Elk River

Priscilla and I camped out at the Elk on 2024-12-18/19/20.  The evening we drove in the flow was 4.3 on the plow phone, the day we ran the river was 3.7, then when we drove out it was 3.3.  We were surprised that 4.3 looked rather on the pushy side, 3.7 felt ideal and quite a lot higher than the photo in the Soggy Sneakers book.  The upper had some manageable wood in the first slot rapid (scout left), and an odd log to portage shortly below the landslide rapid, possibly on the next right turn.  I was able to eddy out just above it on the right, then climb on it and over in the pool.  Portaging on the bank would have required shlepping boats over boulders and through poison oak.  At the island not far downstream, the left channel was clear, but the right was not.   There was one more log I was able to pull myself over in my boat below all the rapids..

The lower section was all clear, and high quality as always.  The first stand out rapid is easier to scout from the road during the shuttle than from river level.   42.71110250724266, -124.34682350846337

We ran the Elk River on Sat March 11th with a healthy medium flow of 4.3 and a beautiful sunny day with 55 degree weather. We could not have asked for better! Meanwhile back in the rogue valley, the fog had settled in and it was snowing on the pass. What a treat to escape the cold and enter a brief reprieve into temporary spring conditions.

the elk provided high-quality whitewater, and a very unique geology. If you take the time to Look around, you will be greatly rewarded, it is quite beautiful. A bit reminiscent of a smaller SF Smith.

At these flows the river felt very flowy and maintained a pretty solid class IV nature peppered by II and III's. At just under 11 miles, this river definitely delivered a fun challenge.

Beware of 'Idaho road scouting'. The view from the road would have you think the rapids are much smaller than they look. Many rapids we looked at from the drive up we didn't think much of until we were face to face with the rapid, quickly realizing how much bigger they actually were.

unfortunately, due to its geographic location, this River does not get much attention. It's a long drive from just about anywhere but locally.

we didn't make it all the way to Butler Bar due to fallen trees on the road. So we opted to carry our boats across and put in on a pretty little tributary on river left, just below a medium sized bridge.

7.2 feet on the gage proved to have a high water feel in the gorges, which became solid class IV including boils, whirlpools and walled-in forever eddys. It had a feel like the canyon could hold the water level, it didn't feel 'flooded' nor was there wood traveling downstream or many alders in the river. The moving stretches in between rapids developed fun wave trains. I would recommend a lower flow for first time descents due to the scenic quality of the run being reduced by the turbid water. Full sized rafts are a go at flows above 5 ft. We put in just below Sunshine to avoid the brushiness of the upper run. I've included some photos from a similar flow (8ft) in 2012.

Flows of 4.2 were playfull and technical for small R2 rafts and hardshell kayaks. All the rapids become steeper and more distinguished at these medium flows than at higher flows, it has a similar feel to the Breitenbush. The 3 distinct gorges were class IV- at medium flows. No wood in play couldn't be seen from the road and easily avoided. Would want a bit higher water for an oar raft.

We ran this river on Sunday (Jan 3, 2016) at 3.3'. There was no precipitation after a rain event earlier in the week and the drop in flows was reflected like so: Thursday the recording said flows were at about 4', Friday at 3.8', Saturday at 3.6', then Sunday morning when we ran the river the recording just said it was 'low'. We checked the physical gauge after our run and had 3.3' which we felt was a low, enjoyable first time flow for the run. It could be more enjoyable higher, but could also be worthwhile a little lower. There were no wood portages.

A low, but enjoyable flow. This gauge is located at the downstream end of the fish hatchery, a recording at (541) 332-0405 will often give a current reading of this gauge.

I agree with Sean Welsh...great run. I've been down twice, both times putting in at the campground 7+ miles upstream of the hatchery (Sunshine Bar?). This gives you a mile of class 1/2 warm-up before the first class 3/4 gorge. The first gorge has a bunch of pool-drop class 3 and a couple of class 4 rapids. One of which is the 'Sluice' the most dramatic rapid on the run...a 3+lead-in to a 6 to 8' sloping drop into a chaotic looking hydraulic that is easier than it looks. The other drop in the first gorge that is worth a scout is the last one (you can see this one on the drive up if you pay attention and thus avoiding a river scout). On the river you'll spot it by the boulders narrowing the stream with mist raising from river left and the river swinging 90 degrees to the right...run hard right to avoid the sticky looking hole on the left. After this is a three mile or so section of mostly class 2 with a few class 3's towards the end, just before the last gorge. The last gorge is great!; Five somewhat blind class 3+ to 4 drops separated by boiling class 2/3 water with tight to the walls surging eddies all in just over a 1/4 mile. Next time I'm going to figure out how to lap this gorge.

Pool below first big rapid in the upper run

Awesome run. came up from sacramento to paddle the smith...everything is frozen or not accesible. we drove up from the smith (1.5 hours) and ran the middle section of the elk. REALLY GOOD RUN for the class IV paddler. about 5 class IV's, two harder than the rest. one of the big ones is visible from the road, most of the other hard rapids arnt visible unless you whack down into the gorge (wouldnt be that hard). Water quality is similar to smith, rapids were steep, gorge was tight etc... We camped and ran the chetco the following day.great run but a little high. Overall..if the smith isnt working out, great alternative.