Bear
1 - Black Canyon - Grace Dam Bridge to Grace Powerhouse(Black Canyon)
| Difficulty | IV(V) |
| Length | 6 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 22, 2026 |
River Description
Following many years of hard work by American Whitewater 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. Whitewater boaters can now experience the excitement of this restored river in southeastern Idaho. 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.
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.
American Whitewater has renegotiated the original flow-trigger releases in exchange for scheduled releases. Releases are now scheduled for four weekends through the spring with one of one weekend that provides three days of boating (Fri-Sun). Target flow for releases is 900 cfs.
River Features
Put In
Put in provided by the power company.
Grace Falls
A sweet vertical drop of 4-8 feet following a busy lead in. Its visible from the high bridge just downstream.
Bus splat
Junkyard and schoolbus in the river
Boo Boo
The biggest rapid on the Bear, and a big step up from the rest of the run. Expect a rapid straight from the North Fork Payette.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportA little low water, non-release info here. We noticed the Black Canyon gage has been running mid-500 cfs lately to meet irrigation demands and perhaps powerhouse maintenance. So we ventured out and took a couple laps R2 on a Jack’s Culebra paddlecat at about 540cfs and 630cfs. It is definitely doable in a paddlecat but we rubbed a lot of rocks and had lots of extra moves to make while rock-dodging. A lot of fun to be had at this level, all of the standout rapids were fleshed out nicely and the weather was hot. We did manage a flip/swim at Upper BooBoo on our second lap.
For kayakers, this flow would be great for a late-summer trip when most rivers are in low-flow conditions. Before you go, check the gage, Pacificorp also has a 7-day forecast of expected flows that seems to be fairly accurate. Hopefully we see some more boaters out there on our next lap!
gage data used here is Bear River Below Grace Dam: https://www.pacificorp.com/community/recreation/water-release/bear-river/below-grace-dam.html
Just ran this thing and swam Grace Falls. It actually was not as bad as it sounds.
There is a series of small 3 to 5 foot ledges leading up to Grace Falls. These are all on river right. River right also has a very large hole right before Grace Falls.
River left has smaller terraced falls leading to pools without any large boat flipping holes. My advice to you is to run river left going up to and over Grace Falls.
Ths section is normally dewatered by a series of dams and diversions. This flow resulted from glitches in the system.