The Clackamas River is located to the west of the Cascade Range and to the south of the columbia River Gorge. In 1988, Congress designated 47 miles of the Clackamas River into the Federal Wild and Scenic Rivers system. Congress identified the superb fishery, scenery, and recreation as the "outstandingly remarkable values" associated with the Clackamas River. In addition to Federal designation, the main stem of the Clackamas River from the boundary of the Olallie Lakes Scenic Area to the North Fork Reservoir was also designated an Oregon State Scenic Waterway in 1988.

The Clackamas is little more than a mountain brook at its headwaters, but within a couple miles, numerous year-round springs emerge and a cool, rushing river appears. True fir and lodgepole pine forests blanket the banks of the upper river while Douglas-fir and western hemlock dominate the forest along the lower Wild and Scenic section of the river. The Clackamas River has carved out a rugged canyon with steep, basalt out-croppings common along the river corridor. Numerous year-round waterfalls cascade down the sides of the canyon.

Anadromous and resident fish inhabit the Clackamas River and its tributaries. Spring Chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead trout use these waters for spawning, rearing, and migration. Resident fish include cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, bull trout, and mountain whitefish. The Clackamas River is also host to the last significant wild late-run coho salmon stock remaining in the Columbia River Basin

From its origins in the Olallie Lake Scenic Area, the river flows through the communities of Estacada, Barton and Carver, and is an important water source for southern Clackamas County. The river joins the Willamette River at Oregon City. The name "Clackamas" comes from the Clackamas Indians, a Chinookian tribe who used to live along the river.

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