River
Klamath River
423 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Pacific Ocean
In numbers
Length
423km
Average flow
480m³/s
Basin
40,795km²
Drop
1,241m
from 1,242 m to 1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
423 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmUpper Klamath Lakeat 1,242 m
- 0 kmAltamont19,257 people
- 0 kmKlamath Falls21,399 people
- 0 kmLink Rivertributary
- 0 kmUpper Klamath Lake277 km²
- 0 kmLake Ewauna1.4 km²
- 45 kmJohn C. Boyle Reservoir0.9 km²
- 92 kmCopco Lake3.7 km²
- 132 kmShasta Rivertributary
- 192 kmScott Rivertributary
- 311 kmSalmon Rivertributary
- 348 kmTrinity Rivertributary
- 416 kmKlamath River Bridge
- 417 kmDouglas Memorial Bridge
- 423 kmPacific Oceanat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in northern California and Oregon, United States
At the mouth it carries 482 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.2 seconds. It drops from 1,242 m to 1 m, 2.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 40,795 km², about the size of CH. 105,000 people live in it. Highest water: from January to February; lowest: from June to September. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (19% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Klamath FallsLargest city on its banks · 21,399 people
- Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport (MFR)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 91 km from the cityCar hire at MFR airport (Medford)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water6 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe6 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Klamath River, month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 140 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,100 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Klamath River: the basin in numbers
31,129 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 105,000people live in the basin
- 3/km²people per km²
- 1,278maverage altitude of the basin
- 871mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 7.8°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 1.5%covered by lakes
- 3.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 86% Forest
- 2% Cropland
- 10% Pasture
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Klamath River: what you find on the way
- 3WeirsKeno Dam
- 3WaterfallsUpper Jenny Creek Falls, Lower Jenny Creek Falls, Ishi Pishi Falls
- 6RapidsSluice Box, Savage Rapids, Seattle Creek Rapids and 3 more
- 6Boat rampsRocky Bar River Access and 5 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Klamath River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
4lakes on its wayLakeyas
3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
11mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (4)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Upper Klamath Lakekm 0 · 15 m deep277km²
- Lake Ewaunakm 01.4km²
- John C. Boyle Reservoirkm 400.9km²
- Copco Lakekm 823.7km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (3)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Crescent Beach25 km away12.8°C
- Gold Bluffs Beach14 km away13.0°C
- Wilson Creek Beach9.9 km away12.8°C
Mountains at the source (11)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Hogback Mountain (Klamath County, Oregon)8.5 km away1,891m
- Bald Hill12 km away
- Captain Jack13 km away
- Government Hill11 km away
- Horsehead Island12 km away
- Klamath Hills13 km away
- Miller Hill5.3 km away
- Moyina Hill13 km away
3 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Klamath River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (7)
Also: Trinity River, Shasta River, Salmon River, Link River, Scott River, Boise Creek, Blue Creek
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q968640) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit