Klamath River – Rocky Point to Happy Camp

Travelers' Map is loading...
If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.

Best 4 days of 2020 so far.

We’ve been sheltering in place pretty hardcore since March 11th. All of us were aching to get out of the house for a bit. We recently got a very old but still very usable 16-ft white water raft with an oar frame. I spent a bit of time cleaning it up modifying it slightly.

We decided to take it up to The Klamath River in northern California. Almost Oregon really. Although I have kayaked extensively, I don’t really have a ton of experience rowing a raft, maybe 7 days total and mostly on pretty easy white water. I chose to run the section from Rocky Point down to Happy Camp because it seemed like it would be appropriate difficulty. Since we were going solo, I wanted to be conservative. The idea of dumping the boat with Kim and the girls and having no one to help pick up was pretty unappealing. Various reports listed this stretch as Class II+, and others called out Class III rapids. I’d say there were at least 3 class III rapids, maybe 4, and many class II rapids. I was pretty happy to find my lines for everything.

This was Hazel and Margot’s first time on whitewater, and they both loved it.

We had a great great time. The river was warm, we spotted all kinds of wildlife, like a bear, deer, bats and numerous bald eagles. We started paddling Thursday afternoon, paddled and camped Thursday until Sunday. We ate well, with fresh food from our garden, and fresh peas, beans and berries from Paige and Mike. Honestly, it was just awesome and a great break.

Sometime late Saturday in a shallow rock bar area I did put a hole in the raft, but I was able to patch it well enough to paddle out Sunday morning and get to our takeout.

We carefully socially distanced, and literally had basically zero contact with anyone the entire trip. Even for the drive we didn’t stop for food and for restroom breaks we used our portable toilet system. All the campsites were remote and shared with no one.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I’ve been blessed to find myself with invites to row the Grand Canyon 3 years in a row. This year the invite came from Michael Picker and Nini Redway, and I was eager to accept. It was just Margot and I this year, but we

Video from my recent Grand Canyon trip with my 11 year daughter. Her second time down the canyon, and she has done other big river trips. But I was nervous because she was the only kid on the trip, other trips she has at least

Scorpion story: After rigging our rafts the night before launching down the Canyon, we went to Marble Canyon Lodge for dinner. They have a gift shop, and Margot fell for a stuffed scorpion. She said ” I hope we see a scorpion!! “ Me: “Well,

This is House rock rapid, one of the first big rapids encountered. Those rafts are 18 foot rafts for scale. I was too far left and we very nearly got swept off the boat, but I caught the oar tower on the way out and

This dam-controlled stretch offers three exhilarating runs: the exciting Chili Bar, the scenic Coloma to Lotus, and the breathtaking Gorge. With easy access and dependable recreational releases, this river is a must-visit for both seasoned rafters and newcomers alike. We've been a bunch of times

Hazel’s big request for our trip this year was to revisit the Little Colorado, and her big wish was that we’d get the amazing blue colors. Lucky enough, there was no recent rain and we had a fun time swimming and exploring.

Lava Falls is one of the higher rated rapids on the Grand Canyon, and a clean line is normally celebrated. Hazel was nervous and rode with my friend Geno (who has an anti-flip device on his raft). But Kim and Margot braved it with me

A very fun couple days hanging out with and paddling the SF American with good friends. It was their first time paddle rafting!

We had some friends join us this year, which was super fun. Jr Guides Raft Camp is an incredible 3 day rafting experience for the kids. Although their is always an experienced instructor/guide in the raft, they truly put the kids in the drivers seat