Favorite River Run

The Owyhee: Oregon's Outback River
By Leslie Dopp

A couple of years ago Matt and I and about 12 friends from Colorado and Oregon were planning on running the Lower Owyhee. It was an extremely warm spring and the water peaked at the end of March and pretty much was unrunnable by late April. Our launch date was planned for around April 20th. No water. The good side of watching the endless rain this winter was knowing that it would bring great water all spring and summer. The Owyhee River would run and it would run big.

We headed to the put in at Rome, Oregon on April 22nd. Rome is a tiny little "town" in the middle of cow pastures and sage brush. Our group would consist of a couple of friends from Park City who Matt used to guide with in Colorado and Malcolm of the Ashland Forge, and Granite, our dog. We put on the river at 7040 cfs the first day under overcast skies with temperatures in the low 50's and floated through cow pastures and farms. Good thing I had brought plenty of fleece layers, but only one pair of shorts. I was prepared for the desert cold! Finally the canyon appeared in front of us and the walls began to close in. This is what we came for.

The Owyhee River is a desert canyon river in Eastern Oregon. Who would have ever thought there was a Utah style river in Eastern Oregon? I certainly didn't. There are numerous riverside hot springs, although most of them were under water when we ran it, lots of sage brush (mmm...I love the smell), and it's a birders paradise. (Who ever knew that geese hang out on rock cliff ledges?) We ran the Lower Owyhee which is a class 3 run. There is a Middle section that is run with Class 4 & 5 rapids with possible portages depending on water level.

We continued down the river and found that because the water level was high we were having a difficult time finding a good campsite that wasn't under water. The first night on the river it rained and brought the water level up to over 8000 cfs which is the upper limit of what is recommended to safely run. Because the water level was high this was a special treat. The class 3 rapids turned into class 2 rapids, but they turned into big rapids with roller coaster waves. It was so fun to paddle a kayak through those huge waves!

Along the way we found the one and only hot spring on the river that wasn't washed out which we immediately jumped in and took a soak. We had a great layover at Whistling Bird rapid (a washed out class 3) and found there is amazing hiking here. We had one carnage incident at Bullseye rapid (this was a true class 3) where Malcolm decided to hit the "big wave" in the middle and realized on the other side of the wave there was a "BIG HOLE" that spit him out, sending him swimming, and surfed his cataraft for a couple of minutes.

We decided that we would float the last 10 miles of the trip across the reservoir and take out at Leslie Gulch. Malcolm was able to score us a motor to hook up to one of the rafts so we could motor out instead of rowing against stiff headwinds. The motor had been tested prior to the trip several times and it looked like we were going to be happily motoring out. We were sadly mistaken. The motor worked for about the first 10 minutes that it was going and then conked out. So, we untied our train of rafts and began to row. Rowing across the Owyhee reservoir is defintely something you should do if you want to get in shape. (I wouldn't recommend it.) After Matt and I found the hot springs "pipe" on the reservoir that we were told about we showered off after 5 days of being stinky and headed down to find the others who were still playing with the motor. Miraculously, the motor decided it was ready to cooperate and hummed to life! Ahhh the smell of gasoline. I would defintely recommend crossing the reservoir instead of taking out at Birch Creek because this was some of the best scenery of our trip. There are shuttle companies that will meet you at the top of the reservoir if you don't have a motor and give you a boat tow out.

I am really happy that I was able to run the Owyhee River this year. It was such a special treat...amazing scenery, great whitewater, and hot springs. I can't wait for the next time!

By the way, after the first day it got sunny and warm, fleece was only needed at night and I wore the same pair of filthy shorts for four days.

If you have a favorite river or lake that you have paddled on or a great story to tell, please e-mail us at info@kokopelliriverguides.com. You may be in our next newsletter!