Trinity
1. Tangle Blue Creek to Clair Engle Lake
| Difficulty | III-IV |
| Length | 13.8 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Trinity R Ab Coffee C Nr Trinity Center Ca |
| Flow Rate as of 35 minutes | 117 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 22, 2024 |
River Description
This is an absolute classic. It doesn't run every year, and often runs for a short time, but is worth the drive if you can catch it.
The section above this run was clearly runnable and is roadside, if anyone has beta on it please add the run here on AW.
The run is absolutely continuous class III with one class IV at Bear Creek. Swims can be painful as the river isn't particularly deep and one gets pinballed at best and pinned at worst.
At 1300cfs there's some scraping for the first mile, so I imagine 800cfs would be pretty bony. 1500 is a great level. River should go above 2000 but would definitely become a class IV due to the continuous nature.
The class IV Bear Creek rapid about 1/3 of the way through the run. It has two defined sections of whitewater with a small swift recovery section in between. The first part can be seen from the road, but just a bit down the road from there there you can drive off of the highwauy onto a dirt road into the trees to see the lower part of the rapid. It's advised to scout this on the way to the put-in, as the lower part is hard to scout from the riverbank.
River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportTed, Michel, Robin in packrafts. It was insanely nice day, high of 70. We had some swims and were tested by the continuous nature of the run. Walked the first half of Bear Creek rapid and ran the lower half. I ran it clean other than falling out of my boat peeling into an eddy lol.
If you camp in area night before, I recommend camping at Bear Creek, so you can scout the rapid before the run. Nice campsites there on either side of the river.
Can't wait to check out the section above Tangle Blue creek.
1000 cfs was a good level, a little bony in the beginning. Check gauge at Trinity above Coffee Creek: http://www.dreamflows.com/realtime.php#California\_North\_Coast
Like the upper mccloud but better