Klamath

The Ishi Pishi River Access is on the river right side of the Klamath at the bridge on Ishi Pishi Road on Karuk tribal land. Use the access to unload boats and gear, then drive back up to the paved road, turn right, and park your vehicle in the first pullout on the left. Do not leave vehicles by the river or linger in this area: load/unload and get on your way.

The flat clearing at the put-in is a Karuk Tribe ceremonial site. Please respect this site by staying off the flat clearing.

Every summer, usually in July and/or August, this section of river is closed so that Karuk ceremonies can be conducted. When ceremonial closures are in place, the river access, the Klamath River downstream of the access, and the Salmon River upstream of the access area all closed. Please check for closures in summer before using this access: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/sixrivers/alerts and https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/klamath/alerts.

This river access is also the take-out for the lower Salmon River run.

Little Ike is the first significant reapid of the run and can be identified easily by the large rock in the center of the river at the bottom of the rapid that forms a giant reactionary pillow wave.

Big Ike (Ikes Falls) is visible from Highway 96 near the Ikes Falls River Access road. Depending upon flow, there are routes on the left and right or, at high flows, down the center. This is the Karuk fishing site known as Y'utim'îin, and it is sometimes fished in the late summer and fall, so be on the lookout for dipnet fishermen on the river left at the entry to the rapid.

The K-Wave is optimal when the Klamath River flow at the Orleans gage is 11,000 cfs. At summer flows, this feature is just a large pillow the exposed rock that, at high flows, forms the K-Wave.

As the river bends around the corner after K Wave, a long rapid starts.

One of several unnamed rapids on this run, this one is run on the left and is the rapid above Super Ike.

Different boaters apply the name Super Ike to different rapids. Here, the name is applied to the last significant drop on the run, just prior to a long pool that extends all the way to the Whitmore Creek river bar. The rapid is on par with Little Ike and Big Ike and features a large ledge shelf on river right that shunts the main flow to the left, necessitating some maneuvering in a dogleg bend in the current. At higher flows, it is more straightforward. Located at USGS river mile 64.4.

Small riffle usually run down the left.

There is more than one place to access the river at Dolans Bar, but the easiest one is at the very upstream end of the bar. A rough track over the cobbles, boulders, and sand provide vehicle access: 4WD is highly recommended. It's also possible to carry gear a short ways from the river to avoid needing to drive the rough track. There is a dispersed camp area on the downstream end of the bar. Break-ins sometimes occur here so avoid leaving a vehicle longer thaan necessary and do not leave any valuables.

Dolans Bar is the location where tribal members convened in early 2003, following the devastating Klamath River fish kill of September 2002, and committed to securing the removal of PacifiCorp's four hydropower dams and reservoirs upriver. The warm water and disease that proliferated in the reservoirs, coupled with federal water mismanagement, led to the fish kill. By late 2024, the four dams were fully removed in the largest dam removal project in history. It would not have happened without the Dolans Bar committment and tribal leadership of the effort over 20 years.