Sandy

Dodge to Oxbow is one of the most beautiful class II-II+ (III) runs in the region.  The access points are civilized and shores are protected for most of its length.  The whitewater is easy enough for advanced beginners and early intermediates, with support.  There is also enough play to keep class III and IV paddlers amused.  In the second half of the run the pools get longer and paddling across them may be required to get downstream on a reasonable schedule.  The surfing is excellent in the 2,000-3,500cfs range (possibly higher), but at 8,000cfs the river is mostly washed out, and at 1,000 or lower the rapids are rocky and the pools are long and slow.

Dodge Park is a county park with easy access to the river and plenty of parking.  The first parking area on the left after you pull in is the access point for the Sandy.  The Bull Run takeout is in the same park but all the way in the back right corner (from the gate).

The river starts out fairly continuous class I-II immediately below Dodge, where the river splits around an island at the mouth of the Bull Run River.  After the island it steepens over the horizon of Pipeline Rapid.   Bull Run can add a lot of water immediately above Pipeline, changing the character.   After Pipeline there is a large recovery pool under a bridge.  Soon all signs of humanity fade from view and the river sweeps into a magnificent wilderness with bald eagles overhead, steelhead below, and vistas of sculpted cliffs around each bend.

The whitewater below Pipeline gradually decreases in intensity throughout the run.  Early on there are a couple rapids that rate a class II+ for length and continuousness, or if you fail to notice that one big hole in the middle of the wave train.  Soggy sneakers says the gradient is 23 feet per mile.   There are several places where the flow splits around islands and picking the right channel is a favorite puzzle.  Toward the end there are wood hazards along an eroding left bank.

Oxb

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