Robert Farmer----I haven't done this for a few years, but I've always felt that it's a shame that the big reputation of this river keeps many otherwise able paddlers away; this is a great river for a solid Class 5-minus paddler, IF (big if) you make two portages: Paddle Rites of Passage, and take out on river right above Gates of Hell, then portage via the beautiful and easy old railroad grade past the big baddies to Sieve City, and sneak that on the right. You'll know when to put in, because the trail ends at a big embankment. Watch out for the next ledge hole below Sieve City, though. 2nd portage: When you come to Double Undercut, you'll know it. There's a fairly flat pool above it, with an overhanging tree on the left. No one could accidentally wash into this one! It starts off with a ledge that only a total gonzo fool would run for the first time without scouting or guidance. Anyway, the Lower Meadow is an unusually beautiful, yet still achievable river that deserves to be appreciated (but not underestimated) by many more people. Catch it at a low level and bring your scouting and walking shoes! Edit

Just did the lower at around 430 cfs. Great fun! You wouldn't guess it but the river is plenty deep in most places. Hells gates is alittle dry. So is Sieve City. Brink becomes the hardest rapid, At least thats what I felt. Has one must make move then it's cake. Comming Home is a mandatory portage.

My last run was in Sept 2004 @ 1000CFS. I believe the drop is called Landslide, or is just after a landslide on the left. There used to be a rock that made a good boof in the left center at the bottom of the drop. It now seems to have been turned up, making more of a clamshell. All nine of us made it over, with one scary close call. We didn't have the ability to wave off those behind us. I can only imagine this rock would be much more dangerous at lower levels. We chose the right channel on subsequent runs.

Some More on guage and other changes New <br /> <br /> Forum: BoaterTalk <br /> Re: Lower Meadow Warning hydraulic New <br /> Re: Hey Bryan about the gauge ShawnMc New <br /> Date: Dec 14 2003, 4:25 GMT <br /> From: jbseay <br /> <br /> Hey Shawn, JB here. I talked to Todd Richendollar some about the gauge, and he said he hadn't been out there and checked it, but we all agreed today that the Guage is reading low. <br /> Bryan and I agreed to post this info once or twice more to get the word out to non fayettevillains <br /> <br /> -The bulk of the rearanging seems to be cobble sized stuff, which has deepened up some drops and shallowed others. <br /> Some large rocks have moved though. <br /> <br /> -The change in Coming Home is big. the eddy level in there today looked the same as it use to at like 400 cfs. Except we figure it was 1400 or 1500 cfs. we were pretty far into the drop before we saw the log, so I think it is important to let people know about both the log and the new seive in the eddy, so that no-one accidentally commits and get screwed. <br /> <br /> -The main entrance to Seive City (drop immediately below coming home) has opened up, plus the boof ledge in the drop below Seive City has gotten significantly taller, and today it had a 3-4' high boil downstream of it. weird looking. felt funny to me. numerous other little things have shifted around in boogie rapids, nothing big, but noticeable. <br /> <br /> -Todd suggested that Sliding Board hadn't changed but that it was just high, making the hole grabby. Luke was able to drive hard left and skip over it on a tounge coming down that side. I'll have to see it sometime at lower water to know for sure. <br /> <br /> Later, <br /> <br /> JB <br /> <br /> <br />