Klamath

With Keno Park closed and no high clearance vehicle to access the Old Wagon Road, we drove to the start of the Old Wagon Road and hiked our boats out to the shoreline of the reservoir. From there it was about a half mile paddle to Keno Dam which we portaged on river right. We had 4300 cfs coming out of the dam but a good staging eddy on river right. The action starts right away but with no significant holes or hazards before the river settles into a calmer stretch just above Keno Play Wave. We cut right at the Keno Play Wave and found a good eddy on river right near the old powerplant.

Continuing downstream a decent-sized hole was hiding on river right and then we had another to pass on river left. The biggest hole on the river was just past the gage station and cableway where a very large raft-flipping hole extends 3/4 of the way across the river from the rock face on river left. It was relatively easy to skirt around to the right at this flow.

None of the rapid were especially difficult in this upper section although the action was continuous and the holes were a bit intimidating.

The action soon tapered off to bigwater class II and it was much more relaxed on the way down to Meatball. Meatball, recognized by the large meatball-shaped rock near the top of the rapid at center left, was the biggest rapid of the day but it is relatively short and you can see the calm pool at the bottom. I went down the right, crashing through a couple holes but nothing that stopped me, and others took a line to the left.

We were soon on the two mile flatwater paddle out to the Highway 66 Bridge with a lilttle bit of current to carry us along. We took out in the bridge right-of-way and parked on county property on the upstream river left side of the bridge.