First Whitewater – The McKenzie River – Oregon

Kayaking is one of the primary reasons that I moved to Oregon. My Dad taught me how to canoe when I was still wearing diapers, and we were always going on great weekend canoe trips in Louisiana and Mississippi. Sometimes we’d go a bit farther out. These were great beautiful rivers with swift currents, and big sandy beaches. Sometimes there was a ripple, but no serious whitewater. That was to come later when I was in high school.

At the McKenzie River Put In

Since coming to Bend I’ve made a lot of friends at Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe shop. Figured it was the best way to find some kayaking buddies here, and turns out it was a good idea. John Hise manages the shop for Geoff Frank, and he’s probably got more Oregon river water under his keel than anyone else in Central Oregon.

John Hise and his friend Christy

Hank Hill sells boats at Alder Creek, and he’s in a situation kind of like me. He’s done a lot of paddling in Sea Kayaks, but is pretty new to whitewater. We’re both pretty excited about getting some water time, so we planned to make this run on our own.

Hank Hill

The drive out to Blue River is beautiful. You’re traveling through thick evergreen forests and mountains. Some of the most stunning views in the United States. The drive is 85 miles from Bend, and takes about two hours. We left Bend at about noon. Once we got to Blue River, Oregon we unloaded, geared up, and Hank and John ran the car shuttle while Christy and I waited at the put in.

John says the McKenzie is the second coldest river in Oregon with the coldest being the Metolius. In mid summer the water felt perfect. It was crystal clear and running 2460 cfs. About normal for this time of year according to John.

The McKenzie River in Central Oregon

We headed down river. John and Christy in John’s We-No-Nah Rogue Tandem White Water Touring canoe, Hank in a Dagger Mamba 8.0, and I was running a Jackson Kayak 4Fun. John likes to say that these little whitewater boats are made for spinnin and flippin.
Right at the put in there’s a little class I rapid. Just some nice ripples coming down a little rock bar, and John started out by leading Christy through a peel out where you come out of an eddy into the main flow of the river. John’s all about good eddy turns.

The river flows through a green velvet carpet of tall mountain hemlock. The sun was shining, and the water felt cool as we glided silently towards the first rapids. It didn’t take too long and we were going through some small ripples. I was finding the Jackson a bit fidgety in the cross waves of the rapid. My paddling was a bit tentative while I concentrated on keeping upright through the waves.

The Jackson 4Fun that I used on this trip

I ended up swimming four times during this trip. The first time happened as I followed John and Christy into a really strong eddy at Fin Rock. No ripples here just a fast current, an old bridge abutment, a wicked eddyline. The bow of my kayak crossed over the eddy line, my downstream edge caught, I flipped, and punched out. Wow! This water feels great!

This turned out to be a great place to swim like I did. I was in a protected eddy near some big rocks with easy footing. Got the Jackson emptied out, and was back on the water in about two seconds. I peeled out of the eddy, and we were on our way downstream again.

More ripples and rapids and John told me about a boulder garden coming up. He challenged me to try and catch 20 eddies going through the boulder garden. This was one of those things that made having John on the trip very fortuitous. Had it just been Hank and me we would have enjoyed the river, but wouldn’t have spent so much effort catching the eddies in the boulder garden. With each eddy turn my confidence and ability was increasing, and then going into eddy 17 I went swimming again.

Once again I simply punched out of the kayak, grabbed the stern handle of the boat, and swam downstream to a protected eddy. This swim was considerably longer, maybe 200 yards. The current was moving, but not really too fast. John and Hank used their boats to help me get mine into the eddy where I could empty water out of the boat and get going again. John said that I had plenty of boulders left to get my twenty eddies. I exited the boulder garden having captured 25 eddies and only swimming once.

We took a short break just downstream from the boulder garden, and there was a little play wave that John said was the perfect place to practice surfing. After the break I paddled over and started playing on the wave with the little Jackson playboat making it fun. Of course that’s why it’s called the Fun. The blunt bow dropped into the water and I did a couple of bow stalls, shot out, and paddled back into the wave. Just as I thought I was being swept downstream again the boat would surge forward and I was surfing. Once more, and then I got a little bit cocky. Over I go again. This time the water was shallow enough that I was almost able to brace myself back up. Not quite, I was swimming again.

The rest of the trip took us through the big rapids of this run. Screamer which John said was the big one. An easy series of standing waves 2, 3, maybe four foot high. Nice roller coaster ride in the Jackson with lots of water splashing my face. Next up was Eagle Rock, not as big as Screamer, but big enough. After my run through the boulder garden I was catching all the eddies I could. It was good practice, and lots of fun. A few times my little boat did some squirrely stuff that showed its playboat design. I was really getting stoked.

At the Takeout

Just above the take out point I went swimming again. I’d found a nice rock with a good powerful eddy that I was playing with. After catching this one a couple of times I ended up going over the fourth and final time of this trip. I swam the capsized kayak into the take out. My body was sun kissed, and I could feel the soreness of the exertion coming on. We loaded up, and headed home. Back before dark. What a rush. I love living in Oregon!