Illinois

Southern Oregon's Illinois River may be considered the pinnacle of sweep boat adventures and pushes the viability of said craft on what are traditionally considered challenging multi-day river trips. While the elusive double-crown (Selway / Illinois) of sweep boating remains mostly out of reach, the Illinois River is the unicorn of sweep boat descents. Globally, the formula for determining the likelihood of a sweep boat attempt remains murky and untested, but a simple and logical mind would hypothesize that the increased strength of a rivers gravitational pull projected upon sweep boats is directly correlated to two key factors: proximity and density of sweep boat populations. If this theory is true, the Selway River will likely be accomplished in the near future. The Illinois, on the hand, remains an unlikely destination due to its substantial distance from the highest density of known sweep boat populations: Salmon, Idaho. Sweep boat density in Southern Oregon remains small, with an estimated count of 1. However, similar to Southern Oregon's famous OR-7 'lone' wolf, locals speculate there may be additional sweep boats that have simply not been documented.

Sweep boaters who are tempted by the Illinois will benefit from obtaining absolute familiarity with the river at numerous flows. While the only known sweep boat descent was deemed a worthy accomplishment, the margin between success versus spectacular disaster, unscheduled disassemby, and suffering remains small and must be considered.

On January 9, 2026, a small group left Miami Bar with 2500 CFS reported at Kerby. The group camped at Deadman's Bar on night 1. Night 2 the group camped just above Silver Creek on river-left. On day 3, they arrived at the top of Oak Flat and concluded their journey. Flows at day 3 were approximately 1800 CFS at Kerby.

Initial areas of concern for the sweep were Rocky Top, York Creek, Clear Creek, Green Wall, Little Green Wall, and Submarine Hole. While all of these did prove to present a challenge, an unexpected drama occurred at Klondike, where the river bends sharply to the right and current pushes into the cliff on river-left. Here, the sweep boat struggled to make the move right and, while it did so eventually, future sweep boaters will benefit from beta suggesting they take this unremarkeable turn quite seriously.

As with all things sweep boat, conservative lines are king and inside to outside maneuvers prove desireable when faced with the decision to muscle the boat or go with the flow. Moving these boats in technical whitewater is not always possible, practical, reasonable, or sane; but in a sweep boaters world that might just be par for the course and speaks to an ideology far beyond simply messing about in boats.

It will only be a matter of time until another sweep boater sets their sights on the Illinois, Selway, or finds another river to complete a supposed Triple Crown. While the simple small boaters will ask 'why?,' the sweep boater mentality suggests a better question is 'why not?' See you downstream.

We joined Aaron Babcock's inaugural Illinois River clean-up trip in 2019 with a mission to paddle the wilderness canyon and remove as much trash as possible. We had good flows for a cleanup mission, a great crew, awesome weather, and we pulled out over 1,000 pounds of trash. And there was some obligatory carnage, but thankfully no injuries or damage.

Omar Jepperson and I set out on a two-night three-day trip on the Wild and Scenic Illinois River. We drove down on Thursday arriving at the Illinois River late in the evening and found a place to camp along the road. On Friday we began our trip at McCaleb Ranch to take in a few more river miles upstream of Miami Bar (1850 cfs). We continued on down past Pine Flat and found a kayaker camp for two. On Saturday morning we encountered a group from Portland just as we were getting ready to launch and ended up joining with them as we continued through the more challenging rapids including the Green Wall and the whitewater downstream (2090 cfs). After we finished with the major whitewater rapids we found a camp on river left a few miles upstream of the take-out. We paddled out on Easter morning (1870 cfs) and drove back to Seattle that day.

Rocky Top is considered by some as the most dangerous rapid on the Illinois River due to the undercut boulder you must miss.

Putting in Upstream at the Boy Scout Camp

This rapid has a fun right chute and a great surf wave for rafts and kayaks

Seeing as how the put-in for this run is less than an hour from my home I've managed to get on this run a no. of times, both raft supported and self-supported in my kayak but mostly self-support kayak trips. I favor lowish flows and all my trips have been made between 450cfs to 1,250cfs @ Kirby. 450cfs goes fine for kayaks, but rafts will have a tight time in the lead-in and rocky exit in 'Green Wall' and the narrow exit at 'Submarine Hole' at 700 or lower. At 500 and lower 'Sub Hole' becomes a steep 4+ boulder garden, starting on river right and ending on river left, don't miss the move as the sub hole rock (6'-8' above the water at this flow) has some scary logs trapped on the right side of it. It's worth a scout from river right before running at low flows. Also of note is the entrance to York Creek rapid gets narrow and very steep at 500cfs and lower with a sticky hole in the center, so pick a side of the pourover and paddle!

Final scenic canyon section before the take-out at Oak Flat.
Most of the rapids in the final few miles are class II separated by long pools but the canyon scenery is impressive with some varied and interesting geology.
The take-out area at Oak Flat on river right.
The California Pitcher Plant, Darlingtonia californica, can be found throughout the river canyon clinging to the bedrock walls where the water of springs percolates through crevices in the rock. Insects attracted by the nectar are utilized as a nutrient source.

Looking back upstream to the last pitch of the Green Wall.
Lining up for the main drop at the Green Wall.
Lining up for the first big hole at the Green Wall.

The Little Green Wall is a short distance downstream of the Green Wall and requires one to thread through some large boulders and a couple holes. This photo is of the runout looking back upstream.
Class III rapids just downstream of Klondike Creek.
This narrow constriction in the canyon walls is just downstream of the Green Wall.
Although Prelude was previously used to refer to the rapid now known as Fawn Falls, boaters use it to refer to the class III lead-in to the Green Wall.
South Bend marks the start of the section of concentrated rapids of the canyon section. There is a small river bar campsite on river right here.
At higher flows the center rock at the bottom forms a large hole. The preferred route starts right and then skirts the hole on the left at the bottom.

One of the class IV drops in the first section of concentrated rapids near the start of the run.
The put-in at Miami Bar.
Running the right line at Pine Creek Rapid. One of the campsites at Pine Flat is visible in the background on river left. There are additional campsites in this area downstream of the rapid.
One of several great rapids in the first sequence of concentrated rapids at the start.