Klamath River Hotshot Rafting Trip Itinerary

Boats

As on most of our trips we offer a variety of river craft to choose from. Orange Torpedo Trips is best known for inflatable kayaking with 80% of our customers choosing this as the way to go down the river, however on this trip we also offer paddle rafts for those looking to go that way. Due to the nature of the white water we do not offer standard oared rafts on this trip.

Torpedo

Learn to paddle your own inflatable kayak (Torpedo). We have guides in “Torpedo’s” teaching you how to paddle and leading you through the rapids in a 4 to 1 ratio. If you happen to fall out the guides have you out of the river in seconds. 40+ years of doing it on the Rogue River and tens of thousands of satisfied returning customers prove that it is fun and safe.

Paddle Raft

A more traditional type of rafting, paddle rafts are a great way to go if you still want to do some work, but think the torpedo is just a little to much. Work with a team of your friends paddling the big boat through the rapids as the guide sits in the back to help navigate.

Trip Itinerary

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Day 1: Meet us at the Rogue River Center in Merlin Oregon at 7:00 AM. If you are going to meet us in Happy Camp CA. (which makes the most sense if you are coming from the south) please meet us at the Ranger Station at 9:30 AM. When meeting we will transfer your luggage for the trip into our van and head the two minutes down to the Indian Creek put-in.

At the put-in you will receive a thorough orientation for whatever river craft you choose to travel in. After everyone is geared up and ready to go we start our down river journey. Today will include numerous big and exciting class III rapids including rattlesnake, trench, independence, dragon's tooth, ukanom, and numerous others. If you like great white water, beautiful scenery, and seeing lots of river miles, this is your trip. Today we will cover over 20 river miles before finding our takeout.

From the takeout we load into the vans and drive a short five minutes to the campground for an evening of great food, refreshments, sitting around the fire, and probably a few games of cards. It's important to get a good nights sleep because the white water of day two will require all of your attention.

Rise in the morning for a filling breakfast as the day starts to warm up. After sitting around the fire we load into the vans and drive 20 minutes to our put-in on the Cal-Salmon River. Our first two miles will be in this crystal clear gorge running numerous class II and III rapids before we arrive at the exciting confluence with the Klamath River.

When we hit the Klamath and navigate the surprisingly fun confluence rapid the real fun will quickly arrive. Just around the corner we will arrive at our first big class III of the day, Pre-Ike. This reasonably easy rapid is a fun chute down the right hand side next to big ledge. A couple hundred yards downstream the river drops away over a thrilling horizon line letting us know we have arrived at IKE Falls. The group will pull over and scout this wild ride allowing anyone who wants to walk around.

After gathering below Ike Falls we will pull over for lunch above the next rapid, lunch box. Lunch box, another fun class III leads into the Big Ike which is known for its plethora of big waves and being the longest rapid of the trip. After Big Ike and some other fun rapids the day concludes with one last big wave before arriving at the vans and back to camp for another night around the fire.

Day three is typically a repeat of either day one or day two depending on what the group is up for.