The Wild and Scenic Project

2023-03-14 by Quinlan Pfifferoutsideadventurepackraftingwhitewaterkayaking

Whats the project?

I like to do big efforts, big projects, weird missions. I love whitewater. I love kayaking, and packrafting, and hiking into bad drainages. I love getting skunked. I love the gamble. I love when it pays off.

Plans have changed for this year, quite a bit, and after two months of being sick, Megan and I have decided to go different routes to the Faroe Islands later this year. She’ll be training to race with Team Bones up in Canada, and I’ll be scratching my poverty itch with my car and my boat. I’ll have a bike, too, again. I’m very excited.

With all this time to do whatever I want, I’ve been compiling a list of rivers to do. The Kalmpiopsis has always been crazy magical to me, so I find myself thinking about rivers and access a lot. Many of the rivers I want to do are Wild and Scenic, so I decided to come up with a slightly ambitious project inspired by Cody Townsend’s The Fifty. What if I tried to paddle all of Oregon’s Wild and Scenic?

These rivers are beautiful, sometimes hard to access, clear and completely untouched. The Wild and Scenic definitions mean that they are pristine and unmolested by mines or dams, and oftentimes don’t even have roads. Just go look up pictures of the Chetco river to see what I mean.

I don’t know how long this will take, but I’d like to try and track all the rivers here. Some of them I’ve already done, or done partially, so this will be informitive, if anything.

What are the rivers?

• Very useful gage.
• Complete Oregon list.

Here is the megalink to all of them. Here are the rivers and their status for my little project. I’ll do write-ups for the bigger ones.

• Not Done Big Marsh Creek
• Done Chetco River - 2.5 day solo push
• Done Clackamas River - the backyard run for PDX. Done quite a few times.
• Not Done Clackamas River (South Fork)
• Not Done Collawash River
• Not Done Crescent Creek
• Not Done Crooked River
• Not Done Crooked River (North Fork)
• Partially Completed Deschutes River - I’ve done quite a few parts of this but not the whole W&S section.
• Not Done Donner und Blitzen River
• Not Done Eagle Creek (Mt. Hood National Forest)
• Not Done Eagle Creek (Wallowa-Whitman National Forest)
• Not Done Elk Creek
• Not Done Elk River
• Not Done Elkhorn Creek
• Not Done Fifteenmile Creek
• Done Fish Creek - Not a full descent, but a good mile or so of it. Update: I’ve done two miles of it. ~6.6 ft on the gage.
• Not Done Franklin Creek
• Not Done Grande Ronde River
• Not Done Hood River (East Fork)
• Not Done Hood River (Middle Fork)
• Not Done Illinois River
• Not Done Imnaha River
• Not Done Jenny Creek
• Done John Day River - Clarno to cottonwood! Around ~7000 CFS. 3.5 days.
• Not Done John Day River (North Fork)
• Not Done John Day River (South Fork)
• Not Done Joseph Creek
• Not Done Klamath River
• Not Done Little Deschutes River
• Not Done Lobster Creek
• Not Done Lostine River
• Not Done Malheur River
• Not Done Malheur River (North Fork)
• Not Done McKenzie River
• Partially Completed Metolius River
• Done Minam River - Four day with a solid crew, ~350CFS
• Done Molalla River - Three bears ~2500CFS? Maybe 2000? The gage is hard to read
• Not Done Nestucca River
• Not Done North Powder River
• Not Done North Umpqua River
• Not Done Owyhee River
• Not Done Owyhee River (North Fork)
• Not Done Powder River
• Not Done Quartzville Creek
• Not Done River Styx
• Not Done Roaring River
• Not Done Roaring River (South Fork)
• Done Rogue River - Over labor day this year
• Not Done Rogue River (Upper)
• Partially Completed Salmon River
• Done Sandy River
• Not Done Silver Creek (North Fork)
• Not Done Smith River (North Fork)
• Not Done Snake River
• Not Done Sprague River
• Not Done Spring Creek
• Not Done Sycan River
• Not Done Walker Creek
• Not Done Wallowa River
• Not Done Wasson Creek
• Not Done Wenaha River
• Not Done West Little Owyhee River
• Not Done Whychus Creek
• Not Done White River
• Not Done Wildhorse & Kiger Creeks
• Not Done Willamette River (North Fork Middle Fork)
• Not Done Zigzag River

Packing List

• Backpack
  • Drybag(s)
• Clothes
  • Sunglasses
  • Hat
  • Hiking clothes
    • Rainjacket
    • Sun hoodie
  • Paddling clothes
    • Long warm base layer
    • Pants
    • Wool socks
    • Optional: Warm mid-layer
    • Optional: Wool tights
  • Sleeping clothes/Camp clothes
    • Puffy jacket
    • Beanie
    • Optional: Wool tights
  • Crocs!
  • Hiking/Paddling shoes
• Boat
  • Drybag(s)
  • Cargo/tube Bags
  • Pump
  • Repair kit
  • Inflation Bag
  • Paddle
  • Coaming
  • Sprayskirt
  • PFD
  • Drysuit
  • Helmet
  • Throwbag
  • Paddle
  • Lap bag
  • Way to keep phone dry
    • Zip-loc?
  • Optional: Poagies
  • Optional: Storm cap
  • Optional: Spare paddle
• Sleep kit
  • Sleeping pad OR Hammock
    • Animalist pad or other foam
  • Quilt
  • Bivy
  • Ground tarp
• Food
  • Meals
  • Snacks
  • Coffee
• Misc.
  • Water bottle
    • Nalgene or regular 1L bottle
  • Filter/Purification stuff
  • Spork
  • Lighter
  • Stove
  • Small knife
  • Gas
  • Toothbrush/Paste (or powder)
  • Poop shovel/Wagbags
  • Wallet
  • First-aid Kit
    • Sunscreen
    • Lip balm (make sure also sunproof)
    • Ibuprofen
    • Salt Tablets
    • Band-aids
    • Nut butter/Aquaphor
• Electronics
  • Sattelite comms device
  • Gopro
  • Phone with route/maps downloaded
  • Watch
  • USB Battery
  • USB Cables for charging
    • Gopro
    • Headlamp
    • Phone
    • Watch
  • Headlamp
  • Optional: Earbuds
  • Optional: Solar panel