Dinkey Creek

Stone stairs lead down to this pretty pool which makes a good put in.   The rapids below this are fairly continuous rock slaloms intersperced with occasional bedrock drops and short pools.   Several of the bedrock drops develop serious holes at medium to high flows.

This historic bridge is fun to check out and is easily accessible without going into the campgrounds.    You can drive to and park near the bridge on either side of the creek, though I recall that river left has more parking options.   In some ways this is a nicer put in than the highway bridge, because nhe creek is immediately busy and there is one big drop between the truss bridge and the highway bridge.  .

The highway bridge is a common put in.  A painted gauge is on the river right bridge foundation.   A reading of 2 is boney but pretty fun, while 3 to 4 is clean and exciting.   There is lots of parking in the vicinity of the bridge.   Camping is not allowed here.   Dinkey Campgrounds offer developed camping for a fee.    Drive further east or back to the west to find free primitive camping areas.

A steep, impressive, bedrock drop.   Scout on river right.    I don't recall why we called it Captian Nemo, but it is too shallow to submarine!

From a small eddy at the lip on river right, drop down a steep, left ward tongue, then cut back hard to the right.    The most common problem in this rapid is when boaters overpower the steep entrance.  They (we) overshoot up onto the left wall and get turned backwards.  A light touch in the entrance helps the cut back to the right, and down the channel.

It seems odd that a drop that looks so innocuous at low flows could be a keeper hole at high flows.   The next few drops come quickly. A big river wide ledge must be run on the right edge, before catching a small eddy on the left to scout Cherry Bomb.

A small but intimidating waterfall in an impressive gorge.     Scout on river left.   At lower flows at least, it is a fun drop.  In some years it collects trees, so must be portaged no matter what.

Portage also on river left with some difficulty if need be.  The left side portage requires hiking up steep dirt and rocks.  Then traverse easy ledges to a brush filled gulley.   Nice slabs at the base of the gulley allow easy lanching.

Confident rock climbers can also traverse the steep slabs on river right side.   Climbers can get to the eddy at the lip of the falls to set safety or line boats and such.

This is a fairly long bedrock rapid that ends in a pool next to the Sheriden Mine.   There is 4-wheel drive road access to the Mine on river right.   Scout or portage the rapid on river right.   There can be a pretty good hole at the bottom of the rapid.

This take out is pretty non descript, so it is best to mark it somehow.  The very last rapid before is distinctive.  Downstream the creek turns to the left and quickly gets much steeper.   Small slabs at the waters edge provide an easy exit from the water.   A trail runs along the hillside on river right from the Sheriden Mine to Muley Hole.  At this point the hillside flattens out near the water and so the trail comes down next to the creek.

In 2010, the trail looked well used, though there were some trees across it.  Head upstream along the trail.   Where the trail crosses a small gulley, two large logs are down.  The trail just goes on top of the logs.  A steep grade follows.  When the trail levels out look for a side trail heading uphill to the logging spur road parking area.  It is a popular trailhead for fishermen, but the trail was overgrown right at the parking area.