This day involved a two-hour drive past Sisters and into the mountains to reach the headwaters of the McKenzie River. We stopped at Sahalie and Koosah Falls on the way to the put in. I was impressed with how much water is still gushing forth in August and how lush and green and pristine everything seems to be. I’ve heard this is because a lot of the water is locked into volcanic aquifers that are pretty full and have great water pressure. There are lots of springs in the area.
We set up our raft at the put in at Paradise Campground and had arranged for a shuttle to get our car 18 miles downriver at Finn Rock. The put in was in deep, cool forest and the water was rushing quickly and exceptionally clear. Also cold - glad we had wetsuits! Guiding and maneuvering was required from the beginning on this class III section as we had to avoid rocks and line up for drops and wave trains. It was pretty continuous for the first 10 miles and those went by in a speedy two-hours. After that, the river gradient decreased and the scenery changed to burnt out forest from a fire a few years ago. This ended up being a long, hot 8 more miles and I will take out earlier in the future and just avoid this section. But Reed loved being able to chill out and swim a bunch and we had our picnic lunch on this stretch. It was a two-hour drive home, but it didn’t feel that long as we were listening to another audiobook that everyone is pretty invested in at this point. Wonderful day seeing and floating a “new to us” river! Wish we'd had more time to get out of the car and check out the cute town of Sisters. Next time!
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