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Whitewater Packraft - North Umpqua River, Oregon: Section 1, Boulder Flat to Horseshoe Bend

This is a fun class 2 or 3- whitewater trip on a Wild and Scenic River in central Oregon. Beautiful area, clear water, spawning steelhead, and lots of fun rapids.

Dennis Pennell Dennis Pennell
September 29, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Highway 138 parallels the river, and in many places is a viable exit option should someone need to abandon the run.

    It can take anywhere from two to three + hours to do this run.

    There several camping options along the river at both BLM and USFS campgrounds. Horseshoe Bend is at the end of this run and the beginning of the run below this one (section two).

    Island Campground is just above the Gravel Bin takeout for section two.

    Boulder Flat Campground is at the put-in for this run, section one.

Water flow about 900 CFS, which is an excellent level for small boats such as kayaks, canoes, IKs, and packrafts. There are several nice surf waves, hundreds of  eddies, dozens of small to medium sized rapids, and excellent scenery.

Launch at Boulder Flat campground boat ramp. The first significant rapid is about 1/4 mile downstream. Most paddlers enter it on the right and read and run from there.

About a mile downstream is a large rock promontory on river right above the river. This is Eagle Rock (not to be confused with the narrow rock towers further upstream). Eagle Rock is your clue that you are approaching a fast rapid that flows directly into a large rock. Move left eary and catch the eddy on river left to avoid being carried into the rock wall.

Numerous class 2/3- rapids continue, including Cardiac Arrest and Sneaky Pete. Sneaky Pete has a big hole left center of the river. It can be run to the left of the hole, or more likely to the right of the hole and into the large eddy adjacent to the big hole.

The last rapid is called Weird Weir. It is a somewhat irregular ledge that can be run at several places, usually left or left of center, by just paddling up to it, picking a slot, and dropping over.  But a more common line is to run the deep-water channel on the far right. This is a rather active and turbulent section, and the challenge is to not get flipped in the turbulent flow while at the same time not get pushed into the rock wall on the river right shore. I suggest pointing your boat to the left and assertively paddling through the turbulence with a slight left angle to stay away from the wall on the right.

Take out at Horseshoe Bend, either at the Raft Launch (public access), or at one of the campsite further downstream is you have a campsite there. Do not encroach on campsites occupied by others that are not part of your group.