Klamath River--Iron Gate to Seiad Valley--Six Rivers Source to Sea

This was a 140 mile endeavor that could only have been thought up by the Explore Six Rivers crew.  The plan was to paddle as far as we could in the first two days so our last day wouldn't be an attempt to cover lost ground.  In the aftermath of one storm we would get a nice day of weather before it was supposed to rain again.  Earnestly, we were hoping to catch as much extra water as possible to carry us downriver without undue effort.  For this trip we owe a big thanks to Don Iverson, Alice DiMicele, Jeff Burlingham and Tom Alexander of Four Winds Rafting in Seiad Valley.

Photo: Wes Schrecongost

It was a dream of mine to paddle the Klamath River in an open canoe--for various reasons.  The primary reason was that class III water is simply more exciting for me in an open canoe than in my kayak.  I get scared at something that I would happily go play in with my sprayskirt and double-bladed paddle.  Open canoes make for excellent craft during long floats, you can stretch out and enjoy your surroundings much more than when being cramped in a small kayak.  You also sit higher and are afforded a better view when boatscouting.  I don't own an open canoe however (aside from an old slalom C-1 in Idaho) and had to resort to other means of obtaining one--i had to talk to the godfather himself.

Photo: Wes Schrecongost

 Don Iverson is the godfather of open canoeing in California.  He has devotedly written an article published in AW about the many advantages open canoeing offers relative to kayaks.  My meeting with the godfather was arranged through one of his associates, Matt Titre.  After arranging the deal, Matt called me with good news that the godfather would see us on the way out of town and provide a canoe for the trip.  I was nervous about the exchange but confident in Matt's word.  We pulled up and introduced ourselves humbly.  I walked with Don over to the boat rack and started discussing which vessel I would be using.  The rack was adorned with open canoes of all shapes and sizes...tandem canoes, wide ones, narrow ones, flatwater canoes.  Don pointed to a wide red one, suggesting it was the best choice.  Being a wily one, I asked about other possible options and Don singled out a narrower, shorter Dagger Rival that had much more appeal to my eye.  The deal was done, included was a bailing bucket and floatbags, an essential piece of open canoe equipment.  We loaded the boat as gingerly and securely as possible while Don looked on.  Then we made our departure, feeling good about the coming adventure.

Wes drove all the way to Medford, 3 hours away, where we had arranged a place to crash for the night with my good friends Alice and Jeff.  Alice is an amazing musician who has produced something like 13 albums and Jeff is an awe-inspiring surf kayaker, they are both wonderful folks and gracious hosts who accepted us despite our late 11 o clock arrival.  Alice even sang us a new song she wrote called "Schoolhouse" about surfing the namesake wave on the Klamath River and the need for Dam Removal on the Klamath.  It was a special moment for our crew who proceeded to sleep like a bunch of babies.  Waking up early we proceeded towards Iron Gate, with a quick stop at the gas station in Hornbrook to fuel up on coffee and pre-packaged doughnuts for our breakfast.  It truly felt like we were in real America, with an aura of flags and rednecks.

After arriving at Iron Gate, the posse geared up for the initial flat miles down to the I-5.  The plan was for our crew to alternate running shuttles, thus avoiding having to bring a second vehicle considering the obscene gas prices these days.  Also, when you're covering 140 miles, you don't need to get every mile to feel like you've done something, so the arrangement worked out with a little sacrifice.

Photo: Wes Schrecongost

Hitting the water felt good, we were moving fast and it was a beautiful morning.  It also felt good to be paddling for fun, the last time I had seen this stretch of water was while conducting salmon carcass surveys for work and my memory is tainted with the putrid stench of rotting fish and chopping through them with a machete.  We would pass a bend and I'd reminisce about the time I had to chop a big slab of fish and got "mung" splattered on my face.  The thought of not being able to eat because all I could smell was carcass came back to me.  Good times.

The Klamath River has a huge fisheries issue that has been reaching a climax with the recent discussions of dam removal.  Iron Gate forms a total barrier, blocking salmon from hundreds of miles of river upstream where they historically spawned.  In addition to cutting off fish from available habitat, the Dams create water quality issues associated with high temperatures, toxic algae blooms and low dissolved oxygen levels in the river.  Just downstream from our put-in we ran into a fish crew that was trapping juvenile salmon to monitor their condition and abundance.

 Actually it was my buddy Phil, who is a good kayaker and all around great guy.  We said hello before passing on, we had miles to cover!  Here is Paul with the fish trap deployed behind him.

Covering miles on the upper Klamath River.

There are actually some decent class II rapids through this section and a couple of playspots that made for enjoyable river time.  My ankles and knees were starting to remind me why I stopped canoeing years ago, but the beautiful scenery egged us on as we made good downstream progress.  Here is a uniquely decorated river-home we passed along the way.

Eventually we reached the I-5 bridge and Shasta River confluence, downstream of which an excellent access point waits at the "snagging hole".  Here we traded up shuttle drivers and ate a quick lunch before continuing downstream.

The river had grown already and combined with some extra gradient the next several miles were quite enjoyable.  As you paddle downstream on the Klamath River, you pass the sagebrush hills of the upper river and begin cutting into the forested canyon that splits the Siskiyou and Marble Mountains.

 In places the south facing slopes are desert sagebrush while the north facing slopes host grey pine, ponderosa, and douglas fir.  Eventually, Oaks and Madrones get into the mix, along with ferns, cedars and eventually you find yourself in a beautiful forested canyon that feels like anything but desert.  Side creeks are virtually everywhere and the river constantly seems to be growing.  Reaching the confluence with the Scott River was a major point along this section, as the Scott River was gushing from recent storms.  At the confluence, the Scott River water came bursting into the placid Klamath as a brown watery wave train.  The flow almost doubled here and we were stoked to make some easier miles with the extra water.  A mile downstream, Hamburg rapid presented the crew with its biggest obstacle in a while, and definitely raised the hairs on this open canoeists neck...Here is Paul, coming through some quality whitewater on the Klamath River.

Along the Klamath you see lots of structures that were flooded out and abandoned due to the high water of 1964.

The next several miles presented some excellent whitewater, with solid wavetrains and swirly water due to the added volume.  The flows at this point were closer to 4,-- ???  for the day and we had officially begun to increase our average pace.  Suddenly we heard gunshots downstream, although we yelled and tried to get some attention the gunfire continued so we were forced to paddle tight along the right bank with bullets literally whizzing over our heads.  Floating on the Klamath.

 I was getting nervous in the open canoe.  After a couple more miles the river flattened out as we entered Seiad Valley our final destination.

We paddled through the valley and took out at the Sluice Box, passing Grider Creek and Seiad Creek along the way.  The Klamath was flowing strong and I looked nervously towards the whitewater that lay ahead in the coming days.  But we were blessed, because Alice had arranged for us to have a place to stay with Tom Alexander at Four Winds Rafting Company in Seiad Valley.  We were graciously hosted and very happy to have a roof over our heads when it began raining.  Discussion of the next day on the water, as well as pizza in Happy Camp was already in the works and we shot for an easy Seiad to Happy Camp for our second day on the water.   

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.