After fire and pandemic hiatus, whitewater festival returns to Clackamas River

Carter Bridge Day Use Area, the longtime host for the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival, looks different. What was once a lush, deep green forested canyon has since burned. Some bridges, campgrounds and access roads remain closed. Places cherished by generations of rafters and recreators have yet to reopen.

Some things haven't changed. Those beautiful, multi-class rapids are still there. So are the people that ride them. The Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival kicked off its 37th year on Saturday in Estacada after a three year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and impacts from the Labor Day fires of 2020.

The festival hosts numerous events, from conventional rafting and kayaking to stand-up paddleboarding and tubing. Each event is focused around cross-style gates, which hang above the river on cables. In each event, participants cascading through numerous sets of class three and four rapids and try their best to cross through each of the eight gates between the launch point at Fish Creek and the finish line at Carter Bridge.

Competing on the Clackamas

Saturday's events included the more traditional oar boat slalom, cataraft slalom and hard shell kayak race, while Sunday was set to be reserved for newer additions like the inner tube slalom and the giant stand-up paddleboard race.

"This is my first time in a pack raft, and going down class four rapids in it was a little scary," said Richard Rigby after a trip down Carter Falls in the inflatable kayak event. "Looking at the rapids from the bridge beforehand I was a bit scared, but I watched some other people do it and said why not? It paid off."

During Rigby's heat, several kayakers went for an impromptu swim around gate three, but he stayed afloat and made it the finish line less wet than the rest.

"I'm in a Kokopelli raft and its got a spray skirt, so I think it held up a little better and it didn't flip, so I'm pretty happy," Rigby said.

The Clackamas' proximity to the Willamette Valley and Portland, paired with its climate, natural beauty and variety of rapids make it one of Oregon's most beloved rafting destinations. It may not be as well-known as the Rogue, Deschutes or White Salmon, but it's got something for everyone and a fierce local fanbase.

"The Clackamas is a river that you can run 365 days a year," said festival event coordinator and chairman Luke Spencer. "The idea that you can come here any day of the year and run it is what makes it one of the more special rivers around. It's really scenic beautiful run, and, in my opinion, having run a lot of class fives, it's a very friendly river. It's high reward, low risk for what you're paddling."

Whitewater festival provides community, stewardship

For many, the festival has created community since its beginnings in the mid-'80s.

"I think between COVID and the fires people were really itching to get back up here," said volunteer Justin Jessop. "It's been a pretty good showing, too. It's really good to see everybody and there's a lot of community and fulfillment that comes from getting to come to these events and be with friends and have these weekends where we can leave work behind and turn the phone off and enjoy. It's great to be here and be around river people again."

For festival chairman Bob Mosier, he said the first time he came out he didn't know anything about whitewater rafting. "I taught myself how to row on the lower Clackamas, I met some people that introduced me to the river, and I just fell in love with this event. There's generations of people that have attended this event."

One of the primary goals of the festival is to be stewards of the Clackamas. Mosier said the best way to do that is to get people out enjoying it.

"The more we spread the word about it, the better," Mosier said. "We're all environmentalists, that's what rafters are, generally. So we want to grow the advocates for the rivers and to help maintain and protect them."

Charles Gearing is an outdoors journalism intern for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at cgearing@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival returns after 3-year hiatus