Cow Creek 2011
Cow-Girls and Cow-Boys
Cow Creek Trip Report – by Walt Bammann
It was a happy Easter for 12 guys and gals who braved showery weather for a rare chance to float Cow Creek near Glendale, OR. This small creek is barely noticeable when one crosses it on I-5 near Azalea. Then you may get an occasional glimpse as it moseys along on the west side of the freeway before veering west at the Glendale exit. At Glendale it steers north and flows for 35 miles before emptying into the South Umpqua River near the town of Riddle. Our unusually wet weather this spring has apparently filled Galesville Reservoir so the dam is releasing a steady flow lately keeping the creek over the 500 cfs considered minimum to raft.
Umpqua Chapter members put an Easter trip on the schedule a couple weeks earlier and left the destination open knowing the North Umpqua would always be a possibility. But with Cow Creek holding steady in the 670 cfs range for days, we made plans to use paddle rafts and kayaks. The kayakers dropped out but with 12 paddlers we were able to fill 3 paddle rafts manned by experienced paddle captains. The Umpqua Chapter has folks from all around the state and we had quite the mixed bag for this trip. Stefanie came up from Medford and collected David and John in the Grants Pass area. Shane and Tonya came over from Bandon, Carrie from Coos Bay and then we had Jake, Al, Jana, Francesca, Dustin and I from Roseburg.
Turns out I was the only one who had actually floated the creek before. This was in 2003 with the level at 500 cfs (see the March 2003 issue of “The Confluence” for that story). Back then we got permission to launch on private property in “Reuben” which is just a collection of a few homes about 5 miles downstream of Glendale on Cow Creek Rd which follows the creek all the way to Riddle. The canyon also is home to the railroad and one tunnel we could see from the creek has a sign marked 1883 and 1929 – not sure what this means other than it has been there a long time. This route is rarely, if ever, used anymore and I’ll leave the history to another day. The road is a beautiful 35 mile drive for anyone interested in that sort of thing. “Soggy Sneakers” has a write-up on the entire 35 miles. For this trip we decided to not chance rejection in Reuben so we launched at the bridge about a ¼ mile from Glendale. On the downstream/north-side of the bridge there is a skinny “road” to the water with a turn-around for trailers, but no facilities of any kind. Rafts were quickly inflated and the shuttle was run for the 12 mile trip. The unmarked, unimproved takeout is a couple miles past the BLM Skull Creek Recreation site and is easy to miss. Look for a narrow “road” leading to a big flat area with lots of parking by the creek. There are many mining claims and activities in this region, so be appropriately cognizant.
Cow Creek is unique in that it is a tiny waterway lined with trees and brush making passage tricky and potentially dangerous as even small trees can create problems. This section has 3 major rapids generally considered class 3, at least at 500 cfs. But it is the trees and narrow slots that keep you busy. We hadn’t gone 70 yards before encountering a strainer where we had to make a quick move to the bank, jump out and then bulldog the rafts around a tree blocking 90% of the creek. It was an easy maneuver but kept us wondering what might lie ahead. The next 4 miles were generally easy floating with some creative dodging of rocks and small islands. The pastureland in this section was dotted with a few homes along the banks. Our boats surprised ducks, geese, otters and turtles around most every corner. At the 3 mile mark, a nice sandy beach appeared and we stopped for a quick lunch. I could sense that everyone was wondering if I had duped them into just a sleepy scenic float. That was about to change.
About a mile below the lunch spot, we reached the very poor put-in at Reuben. It was here that the pastureland faded away as we descended into the canyon. Rocky walls and forested slopes dominated the scenery and the gradient steepened. Based on my 2003 trip, I figured it was about a mile below Reuben where we had encountered the first of the class-3 rapids. In that article I had written that when we scouted it, we had watched a flock of geese jump in the creek and swim it. It was an easy class 2-3 drop that day. Well I can’t begin to say how udderly shocked I was when we floated up to it on this trip. “Holy Cow”!! It was like a new rapid had been formed with no resemblance to 2003. No geese crazy enough to swim it today! I had been wondering if the increased flow from 500 to 660 cfs would be noticeable; after all an extra 160 cfs doesn’t seem like much, but then again, it is about a 33% increase. The rapid was now a very steep class 4 with some big holes and tight maneuvering. The rock walls pinch in here and the extra volume made a huge impact. We zigzagged down, around and over many obstacles and the crew performed flawlessly. The other 2 rafts had great runs also and smiles were everywhere. Wakey, wakey time!!
I knew we still faced the other two class-3 rapids plus whatever changes that might come our way due to the increased flow. A couple miles farther we hit what would normally be a class 1 riffle but the only boat-size route had a tree in it. With no choices we had to power into a notch between 2 rocks. The two 13’ rafts squeezed through with lots of bouncing but the 14’ raft got centered on the rock on the right. Luckily we didn’t have to rope them off but they were on it 5-10 minutes. A couple miles farther the creek split at a spot I remembered as having a weird but fun hydraulic feature in the right channel. On this trip, when the extra flow went over the horn-like rocks on each side of the slot, a huge hole was formed. On top of that, it was a winding approach so one couldn’t get any speed to punch through. Our raft hit it straight, got sucked back and lo and behold we found ourselves, dare I say it, “rodeo-surfing on the Cow”! We put the spurs to the raft and back-paddled out! What a ride!
Below this spot I knew the second class-3 lurked somewhere. Sure enough, after another mile or so the river veered right and we could see a jumbled mess of whitewater that was our next challenge. We stampeded through the long class 3-4 doing our best to avoid the many rocks and holes. Once again all riders stayed on as the boats tried to buck us off. This rapid was partially formed when the railroad was built and rocks were pushed over the bank to minimize erosion. There is even a cement wall along the tail end of the rapid.
About ½ mile farther, we floated under the highway bridge so the road was now on river left. It is about 3 miles from here to the takeout. The final class 3, Funnel Rapid, lurks about 1-1/2 miles downriver. It can be seen from the road if you look carefully through the trees. On the creek, a horizon line and the loud roar signal the rapid. The creek bends right and drops into a very steep and tight rock-lined drop, hence the name. It is about 100 yards long and is quite exciting. As the rapid curves to the right, it wants to force boats into the left wall but a spin move and backward exit can solve that problem. YeeHaw! More big s**t-eating grins!
From here it is a relatively easy float to the takeout. We passed an old railroad (cattle?) car sunk in the river -- must be a good story there. The final challenge was to pick the correct route around an island. One raft went left and ran out of water when the channel petered out. They had to get out and hoof it for a spell. The correct route was right of center but was hard to see through the ubiquitous overhanging trees and limbs in the middle of the river.
The takeout is not overly obvious but we knew to look for a big flat on river left with a small opening in the brush where vehicles had occasionally driven to the water’s edge. Rookie floaters should scout it on the shuttle. The takeout was a welcome sight as we were all tired. But it was a “happy-tired”. We had experienced some sunshine, some light rain and generally enjoyed a beautiful canyon with wonderful folks. What better way to spend Easter than in the glorious outdoors!
You know as a writer I just couldn’t resist milking a few puns out of this story. So to put a wrap on things, I’ll just say that when we started the day, the steaks were high. At times we came close to getting our teats in a wringer, but we made all the right mooves. Cow Creek is a blue ribbon winner. So, Cow-boy-up and give ‘er a ride! My apologies……
In all seriousness, if you want to do Cow Creek, here are some suggestions:
-Helmets are recommended as you will hit many branches from overhanging trees.
-While the creek has been rowed at 900-1000 cfs, I don’t recommend rowing at any level. Paddle rafts are the boat of choice, or kayaks. Pick your level carefully as 500 will be tight and some options on routes may disappear if a tree is blocking the only real slot. It has been kayaked but remember that this is a shallow river and swimming could be hazardous with all the brush, narrow channels and debris in the river and on the banks.
- Look ahead for strainers and other problems. We had to get on the floor of the raft to bust through thick branches in one spot from an alder suspended 3’ over the entire width of the river. If the tree drops any lower it will be a strainer with a tough portage. The creek is rarely run so there are almost no reports on new problems and road scouting is extremely limited.
-Have experienced boaters for paddle captains as snap decisions need to be made when encountering the many very narrow routes. Pick wrong and face potential problems.
-It is a wonderful trip, well worth the effort but go prepared for the unusual.
