Bear, Idaho, US

1 - Grace Dam Bridge to Grace Powerhouse (Black Canyon)

River Description

Following many years of hard work by AW staff and volunteers, FERC issued a new license in 2003 for the hydro project that historically left this reach with just a small trickle of water. In the coming years whitewater boaters will experience the excitement of a restored river. American Whitewater is a member of the Environmental Coordination Committee (ECC) which is responsible for the adaptive management approach to implementation of the license provisions. PacifiCorp has already provided improvements to access.

If you have a chance to boat the Bear please be a good neighbor as positive relations with the local community are essential to making future releases a success and that big boat on your roof clearly identifies us as a user group. In particular watch your speed as you pass through the housing area near the take-out (it's posted for 10 mph) and stock up on shuttle snacks in Grace.

The river is a solid class IV run with one or two stand out rapids that can be class V. The rapids are numerous and continuous.. Rapids deserving attention include Grace Falls, just downstream of the first set of rapids, and BooBoo near the end of the run which is a step up at class V. At lower flows the river is technical and generally class IV.  At high flows the river has been compared to the North Fork of the Payette - which is class V.  To top it all off the Black Canyon is an incredibly pretty place. 

Releases can occur between April 15 and July 15, based on inflows exceeding 700cfs.  In addition several scheduled releases will occur throughout 2008-2010.

2013 release dates: 

http://www.pacificorp.com/content/dam/pacificorp/doc/Energy_Sources/Hydro/Hydro_Licensing/Bear_River/2013_Boater_FlowSchedule.pdf