Alsea, N. Fork
1. Three Miles below Klickitat Lake to North Fork Bridge
| Difficulty | III+(V) |
| Length | 8.4 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Alsea River Near Tidewater, or |
| Flow Rate as of 17 minutes | 1.97 ftbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | June 7, 2023 |
River Description
OVERVIEW: The North Fork Alsea is a great intermediate run through a classic Oregon coastal range canyon. Much of the run is class II/III with about a mile of III/IV whitewater in the middle. There are also two larger drops, one is the straight forward 18' Vahorten Falls near the beginning of the trip, and the other is a 10' ledge near the end of the good whitewater. Wood can be an issue so be sure to scout when needed (no mandatory portages in Jan 2016, but 3 quick wood portages in 2017). The shuttle is about 30 minutes on gravel logging roads, so while the route is explained below, it is a good idea to have sussed it out for yourself on maps with satellite imagery (google earth or hillmap.com is likely best) beforehand. The run is far from any roads, so hiking out would be difficult and is discouraged. The preferred take out is the NF Alsea fish hatchery.
STREAM: From the standard put in bridge, it is only a short way to Vanhorten Falls. Less than a quarter mile below the put in stay right as the stream bends left in order to get out and scout the falls. The portage on the right is pain free if the obvious line on the right is not to your liking.
*2016-2017 there has been a log in Vanhorten Falls that dramatically reduces the margin for error on this drop. It has been run successfully to the right of the log at least a handful of times at medium flows but take a careful look from the right bank before attempting and consider making the easy portage if you are not confident in hitting the line*
Downstream channels between grass banks and islands are class II and unique. The stream takes awhile to pick up, but eventually the stream channelizes and abruptly becomes boat scoutable class III-III+. One or two of these might earn a class IV rating at healthy flows. Scout the horizon line at the end of this series of rapids on the right, where a large 10' ledge is backed up center and left by a dow
...River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportWe put on with a group of four about 2 miles above the traditional put in on accident. We found a quarter mile V section at the immediate put in below a bridge. It consisted of several slides and a ~15ft falls with an awkward reconnect at the base. Following this was a serious of class II with somewhere around 8 portages. Continuing down into the regular section the log mentioned in vanorten in 2017 is now worse, and we all portaged. There were around a dozen more more portages, with several serious log jams further down, but no individual portage was overtly difficult. The III+ rapids above the ledge drop were all comfortably navigable but had wood hazards strewn about. We portaged the ledge mostly out of exhaustion from the portaging, and out of concern that we would have more portages later on, but it was clean. Around 800 cfs.
Zach Levine getting right on Vanhorten Falls.
Hatchery Gauge: 2.5'
NF Alsea Gauge: 1,100 cfs
Alsea @ Tidewater: 8.6'
Feb 18, 2017
There has been a log in Vanhorten Falls during the 2016-2017 season. As flows increase it is reasonable to boof right and miss the log, at lower flows that move looks tougher and hasn't been attempted.
The middle portion of the NF Alsea has many fun class III(IV) rapids in quick succession. Here is a typical rapid in the midst of that section of whitewater at about 2.2' on the Hatchery Gauge.
Lexi Esperanza gets right of the log at a medium flow on Vanhorten Falls. This falls is a short way into the trip. On this run we had an 18 person group and about half ran the falls, one person made brief contact upon resurfacing but it was not a hazardous situation and they flushed by it upright.
Hatchery Gauge: 2.5'
NF Alsea Gauge: 1,100 cfs
Alsea @ Tidewater: 8.6'
Feb 18, 2017
The largest ledge on the run.