ORWS No. 4: Salmon River

• Flows from its headwaters on Mount Hood to its confluence with the Sandy River
• The only river in the "Lower 48" designated as a National Wild and Scenic River its entire length
• Famous among kayakers as the "Mount Everest of Oregon Kayaking"
• The Salmon River Trail is less than an hour from Portland, Oregon
• Flows through the federally designated Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Quick Facts Managing Agency: Mt Hood National Forest (USDA Forest Service) and Salem District (BLM) Designated Stretch: From its headwaters to its confluence with the Sandy River Length: 33.5 miles (15 miles Wild, 4.8 miles Scenic, and 13.7 miles Recreational) Outstanding Remarkable Values: Scenery, Recreation, Fisheries, Wildlife, Hydrology, and Botany/Ecology Wild and Scenic River Designation: October 28, 1988

More Information Salmon River Wild and Scenic Management Plan OregonKayaking.net description for kayakers Salmon Wild & Scenic River BLM Map

Celebrated by Zach Collier on January 31, 2017 by hiking the Salmon River Trail into the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness.

Stories

Zach Collier: I drove the long route to the South of Mount Hood on my way from Hood River to Portland and stopped to hike up the Salmon River. There was snow on the Salmon River Road but I was able to make it up to the trailhead and only got stuck once. At the trailhead I was worried that I'd be postholing through a foot of snow but many people had come before me putting a nice path in the snow. It was a wonderful winter walk through old growth forest that parallels the Salmon River. The Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness boundary was a couple miles up the trail. I was really amazed at how close this federally designated Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River was from Portland, Oregon.

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