Through some persistence and remarkably accommodating whitewater guides I managed to hitch a ride in the gear truck for an eight raft commercial trip to the Middle Fork of the American River. I was thrilled to get to see a new river, add 18 miles to my Saturday tally of 21, and perhaps a little nervous to not thoroughly embarrass myself in my packraft in front of a bunch of guides and their clients. I was particularly nervous about Tunnel Chute (IV+), a meaty 100 foot long chute of fast-moving froth ended at a steep plunge into a tall wave (frontispiece). Tunnel Chute is a pretty unique feature. Wanting to access the river placer along a long oxbow bend of the river, a gold mining company blasted a tunnel through the meander cut-off and then blasted a bedrock chute to divert the river through. I would mostly stay with the raft group (plus or minus) on this run since they were my ride back, but on finding out that Tunnel Chute was only a mile into the run I thought it best if I boat down ASAP, scout it, then wait for the rafts to show up.
The first mile has some nice swift rapids. It was a good thing the scout pull-in for Tunnel Chute was fairly obvious. It looked thoroughly impressive from above, perhaps the fastest rapid I've been in for its length. The final feature, if I made it upright until then, would be a steep drop and then a climb up a steep corner wave on the other side- the whole thing was reminiscent of a half pipe. I spent a good long while walking back and forth and mapping out a precision line. I accepted that I could flip and have a bad time but ultimately decided I would run it. Fortunately the rafts showed up just as I got back to my boat so I did not have to linger in gut-wrenching wait very long. I slipped into line behind two rafts and plunged into Last Chance Rapid that immediately leads into Tunnel Chute. I already was further left than I wanted to be coming out of Last Chance and so had to paddle hard to get back on my line. I entered Tunnel Chute right where I wanted and picked up speed like crazy. I had to brace a couple times and make a few paddle strokes to position but mostly I was on a fast moving liquid conveyor beyond my control. Somehow I managed to be too far right going into the final drop, the peeling lateral kissed me, pushing me to the left side into the chaotic corner wave. I muttered a few profanities and braced for impact. The result was surprising. The weirdly aerated water plunged my bow skyhigh as my boat twisted to face upriver. The mushy water underneath allowed me to brace, and somehow I leaked out of the bottom of the rapid backwards but upright. All smiles and a little bit of wonder, I floated through the spacious tunnel with the other rafts. It's not my normal thing but I so rarely get photos of myself in IV+ that I gave in and forked over for the paparazzi photos of me.
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| Scouting Tunnel Chute |
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| Tunnel Chute three photo sequence |
It was a surprisingly nice relief to have the biggest rapid appear in the first mile of the 18 mile run, lightening my mental load and allowing me to just enjoy the river. A few other rapids had some nice features. Kanaka Rapid (IV) rounded out the action packed first third of the run- I appreciated the guide beta of "stay left", as it was pretty much all I needed to know.
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| Kanaka Rapid |
The middle third of the run had a few riffles interspersed but was primarily flatwater, making me work a little harder to keep up with the paddle rafts. Periodically we would come upon another raft group who could always not resist asking me whether I ran Tunnel Chute and how it went. Lunch stop was near Otter Creek about halfway through the flatwater. I initially found my own spot to snack in the shade but the overly friendly Latin American guides coaxed me to join the group. I ended up talking with some chatty Stanford freshman rounding out the end of their school year with a river adventure. It was interesting to get the pandemic learning perspective from these supposedly smart and enterprising students. Turns out they are just as unmotivated as my students.
Continuing on the flatwater ended at Chunder (IV), which despite the Hot Shot photographer camping out, was a quick and seemingly straightforward drop. Next up was Ruck-A-Chucky Falls (VI), the trip's portage. I was just about to ask a guide if it ever gets run when an empty boat (other than the guide) plunged over the steep drop out of sight. All the guides ended up running the rapid! It would have been fun to watch but most of the rapid's mayhem was hidden from view of the right bank.
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| Ruck-A-Chucky Falls (portage) |
Ruck-A-Chucky kicked off a nice rapidfire section of boulder falls. Cleavage was fun, as were the few rapids that followed. All too soon this grand finale was over and the takeout came into view on the right. A no flip run! Always a good feeling, particularly this time with the watchful eyes of guides and touristas. I took my dry suit off and deflated as quick as I could so as not to slow anyone down, which fortunately worked out just fine. The ride back to camp was uneventful and I was back by about 4pm. Great day!
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| Cleavage Rapid |
All in all I was thrilled to boat a new river, which apparently does not see much private use because of the shuttle logistics. I thought it was great, better than the more popular Main Tuolumne run for what it is worth. I managed to get in 39 solo miles without any flips- not bad for a tag-along weekend. Heather's course sounded like it went really well so a successful weekend all around.
