The New Klamath
Rafting the Undammed Klamath River
Story by Lee Juillerat
Photos Momentum River Expeditions
The removal of four dams on the Klamath River has resulted in the faster-than-expected return of Chinook salmon and other fish up the river.
Biologists with both the Oregon and California Departments of Fish and Wildlife have been surprised and delighted with the return of Chinook salmon and other fish. According to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, nearly 70,000 salmon returned to spawn in the Klamath and its tributaries in 2025.
The fish are returning—and so are outfitters offering a variety of easy to challenging rafting excursions. Because of the dam removals, beginning in coming weeks and months people will have unparalleled opportunities to travel down and experience the river as never before. That’s because several rafting outfitters are offering an array of day to multiday trips on the restored, or “New Klamath.”
In 2024 and 2025 four Klamath River dams were removed, the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. The Klamath River now runs free from Keno to the Pacific Ocean, including 44 miles of river that was formerly trapped by reservoirs and diversions.
Several rafting companies, including Noah’s River Adventures, Indigo Creek Outfitters, and Momentum Outfitters, all based on Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, are offering guided trips through familiar and previously inaccessible sections of the newly free-flowing river.
Immediately after the last dam was removed, guides took training trips before offering day and, later, multiday trips. This year the three companies are excited about a full slate of offerings.
Pete Wallstrom, owner and guide for Momentum, said the outfitters checked out the changes, especially in sections of the river impacted by the dam removals and elimination of reservoirs last year.
“We worked through things,” Wallstrom says of seeing the restored river during the exploratory excursions. “We wanted to see and be on the river to know we could run it safely.”
After the trial runs, Momentum, Noah’s, and Indigo Creek offered guided river trips.
“Even for someone who has planned for this and studied maps and geology to understand how it would look, it is still hard to put words to and even shocking to see,” Wallstrom says of the restored Klamath. “It is so, so beautiful to see how quickly a river renews and recovers—especially with a little help. And to see, only months after the final dam was removed, salmon swimming upstream.”
“We have a pretty good feeling for trips on the Klamath and what will work,” echoed Will Volpert, owner and guide for Indigo Outfitters. “There is still a lot of exploring to do,” Volpert says, emphasizing the removals allow one day to multiday floats through a variety of river rapids, from gentle Class-2 to challenging Class 4-plus and 5. Of those technical sections, he recommends, “If you don’t have that ability, you should be going with a guide like us. There are really some challenging stretches of river.” He adds that it’s possible that day trips with a put-in below the Keno Dam (one of the two remaining Klamath River dams), will be offered this year with paddlers being shuttled from the Running Y Resort in Klamath Falls. Updates will be posted on Indigo Creek’s website.
Echoing Volpert and Wallstrom is Noah’s owner Bart Baldwin, says the dam removals have transformed the Klamath. “Every section of the river is different, a different personality, noting there are now new rapids that are unnamed.
“Last year was a learning curve,” Baldwin says of working with other outfitters in exploring the “New Klamath,” including the now accessible Wards, or Kilaceki, Canyon.
Noah’s, along with Indigo Creek and Momentum, are offering a mix of half-day, one day, and two and three day trips, some through gentle waters, others through rip-snorting challenging Class 4-plus rapids.
All three outfitters believe that offering people to see and experience the restored Klamath as being more than an adventure.
“The story of the Klamath River,” Volpert believes, “is far beyond whitewater and scenery. There’s a sense of the river and its history and its healing. It’s really incredible landscape.”
And, as Wallstrom explains, “We have always believed in protecting the places we love, by sharing them and emotionally connecting people to them. And we are so excited for this next chapter of the Klamath, to show people the restored river and how quickly a river heals, and to be just a tiny part of a large-scale environmental project that is on its way to being good for rivers, good for fish, and good for the local communities that depend on the river economically and culturally.”
Momentum
541-488-2525
www.momentumriverexpeditions.com
Indigo Creek
541-282-4535
https://indigocreekoutfitters.com
Noah’s
541-488-2811
