Keith's friend Rick mentioned the East Fork of the San Gabriel River was running on snowmelt, which provided an exciting prospect for a new local run for me. Maintaining proper physical distancing protocols, we (Rick, Keith, Maia, Daniel, Heather, Nic) drove separately to the trailhead at the East Fork road end. Wanting a bit more spice, Keith and I hiked up to the first river crossing and boated down from there. The river was surprisingly fast, characterized by a narrow channel, continuous whitewater and plenty of blind turns with few eddies. We had to make two river-spanning log portages at a moment's notice and a third that I managed to get out and clear. Overhanging tree branches were also common.
The water was a surprisingly pleasant temperature and had a crystal clarity I was unaccustomed to for southern California rivers (usually in frothy brown flood runoff mode, not snowmelt). The whitewater was somewhat engaging with the level of maneuvering required though features were not too bouncy. We past several riverside loungers and gold panners, for the most part all amused by our passing. The real downside was the magnitude of trash and graffiti, which surpassed any other river I've been on.
At the Cattle Canyon trestle bridge we met up with the others and we all made our way down. The river noticeably changed character at this point to more of a pool-drop style, while easing up on the difficulty to II+. There were few memorable rapids but the water temperature was excellent.
We took out at Graveyard Canyon, the last public access before the reservoir, Keith and I having gone a little over 4 miles. Keith volunteered to run the shuttle while the rest of us dried and packed gear. It wasn't the greatest run but it was rejuvenating to get out and do something in these restrictive times and it did pique my interest in packrafting further up the river where the gradient is steeper.
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