Lower Klamath River--Orleans to Klamath Glen--Six Rivers Source to Sea

One day after ticking off 40 miles on the Lower Trinity we chased the rain straight back up to Weitchpec and beyond!  The plan was to kayak straight through the heart of bigfoot country and tour the Yurok Indian Reservation via. kayak.  With flows of  17,000 cfs at Orleans Miguel, Paul and I put-on in hopes that the abundant water would carry us quickly through the flat sections of the lower river.  Paul surfing the Big-Bar wave.

Hoping to paddle 50 miles was a tall order but we felt up to it and put-on with a business-like fashion at Orleans.  Will honorably elected to drive shuttle in an effort to get some good camera shots from the road and the plan was to make the call at Weitchpec if we thought we were making good enough time.  Right away we were making good time, surfing the goods.

Photo: Paul Gamache

The Klamath is amazing in that it has so many large tributary streams coming in from both banks.  Seems like every other bend another large creek is coming in and the river flows swiftly. The Klamath is also a very mighty river with a an ominous feeling of history that tingles your spine at times.  After floating though Orleans, Camp Creek spills on on the right bank and the Klamath enters a beautiful canyon with an excellent wave right at the entrance.

Photo: Paul Gamache

After flowing through this beautiful section of River, Red Cap Creek enters on the left.   The canyon continues with beautiful metamorphic bedrock.

Then the road begins to drop closer to the river right at the big bar river access.  This spot has a surf wave that I have literally driven past a hundred times on my way to other runs but surfed only once.  Turns out it was a good flow and we sessioned for a while, close-up view from the eddy.

Photo: Paul Gamache

Then another couple of rapids bring you down to the confluence of Bluff Creek, coming in on the right.  The realignment of Bluff Creek during the flood of 1964 is is one of the most unique geological features I've seen.  Bluff Creek actually used to flow along the Highway 96 and empty into the Klamath 1/2 mile downstream of its current location, but in 1964 the amazing volume of water caused the entire hillside separating the Klamath and Bluff Creek canyon's to collapse, sliding into the Klamath River.  The result is a gnarly class V spectacle that has rearranged multiple times in the 11 years I have lived here.   We drove past this spot after a huge rainstorm and while standing on the bridge you could literally hear the rocks tumbling down the riverbed and caroming down the amazing whitewater spectacle!  It is a powerful place, Bluff Creek is also the location of the famous Bigfoot footage that cannot be disproven, here Paul walks up from the Mouth of Bluff Creek looking for signs of Sasquatch.

Downstream from here the river charges through an interesting rapid with a huge surfwave.  Problem is just downstream there are some huge whirlpools and a gnarly eddy line so it takes a little liquid courage to drop in on!

Photo: Paul Gamache

The big rock always visible from highway 96, and Orleans Mountain as the backdrop

We continued along in a flurry of wavetrains, making easy miles and enjoying our time on the water.  Stopping in Weitchpec we grubbed down on our lunch before bidding our friend Will adieu.  Then we continued along downstream with the addition of the Trinity River that was flowing a strong 10,000 cfs   at Hoopa that day.  A fun wavetrain just downstream had weird boils and swirls and I realized this may be the largest volume of water that I have ever kayaked on!  It was exciting and the rain continued to fall on us as we passed the mouth of Pine Creek.  Pine Creek has an excellent class IV(V) run, and first D potential higher up.

And then we passed the Martin's Ferry Bridge.  

The Martin's Ferry Bridge was structurally weakened following an earthquake and extremely high water event in 2006.  The highway department closed off the bridge and for a little while the residents downstream of Weitchpec who live off the Bald Hills and Tully Creek Road were cut off from the road back to Weitchpec, the community hub.  Well, it could only last so long before people were risking it and charging across the bridge in their vehicles.  Before long I was driving across the bridge, mistrustingly, on my way to the Bald Hills Road back to the coast near Orick.  It seemed like nobody minds that the bridges srtructural integrity was of no concern to the crazy locals of the Northcoast.  When we passed the bridge, however I was both surprised and delighted to see a road crew set up and working to reinforce the Martin's Ferry Bridge.  Just downstream, Tully Creek comes in, another creek that has been run, but unfortunately became plagued with landslides and portages in the last 5 years.

Downstream we were entering a section of river I was fascinated by but have never paddled.

 Not only is it squatchy, but the lower Klamath is also known for having the greatest diversity of coniferous trees (pine, fir, spruce, cedar, needled trees basically) in North America.  The reason for this is related to the last period of glaciation, where the majority of North America was covered in ice...the Klamath river, however, did not ice over during this period and as a result it was literally the "seedbank" from which most of the common North American conifers came.  Pretty cool huh?  Needless to say it is a powerful place and the river was huge at this point.  Fun rapids continued intermittently mostly with surging waves and randomly appearing boils.

Eventually, however, we reached what appeared to be a "real rapid".  I could see whitewater on the right and dictated that's where my line should be, although the giant wavetrain down the left looked equally enticing.  I quickly realized that this splashing surging feature was actually one of the best waves I've ever surfed!

Photo: Paul Gamache

The "Discovery" wave was a solid 6 feet tall with a surging foam crest and speedy green trough that also had a tasty shoulder on the surfers left side.  Best of all, there was an eddy 1/2 mile long so you could basically run the entire wavetrain rapid over and over again after surfing this awesome wave.  I can't wait to go back here, a few miles downstream of the Martin's Ferry bridge and spend some quality time with a playboat tearing this lonely wave apart!  Here is the view downstream at the runout.

 We passed into the coastal fog zone and began to see some Sequioa sempervirens , Coast Redwoods

Passing the Mouth of Roach Creek, another stream that has been paddled.

Riffles on the Lower Klamath

Paul enjoying the trip

Turns out the Mysto Wave was the last real rapid on the Klamath River.  Downstream are some "riffles" but nothing I would consider a rapid, at least at our high flows of 37,000 cfs at Klamath Glen.  This section of river is notorious for having lots of jetboat traffic as many people fish the river, however it seemed that nobody was interested in taking their jet boats out on this particular day and we saw nobody else on the river, which seems to be a theme of our mission.

Maybe it was the cold rainy weather and fog, with high water that was discolored and too murky for fishing that kept other people off the water?

Arriving at the confluence of Blue Creek was a special experience.  Blue Creek has never been paddled in its entirety but is a dream of mine and to see it flowing strong at the confluence was inspiring to say the least.  This also meant that we were nearing the highway and our take-out.  We had been paddling pretty solidly for several hours now as the river had flattened.

The scenery was beautiful, although only a few old growth redwood stands remain, fewer than I was expecting.  Several of them contained magnificent and grandiose trees however.

Before we knew it we were passing the stream gauge at  Klamath Glen and arrived to the boat ramp where Will was waiting for us.  It was an amazing day on the water and totally different from my expectations in that we found sick waves, had lots of current so we didn't have to paddle our asses off, and didn't see another soul.  Another quality day on the water in the land of the Six Rivers!

Lower Trinity - Hawkins Bar to Weitchpec - Six Rivers Source to Sea

Explore Six Rivers

After all the boating we've been doing on the Eel and Van Duzen Rivers it was really nice to dip our paddles back in the familiar waters of the Trinity River.  We were going about the business of tackling long stretches of river since we had been blessed with recent rainstorms and the high water meant for easy fast miles.  The Six Rivers Team decided since this one was close to home it made for a good option that would enable us to sleep in our own beds for the night as the rain was forecast to continue.  Flows were 2,700 at Cedar Flat and close to 10,000 at Hoopa so we figured a trip from Hawkins Bar down would be doable. Will, Paul, Victoria, Miguel and myself rallied for the day. As a stroke of fortune and fate, we ran into some paddling friends in Willow Creek who were hoping to surf the Klamath Wave.  It was too high for the wave and we invited them to paddle with us, which they hemmed and hawed about before deciding to do their own thing.  Oh well, as soon as we hit the water, we knew they were missing out.  We were making easy miles and good playwaves were all around.  Had to stop and check out this unique miner's ramshackle in the canyon near Salyer.

 We stopped and took a break at the confluence with the South Fork Trinity, which doubled the flow.

This is a significant spot in the Six Rivers Mission as the South Fork is the longest undammed river in California.  It also flows from coastal geology and has a much more turbid nature, it was flowing a milky grey and mixed into the trinity for miles downstream.  Limestone...maybe travertine?

 It was springtime and the flowers were right on cue.

We continued downstream, making good progress and passing through Willow Creek before noon.  The Trinity flows wide through the valley before necking down into the canyon downstream.

At the beginning of the canyon section is a set of rotary screw traps run conjunctively by the Yurok Tribe and Fish and Wildlife Service.  My old coworkers Hank and Bubba were working the trap that day and we stopped to chat for a few.  These traps make for a dangerous hazard to boaters and should be avoided with a wide berth by all floaters.

Downstream the Trinity courses into a beautiful canyon with lush waterfalls coming in along the banks.  Attempting to avoid living in a culture of fear, I stopped to take a drink, Rawdog style.

We quickly arrived at Devil's Elbow, a popular swimming spot during the summertime.

We encountered several more fun playspots through here.  Then we arrived to the Sugarbowl, the marquis rapid of the Lower Trinity River.  At 10,000 cfs it was a quarter mile long wavetrain, and the top wave made for an excellent surf.  It was also possible to work back up the eddy on river right for another go-round.

Paul Runs the Sugarbowl at 10,000 cfs

Miguel tearing it up.

After a couple of rides we took off down river. I was expecting we would find something downstream at Smack Rock, however we found it to be totally flushed out.  There was a nice surf wave with eddy service just above it though.  Minutes later we were floating past the rope  swing and Tish-Tang creek which was flowing strong.

We took a break at the entrance to Hoopa Valley.  Hoopa Valley, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Incredibly fertile soil, salmon fishing, timber, and wildlife abound and the climate is perfect with a low-elevation coastal influence.  Plus, the Trinity River flows right through it!  I've always had a vision that one day, the Hoopa Valley Tribe would produce some of the worlds finest kayakers.  I mean, imagine the potential for a high school kayak team in an area surrounded by some of the worlds best whitewater.  The Hoopa would dominate.  Hoopa High as seen from the Trinity River.

This is, however just  a dream and the reality of the situation is more complex.  Unfortunately this December river access throughout the entire Hoopa Valley became closed to non-tribal members.  This closure is unfortunate and I'm not sure how it will affect floaters attempting to do the popular Big Rock to Tish-Tang section during the summertime.  Here's my version of the story of why the river was closed, strictly composed from hearsay and rumor:

Sweat Lodges along the Trinity River in the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation

On a random day this winter, one of the tribal chairmen had arranged to do a field day, tagging along with a Hoopa Valley Tribal Fisheries crew that was conducting creel surveys.  Creel surveys basically involve interviewing anglers to monitor their catch and are used to track how the sports fishery is doing and its effects on the fish population.  Conducting a creel survey can be difficult as some people don't like to share their knowledge or just inherently dislike the government, fish and game, etc.  So the chairmen, who just happens to be along on this particular day, is standing right there when a fish guide happens to row by the fish crew.  Apparently, the fish crew was attempting to ask the particular fish guide about the catch and was met with a disrespectful attitude and lack of compliance to share the information about the guides catch.  Talk about blowing it huge.  So the Chairmen brings back this information about asshole fishing guides conducting business and using river access on the reservation to the next tribal meeting and as a result the entire valley becomes closed to non-tribal members.  Hoopa Valley is famous for both its Salmon and Steelhead fishing, and this is an unfortunate situation caused by disrespect and a feeling of entitlement.

Kayakers are also responsible for rubbing the tribe the wrong way...if you remember last year  a photo was printed on the cover of the Eureka Times-Standard newspaper of a German kayaker running an undisclosed waterfall on the reservation which happens to be a ceremonial site for the tribe.  This offended the tribe and potentially set the wheels in motion for discussion on the closure of river access throughout the reservation.  Again, this is incredibly unfortunate as there is so much good whitewater on the reservation including Mill Creek, Tish-Tang Creek, Pine Creek and Supply Creek, additionally the Weitchpec Gorge provides an amazing 2-day trip and is usually done by putting on the river in Hoopa.  Hopefully the Tribe will allow river access again someday as there are many treasures that are currently in jeopardy of future enjoyment.

So there we were kayaking through the Hoopa Valley, past Bald Eagles Osprey and Cormorants galore.  We passed a native man who was checking his eel pots, set up along the riverbank to capture Pacific Lamprey.  Eventually we passed through the valley and started into the Weitchpec Gorge section, which I had never paddled and was very excited for.

Right away there were several fun playspots and we were enjoying ourselves thoroughly.  The river carves deep into a metamorphic canyon of slate and the road is so high above it isn't even noticeable.

 Class II rapids continue through the gorge with the exception of one larger drop, Smokers Falls, that comes towards the end.  At our higher level, Smokers Falls was mostly flushed out, with a wavetrain leading towards a pour-over boof on the left side that turned out to be a little marginal.  It was one of those boofs where you hit the rock and can feel your momentum slow down from all the plastic being scraped off your boat.  After landing the boof, I was pulled into a whirlpool on the eddy line that fully mystery-moved my creekboat!  Big fun, looking back up at Smoker's Falls.

Downstream another awesome playspot remained with good eddy service and beautiful scenery.

Less than a mile downstream we found ourselves at the confluence with the Klamath river and ferried hard to get across the Klamath, which was flowing strong.

 Interestingly, however, the Klamath River water was green and looked more clear than the Trinity River which was turbid and milky.  We were now on the Yurok Reservation.  Here is a unique structure along the old village road in Weitchpec.

We walked back up the old village road to the Yurok Tribal office where we had parked for the day.

Running our shuttle was fun as we crammed all 5 of us and our gear into Miguel's subaru and loaded an impressive stack upon the racks.  We couldn't go over 45 but didn't mind a bit since we'd had another great day on the river and had easily made the 40 miles from Hawkins Bar to Weitchpec, ticking off another major portion of the Six Rivers Source to Sea Mission.      

Lower Mad River -- Maple Creek Down – Six Rivers Source to Sea Mission

One day after paddling the Upper Van Duzen, and checking off the first of our Six Rivers another round of heavy rain brought the water up big time.  I had a good nights rest listening to pouring drops and dreaming of river levels rising, and before I knew it we were loading up for another day on the water, not before we enjoyed our celebratory cupcakes lovingly made by our #1 Sponsor, Thanks Toni!

It was still dumping and the Mad River was close to the road in Blue Lake where we dropped a shuttle rig.  Driving up the Maple Creek Rd. we discussed this little known section I had avoided for fear of flat water.  In fact very few Humboldt paddlers make this run despite its proximity to town.  I assign the blame to the Dick Schwind Rating posted on the Dreamflows cross listing as Class I.  This lack of public knowledge culminated last March when an inexperienced and unprepared couple launched their tandem-touring kayak on this section and had to be airlifted out once they flipped and lost their boat in the first rapid.

Wes had paddled the run before and described it as a very long day with two rapids, one a solid class IV and the other a portage.  We weren’t sure what it was all going to look like at 10,000 cfs or if the portage would have a line but we were excited to arrive at the Maple Creek Bridge nonetheless.  A local drove by, then looked at the river and came back to ask “you boys paddling that?” “Yes sir” we replied emphatically.  With the standard “you’re crazy,” we cheerily continued about our business of getting on the water, which was high and wide.  We were counting on the abundant flows to make for a shorter day and sure enough we were moving at a good clip.  The first several miles were all flat, but with good gradient and bedrock constrictions in places.  A post-trip gauge check revealed our flow to be 13,000 cfs at Arcata.  

Suddenly we arrived to a fun playspot just upstream of a large cliff on river right, this marks the first rapid--Airlift.  This rapid was awesome, basically a ½-mile long wavetrain that started through a “gorge” then opened up into a big S-Turn.  Due to the bends and the sheer length of it we couldn’t really scout, but it was super fun big water and it all went anyways.  This rapid would be a long portage and at higher flows there aren’t portaging options so beginner boaters should stay away from this run at higher water above 5,000 at Arcata.  Here is Paul surfing the aforementioned playspot.

 And the crew smiling below the s-bends, stoked to run some quality big water!

Based off Wes’ description the 2^nd rapid was supposed to follow shortly thereafter, when it didn’t we started to wonder if we had also just routed through the portage.  After a good bit of flatwater Wes was starting to doubt his memory, “I think its still down here”.  After giving Wes a hard time we eventually arrived to this monstrous horizon line kicking spray in the air like a liquid donkey.  

We eddied out and Wes then Paul immediately began portaging.  It was an intimidating and scary horizon indeed!  The whole river appeared to drop into a bus-sized hole with no line around it, before continuing for several hundred yards through a chaotic milky maelstrom.  I felt a need to take a closer look at the monster before I made my decision though so I jumped across the landslide, dodged a couple poison-oak bushes and found the scouting vantage.   My nerves tightened when I realized there was a line, and I was gonna have to paddle it.  A seam split the far right side of the top hole

 and then there were three laterals that could be surfed to the left to avoid another bus-sized hole on the right 100 yards downstream.  

The farthest left edge of this hole was decorated with a too-enticing-for-me-not-to boof that was calling my name like a siren.  The river then carried on downstream in a chaotic runout fashion.

Photo: Wes Schrecongost

  After running through the line with Paul, he valiantly carried his boat back to the top, making the decision to run it.  

Photo: Wes Schrecongost

After getting ready and thumbs up from Will with the camera we set off in a blaze of paddle strokes.  We both came charging hard and seamed cleanly through first hole.

Headcam: Paul Gamache

 I then immediately lined up for a surf on the top diagonal, which was actually a surging seam that doubled up and exploded on my head, but sent me left nonetheless.

Headcam: Paul Gamache

Paul decided that didn't look so enticing and hit the small eddy on the right before ferrying his ass off to get right.  Here he looks down into the 3rd (last chance) diagonal with nasty wood in it.

Headcam: Paul Gamache

I had made the move at this point but was staring straight down the barrel at one tasty looking boof I knew I had to hit.  I stroked right off the top, launching myself onto the boil downstream, but not the downstream side of the boil.  I quickly turned facing back into the hole and scrambled for the corner before the water grabbed hold and took over.  A couple of cartwheels later and I was swirling viciously upside down second-guessing my decision to boof.  I reached down for some outflow with my paddle and went for another jostle or two before I felt a calm and quickly rolled, in the outflow headed downstream!  Here Paul looks in on my beatdown.

Headcam: Paul Gamache

The rapid continued for several hundred yards and pinched between house-sized boulders at the final crux.

Headcam: Paul Gamache

I couldn’t believe it I had just gotten surfed in one of the biggest holes and rapids of my life and was safe at the bottom. Paul was waiting downstream as he had made the move around the hole and had an excellent line.  Time for celebration!  Paul had properly brought a carton of Milk, and we milked it in the eddy while the boys were portaging.

The crew rejoined but my adrenaline was still buzzing as we paddled downstream into the class I.  A highlight feature of this run is the old Swasey Dam, which lies downstream from here several miles.  

Photo: Wes Schrecongost

Swasey Dam was built in the late 1930’s to provide water for Eureka.  Since the construction of Matthews Dam created Ruth Reservoir upstream this dam lost its necessity and it was eventually removed in 1970 restoring fish passage to the many bountiful Salmon-producing tributaries above here.  This is a highlight of the trip; none of us had ever paddled through a dismantled dam before.  It’s a surreally good feeling for a kayaker to paddle a freely flowing river through the remains of where there once stood a Dam.  At 10,000 cfs, it forms a good surf wave too!

Photo: Wes Schrecongost

An hour later we were paddling into the Blue Lake valley, looking for the lake.  Instead we happened upon the fish hatchery weir structure which formed a river-wide surf wave—the discoveries of this trip are never-ending and seemingly around every corner, but this was just too close to home.  Go surf it!  It flows at levels much lower than we had I’m sure.

The boys went back for Wes’ truck allowing Paul and me to paddle the remaining miles to the Mad River Beach Boat Ramp.  Even at 13,000 cfs this section is slow and we were stoked when the Hamman Trail bridge appeared and the boat ramp shortly thereafter.  We waited about 1 minute before the shuttle boys arrived in a watery splendor, splashing through the gigantic puddles that form on the Mad River Beach Road.  We were fired up!  Time to go kayaking while we’ve got water so we went straight back to the drawing board for our next hare-brained paddling scheme.  The Lower Mad River produced and was a beautiful roadless stretch of river that deserves to get paddled regardless of only having 2 rapids…they’re big ones!  Thanks Paul, I couldn't have run it without ya.  Happy Paddling, Dan.