The South Fork Clackamas River is a tributary, roughly long, of the

Clackamas River The Clackamas River is an approximately tributary of the Willamette River in northwestern Oregon, in the United States. Draining an area of about , the Clackamas flows through mostly forested and rugged mountainous terrain in its upper reaches, a ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Beginning near South Fork Mountain in the western

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

, the river flows generally north through

Clackamas County Clackamas County ( ) is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the na ...

to meet the larger river at Big Cliff. Most of the South Fork's drainage basin lies within the

Mount Hood National Forest The Mount Hood National Forest is a U.S. National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon, located east of the city of Portland and the northern Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting fo ...

. The lower reaches of the river are part of the

National Wild and Scenic Rivers System The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

. Recreational opportunities in the basin include hiking, camping, and fishing for trout. A waterfall prevents

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and other migratory fish from swimming upriver beyond the first .

Course

Originating near South Fork Mountain in the Cascade Range, the river runs generally north through rugged terrain in the Mount Hood National Forest. Near the headwaters, the river flows northwest, passing under Forest Road 4540, which parallels the river's

left bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

for about . At this point the river flows under Forest Road 45, a loop road that follows ridges to the left and right of the South Fork for much of the rest of its course. Beyond Forest Road 45, the river turns to the northeast. At from the mouth, it receives the East Fork of the South Fork Clackamas River from the right. Further downstream, Oscar Creek enters from the right, then Memaloose Creek from the right only from the mouth. Shortly thereafter the river plunges over the South Fork Clackamas River Falls (or South Fork Falls) before joining the Clackamas River at Big Cliff, about from the larger river's confluence with the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...

. The of the South Fork Clackamas River between the East Fork of the South Fork and the mainstem Clackamas River were designated "wild" in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in 2009. Designated rivers are classified as either wild, scenic, or recreational depending on the degree of access and amount of nearby development.

Watershed

The South Fork Clackamas River basin covers or about of rugged terrain, most of which lies within the Mount Hood National Forest.Forest Service, p. 1-4 The Clackamas Ranger District of the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

manages 79 percent of the land, the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

18 percent, while private owners control 3 percent. Elevations within the watershed vary from at South Fork Mountain to at the river mouth. Watersheds bordering the South Fork basin are Fish Creek to the southeast, tributaries of the

Molalla River The Molalla River is a tributary of the Willamette River in the northwestern part of Oregon in the United States. Flowing northwest from the Cascade Range through Table Rock Wilderness, it passes the city of Molalla before entering the larger ...

to the southwest, Clear Creek to the northwest, and the Clackamas River to the northeast.

Recreation

A hiking guide calls the river "one of the most remote large streams in the state of Oregon".Lorain, pp. 416–17 The Hillockburn Trail, which provides the only access to the lower river corridor,United States Forest Service, p. 2–80 is round trip. It is usually open from mid-March to December, is moderately difficult, and has an elevation gain of . It runs from Forest Road 45 west of the river to a campsite along the stream. Trail uses include hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, and access to

catch-and-release Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture the fish is Fish hook, unhooked and returned live to the water. Originally adopted in the United Kingdom by Coarse fishing, coarse fishermen to Overfishing, preser ...

fishing for

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

. Vegetation along the trail consists mainly of

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

s and

Western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the northwest coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern ...

s with an understory of

salal ''Gaultheria shallon'' is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America. Common names include salal (), shallon, or (mainly in Britain) gaultheria. Description ''Gaultheria shallon'' is tall, sprawli ...

, sword fern, and

Oregon-grape ''Berberis aquifolium'', the Oregon grape or holly-leaved barberry, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae. It is an evergreen shrub growing up to tall and wide, with pinnate leaves consisting of spiny leafle ...

. A waterfall from the mouth prevents fish migration between the upper and lower river.Forest Service, p. 2–23 Native winter

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the Fish migration#Classification, anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-wa ...

, spring

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...

, and

Coho salmon The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon (or "silvers") and is often ...

frequent the river downstream of the barrier falls but are off-limits to anglers.

References

Works cited

*Lorain, Douglas (2008. ''Afoot and Afield Portland/Vancouver: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide'' (2nd ed.). Berkeley, Calif: Wilderness Press. . *United States Forest Service (1997)
"South Fork Clackamas River Watershed Analysis: Final Report"
Retrieved February 28, 2010.

External links

Clackamas River Basin Council National Wild and Scenic Rivers System
{{authority control Rivers of Oregon Rivers of Clackamas County, Oregon