Paddling Spring Creek at Collier Memorial in Southern Oregon

Looking for more great places to explore near Spring Creek?
Visit the outdoor Logging Museum, also located at Collier Memorial State Park. This area isn’t far from Crater Lake, so check out my Explorer’s Guide to Crater Lake to learn more.

SWIM

You don’t go to Spring Creek to swim. The aquamarine water may look oh-so-inviting, but stays a frigid 40 degrees Fahrenheit year round. This is very cold, which I know from first-hand experience having waded into it (not exactly willingly – see “Our Experience” below if you want to know more).

PADDLE

The waters of Spring Creek are almost preternaturally calm and clear. Because the current is mild, paddling upstream to the headwaters is possible for all skill levels, it just takes a little stamina. The current is so slow-moving that you may not notice much of a difference whether paddling up or downstream.

Put in along the shore at the Spring Creek Day Use Area, then head upriver, marveling at the water as it shifts from clear to turquoise to jade green and back again. You’ll pass by some houses and other buildings, but soon leave it all behind and find yourself surrounded by beautiful forestland and grassy banks.

As you continue on, you may notice what appear at first glance to be smooth, round stones on the riverbed below. In fact, they are something much rarer – mare’s eggs, a species of blue-green algae that only grow under very specific conditions. Spring Creek’s consistently cold water, low nutrient content, and undisturbed location all help create exactly the right environment for this unusual algae to thrive.

If you make it to the headwaters, you’ll be rewarded with another intriguing phenomenon. Here, the water bubbles up through the sandy creekbed from underground springs. This is the secret to Spring Creek’s startling clarity and bracingly cold waters. The creek is very shallow at this point, and getting to the springs involves careful maneuvering around more than a few partially submerged logs. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite make it to the springs for this reason, as my sagging kayak couldn’t get past some of the obstacles (again, see “Our Experience” below if you want to know why).

GOOD TO KNOW

• There is no parking fee at the Spring Creek Day Use Area.
• A permit is required for all boats longer than 10 feet in length. Our kayaks were 13 feet long. This requirement was introduced in 2020, and you can purchase permits and find further information on the Oregon State Marine Board website. When we visited Spring Creek in 2020, there was no way to purchase a permit at the park, so please obtain one prior to your visit. A one-year permit is $17, while a two-year permit is $30, and you can also purchase a seven-day permit for $7. To boat without one risks a $115 fine.
• If you don’t have your own boat, there are local companies that offer kayak rentals or guided tours, such as ROE (Real Oregon Experience).
• The riverbank is about a 50 yards from the parking lot, so be prepared to carry your boats a short distance.
• Restrooms and drinking water are available at the day use area.
• The day use are also offers picnic tables and a large grassy area for playing.

HIGHLIGHTS

The water here – wow! I mean, wow! This is some of the clearest, bluest, most beautiful water I’ve seen anywhere. There were quite a few other paddlers out while we were there, but it wasn’t crowded, and once you’re past the houses, you’ll find yourself surrounded by a natural wonderland.

THE KIDS’ TAKE

Sure, the water was pretty, but this was a long kayak trip! I admit that sometimes the kids would rather just paddle around a little for fun and then play on the shore. But everyone was happy when we finally had lunch at a riverside picnic table, and they loved visiting the Collier Logging Museum afterwards.

WHILE YOU’RE HERE

When you drive to the Spring Creek parking lot, you’ll first pass by the Collier Logging Museum. This excellent open-air museum is worth a look even if you aren’t especially interested in logging. It provides a historical overview of logging in the Pacific Northwest for the past 150-plus years, including a lot of impressive old equipment from the days of steam engines and logging camps. My boys could have spent most of their day there. You can also camp at Collier Memorial State Park. Nearby, the Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site also offers kayaking, camping, and hiking opportunities.

Spring Creek isn’t far from Crater Lake National Park. It’s a great place to visit in conjunction with Oregon’s only national park.

We visited Spring Creek while en route between Farewell Bend Campground near Crater Lake and Medicine Lake Campground in Northern California. I’d stumbled across it when researching places to kayak near Klamath Falls, and had been looking forward to it ever since. My first glimpse of the crystal clear water didn’t disappoint. After transporting our inflatable kayaks and gear down to the water, I eagerly started readying them for our trip to the headwaters. Michael and J boarded their kayak first, pushing off into the shallow water while I readied T to board our boat.

“Hey! This kayak’s leaking!” Michael called out, paddling back to shore.

“What?!” I cried. “That can’t be…”

But sure enough, we could hear a tiny hiss, and feel a minuscule amount of air escaping from the top of one of the side pontoons. There was no damage on the outside of the pontoon, so this was puzzling. I could tell the leak was very small, and was determined not to let it bring me down.

“OK, we can still do this. The leak is slow, and the floor of the kayak is still holding air, so we won’t capsize. T and I will take this boat since we’re lighter, and Michael and J will take the other.” We switched boats and were soon on our way.

For the first part of our journey, I forgot about the leak as we navigated azure waters under blue skies. T, as always, lounged in the bow while I did all the work of paddling. Sometimes four-year-olds get all the breaks. After floating past houses and some mysterious structures on the right bank (a former resort?), we left civilization behind. Along the forested riverbanks, you could occasionally spy a campsite among the trees.

At times the creek bed was pale and sandy, giving the water a brilliant turquoise hue. Elsewhere, delicate strands of seaweed turned it a bright emerald. Further along, we saw smooth, cobbled stones lining the bottom. But wait – these were no stones, but rather the fabled mare’s eggs, a rare form of blue-green algae that makes its home in the cold waters of Spring Creek.

I also noticed the kayak was starting to sag, just a little, and its movements were more sluggish. Michael and J were easily ahead of us, passing into the shallows near the headwaters. Slender logs lay just beneath the surface, sometimes criss-crossing almost the entire width of the creek. At one point, I had no choice but to cross over a log with only inches to spare. Or, that is at least what I tried to do. Midway across it, I found we were stuck, unable to either push ahead or move back.

“Michael!” I yelled to my husband, who had pushed on ahead. “Michael, help!”

But Michael and J either could not hear or were just too intent on their own paddling; they didn’t even look back. I tried again to move the kayak, but it was apparent that as long as I was sitting in it, we were going nowhere. The choice was clear: I would have to get out and pull the boat through the near freezing water to get it to shore. We would not be making it to the headwaters.

Have you waded in water that is 40 degrees Fahrenheit? It felt as though I had sunk my feet into a bucket of ice. Navigating through the sunken logs as best I could, I could feel the numbing effects of the water within seconds, and my legs were shaking when I stepped onto the shore. Fortunately, the day was warm, and soon my legs were dry and comfortable. Michael and J paddled back to join us, and we stopped for a snack break in the grass.

Of course, my trials were not yet over. Once again, I braved the icy waters to pull our boat through the obstacles to deeper water. Our kayak was now sagging quite noticeably, and even though we were headed downstream, the lazy current meant that we were traveling more slowly than before. T was getting worried we would capsize, although I assured him this was not the case. Still, it was good to finally be back on land, and we were all more than ready for our picnic lunch.

I noticed that our boat wasn’t the only one sagging on our return, however. Michael and J’s kayak had also lost some air. Hmmm… this was not a good sign. But we’ll leave that for later. For now, I was just happy to have made it down Spring Creek and back. It had been an amazing trip, an incredible experience not to be missed.