Carberry Creek
Bridge to Applegate Reservoir
| Difficulty | IV |
| Length | 2.7 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 80 fpm |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 27, 2024 |
River Description
Carberry Creek road follows the creek but is often high above.
The first quarter mile is the steepest, with the main rapid 'Jackhammer' standing out above the rest, marked by a large boulder on river right in the entrance. Jackhammer starts as an open boulder garden, before funnelling left for a class IV boulder cascade. Once below Jackhammer, class III-IV boulder gardens continue. There are a couple places where large boulders block your downstream view, it is advisable to scout those blind spots your first time down. The run eases off a bit in the middle, then things pick back up with a bit of bedrock and the largest ledge on the run 'Soft Surrender'. Scout Soft Surrender from the left above the lead in when you notice that you have arrived at the first rapid on the run that is lined with bedrock.
A couple more rapids exist below Soft Surrender, and a woody island that is usually clear in the left channel. Scope out the take out markers when setting shuttle to make sure you don't float by.
Put in: The put in is where the shuttle road returns to creek level about 2.5 above the reservoir.
Take out: There is a large parking and access area on the reservoir, but there also appears to be river access just upstream of the reservoir. The reservoir surface elevation is around 1950 feet.
Other Information Sources:
Dreamflows.com - Carberry Creek Rogue Kayakers report
River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportWith both the MF Applegate and Carberry Creek flowing but on the drop, we opted for Carberry this afternoon and saved the MF for the next day. Flows were low but surprisingly good, even for a hardshell kayak. The rapids were technical in nature but we hit very few rocks. Boofs were in. Too bad the lake drowns the bottom of Carberry Creek, no doubt there's good whitewater under there.
There were two rapids with logs on the run that we walked around on 04/14/24, I have added pictures of both. The rest of the run had wood here and there, but was not a problem. The inflow to Applegate Lake spiked to 1200 while we were on the creek, and the Carberry estimate was at just over 400. This was a good medium flow that kept your boat off the rocks. We found the scout at Jackhammer to be a bit of a puzzle on the right at this level (lower would have been easier), left might have been more straight forward if wood had not blocked the eddy over there. The rest of the run had good eddies and easy scouting.
Nick S on the first rapid.
This run is a Rogue Valley favorite and when it's in local boaters will come a running. Dreamflows has an estimate for this run on the Northwest States page. The best gauge for this run is at...
http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/river/station/flowplot/flowplot.cgi?APLO3
This gauge gives the inflow, res. elevation and outflow for Applegate Res. What you're looking for is the inflow. The creek is often in runnable range when the gauge reads between 750 to 1,800cfs. Carberry Ck. flow will be most likely 1/3 or so of that.
The run starts with a couple hundred yard warm-up before the first class 4 and then takes off in class 3/4 boulder bar and bedrock rapid fashion from there for the next two miles before letting up in the last mile. The second drop is the longest and hardest and is worth a scout for wood. You can spot this rapid's location by the landslide on the road at mile post 3. To get a look, you can either bushwhack down or better yet eddy out right and look on your way down.
When this run is in the MF Applegate is always in and it makes a good warm-up for a Carberry run.