Metolius

Full Metolius Trip Report from 10/12/2025-- sharing because I would've appreciated this beta beforehand and know there's other folks here newer to central Oregon paddling. Portage descriptions (we had 3 plus a number of barely squeezable moves around wood) with their respective locations in the description of the Lower below.

We put in at Riverside Campground (practically the head of the Metolius) for the sake of doing the whole thing, and unsurprisingly had a bunch of janky wood and very low water in the stretch above (and immediately below) Camp Sherman. If you like feeling like a spawning salmon I'd highly recommend this section. Probably could've walked it faster than we boated it though. My first time running this as I had been shown the put in below Camp Sherman-- I now better understand why.

Upper Metolius: we know and love it. I appreciate the variety and accessibility of this first stretch even more having seen the whole shebang.

Lower Metolius (below Lower Bridge):

There were a few riverwide log boofs, the first and most prominent of which (right above Candle Creek campground) is good to go. This is the log jam the 2022 poster mentions. A notch has been cut in the middle of the log, so at 1300 CFS (standard non-melt flow) it's definitely runnable. I didn't get a location but looking at satellite view I think it's: 44.573068,-121.619304

Below this jam and above Candle Creek campground there's a long-ish rapid around a bend I'd called 3+. It's probably the most substantial rapid of the Lower. What do you guys call this one?

Significant log jam that looks enticing (first log boofable on right side) but sends you into a second, impassable log (see first photo) is at:

44.629054,-121.602657

Eddy out and portage on right

Island with log jam in right channel (see second photo), easy pullover and portage OR scrape down left channel:

44.666012,-121.581901

Libertarian logjam (just past the private inholding [you'll see solar panels and a bunch of equipment on your right] and below the rapid with some big high water marks in it). The older couple that lives here are nice provided you survive getting attacked by their 3 German shepherd police dogs and/or getting shot for trespassing. I learned this after an errant trail run last year from Monty.

44.644930,-121.513594

Eddy out right, portage right (see third photo). This is a crazy big jam.

One riverbend below there's the third mandatory portage-- easy eddy out on right and a bit of a hike along a decently developed trail to clear the brush and get to a decent put in.

44.643163,-121.509667

Eddy out right, portage right.

The only other notable feature on the run was a pillow piling up/off of a wall on the right, shortly before Monty. It looks appealing to run up onto but as you get closer you'll see that the wall is quite undercut and there's a nasty seam just downstream of the pillow. Would recommend staying away.

We got to see spawning salmon (90% sure they were Kokanee) cruising up the Whitewater River, would highly recommend a stop there! Fall colors of the understory, particularly the vine maple, were amazing. Grateful for this place and for the opportunity we have to inhabit it for a moment!