Buffalo Fork

4 semi professional packrafters from TN decided to fire this run up on Aug 21.  The area had seen some rain the past few days but flows remained around 375cfs.  The rain combined with substantial horse traffic made the hike to the put-in fairly slick.  We arrived at the bridge crossing the south fork in 1.5 hours and enjoyed a sandwich and beer before inflating our crafts.

The run starts very easy with small wave trains and open meadows for the first half hour.  The canyon walls start to form around you and river sees a noticeable gradient shift that brings a continuous 45 min of fun class 2/3 rapids that require whitewater experience to navigate at low flow.  We only ran into one tree that blocked the entrance to a rapid, but it would be submerged at proper flow.  After the canyon opened up we began to see fly fisherman that hiked up the creek from Turpin Meadows.

Overall the paddle took us just under 2 hours and we were all smiles the whole way.  None of us had proper cold water gear with us, but a base layer kept us warm all day.  10/10 would do again, can't wait to come back and add the North Fork to this run.