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| North Fork American River Rafting > Mile by Mile | ||
The
North Fork of the American Rivier is by far the most difficult of the three forks. Technical
whitewater rafting and kayaking skills are required for a safe and successful
run. At high water, 3000 cfs and up, the river is more continuous with
less time to prepare between rapids. At Lower flows (1500 cfs and below)
the river is a boulder choked canyon with many rock sieves and numerous strainers.
 This Class IV-V, spring run starts at Iowa
Hill Bridge and runs 9.5 miles down to Ponderosa
Bridge at average of 36 feet per mile. A quarter mile below the Iowa
Hill Bridge starts the Chamberlin Falls Gorge. Staircase rapid is one
of the more infamous rapids on this North Fork American River. Following close behind are
Bogus Thunder and Chamberlin Falls. Wraps and Flips are common occurrences
while rafting this river. Extreme caution should be taken when running
this river below 1000 cfs. If you ever have any doubts about running this
river...contact a commercial rafting company
Images courtesy of All-Outdoors Whitewater Rafting Excerpts take from The American River: A Recreational Guidebook The North Fork: Mile by Mile Mile 0.0 Colfax-Iowa Hill Bridge Put-In Mile 0.2 Beginner's Luck Class III Mile 0.4 Flake Rock Mile 0.4 - 0.8 Slaughter's Sluice (Class IV) Mile 0.8 Chamberlain Falls (Class IV+)  Mile 1.1 Tongue and Groove (Class IV)Mile 1.9 Zig- Zag (Class IV) Mile 2.0 Fern Hill Mile 2.2 Achilles Heel (Class IV) Mile 2.5 Bogus Thunder or Snowball (Class IV) Mile 2.6 Grand Slalom (Class III) Mile 3.1 Staircase (Class IV) Mile 3.3 Nose Stand Class III Mile 3.5 Indian Creek (on left) Mile 4.8 Yankee Jim's Bridge/ Shirttail Canyon (on left) Mile 5.4 Bunch Canyon (side hike) Mile 7.0 Sore Finger Point Mile 9.3 Ponderosa Way Bridge Take-Out |
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