Roaring

The Roaring River watershed is one of the last uncut, roadless areas in the Clackamas drainage. The view from the rim of the rugged canyon is one of the best in the area. The scenery is excellent throughout the run with old growth trees along the banks and rugged rock walls. The rapids are classic boulder gardens with some fun bedrock slides thrown in for variety. The upper section, not described here, has a great 25 ft. waterfall but usually more wood issues and fewer standout rapids.

Roaring River doesn't make it easy for boaters. The shuttle is about 45 minutes each way and access to the put-in requires at least a 1.5 mile hike down into the canyon. Some years the river has a large amount of wood and at high water a couple of the rapids have very unforgiving holes. Having said all that, Roaring River has some of the best Class 4 rapids in the Clackamas drainage and really is worth all the trouble.

The run begins with a few smaller, boulder garden rapids that provide a good warmup before the bigger rapids begin. Shortly below the putin, look for an obvious horizon line on a sharp right-hand bend. You'll see a bunch of wood piled up on the left bank. Scout Headknocker on the right to see if you want to run this tricky ledge drop. Just below the first part of this rapid, a steep boulder garden may or may not be runnable depending on the current alignment of rocks. Both sections of Headknocker can be portaged on the right.

Below this rapid there are many, many good Class 3+-4 rapids with excellent scenery. At lower flows, you can boat scout your way down the run, but the river gets very continuous as the water level rises and the eddies can be very small in some places. Be vigilant for wood in any of the rapids. There have been some bad experiences running rapids blind so take care if you don't know the current wood situation. Once you hit a long gradual bedrock slide, eddy out quickly on the left. Just downstream is a s

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