There are a couple Eagle Creeks in Oregon. There is the Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge that has been featured in a number of kayaking videos with big, runnable waterfalls and dramatic gorges. This Eagle Creek flows into the Clackamas River about 6 miles west of the little town of Estacada and contains lots of Class 2-3 rapids and a few easy waterfalls. Eagle Creek flows south out of the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness and was ground zero for one of the most contentious anti-logging protests in Oregon back in the late 90s and early 2000s.

The upper section of Eagle Creek has been on my radar for a long time. I’ve done the middle and lower sections many times over the years but for some reason, never ventured up to the upper section. The description in the guidebook doesn’t exactly make it sound like an outstanding run and there is the hike to the put-in….maybe I’m just getting old and less adventurous.

View from the put-in

Finally the day arrived and what a day! Sunny and close to 70 deg. Really the first real spring day we’ve had this year. When I tried to get to the put-in earlier this year there was too much snow on the road but today, there wasn’t any snow in sight. We stopped a bit early on the drive to the put-in and decided to hike because I wasn’t all that excited about getting my car beat up and stuck. After a hiking probably 2 miles or so we could see the river and started to look for a way down. We were in some really nice old-growth forest so getting down to the river was pretty easy. Once there we found a low but o.k. flow and got geared up to do some rock bashing until the creek picked up more water.

Paul bashing some rocks early in the run

After quite a bit of rock dodging, rock bashing and one portage around a log, the creek finally started to consolidate and some nice, small rapids appeared.

Paul at the beginning of the good stuff

Most of this section was boat-scoutable but we stopped every now and again to check for wood and take some pictures. The scenery was excellent and the rapids were very classy and fun Class 3.

Paul in the middle of the good stuff

More nice stuff around the corner

With the change in the geology and the fact that it seemed like we’d been paddling for quite a while, we knew we must be getting close to the waterfall at the end of the run. As we rounded a corner it was obvious that we’d arrive. The falls really wasn’t anything like what we both expected from the guidebook description. I was expecting a friendly falls similar to the ones on the lower sections. Maybe it cleans up with higher water but it was a bit ugly at the flows we had. Very runnable but a bit ugly. It’s too bad because the man-made features of the falls really made it much harder to run safely.

Fish Hatchery Falls

We both chose to portage along the structure on the right and after hanging out for a bit, ran the small weir in the run-out of the falls and headed downstream. We decided to run all the way through the hatchery and hope that the electrified fish barrier wasn’t in play before the take-out. I probed and wasn’t electrocuted so Paul came through and we took out at the put-in for the middle section.

I hopped on the moped for the shuttle and Paul took a nice nap in the sun. I was pretty satisfied with the run after waiting so long to do it. I think it makes a great mini-exploratory run for those interested in a mild adventure off the beaten track. With higher water levels the upper section would be fun, the rapids above the falls would be great, and the falls might be more runnable. Definitely worth checking out, particularly on a sunny, warm spring day.

Written by peteg - Visit Website

The author drops the dam

I last boated the Riverhouse Section of the Deschutes probably almost 8 years ago; long enough that I can’t remember exactly! The only other time I was in Bend, we ended up doing several other sections and skipped the Riverhouse section of the Deschutes. Other than that, I hadn’t been back in Bend for boating for one reason or another. This year, I headed over to Mt. Bachelor with my girlfriend to do some skiing for a couple days and took the chance to do a quick run down Riverhouse on Sat., March 14th.

The last time I was there, I don’t remember anyone even talking about the possibility of running the dam just upstream of the usual put-in for Riverhouse. But, times change, and I’d heard from friends that the dam was a great way to start the run. From the scout the dam looks straight-forward enough until I got in my boat and started to line up on the drop. From the lip, the drop is big enough to get the adrenaline flowing! I spent a couple minutes right at the edge trying to line up in order to miss the tree in the run-out and to calm my nerves a bit and then I dropped over for a fast ride down the face of the dam and through the hole at the bottom. It was a really smooth ride as my kayak maintained contact with the dam all the way and I punched through the hole and past the log with no problems. My friends were right, great way to start the day!

The author blasts through the bottom hole below the dam

Below the dam the river slides through a small rapid as it goes under the road bridge and then flattens in a long pool. As I was to find out throughout the run, the houses are so close to the river in this section that I felt like I was trespassing. Because the flow is regulated on the whole length of the Deschutes, folks can build right to the edge of the water and sometimes beyond without fearing from floods. Kinda depressing from a boaters viewpoint.

Anyway, for the first couple miles the run alternates between punchy rapids with some waves and holes and flatwater. Everything is scoutable from a boat and the rapids are a nice warm-up for the bigger stuff downstream. Shortly downstream there is a small ledge drop known as The Wright Stuff that has a couple chunky lines. I picked my way down the left side a bit, caught a small eddy just before getting pushed over the lip, lined up for a boof in the center and came through with no problems. I think there is a right-side line as well but both lines have the chance of a piton so choose well.

A little further downstream is a fun rapid called Flumes of Doom. Here the river splits around an island with the most interesting rapid in the left channel. I had planned to boat-scout this rapid as well, but the line isn’t super obvious at the top, and, to be honest, I really didn’t remember anything about what the rapid looked like from my previous trip. I caught a small eddy on the right and wedged my boat between two rocks which allowed me to stand up in my boat and get a look at the entrance of the rapid which consisted of a zig-zag move between two rocks and then what looked like a good boof on the right. I got back in my boat, immediately blew the first zig-zag move, caught an eddy to re-group, ferried back out to the right and hit the boof. Good stuff! Just downstream the river rushes through some fast waves and a couple holes as the right channel re-joins the left channel.

After a few small rapids and some calm floating, the river bends back to the right and begins to accelerate down into T-Rex Rapid. T-Rex is long with a nice zig-zag move at the top to avoid a couple rocks and holes and then a steep drop into the pool below. The drop at the end is tough to scout from the river and the left side drops onto some rocks. I was able to catch a small eddy on the left, scout my line a bit from my boat, and then ferry back to the middle for a good boof over the ledge. The far right-side also looked to be clean.

Looking downstream into T-Rex

Shortly below T-Rex is the last big rapid of the run; Ogre. Ogre doesn’t have a lot of places to stop above it to scout but I was pretty confident that it was really a big flush down the right side. Sure enough, the right side drops into a big wave pushing back to the middle and down through a big hole at the bottom. Really fun! Below this are a couple smaller drops and some rock-dodging before the river really starts to mellow out.

Looking back up at Ogre Rapid

Looking downstream from the bottom of Ogre

After Ogre I was trying to hustle because I was a bit late for meeting Lisa with the shuttle but this stretch has some of the prettiest scenery on the run and there are, finally, few houses in view. There is at least one surprise rapid in this section and a couple nice play waves to keep things interesting.

All in all I had a great morning on the river. I took about 1.5 hours to do the run and could’ve stretched it a bit longer if I’d wanted with some play and mellow floating. Hopefully it won’t be another 8 years before I come back to Bend for some more boating. Thanks to Lisa for running shuttle and taking some great shots of me running the dam.

Written by peteg - Visit Website