Bear Creek (Dekalb Co.),

Upper: CR 78 to Canyon Rim Road

Usual Difficulty	II-III+(IV) (may vary with level)
Length	3.68 Miles
Avg. Gradient	72 fpm
Max Gradient	105 fpm

River Description

This is a fine run for those days when everything else in the area is just too high.

The action starts just around the corner from the put-in with a long, medium-angle slide that had several badly placed trees towards the bottom. Another larger slide follows soon after. It has a small cable strung across the river at it's base that presents a obvious hazard. The next slide is marked by a metal foot bridge. It is a long high speed twisting affair into a pool (class IV). The last large drop is marked by a big horizon line. This is the largest drop on the run -- a sliding lead into a 25 to 30 foot, 70 degree falls into a decent pool (Class IV+).

Below here the river enters a half mile gorge of good boogie water with a couple of sections approaching class IV. The river passes under a bridge below the gorge (this is not the take-out -- the next bridge at the Canyon Rim Road is.)

This run has a lot of trees in it. Many of them have to be portaged, this makes the run take longer than would be expected. At the recomended levels there is not much slack water on this run. Many of the eddies are of the "grab a tree branch, upstream of the tree blocking the stream" type.