Blackfoot,

Trail Creek Bridge to Cedar Creek (near Aldridge) (Wolverine Canyon) (Canyon Run)

Usual Difficulty	V (may vary with level)
Length	8 Miles

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
BLACKFOOT RIVER NR SHELLEY ID
usgs-13066000	250 - 1000 cfs	V	16h12m	cfs

River Description

Davis Gove warned on 2007-07-02, following a fatal accident:
This run is a full IV+ with multiple V's including a mandatory portage. Without a local boater familiar with the run this stretch could be an epic due to lots of scouting. Many of the lines are not obvious and would require TONS of scouting. This section contains multiple demanding rapids and at least one portage. A few of the main class V's have wood and pin hazards so scout thoroughly.

John "Gordo" Henderson added on 2007-07-04:
I've got a big problem with the AW page for the section of the Blackfoot River where the fatality occurred, not just because I lost a best friend there but, more to the point, it's not the first time. (Ed. note: the rating for this section has been changed, because of Gordo's warning.) On July 7, 2006 two friends of mine who work together on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation Fire District attempted to run the same reach of river. At the time they were essentially advanced beginners and had no business being on that section of the Blackfoot River. (Incidentally, the reach is known locally as "Wolverine Canyon") They had both run other reaches of Idaho whitewater rated similarly to what the AW page rates the Blackfoot in "Wolverine Canyon" such as the South Fork of the Payette "Staircase" and "Canyon" sections, so they were unintimidated after having looked up the section on the AW page.
The rapid in question is known as "Teller Tube" (think of what happens to the tube in a pneumatic system at the bank) and the locals refer to it as the FIRST of the CLASS FIVE RAPIDS in Wolverine Canyon. I've not run the section myself but according to the boaters who were with Paul when he was killed, the nature of the canyon is like the North Fork of the Payette, Class-V rapids with continuous Class-IV water in between. Back to my story. My two friends got out to scout "Teller Tube," Jeff shouldered his boat, Zane elected to run it. Needless to say he had essentially the same experience as Paul did with the exception that he was still in his boat when he pinned on the logjam and at the last moment, washed free. My friend was injured by the current, which had blown the orbits of his eyes open and threatened to literally suck the globes out of their sockets. He had river water running behind his eyeballs. It took him over a month to regain his vision fully and longer to lose the raccoon-eye bruises around his eyes. The river stripped him of his neoprene booties which forced him to walk out of the canyon barefoot through steep rattlesnake infested talus slopes.
The nature of "Teller Tube" is Class-V moves with Class-VI consequences. The line is narrow to the point of being microscopic. You must make a tight left-to-right move across the face of a green drop, then work center punching holes, avoiding the massive pillow on the left, then you MUST catch an eddy on the right which is the pivot point of the rapid. There you have three options, a hairy ferry across the powerful current to river left and then down the left side of the rapid, a bump and slide down the far right of the rapid, or, better yet, get the Hell out of the river and portage. The consequence of not making the eddy or a smaller last chance eddy below it, is to be swept into a boulder field blocked by a jumbled logjam. Worse is to be upside down like Zane was, or swimming like Paul was--the chances for either situation are near zero. The current flows to and piles up on the logjam and anything not actively trying to avoid it will inevitably wind up in the logjam to be strained.
My suggestion is that the AW page needs to be immediately revised to reflect the Class-V character of the river with a note that the wood in "Teller Tube" leaves zero margin for error with a near certain fatal potential for anyone not on his game, on line and under control of his boat.

(Thanks to Gordo for this update. We regret that this page did not, until recently, reflect the true character of this reach. This is, of course, a volunteer-driven project. We need MORE paddlers, with LOCAL knowledge, to be sure that our descriptions of ALL reaches reflect their true difficulty. As with any such information service, the descriptions in this database are no substitute for extensive river research, knowledge, and scouting. (See the disclaimer above.) For information on how to join the Stream Team and add your own knowledge to this database, please email Matt Muir at RivieraRatt at aol dot com.)