Sandy
4. Revenue Bridge to Dodge Park
| Difficulty | II(III) |
| Length | 5.2 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 33 fpm |
| Gauge | Sandy River Blw Bull Run River, Nr Bull Run, or |
| Flow Rate as of 56 minutes | 1130 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | January 26, 2025 |
Projects
The removal of Marmot Dam on the Sandy River was completed in 2007, restoring the river to a free-flowing state. American Whitewater continues to advocate for projects that enhance public enjoyment of the river through ongoing conservation efforts and established public access. The Sandy River Gorge has the feel [...]Read More
The National Conservation Lands—a 26-million-acre collection of national monuments, wilderness areas, wild and scenic rivers, trails, and historic sites—are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conserve some of the most treasured landscapes in the American West. Established administratively by the BLM in 2000 and made permanent [...]Read More
River Description
This is a delightful stretch that feels remote and has mostly class II feel except for a couple of class III rapids near the end of the run. Keep your eyes peeled for the great surfing waves especially in some of the shelfier sections.
Revenue to Dodge starts mellow but has an occasional rapid that pushes the upper limits of class II. Toward the end there are two rapids that are rated class III. The first one is a ledge that squeezes the current to the left where there are some obstacles. At higher flows the current pushes through from the end of the first to the beginning of the second. The second one (Cat Trap) is a boulder garden that ends with the water concentrated against the right wall and creates a small pocket in the sandstone.
Not far downstream of Cat Trap is a row of houses on river-right, downstream are two sets of powerlines, underneath the second set of powerlines is the 'Powerline Wave', an excellent surf spot for advanced boaters at flows around 10,000 cfs with eddy service.
This section is sometimes added to the Sandy Gorge run because the takeout is easy and pleasant.
The takeout is on river right immediately under the bridge, or after it near the parking in Dodge Park. This county park has bathroom facilities, ample parking, and picnic tables you need them. If you ever run the Bull Run, the takeout for that section is way at the back of this same park.
Paddler diplomacy alert: Please meet and gear up at one of the takeouts, and minimize the number of cars that you park at the put-in (Revenue). Revenue is also the takeout for the gorge section and parking is limited. Avoid nudity or public urination in this area (there is no toilet). Avoid worsening the mud situation. In general be as courteous and low impact as possible while we work to improve our access situation at this location.
Additional References Full description in
...River Features
Dodge Park
Dodge Park is a pleasant access point with easy river access on river right under the bridge and immediately downstream.
Revenue Bridge
The launch point at Revenue is a little tricky to access. First, you are not allowed to park anywhere near the bridge. Instead, use the parking area at the junction of Kubitz and Ten Eyck Road, up the hill on river left. Carry your boat down alongside the road and descend to the river on the downstream side of the bridge, picking your way carefully over the bare basalt on the final stretch to the water.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportThere is a tree coming off the bank and covering the whole left channel at River mile 5.5. You can avoid this by taking the center channel instead.
The log in Cat Trap is gone. There is a tree down in the runout of the Powerline wave, easily avoidable but would affect that surf spot when it is in at high flows. The rest of the run was clean.
FYI there is a tree down across the entire channel at mile 3.8 from revenue bridge. There wasn't enough room or desire to chance it on our crew. Portage River left, eddies on both sides at our flow. Image shows landmark hillside to look for, they were taken from the portage looking up stream. Have fun and be safe.
Rafted this 5/30/22 at 4500 cfs. Fun section, lots of water and nice big waves. Came out of the gorge section, so this seemed pretty tame in comparison.
Ran Revenue to Dodge yesterday (1600cfs - fun!) and encountered the cave/pillow combo mentioned in the March comment below. It's the second III mentioned in the description. I tried to skirt the left side through the boulders and ended up facing a wall o' rocks and had to pivot to the right straight towards the wall anyway - safest bet at this level seems to be straight down the clear line but be mindful of staying left.
Posting for a friend who ran this a few days ago:
Sandy River Revenue to Dodge Park
Re: Unknown named rapid I have formerly referred to as “Rt wall curler” I will now refer to “Rt wall cave and pillow rapid”. It’s located in the immediate proximity of the end of SE Marsh Rd. And it’s after the class 2-3 rapid that is at the start of the houses on river right.
The clay wall has been undercut more and the indent on river right wall is now more like a cave. The curler is now a pillow and a little retentive to an inverted boater. Immediately following the pillow it appears as the soft clay wall is undercut. At 1,100 CFS (Marmont gauge) the surface water hitting the wall and creating the pillow deflects at 80°-90°, my concern is a swimmer upstream could be pinned against the wall or flushed under portions of the wall immediately downstream.
The lead in to this rapid at this flow is rocky and could easily disrupt a newer paddler. From near the top of the lead in (I started river right) as soon as I saw the increased size of the cave i immediately paddled hard to get left and still got pushed up onto the pillow. The next paddler remained along the right nearly brushing the rocky outcropping on the right just above the cave. He passed the cave, rode up on the pillow and flipped upstream. He was momentarily held inverted in the depression upstream of the pillow, and despite bracing and rolling efforts flushed out swimming. Wouldn’t necessarily call this a close call, but rather a heads up to everyone that this rapid has changed and brings an increasing risk to be mindful of as I have heard this has traditionally been considered a beginner to intermediate skill building run.
Dodge to Oxbow at 2250 today was absolutely delightful. Gorgeous scenery, fun clean moves, and great surfing waves...perfect to take our noobs on and enjoyable for more advanced paddlers too. And it really is beautiful out there.
Revenue to Dodge is more fun than I expected at 1225cfs. Definitely not a beginner run for kayakers at this flow, especially those last couple of rapids before Dodge. Starting at Dodge with careful scouting of Pipeline rapid is a better option for beginner kayakers.
Great stretch for beginners. Ran from Bull Run confluence to Oxbow Park at 4300 or so and found lots of flat water, many good play waves (catch on the fly) and a few holes to avoid. Pipeline is definitely harder than the rest of the rapids.
full tree down across width of river - total obstruction. easy to take boat out and return to water on other side.