Join us for steep and technical whitewater, an award winning ultra-comfortable ‘safari style’ backcountry camp (think glamping), and the most beautiful and exciting sections of the Upper Klamath River after the historic dam removals. This is a uniquely action packed and comfortable down-river luxury camping adventure that explores the best and most active sections of the newly freed Klamath River. A journey down a restored river – combining the ‘old’ with the ‘new’ for one of the most unique trips in the United States.
Momentum’s first commercial rafting trip was on the Upper Klamath and it is one of the two rivers that made us choose Ashland, OR as our base. Our original Upper Klamath River Safari trip and camp took almost 5 years to develop and eventually introduced 1000’s of people to wild rivers.
Along the way it won awards – a 2018 Sunset Magazine Travel Award Finalist and Portland Monthly named it as one of their “Ten Once-in-a-Lifetime Cascadian Journeys” – “It is glamping at its best. And you must earn it.” The trip was active, very comfortable, and most importantly – really fun.
Now we are beyond excited to use our camp that took us so long to develop and that so many people loved to show people the newly freed Klamath River. I love extremely remote and wild places. But I also love active days outside followed by good food and drink, unique & comfortable accommodations, all shared with friends new and old. And to be able to do that while exploring a river healing itself after the biggest dam removal in history… we feel lucky and honored.
Find out more about the Klamath Dam Removals:
Rafting The Klamath River After The Dams – Find out more about the largest dam removal in history >>
The trips also feature a high guide-to-guest ratio – at most flows our boats will have only 4 guests and 1 guide so we are light and nimble enough to make the tight and technical moves.
We will begin with a fun class-III warm-up, making the Upper Klamath River Safari a recommended rafting trip for first-timers or experts in good physical condition. There is plenty of opportunity to learn the finer points of river running before the canyon constricts, the river drops out of sight and we enter a seven-mile stretch of long, steep and technical rapids – including the famous ‘Caldera’ and ‘Hells Corner’ rapids.
In the afternoon we will pull into our unique and comfortable ‘Upper Klamath Bush Camp’. The camp is a safari style riverside base camp located deep in the canyon, only accessible by raft, and less than 100 miles from the largest Dark Sky Sanctuary in the United States. Set among ponderosa pine are shaded walk-in tents with cots and private decks, a shaded eating area, showers, hammocks, and the ‘UK Bar’. The late afternoon can be spent hiking, fly-fishing, playing games in the sun, having a drink at the bar or by the river, or just hanging out in a hammock. In the evening we will serve appetizers, a big dinner, and dessert, followed by a comfortable night under the high desert sky.
On day 2 we continue down river where the canyon opens up and the bigger whitewater takes a breather – eventually floating into the site of Copco reservoir and the Kikaceki Valley. If timing and water levels allow there will be an option to jump into kayaks for those who are interested. Navigating your own inflatable kayak is a unique and very exciting way to experience the river and they add a whole new dimension and sense of adventure to the river.
We end with Kikacéki Canyon, one of the more dramatic and imposing canyons on the West Coast and the most concentrated section of whitewater of the trip. Vertical columnar basalt walls quickly close in, the whitewater turns back on, and we pass between two dismantled dam sites into a section of river that had almost never been run before late 2024 and was dry for over 100 years. The rapids are continuous with only one real break in the entire stretch – just long enough to truly admire the beauty of the canyon. And then we end with one of the biggest rapids of the entire trip, the mighty Kikaceki Falls.
Hell’s Corner is one of our original ‘backyard’ stretches of river, the reason Momentum started in Southern Oregon, and we are so excited for this next chapter. Join us for a journey through two spectacular whitewater filled canyons, a unique and very comfortable night at our safari style backcountry base camp, and a ‘front of the boat’ seat to the historic restoration of the Upper Klamath River.
Please Note: This trip is perfect for experienced and first time paddlers (and for those who find regular camping to be not their cup of tea). However, the rapids are technical and the trip is active – all guests need to be in good physical condition. If you have any questions or concerns please give us a call or an email.
