Trinity, South Fork
6. Surprise Falls to Broken Bridge(Three Bears)
| Difficulty | IV |
| Length | 5.7 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 37 fpm |
| Gauge | South Fork Trinity River Below Hyampom |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 456 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | December 31, 2023 |
River Description
The Three Bears refer to three class IV rapids below Surprise Creek, which are all boulder gardens. All three can be portaged if necessary. Boaters typically take out at the Broken Bridge (mile 5.5).
May be boatable at higher flows.
You can combine this with the Lower SF Trinity Run (class II) that ends at either Sandy Bar or the Trinity River confluence.
Logistics
Put-in
To get to the put-in from the take-out, head back uphill toward Escot Farms and turn right onto South Fork Road/Forest Service Road 5N03 that heads in the upriver direction. Go five miles then stay left at the sign for Todd Ranch. Continue two more miles to a Y, then turn right to descend a steep road to the river at Surprise Falls.
Take-out
The take-out for this run is also the put-in for the downstream Lower SF Trinity Run at the broken bridge/low water bridge. To get there from Highway 299 at the east side of the the bridge over the South Fork, turn south onto South Fork Road and begin heading upriver. After four miles, turn right to stay on South Fork Road where Hennessy Road splits off straight ahead. After 1.3 miles, bear right again to stay on South Fork Road and heading in the upriver direction. Continue until you see a peach-colord sign for Escot Farms, about eight miles from Highway 299. Turn right here then stay left to descend to the river. Because the bridge over the river is 'broken' aka missing, there's a gate that blocks vehicle access at the end and you'll need to carry a short ways down to the water on the old roadbed.
Additional Information
The best guidebook for this run is Dan Menten's 2016 classic The New School Guide to Northern California Whitewater (p. 137).
See the Three Bears description on cacreeks.com
Sections of the
...River Features
Surprise Falls Put-in
Broken Bridge Take-out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportRobin, Ted, Tom, Andrew and I had our first attempts at this run today, after a good while of waiting for the SF Trinity to finally come up again. We had mixed results – most of us swam parts of the big rapids. Baby Bear was the trickiest to me. I enjoyed the hell out of this river, area, and crew. We did it again the next day and had a boat wrapped for a good 45min below one of the Bears. Lots of good rescue practice!
Ran a few weeks ago in January 2019 around 2000 cfs, here’s a video with the rapids - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4byeizw1wgk
At the beginning you have a few class 2 riffles here and there before reaching your first major rapid.
Todd Creek - This rapid is a falls that has 3 channels. First channel is just a class II channel, middle channel looked like it might go, and far right was a class III channel, maybe 5 foot drop that had a pin rock in the middle and a flake on the far right. Left side of the drop is good to go however.
Papa bear - funkyish entry center right, working to the far left, then back middle. Lots of decent sized rocks and holes in this one. Possibly the hardest of the 3 bears in my opinion because of the technicalness and all the junk on the sides. Easy to spot, big beach left bunch of rocks in the middle and at 2000 all the water was going to the far right channels.
Mama Bear - short rapid with the main feature being 3 slots. Pretty sure all go in a kayak but I went in the middle which at 2000 was about a 4 or 5 foot drop, had a lateral wave coming off the rock and then a second hole behind that. Both looked pretty meaty, but the first one did nothing and the second one stopped our momentum but didn’t hold us. Stopped us like we went over a very shallow rock I suspect.
Baby Bear - Longest rapid of the 3 bears. Begin by heading right. When you reach an eddy of slow water, start working left, avoiding the rock jumble on the right that you are about to hit. Then stay middle, middle-right to finish out the rapid. Fairly mild read and run.
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Then you’re basically done, a few class II wave trains and splashy rapids until the low bridge take out.
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The road to put-in was graded this year (from what I hear), and is no longer 4x4 preferred. As of January 12, the road was in great shape and was fine for 2 wheel drive low-clearance vehicle.