Klamath River - Course

Course

Upper Klamath Lake, filling a broad valley at the foot of the eastern slope of the southern High Cascades, is the source of the Klamath River. Its headstreams, however, begin over 100 miles (160 km) away—as far as Crater Lake and the Oregon–Nevada border. The first 1-mile (1.6 km) stretch of the Klamath River is known as the Link River. Not long after, however, the river is impounded in an 18-mile (29 km) long reservoir near Klamath Falls, Lake Ewauna, where it is connected by the B canal—which is capable of diverting water between the rivers in either direction as needed, to the Lost River and passes the nearly dry bed of Lower Klamath Lake. After it flows out of this reservoir, it passes through four more hydroelectric dams before it crosses the Oregon–California state border and turns south near the town of Hornbrook towards Mount Shasta. However, the river soon swings west to receive the Shasta River and the Scott River, cutting deep into the head of its canyon through the Klamath Mountains.

The route through the High and Western Cascades and the Klamath Mountains constitutes the majority of the river's course and takes it from the arid high desert climate of its upper watershed into a temperate rainforest nourished by Pacific rains. From the Scott River confluence, the river generally runs west along the south side of the Siskiyou Mountains until it takes a sharp southward turn near the town of Happy Camp. From there, it flows southwest over whitewater rapids into the Klamath National Forest, receiving the Salmon River, and passes the unincorporated community of Orleans. At Weitchpec, the river reaches the southernmost point in its entire course and veers sharply northwards as it receives the Trinity River. The Trinity River confluence also marks the point where the Klamath's current dramatically slows. For the remainder of its course, the Klamath flows generally northwest through the Hoopa Valley and Yurok Indian Reservations, passing the town of Klamath and flowing out to sea 16 miles (26 km) south of Crescent City. The mouth of the Klamath River is at Requa, in an area shared by the Yurok Reservation and Redwood National Park. The Klamath River estuary is recognized for protection by the California Bays and Estuaries Policy.