Klickitat River Rafting

Nourished by heavy spring snowmelt from 12,307-foot Mount Adams and the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest, the Klickitat offers a rollicking ride through the secluded forested canyons of south-central Washington. Coursing south towards the Columbia River Gorge, most trips take in an 18-mile stretch of river that’s big on scenery and some steady Class III-IV bumps. Starting out, you'll charge down through the steep walls of a basalt-rock canyon, flanked on either side by majestic oaks and pines, even the odd grazing elk and curious osprey, before ending up in a giant desert canyon near Klickitat Springs. Given that this is a free-flowing river, the best whitewater boils up between April and June, with mellower scenic floats available as the summer months stretch their lazier muscles.