on going. I fought hard to get right and into the one boat eddy above the forty footer. I took a deep breath and rolled off the big one. The flake kicked me side ways and I landed on my right side then made it into the eddy after a brief scare. A couple minutes later Todd came off with a sweet line. He said he had a little trouble with the second drop also.

After a long wait Greg dropped into the pool where we were, then Mike came down and got put into the wall for a second. He handled it and came out fine. After and even longer wait Eli and John came down. At the bottom, John said, “Let’s Paddle threw the veil.” At this level the veil coming off of river left was almost blocking the exit out of Frustration. John charged into it and immediately got beat down and rejected back into the room. I paddled hard toward the right wall, rode up on the boil and slid over the other side. A little higher and you would be forced to paddle threw the veil to get out. After sitting below Frustration for over 45 minutes when I came out of the “room” I was so cold that I couldn’t stop shivering. I jumped out to look at the twenty-five footer and got right back in my boat. I ran it, had a hard landing and got out to try and warm myself up before dealing with Final Falls.

Standing at the top of Final Falls at river level is an unbelievable site. This is why I put myself in scary situations, because of moments like this. Very few people get to sit on the edge of Final falls and take it all in. It will stun you for a few minutes, until your focus comes back and you realize that your still kayaking and you have to make it downstream of this monster. Hiking around it and back to river level is not and option. Everyone was excited about the throw and go off the top (70 foot cliff jump) except me. I did not want to jump into the water and I couldn’t focus on running it, after all it was a good level for it. I had my harness so I chose the driest option. I talked Greg into setting up a rappel for Todd and I. We made our way over to river right, sent our boats off the lip of Final and watched them disappear off the edge. Everyone else made the big jump. I ended up hiking all the way over to where Jason and Isaac had set up a rope before, SCARY hike. I looked back after getting over there and Greg was setting up a rope back on a different tree. I yelled over to ask what the plan was and they weren’t willing to walk across the steep slippery slope to where I was. That meant I had to go back across it. I’ve never been so gripped to hang on to a canyon wall in my life, one slip and it’s over.

Once I made it back to where they were, Greg had the rope set up and I clipped in first. We had a safety tether attached to a separate tree, but it wasn’t long enough to wait the rope then unclip. I had to unclip my safety line and trust in my equipment to hold as I moved around the tree and fell back to wait the rope. This was just as scary as the rappel I had to do to get into Metlako falls. I made it to the bottom and celebrated as Todd and Greg made there way down. At this point we were running out of daylight fast. We had one more quick portage below this and made a mad dash to the bridge. We spent the last half-mile bashing into rocks as they blended in with the rest of the dark surroundings. Barney, Lana, and Josh met us at the take out. Josh ended up hiking back up to the trail and out of the canyon. In all he hiked @ 10.5 miles and only got to run the first drop. As always unexpected things happen out there. We enjoyed the satisfaction of what we just accomplished and left the take out to make money for the next kayaking trip.

This run is a major undertaking. From timing the level, to finding people to go, to finding the trail head, to finding the put in after a two mile hike, to navigating this marginally runnable gorge. I was able to come back and write this report and hopefully complete this run again in the future. It’s defiantly one of the top three favorite runs I’ve ever been on.
Sorry you missed the trip Ben; Let’s go again in the future.
Having a core group of friends that you get to paddle with enough to where you know how there going to react in most situations, and they know the same about you, is a big reassurance when you in the middle of class five whitewater. I have enjoyed many challenging and unforgettable runs with Ben, Barney, Bryan and Todd.

I want to end saying that if your not already running class 5 plus whitewater, this is not the place to start. Start with something that is much easier to access. If you do decide to run it, make sure you can safely make it out of Frustration falls before dropping into the gorge, to much water makes this run pushy and hard to navigate. This Gorge will humble you many times over.

*Photos of this trip can be seen at www.lanayoung.com

Keep Creekin
Be Safe

~Ryan Scott~

* Before I was able to finish this report I had the opportunity to go back for another run. Todd A., Bryan Y., Nate Herbeck, Adam Craig, Travis, Brian Ustis, and myself camped at the take out. We got up at 6:30am on Oct. 23rd to low water and 40 degree temperatures. The water was about 3 inches lower than the first time I was there and sunset was at 6:35pm that day. Once again, it never fails here, I have gotten lost every time I’ve tried to drive to the trailhead. We ended up portaging Vanishing falls, still had a log at the base, then the second drop in Frustration looked too low to get through. Maybe a seal launch in then over the forty footer, which looked like fifty footer on this trip, but it looked like a really hard landing. We walked across the middle and left channel of the falls and portaged down to the twenty-five footer. We all ran this one then Nate and I rappelled, on river right, after everyone else jumped off Final falls. After a long and frustrating paddle out we made it to the cars just before dark. The Salmon River Gorge is still a favorite, but there is a small window on the water level and fall conditions make it even harder to complete.

* Photos of this trip at liquidkayak.com