Gauge Description:

This gauge is located well downstream of the run and especially in early season a considerable amount of the reported flow can be from side creeks downstream of the crux of Giant Gap. By April-June with drier weather most flow reported will be passing through Giant Gap from high elevation snow melt from slopes behind Squaw Valley and Sugar Bowl. Lower flows are still fun in the harder rapids in Giant Gap but make for a long paddle out at the end of the day. Higher flows make Locomotive falls a more serious proposition and lost equipment in the early walled out gorge sections could be a real disaster.

NF American R at NF Dam [ CA ]

Current Conditions Stage Flow Updated 0.32 39 10/8 1:15 Station Graphs

Linked Reaches

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Level Legend:

Running

Below Minimum Recommended Flow

Above Maximum Recommended Flow

Unknown

Descriptions of reaches with River Name in bold have been verified by a regional StreamTeam member.

State	River Name/Section	Class	Level	Rel. Level	Updated
CA	American, N. Fork— 1. Generation Gap: Tadpole Creek to Euchre Bar	IV-V	39 cfs	low	10/8 1:15
CA	American, N. Fork— 2. Giant Gap: Euchre Bar to Colfax-Iowa Hill Road	IV-V	39 cfs	low	10/8 1:15
CA	American, N. Fork— 3. Chamberlain Falls: Colfax-Iowa Hill Road to Yankee Jims Road	IV	39 cfs	low	10/8 1:15
CA	American, N. Fork— 4. Shirtail Run: Yankee Jims Road Bridge to Ponderosa Way Bridge	II-III	39 cfs	low	10/8 1:15

Station Description

AW Gauge ID:	4688
USGS Station:	11427000
HUC:	18020128
Latitude:	38.9361
Longitude:	-121.0228
Class:	-1

Grater (Class IV, Mile 3.3)
Grater signals the start of Giant Gap proper and the main difficulties. It is a shallow, congested and rocky rapid and at lower flows very boney. People generally run it left, and aggressive boat scouting is generally sufficient.

Nutcracker (Class 5.0, Mile 3.4)
Nutcracker is formed where the river flows over a rock fence then constricts tightly whilst steepening, being constrained by a vertical cliff on the right slide and downstream a large round boulder on the left. Boaters arriving at the horizon line are often greated with no better clue as to a line than a cloud of mist rising from below. However this rapid turns out to be quite forgiving, though wonderfully boisterous. People generally enter center through right of center through a gap in the submerged rock fence then just head center, paddle hard and hang on! The rapid is composed of breaking waveholes and staying upright and straight is the main problem. The rapid empties into a deep and slow pool at normal flows.

Locomotive (Class 5.0, Mile 3.5)
Above 1,500 cfs this becomes a dangerous river-wide ledge hole. Scout on river right by exiting boat into shallow water and scaling granite cliff (5.3). The portage is also on river right and requires team work to pull boats and paddles up the cliff. Rafts can line down the right. The rapid seems to have changed somewhat for the better in recent years (2007) and there is a more pronounced tongue hard right and less of a leftwards typewriter effect afterwards.

Five Alive (Class IV, Mile 3.7)
Always a favorite of most boaters, five alive appears to be dramatically changed as of 2006 and somewhat simpler though no less fun. The river suddenly steepens considerably, dropping to the left and forming giant breaking waves

Dominator (Class 5.0, Mile 5.0)
Dominator is the last of the big named rapids in Giant Gap, and at this point the canyon is already opening out from the cliffed out narrows of the inner gorge. It starts with a busy boulder garden with most flow trending center and left. Sneak routes appear to the right and can be used but have significant pinning potential. Following the main flow left leads to a large eddy on the left that can be used to scout the final large drop. From this eddy either ferry hard to the right side to run the uniform and relatively easier ledge or split the two large boulders center avoiding the meaty hole somehow for the sporting line. The central hole frequently eats boaters in spectacular fashion and they swim out of fearsome boils against the cliff face left. Set safety right but photographs are best taken left, from below the scouting eddy. More timid boaters are advised to scout immediately right rather than entering the initial boulder garden.

Pinball (Class IV+, Mile 14.3)
Pinball lurks at the very end of the Giant Gap run, ready to catch the tired and weary after the seemingly endless miles of class II/III. Its geology and nature is similar to that of downstream Chamberlain Falls than the major rapids of Giant Gap. Catch the last eddy on the left as the channel becomes obviously constricted by large boulders and pick your line. An ugly looking cave lurks under the boulder top right of the rapid.