Deadwood

Brian Vogt --
Ran the Deadwood River in July of 2008 at a low-medium flow of 500 or so. This was a great IV level. No clean V on the run. The ranger station out of Lowman has good info on the best routes to access the putin. We headed up Canyon Creek out of Lowman, through Big Meadows/Bear Valley, then dropped down and around the reservoir. We had several portages; most for wood. There's one right off the bat in the first 1/2 mile with few eddies.

There's a IV broken ledge that kicks off the whitewater. It was clean, as was double drop. Several of the good IVs are wood choked and mandatory portages however. The V is just choked with a cats cradle of logs, and not readily apparent from the river.

The inner gorge and continuous III-IV below the one V drop was stellar. The action below the bridge was also excellent. A big log jam has blown out in the lower run, and it's obvious where. Be ready for some sketchy corners and wood for 1/2 mile below here as the old log jam has filled the next section with logs.

This is a stellar run -- one of the most scenic I've seen in a long time. Highly recommended.