Salmon, North Fork

Some GoPro shots from an afternoon run down with the Otter Bar crew on the North Fork Canyon from the Gallia Mine put-in to home in Forks of Salmon. At 3,800 cfs on the Somes Bar gage, this is what I consider to be on the lower end of a medium flow, but definitely not low.

This is one of my favorite sections of river in the Salmon watershed but most paddlers just drive by on their way to better known sections. The alternating metamorphic rock and granite boulders makes for diverse rapids and there are some epic boofs and swipes on smooth granite here. The final Indian Point Gorge just two miles upstream of Forks of Salmon adds some class V spice; most paddlers take out above this at Saw Pit Flat (Sawyers Bar Road milemarker 3.8), but I always do the full run because I really enjoy it and also because I have to in order to take out at home downstream.