Gauge Conditions

Deschutes River at Benham Falls near Bend, OR Upstream Primary

Runnable: ? – ? CFS

Approximate - nearest available gauge. Use as general reference only.

Data from American Whitewater & USGS

Photo

Photo courtesy of American Whitewater

Description

Starting from Sawyer Park, there is roughly 1/2 a mile of class II, before you cross under Archie Briggs Rd. This is the start of the first real rapid, referred to by some as Rockafella 1. You can either run straight down the middle, or catch a series of dynamic eddys on both sides of the river. This is one of my favorite class III rapids because it has several fun ways to increase the difficulty.