October 17, 2011
| Reporter | Brian Yellen |
Wife and I set in below the gorge (rumors of CIV within gorge). It was a great canoe paddle down to the reservoir. The reservoir is only for flood control and often empty; a road runs along the bottom of the dry reservoir. Along the way, there were some great trout pools and a few bouldery ledges that we chose to line since it was October and chilly. Except for one boulder field, it was at worst, very low consequence CIII. The boulder field had some nasty turns that looked likely to wrap the canoe. But it was an easy line with an unloaded boat.
We had stashed bikes at the reservoir and rode them back to our car along the dirt road that parallels the river. The road is rocky and car-free. I was able to ride most of it on an old 10-speed and my wife was fine on a cheap hybrid.
We paddled a 17' behemoth Dagger canoe. Discharge was about 800cfs. This would prolly be too shallow below 600cfs.