McKenzie

3. Olallie Campground to Paradise Campground

Difficulty	II(III)
Length	8.3 mi
Avg Gradient	50 fpm
Gauge	Mckenzie River Near Vida, or
Flow Rate as of 41 minutes	2630 cfsrunnable
Reach Info Last Updated	May 25, 2023

Recent Alerts

Wood, but possibleMichael Davidson

Jul 6, 2024

Echoing what was said below. Some channels are dangerously encumbered by wood. One instance in the first half mile is especially scary with strong current flowing to the right bank in the larger of two channels. If you do this section, go slow and scout this section and consider the smaller channel. There was debris on the bottom of the river--evidence that another boat had flipped here.

Olallie to Paradise not clean but 100% passableTeresa Gryder

Jul 1, 2024

The riverwide wood is gone, relocated by high flows or beavers, I cannot tell. We ran it twice last week, on June 27 and 29, at ~3,000cfs, and had good clean fun. Zero portages, ducks or boofs are required. There is still a great deal of wood along the edges and blocking side channels, and the river is very continuous and semi-eddyless in this section meaning when a tree does block your path you won't have much time or many options. Some of our group spent a day removing a raft from where it had been stashed after an unskilled paddle crew pinned it on a log. Nothing risk free about it.

River Description

This is a beautiful run with consistent gradient on the Wild and Scenic Section of the 'blue' McKenzie River. It is somewhat more busy between the steeper rapids at low water. At higher flows, 3500+ the in-between stuff flattens out, but the individual drops get somewhat bigger. Fish ladder is the only real III on the run, although the continuous nature with few eddies and the ever present threat of wood certainly earns the class III rating for this stretch.

Logistics: Ollalie Campground has a designated river access with a raft launch just downstream of the main camping area that serves as the put-in (river mile 80.0). It is at Highway 126 mile 13.0 (7.6 miles up the road from Paradise). Once you turn into the campground it's 0.5 mile down the launch area.

Paradise Campground has a designated launch area suitable for rafts (river mile 71.7). It is reached by heading up Highway 126 to mile 54.1 just upstream of McKenzie Bridge.

A pretty comprehensive video of the majority of the rapids on this run (and beyond to McKenzie Bridge CG) can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UAhuVEojCs&t

Other information sources:

CACreeks

River Features

Put In

Distance: 0 mi

Take Out

Distance: 8.3 mi

Take Out

Trip Reports

Dup Crosson - Solo packraft

May 9, 2023

When I first drove through this area in 2009, before I was paddler, I knew I wanted to come back. The water makes this one of those special rivers that I've only found in Northern CA and Oregon.

Heard reports of wood (USFS Ranger Office even had pictures of strainers in the office) so I put in at Frisell Boat Launch and bike shuttled back from Paradise. Short run, but fun with a hole or two that had me working when I punched into them. No strainers in this 4mi section.

Thomas O'Keefe

Nov 11, 2007

McKenzie River river trip