Paint

Ran this three times in the last two days in between rainstorms. Put in on the Hemlock and then the alternate put in for the second two runs. Hemlock ran fine at medium to high flow but there was two portages of beaver dams and the thinner river had more bugs, More time on the paint was worth the drive, though the road to the alternate put in is a bit bumpy. Flatwater is beautiful before and after the rapids and the rapids themselves were a hoot. Fun playwaves in the first class II+ and fun holes and wavetrains in the second Class III

FWIW, regarding the comment below, their access (put-in) was an additional 8 miles upstream from the reach as listed here. In concert with the low summer flow, that accounts for the duration of their trip. The listed reach should not take anywhere near that length of time.

I did an extended trip that included this stretch in the summer of 2005 when water levels were extremely low. We dropped in at the campgound off of FS-347 and ended at Bates-Amasa bridge (CR-643). It took around 5 hours (aside from the rapids, we floated most of the way) but would be much quicker at higher water. The two sections of Hemlock Rapids were a blast and in the Spring would be great.