Name: Shepard's Landing
Address: McKenzie Highway (Hwy 126), Cedar Flat | Walterville | Leaburg | Vida, Oregon, United States

Shepard’s Landing

A small, quiet pull-off in the Finn Rock canyon reach — more a waypoint than a destination.

•Primitive access — unimproved or minimally developed access, maintained less often. Conditions can vary — best suited to hand-carried craft, and worth scouting before you rely on it for anything larger.

On the water here

confirm ratings locally

KayakSits inside Class II-III water; likely useful as a scout or bail-out point verify

Whitewater raftClass II-III (surrounding reach)

Drift boatNot confirmed as trailer-friendly verify

FishingBank/wade access reported historically, but undocumented in detail verify

CanoeSits in a whitewater reach — not a beginner-friendly access

PaddleboardSame reasoning as canoe

Access type

Informal river access; no developed ramp confirmedverify

Managed by

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), per older sourcesverify

River side

Not confirmedverify

Coordinates

44.146° N, 122.357° Wverify

Day-use fee

None posted

Nearest town

Finn Rock, a short distance upstreamverify

Shepard’s Landing is one of the harder McKenzie access points to pin down — it shows up by name on older county and state recreation lists, sitting somewhere in the stretch of Class II-III water between Finn Rock and Silver Creek Landing, but there’s little current documentation of what’s actually there today. What’s known: it’s small, it’s informal, and it was historically associated with ODFW rather than a developed county or BLM ramp verify. That puts it in the same category as a couple of other lightly-used spots in this canyon reach — real, named, and worth knowing about, but not a place to expect facilities.

Treat it as a landmark for now rather than a planned stop, and check current conditions locally before relying on it.

More detail

Getting there & parking +

Shepard’s Landing sits along Highway 126 somewhere between Finn Rock Landing and Silver Creek Landing exact location; there is no confirmed marked turnoff or mile marker at this time.

ParkingNot documented verify

SurfaceNot documented verify

Trailer turnaroundNot documented — assume no verify

Facilities & accessibility +

No developed facilities confirmed verify
Presumed informal pull-off / bank access only verify

This is a placeholder listing until the site can be field-verified.

River conditions & hazards +

Shepard’s Landing sits within the same Class II-III reach that runs from Finn Rock down through Silver Creek, so anyone using it as a put-in or take-out should expect moving whitewater nearby, cold snowmelt water, and no lifeguard on duty.

Nearby landings & float planner +

Upstream — Finn Rock Landing~N mi verify · the major, newly rebuilt put-in for this stretch

Downstream — McMullen’s Landing~N mi verify · another small, lightly documented access point

Both neighbors are better-documented than Shepard’s itself — most boaters running this reach put in at Finn Rock and take out well downstream.

Fishing at this landing +

Older state fishing-access references associate this spot with ODFW-managed bank access, but no current details on species or conditions were found.

Current ODFW regulations for the McKenzie zone →