Oregon River Rafting Guide

PADDLE POWER: Rafting Oregon's Deschutes River (Eric Valentine)

The Cascade Mountains supply the Pacific Northwest with an abundance of riches when it comes to world-class whitewater. The Rogue River, emanating from Crater Lake National Park and wending its way to the Pacific Ocean, provides rafters with one of life's quintessential river-running experiences, delving deep into forested canyons and bumping along stretches of Class III-IV water to justify its Wild & Scenic designation. Portland and Bend, adventuresome base camps straddling the northern shoulders of the Cascades, provide easy access to instant classics like the Clackamas and Deschutes; roiling through the southern forests on the Oregon-California line, you've got hard-charging runs on the Umqua, as well as on the lovable Rogue; look west for a change of pace and terrain, with the high peaks of the Cascades giving way to the desert canyons of the Owhyee River and such rugged classics as the Snake River, which spills across from Idaho into Oregon's most northwestern frontier.

Rafting Rivers in Oregon