Campbell Creek - South Fork Gorge (Prospect Heights to Hilltop Ski Area)


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Campbell Creek,

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South Fork Gorge (Prospect Heights to Hilltop Ski Area) (South Fork Gorge of Campbell Creek)

Usual Difficulty V (may vary with level)
Length 1.7 Miles
Avg. Gradient 375 fpm
Max Gradient 615 fpm

Gauge Information

Name Range Difficulty Updated Level
SF CAMPBELL C NR ANCHORAGE AK
usgs-15274000 100 - 215 cfs V cfs


River Description

CRAZY CREEK! Be careful on this one folks, and watch out for wood. One mandatory portage around log jam. Another one about half way down (think its called from Heaven to Hell) should be looked at. Nasty little boulder garden that cascades 70 vertical feet in about 50 yrds. Definitely bring a short, tough creekboat and elbow pads (face cage would be good too:^)

Once in the gorge, Campbell Creek has rapids that are pretty much unscoutable and with no way to walk around them. You pretty much just go and pray there aren't logs as you drop over the edge. Constantly extremely steep and bouncy, especially throughout the middle of the canyon. Several undercuts and sieves. For experts only. Keep your paddle parallel with your boat at Mandatory Pin! Highly recommended to go with someone that knows the run.

To get there go to the Powerline Pass trail and hike your boat about 15 minutes towards the creek's intersection with the trail. Put in and paddle to your take-out at Hilltop ski area. Walk up gravel road 10 minutes to your car.

(Lat/Lng coordinates very rough guess, from Topozone)


StreamTeam Status: Verified
Last Updated: 2005-12-23 15:27:47

Editors

Stream Team Editor
Tim Johnson
Anchorage, AK


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Gauge Information

Gauge Description:

Gauge cited is South Fork of Campbell Creek. Both streams have about the same amount of water in them, so if South Fork has 100cfs, North Fork will have 100cfs. Creek usually runs daily around 69cfs (too low).

Gauge Information

Name Range Difficulty Updated Level
SF CAMPBELL C NR ANCHORAGE AK
usgs-15274000 100 - 215 cfs V cfs

RangeWater LevelDifficultyComment
100 - 215 cfs barely runnable-high runnable V

Report - Reports of Campbell Creek South Fork Gorge (Prospect Heights to Hilltop Ski Area) and related gauges

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User Comments


2004-10-16 23:18:05 (1865 days ago)
Todd KelseyDetails
Don't go to Powerline Pass, as suggested. It's a bit brushy. I think Tim means to say go to
Prospect Heights and go from there.

2003-10-06 20:32:03 (2241 days ago)
Brad RobertsDetails
Campbell Creek Carnage Fest trip-report- broken boats, faces, paddles!!!!!!! New
Forum: BoaterTalk
Date: Oct 07 2003, 0:21 GMT
From: making_ends_meet

Just thought I'd do a super quick carnage write-up on Campbell Creek Gorge- a local run that runs
through town in Anchorage, Alaska. The boaters... Danny, Jason, Chad, Shaun, and myself(Tim). Jason
cracked the bow of his Big Gun open(HUGE split/break)on one of the 1st drops. Everything went to
hell from there. Danny dented in the bow of his Freefall LT about 2 inches and it has a crack as
well. I chipped a nice size piece of my paddle off in the river. Jason got a bloody mouth on
"Psycho" rapid. Chad dented the front of his redline. 3 or 4 really nasty pins. An overall carnage
fest. Campbell Creek is class V and was running at a medium level of 3.0 feet(100cfs). It drops 600
fpm off the face of the earth in a really deep canyon. Check out pictures of Campbell Creek on my
website...

www.geocities.com/alaskawhitewater

have fun & be safe out there,

Tim
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Rapid Descriptions

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