Inflatable Kayaks (IK’s) are one of our summertime specialities!  We’ve run some awesome trips so far and have many yet to come.  Lower Klamath trips through Rattlesnake and Dragon’s Tooth, the Rogue River through Wildcat, Slim Pickens and Graves Creek Falls, and even a 6 day self support IK trip down the Lower Owyhee!  (We can’t wait to hear the stories from Anthony and Adam).  IK’s are one of our favorite ways to see the river: personal, intimate and the master of your own craft!  Brave the whitewater, surf the waves and feel the adrenaline from your own Inflatable kayak on a number of the rivers that we run.  They are fun for everyone!!  They are also great for anyone who has ever considered getting into whitewater kayaking but has been apprehensive.  You will learn all of the basics of kayaking with the comfort of an open inflatable kayak.  The perfect beginning for those eager to learn!

Come experience the river up close and personal with Momentum on one of our amazing Inflatable Kayak trips! We’ve still got availability on some of our Rogue and Lower Klamath trips through August!  See you on the water!

Hello everyone. I just got off our first lodge trip of the year on the Rogue - it was amazing! We finally have set up our Rogue facebook page - it has lots of new pics and we will add a ton more as the season goes on - we also encourage others to add pictures they enjoy. All the dates for this years trips are on our website on our Rogue Rafting page.

We here at Momentum are excited for summer and the begginning multi-day river trips on the Wild and Scenic Rogue River!! Known as one of the best multi-day river trips in the country, the Wild and Scenic Rogue is 32 miles of wilderness canyon full of exillerating whitewater, abundant wildlife, rich history and amazing scenery.  It is a must do for any river connoisseur as well as those who are first timers to the river world!  The Rogue is the perfect get away for families and friends looking for a little beauty and relaxation, a break from the hustle and bustle of the “real world”.  Take a trip into the history and lore of the Takelma Indians native canyon, the favorite fishing holes of Zane Grey and the filming location for movies like The River Wild.  Jump in one of our inflatable kayaks for some up close and personal river excitement through rapids such as Wildcat, Graves Creek Falls and Horseshoe Bend.  Take some solo time on an evening stroll along the Rogue River Hiking Trail.  Explore the waterfalls at Tate Creek and make sure the kids give the natural water slide a go!  So much to see, so much to experience! We offer lodge based trips as well as our famous camp trips, both comfortable and restful.  As always, Momentum’s delicious meals will tempt and satisfy! And, as if that weren’t enough, wine tasting, hiking and world class fishing are even more reason to come experience the magic of the Wild and Scenic Rogue River. Our Rogue season is in full swing and looking good!  Water levels are perfect, the weather is warming, and the river is waiting!  Our summer trips are filling up fast and our guides can’t wait to get back to “the Canyon”.  Snow pack for the Rogue drainage basin is above average and flows for the river look solid for the summer according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the US Army Corp of Engineers.   So what are you waiting for?  Come play with us on The Wild and Scenic Rogue River!  Let the Momentum crew treat you to a few days of beautiful wilderness, exciting rafting, good food, friends and an amazing river trip!!!

It’s that time of year again, when one of our favorite rivers shows us the beauty of the Northern California wilderness.  The California Salmon has been running at excellent flows and has hosted us with superb weather.  Wine tasting, whitewater and wonderful people have filled our recent weekends and we are loving the spring!  We’re hoping for a couple more weekends of this magnificent place and some more spring magic.  We still have room for those eager to jump on a last minute trip!

Thanks to all of those who have joined us already!!!  We’ve had a great time and hope that you did too.  For those who have yet to…we can’t wait to see you soon!!!  Come experience the magic of the California Salmon River and join us for a weekend you will never forget!!!

Spring on the Illinois is here!  It’s been a great spring and we’ve had some amazing trips on the always exciting and ever beautiful Illinois River!  The weather and water levels have kept us on our toes but have come through and provided for some wonderful rafting!  While water levels were wavering a week ago, Pete and the gang went for it and proved that rafting the “Illy” is always good!  We’ve recieved some great shots from some of the crew of the beautiful weather and the jeweled water and all we want to do is go back.  Recent rainfall has been substantial and it looks as though our time on the Illy this spring just might last a little bit longer.  So, if you haven’t run it yet let us know…we’ll save you a spot!  

We are getting near the best time for Califonia Salmon Rafting - May through early June. It is a guide and guest favorite - one of the finest class 5 runs in the country. The snowpack looks great and we are excited to get down there! There is still room on our May 8th, and 22nd trips.

     Hello fellow river lovers. It is Erik Sol here and I just wanted to share my stoke from the last Momentum River Expeditions trip down the amazing Illinois River.  First, I would like to thank Merle,Paul,Pete, and Jason for another beautiful adventure.  If going down river for four days and three nights in the solitude of a Wild and Scenic preserved area with unparalled scenery and great whitewater sounds like what you need then this is the place to be. I can not thank Pete enough for all his hard work in making this happen.  This is one of the few places I have been to in the USA where I feel like I’m in a wilderness setting and it is ours to enjoy without any interuptions for days in a row, we saw one other person in four days on the river.   Oh, and the food was awesome. Of course we had my favorite BACON, which is a requirement, but some old favorites and some new twists make this years menu the best yet. Can you say “Carnitas”? I can’t wait for the next trip just to eat the food.   But, enough about that let’s talk river. The run was amazingly clear with just the perfect jade color being reflected from the forest to help leave all the worries behind.  The water level was on the lower end, but plenty of fun waves and manuevering required to knock the dust off and my crew was on it.   Day two gave us the opportunity to hike and explore the Pine Flat Homestead,do some mental time travel, check out the wild flower bloom which was going off, and have time to soak up some rays for the Oregon and Alaska boys after a long winter. The third day of our trip was a whitewater fest. No matter how many runs you have done anywhere the famous Greenwall Rapid will get your blood pumpin’, but by day three I knew my crew was ready.   There was about 15,000 cfs of water missing from the picture in my head from the last time I was there, so I took a good hard look during the scout.  All of us made it through in some pretty tight quarters and just when we were about to put a stamp on it we came to Submarine Rapid and things got exciting for a few minutes, well let’s just say someone owes beer.  The camps were perfect with each offering something different a confluence, an old homestead, and waterfalls. Even the ride back to Ashland was world class with views of the ocean and a leg stretcher in the Redwoods. Ahh, life is good. See you on the river.    

Jonathan “Jon E” Eisenberg grew up in Massachusetts and attended Colby College in Maine.  Earning a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Environmental Studies has helped him greatly in his travels around the world as an adventure guide.  He has guided on rivers, lakes, glaciers and mountains from Europe to South America and everywhere in between.  He has held many interesting jobs from Hollywood assistant to a Four Seasons line cook.  He has many useful certifications including SRT, WEMT, CPR, and AIARE level 1, which basically means that he is useful to have around!  He enjoys a good burrito, skiing powder and boating big water.  He hates canned tuna fish.  A little known fact is that in college Jon E played in a band called Ditka and the Hurricanes based on football coach Mike Ditka.  Jon E is the newest addition to the Momentum family and we are excited to have him!

We have been here since December but we are just now organizing….

We have light!

The Big Board…

Born and raised in the state of Maine, Derek now calls Oregon home and has lived in Ashland, Bend, Jackson Hole, Wyoming and now Ashland again (not too bad eh?) He attended Southern Oregon University and started working for river companies in the valley several years ago.

He is one of our extraordinary “road guides” as well as an excellent singer songwriter, though you might never know it (he’s quite humble)  When not making sure we get to and from the river comfortably, Derek can’t be found but is usually playing music, rock hounding, and/or fly fishing.

He is excited to be returning for a second season with Momentum and we are even more so!

Mornin everyone!

All right, I am going to do something I have never done before. I am going to break down the snowpack, long term forecast, and spring and summer flow prediction for each river that we run… I actually do it neurotically every spring, I just have never written it all out. It has been an up and down year, it started off a little scary, but is finishing VERY strong! Here we go, it is looking pretty good!

Northern California Rivers / Rafting Seasons:

The California Salmon: The snowpack for the Northern California region is at about 93%. After lots of research (including backcountry skiing :)) my guess is that the Salmon drainage is somewhere between 95% and 105%. So basically an average year - perfect. The long term weather forecast through April 8th calls for below normal temperatures and normal precipitation so the pack may even increase a little more.

California Salmon Rafting Season prediction: Hmmm… A lot depends on the weather in May but my guess is we will have runable flows through June 15th with the peak between May 16th and Memorial Day weekend. We still have room on both of those weekends!

The Scott: Like the Salmon I think the Scott has a slightly higher snowpack then the overall Northern California area. A big portion of its drainage was in the “Shasta Storm Vortex” when Shasta got like 10 feet of snow in two days. I am guessing 95% to 115%.

Scott Rafting Season prediction: Hmmm… This one is tougher because you never know how much water will be diverted for farming… a lot depends on how much rain the fields get in April. I am going to guess runable flows through May 18th with a really good chance of making it through Memorial Day. A good solid Scott season.

The Lower Klamath: The Lower K is dam controlled so all we need is to be above about 65 - 70%. We are at 110%!

Lower Klamath Rafting Season prediction: Great water for rafting and inflatable kayaking all summer long.

Oregon Rivers / Rafting Seasons:

The Owyhee River: This one is always a bit of a crap shoot… a finicky low elevation snowpack, March temperatures that can zoom from 20 to 80… Good fun.  The great news is we only got about 4 days of the dreaded “late March unseasonably hot weather season destroying melt” and the long term forecast looks cooler than normal. Right now we are at 89% and I expect that will go up in the next few weeks with the weather. The Owyhee season literally depends on the last two weeks in March and first two weeks in April.  Things are looking great!

Lower Owyhee Rafting Season prediction: I feel very confident about the trips through the first few weeks in May (the May 1st trip should be awesome), and confident about our May 15th trip. After that who knows… Maybe a trip after Memorial Day weekend??? It could happen! Overall a solid Lower Owyhee season (some years we don’t have a season at all!).
Note: This does not affect our late June Lower Owyhee inflatable kayaking trips - they run on low base flows.

Middle Owyhee Rafting Season Prediction:  The middle needs higher flows then the lower and we need to be able to get into the put-in (meaning the roads need to be dry). Last year we had an unbelievable window – trips from mid April through late may! This year I feel really good about late April through the first week in May. The April 27th trip looks perfect.

The Illinois River: The Illi snowpack is probably about 80% (that is a wild guess:)). But illinois trips are all about late season precipitation – we have had a ton of that. Snowpack helps with the very rare late May/Early June trips.

Illinois Rafting Season Prediction: Yikes, this one might be the hardest of all. Baring any flooding, I think we will have good flows thought the May 12 the trip. I don’t think we will make it to Memorial Day this year. The trips from April 23rd through the 12th look great! Another perfectly normal season.

The Rogue: The Rogue is dam controlled and the volcanic rocks in its huge drainage area act like a big sponge and release water slowly throughout the season. So, the Rogue only needs to be above 70% or so. It is at 105%!

Rogue Rafting season Prediction:  Great water for rafting and inflatable kayaking all summer long!

The Upper Klamath: The upper Klamath is also dam controlled and it has ”daily peaking flows” for power generation so even in low snow years there is usually big water rafting all summer. This year it is at 105%. The best thing about that is, for this year at least, the farmers and struggling Salmon populations should both get water.

Upper Klamath Rafting prediction: Big water class 4+ rafting all summer long – even when other class 4+ rivers are low and rocky the upper k will be a blast.

Chad’s various interests have taken him throughout the country in pursuit of both pleasure and education. Originally from Vermont, his interest in politics led to a political science degree, which it turns out wasn’t a real job magnet. With an interest in alternative energy developing, Chad moved to Colorado to learn more. His passion for whitewater rafting began in Colorado and this passion created a gateway for new friends and allowed for adventures and guiding opportunities throughout the country on some of the nation’s best runs. All of these interests culminated in a decision that a law degree specializing in environmental and natural resources was the best career path. While Chad ponders his future law degree he continues to explore rivers with us and work a WIDE range of other jobs (most of which are way more professional then guiding).

Last year a photographer and writer from oregon travel joined us on a Lower Owyhee Rafting trip. The trip was featured on the cover of this springs Travel Oregon Magaizne. The photos are amazing! You can check out the article and even get a free copy if you like here.

Adam hails from the beautiful state of Utah where his love for the outdoors was instilled in him as a young boy.  After his freshman year at the University of Utah, he spent a summer guiding on the Green and Colorado Rivers and was immediately hooked.  With a Bachelors in Science in Environmental Economics, he continued pursuing his boating career on other southwestern rivers, including the Colorado River through Grand Canyon.  A “yes man” when it comes to exploring new rivers and their terrain, Adam is fulfilling his life’s mission to see as many rivers as possible.  Adam is another one who is “helpful to have around” - a trained EMT and Wilderness EMT.  He has worked for ski patrol in Utah for the last four years balancing his summer guiding schedule quite nicely.  When not river guiding or ski patrolling Adam enjoys biking, frisbee, climbing, hopskotch, canyoneering, skydiving, roller-skating, hiking, tiddlywinks, and cat juggling. He’s really quite good and has the scars to show it.