| Little North Fork Santiam — Opal Creek™ © |
Class IV+(V)
6Miles
Avg Gradient 100 fpm
River Mapplet
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There is currently no Gauge Data on this stretch. Please Email us if you have details about a realtime gauge for this river.
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Minimum Recomended Level: 750 cfs Maximum Recomended Level: 2000 cfs
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Putin DetailsTake Highway 22 (North Santiam Highway) out of Salem, OR. Go about 25 miles to Mehama and turn left on the North Fork Road. Follow this to the end, get out and start hiking. Go about a mile and turn off the road/trail onto a smaller trail leading downhill to to the river. |
Takeout DetailsYou will pass it on the way to the get-in. Look for Three Pools, a popular swimming spot during the summer baseflow season. |
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Other IssuesThe Class V waterfall is generally not run at higher flows, and the portage is very sketchy. Also, the last rapid becomes scarier but doable at high flows, and the line changes. |
Fun FactsThis run is on the Little North Fork Santiam (not to be confused with the NF Santiam) but is called Opal Creek because it the upper watershed is in Opal Creek Wilderness.
There is a IV-V section if you want to hike farther up. There is a class V section below (Opal Gorge) |
Run Description [Season: Rain]This is an easier version of the Ohanepecosh and is one of Oregon's classic runs. The river drains old growth forest, the water is even greener than the Ohane, and the run is in a beautiful, inaccessible gorge.
The run starts with some Class IV boogie. One the rapids a little way down has a sieve on river left that is clearly visible from the entrance eddy. At medium-low, the sieve was easily avoidable. At higher flows, Oregon Kayaking says the current pushes against the wall above the sieve, which could potentially cause a problematic swim. Use caution.
The first major rapid is Big Ugly. The name fits, as it looks as if there is an ugly undercut on river left followed by a pin rock. But the wall is not undercut, and the boulder in the run-out does not seem to cause too much trouble. This rapid gets run right and left at the entrance, but the right is manky at low flows. Oregon Kayaking says be wary of the left line at low flows, but we had no trouble.
Next major rapid is Big Fluffy, a 17' sloping waterfall with a long Class IV+ lead in to a really hard line approaching the falls (ie, make sure you don't accidentally start into the lead-in rapid, as you will be committed). The lead-in makes a hard right before heading towards the falls. The falls is guarded on the right by a big boulder that pushes the current left into a slot on the left wall. You do not want to be here, especially at high flower. The crux is to negotiate the guard boulder, working hard to get as far right as possible. The best lines I have seen on the internet involve paddling hard down the face of (ramping) falls using a boof stroke near the bottom near the hole. Good boaters get seriously worked in the hole, so be ready for a beatdown. Most people set safety from the channel spanning log just downstream, but really, setting safety appeared pretty difficult. We all portaged, which involves an 18' seal launch on river right from the sketchy spot that was much more comfortable with someone holding the stern of your boat. The portage get sketchy at higher flows, as the seal launch area becomes an island. Alternatively, you can throw your boat and walk across the channel-spanning logs with an easy walk down to the creek on river left.
The last major rapid is Thor's Playroom, right at the get-out, so named because of a unique rock formation in the middle of the rapid. This is a multi-part rapid. The entrance gets run every which way, as there are multiple lines through different slots. Scout accordingly. The middle portion is boogie, leading into a double drop finish on river right with a weird hole at the bottom. At medium low flows, the top of the double drop was a tongue with some weird eddy currents at the bottom, and the bottom hole flushed. At higher flows, this hole gets pretty chundery and staying left is advised.
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