Rivers
Six rivers. Twenty-seven adventures. Endless options for a wild and scenic summer.
THE ORIGINAL
Rogue
“PURE AS THE SNOW FROM WHICH IT SPRANG, the river had its source in the mountain under Crater Lake,” wrote Zane Grey of the Rogue’s 215-mile journey from the Cascades to the sea in his epic novel Rogue River Feud. The famed Western (or, in the case of this book, Northwestern) author lived in a log cabin on the Rogue’s banks until the popularity of his prose drew so many visitors to the river that he picked up and moved to the North Umpqua (see “Rogue Tales”). Because parts of the Rogue were among the original eight stretches of river to be designated Wild and Scenic by Congress in 1968, you can still experience the river much the way Grey knew it. The lower canyon is one of the few places in the country where you can float for four days without even glimpsing a road. That doesn’t mean you’ll have the river all to yourself, though. The canyon’s remoteness and abundant fishing attracted hordes of sportsmen long before it received federal protection. Plus, the steep, forested slopes and impossibly narrow gorges that flank the river and its surging white water put the Rogue on most paddlers’ life lists. Fortunately for them, the Rogue has the longest river-running season of all of Oregon’s wilderness rivers, a fact attributable (rather ironically) to its four dams, which ensure boatable flow in the lower canyons year-round. But the dams are increasingly an endangered species. Later this year, the Savage Rapids Dam on the upper Rogue will become the widest dam removed in Oregon, and in July 2008, the Gold Hill Dam, upstream of Grants Pass, was demolished to ease salmon and steelhead migration. In fact, given the size and relative health of its watershed, the Rogue is arguably the last significant salmon stream in Oregon south of the Columbia River. Each year, a hundred thousand hatchlings follow the same route down the river that Grey described in 1929, winding “past the picturesque farms of the Indians and the rude shacks of the fishermen, broadening and meandering, smiling from its shiny pebbled bed at the retreating banks and the low colorful hills, and so on down to Gold Beach, assuming a deep, calm majesty when it found its home in the infinite sea.”
PADDLE The lower ninety miles of the Rogue—the last few practically within sniffing distance of the Pacific Ocean—are frequently run by paddlers, kayakers, and tubers. But the river’s real jewel is the stretch of thirty-five roadless miles carved into the Siskiyou Mountains between Grave Creek and Foster Bar. Here, moderate rapids like Coffee Pot—where water boils through a narrow rock chasm—interrupt generous doses of serene drifting. And broad, sandy beaches beckon picnickers and hikers who can head for mesmerizing spots like Whisky Creek Cabin, a relic mining camp still filled with tools from the 1800s. The bad news: only 120 people per day are awarded permits to float this section of the river each summer—and half of the permits go to guides. Outdoor Adventure River Specialists, or OARS, runs a four-day camping and rafting trip (oars.com; $880). The dirt-averse might try OARS’ three-day Rogue River Lodge Trip ($806); you’ll get the same wild river experience, but at day’s end, you’ll enjoy showers, fresh towels, and clean sheets at riverside wilderness lodges. Those on a tighter schedule can just zip through the canyon aboard jet boats that make day runs down the fifty-two miles between Gold Beach and Blossom Bar (roguejets.com; $87).
HIKE Gold miners first blazed the forty-mile Rogue River Trail during the 1851 Gold Rush, hauling out more than $70 million worth of ore. But only recently has this dramatic segment along the river’s north bank between Grave Creek and Foster Bar become a well-trafficked hiking destination. Many backpackers choose to traverse the route on their own, dipping down from the canyon walls to campsites along the river’s bank. But in May, June, September, and October (when temperatures don’t hit triple-digit summertime highs), Rogue Wilderness Adventures offers a stunning four-day trip (wildrogue.com; $949) that includes a guided raft to haul your gear from one riverside lodge to the next while you scamper up the ridges with nothing but a light day-pack to weigh you down. The best part? Trekkers with land-weary legs can always hitch a ride on the raft.
Rogue Tales
Long before Johnny Cash made our ears tremble, Zane Grey introduced readers to Jim Lassiter, the original man in black. Grey was one of the preeminent architects of the hardscrabble mythos of the American West; his 1912 book Riders of the Purple Sage was a model for the western tales that followed it. All told, he wrote more than eighty novels before his death in 1939, provided fodder for more than 110 films, and inspired a 1950s television show, Zane Grey Theater.
But beneath Grey’s tales of tough frontier heroines and dusty, taciturn men was an eloquent argument for environmental protectionism. “The main characters in his novels were always the environments themselves,” says Eric Grey, the writer’s great-grandson, who lives in New Jersey.
The Oregon wilderness was one of the landscapes lauded by Grey, perhaps nowhere more famously than in Rogue River Feud. “It’s a total environmental story,” Eric says. “It’s these downriver canneries versus these upstanding, decent folks who are living in balance with nature. It’s so conservationist, you think, ‘Wow, this guy is really ahead of his time.’”
According to his great-grandson, Grey paid many visits to the places he was preparing to write about. For instance, Grey spent eight years fishing the Rogue before penning Rogue River Feud. On one 1925 trip down the lower Rogue, Grey’s fishing party spent a brief, happy day at a miner’s claim called Winkle Bar. Zane Grey loved it so much, he bought the land from the miner the following year and built a fifteen-foot-by-twenty-seven-foot cabin there.
It’s still standing today, and you can visit it—if you know where to look. About half a day’s hike and two days’ float from the put-in at Grave Creek, Grey’s cabin sits approximately three hundred feet back from the water at a bend in the river, its front porch facing the Rogue. Last May, the site became public property after the Bureau of Land Management purchased it from the Trust for Public Land.
“From all the fans I’ve talked to, that cabin helps them discover Zane Grey,” the author’s great-grandson says. “But more importantly, I think it helps them appreciate the Rogue more, because this is a river that inspired a work of art—it’s worth protecting.” —Alexis Rehrmann
For our slideshow of Grey’s photos and writing, please visit Rogue River Feud.
Published: July 2009
Morrison’s Rogue River lodge was an EXCELLENT place to stay on the Rogue (outside Grant’s Pass). The lodge itself has out-of-this-world food and quaint accomodations. I would highly recommend the raft trips Morrison’s offers, great guides and a 3-day trip I would do again in a heartbeat.
Morrison’s Rogue River lodge was an EXCELLENT place to stay on the Rogue (outside Grant’s Pass). The lodge itself has out-of-this-world food and quaint accomodations. I would highly recommend the raft trips Morrison’s offers, great guides and a 3-day trip I would do again in a heartbeat.
Morrison’s Rogue River lodge was an EXCELLENT place to stay on the Rogue (outside Grant’s Pass). The lodge itself has out-of-this-world food and quaint accomodations. I would highly recommend the raft trips Morrison’s offers, great guides and a 3-day trip I would do again in a heartbeat.
Morrison’s Rogue River lodge was an EXCELLENT place to stay on the Rogue (outside Grant’s Pass). The lodge itself has out-of-this-world food and quaint accomodations. I would highly recommend the raft trips Morrison’s offers, great guides and a 3-day trip I would do again in a heartbeat.
Enticing article, but sorely lacking in locations. To an Oregon newbie, the “maps” that accompanied the article were graphic and cute… and useless. Where, for example, is the Tamolitch Pool? Clear Lake? etc. Nice photography, though.
Enticing article, but sorely lacking in locations. To an Oregon newbie, the “maps” that accompanied the article were graphic and cute… and useless. Where, for example, is the Tamolitch Pool? Clear Lake? etc. Nice photography, though.
@Barry – Tamolitch Falls, Koosah & Sahalie Falls and Clear Lake are all in a line along Rt. 126 East of McKenzie Bridge, OR. Check out the second comment from this photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/srlarsen/3005249676/in/set-72157608669242524/ ) for some basic directions to Tamolitch Falls or save yourself a lot of trouble and just pick up a copy of William Sullivan’s “100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades,” the Bible of Oregon’s backwoods.
@Barry – Tamolitch Falls, Koosah & Sahalie Falls and Clear Lake are all in a line along Rt. 126 East of McKenzie Bridge, OR. Check out the second comment from this photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/srlarsen/3005249676/in/set-72157608669242524/ ) for some basic directions to Tamolitch Falls or save yourself a lot of trouble and just pick up a copy of William Sullivan’s “100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades,” the Bible of Oregon’s backwoods.
@Barry – Tamolitch Falls, Koosah & Sahalie Falls and Clear Lake are all in a line along Rt. 126 East of McKenzie Bridge, OR. Check out the second comment from this photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/srlarsen/3005249676/in/set-72157608669242524/ ) for some basic directions to Tamolitch Falls or save yourself a lot of trouble and just pick up a copy of William Sullivan’s “100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades,” the Bible of Oregon’s backwoods.
That photo is not the metolius river.
The photo that illustrates the Metolius River page was in no way taken on the Metolius. Are these articals just pasted up in the backroom using internet material?
“as they wiggle upstream toward the ocean to spawn” is one major biology error. Just to clarify fish swim upstream, meaning up a river, into tributaries and creeks to spawn. Upstream means toward the headwaters of the river.
Just wanted to share that Cog Wild Mountain Bike Tours, based in Bend, Oregon also offers multi-day tours on the North Umpqua Trail. Our tours are 3 days and include more time in the saddle for half the price. Check out details on our website for the North Umpqua Weekend Adventure at: www.cogwild.com.
:)
The best section of the Deschutes is the section around Maupin. It has the best rapids, Boxcar, Wapinitia and Oak Springs. You will get a better trip for a better price if you use on of the local companies. I have always liked using All Star Rafting http://asrk.com
I just moved to Oregon and can’t wait to explore my new home. My husband and I love to go river rafting, those look like some great locations! Do you have any recommendations for an Oregon river rafting company we can get some equipment from? A friend suggested I go to http://www.highdesertriver.com/, so I will have to see what their rates are. Thanks!