Trinity, North Fork
1. Grizzly Creek to Hobo Gulch CG(Wilderness Run)
| Difficulty | II-III |
| Length | 8.7 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 18, 2026 |
River Description
For those looking for a wilderness paddling experience on a beautiful river that isn't exceptionally difficult, the upper North Fork Trinity offers a spectacular hike-in/paddle-out run that can be done in a long day trip or--better--as an overnighter. This run is particularly well-suited for packrafts. The ideal flow window can vary, but mid-May through early June is the best time for flows and good weather. It's possible that this could be run in the rainy season or earlier in the spring if the road is open.
Start by hiking on the North Fork trail headed upriver from the Hobo Gulch Campground. After about 5 miles, you'll reach Rattlesnake Creek at its confluence with the North Fork Trinity. This creek puts a lot of water into the North Fork. Depending upon snowmelt, the North Fork may be low upstream of Rattlesnake Creek. You can put in the North Fork here if that's the case and you'll have a 4.8-mile paddle back to Hobo Gulch Campground. But, if the North Fork has adequate flows above Rattlesnake Creek, you can continue hiking upriver four more miles, passing the historic Jorstad Cabin, to put in at the confluence with the next major tributary: Grizzly Creek. This yields an 8.7-mile run that makes an ideal overnighter.
Rattlesnake and Grizzly Creek are both large enough that they could technically be navigated in packrafts. In 2023, Grizzly Creek had plenty of water to float but was completley choked with wood. Rattlesnake Creek is smaller than Grizzly Creek and has a gorge/waterfall section.
Packrafter Justin Baker's video gives an excellent overview of this run: Upper North Fork Trinity River Packrafting, Grizzly Creek to Hobo Gulch Campground, May 2021.
2023 update: In June of 2023, the river had a lot more log jams. Pretty much every corner where there river constricts had wood. Unless the wood clears out, it's no longer a high quality packraft run. If you are ok with a portag
...River Features
Grizzly Creek Confluence
Put in at the confluence of Grizzly Creek and the NF Trinity. Both the creek and river above here are low volume and also much steeper than the reach downstream.
Rattlesnake Creek Confluence
This photo is looking up Rattlesnake Creek.
Depending on river levels and snowmelt, putting in at Rattlesnake Creek may be a good option. It is 4.8 river miles from here to Hobo Gulch Campground.
Hobo Gulch Campground
Take out on river left at the Hobo Gulch Campground. This is also the put-in for the more difficult NF Trinity run down to the EF NF Trinity confluence.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportWe tried running this again in early June, 2023 from Grizzly Creek down. I assumed that the huge snow year would have blown out the logs, but instead it pushed them all into big jams around every corner where the river constricts. Hobo Drop has a log jam just below the recovery pool. If you swam in the recovery pool you could probably get to shore on time, but there is a good chance your boat would end up in the log jam. Shortly after Hobo Drop we encountered many more log jams tucked into swift blind corners. Knowing that were about to enter a long, slightly constricted whitewater section (probably class 3 at these flows) with lots of sharp corners, we decided to pack up and hike out. The rest of the river looked fairly clear when hiking out, so we slightly regreted packing up, but it was a very long day of bushwacking portages all the way from Grizzly Creek down and we were over it.
Grizzly Creek had enough water to float, but it was completely choked with logs.
The most recent fire had minimal impact on the river corridor.
I currently can't reccomend this run. I'll come back here some day and see what it's like.
looking up rattlesnake creek