American, Silver Fork
0. Hwy 88 to Fitch-Rantz Bridge(Tip-top Silver Fork)
| Difficulty | IV-V |
| Length | 5.5 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Reach Info Last Updated | July 18, 2023 |
River Description
This relatively obscure section on the Silver Fork of the American River drains Silver Lake, flowing through the Eldorado National Forest for 5.5 miles before intersecting with Silver Fork Road at Fitch-Ranz Bridge.
Seldom run due to unpredictable water releases, a long shuttle, and two unrunnable waterfalls in the first mile, this section contains high-quality granite bedrock rapids, log-filled meadows, and continuous boulder mank.
This run was burned in the Caldor Fire of 2020, and likely has numerous log jams. Use caution and scout.
Once Silver Lake has filled with spring runoff, Eldorado County Irrigation District releases water from the lake to maintain a full pool. Look for 100-200cfs on the Silver Fork Below Oyster Creek Confluence gauge. The releases are stepped, and tend to change every three to four days.
The first 3/4 mile of this run can be easily scouted from the Potholes Trail, across Hwy 88 from Silver Lake dam.
River Features
No river features have been added
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportLong fascinated by this lesser-known cousin of South Silver, I decided to scout this run on a sunny Thursday afternoon with 70cfs, well below the recommended level, releasing from Silver Lake. To my surprise, I found the rapids in the first mile both clean and runnable at this level. I rallied a fellow packrafter for a paddle-in / hike-out mission the following weekend.
Saturday morning rolled around and I checked the level to find that EldoCo Irrigation had stepped the flow down to 50cfs. I called my packrafter buddy and canceled, and then on a whim my partner and I decided to go anyway.
Surprised again, I found that many of the rapids still went just fine and were quite fun. Because it was a very hot summer weekend, the Potholes area was crawling with people and I had no desire to create a spectacle by paddling through them, although these drops were mostly good to go and looked rad. We hiked to below the first unrunnable waterfall (which is also a fantastic filter for day hikers) and put in.
Some drops were clean and runnable, others I had to portage because of the low water. Astroslide was spectacular and much less boney than Autobahn at similar flows. My partner and I paddled and hiked down to Strawbilly Falls to find it too low to comfortably run, so we packed up and hiked out. It was a super fun and very low stress day thanks to packrafts and their ease of portaging.
If you’re looking for a similar inflatable experience, I’d suggest a minimum of 70cfs on the Silver Fork below Oyster Creek gauge to run more of the rapids. Strawbilly Falls (an obvious 15 footer below an unrunnable slide) makes for a good turnaround point, as the river changes character below and becomes more boulder gardens.
Shoutout to Joe Cutrer for unlocking this run and sharing the beta I needed to actually get on it.
View a video of the run here: Packrafting Tip Top Silver Fork
PS: I went back with a crew two days later and ran the Potholes section at 50cfs. Still needed more water.