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Middle Fork American

Picture of Drivers Launch/Take-out area

        The crystal clear waters of this river run through a deep wilderness canyon of exceptional beauty. The lower run is suitable for second time rafters with some familiarity with rivers & rapids.

Drivers Flat Rd to Mammoth Bar: Class 2 about 7 miles. This class 2+ dirt road runs from Foresthill Rd down into the canyon. (Camping is available) This is a nice, uncrowded intermediate run with lots of fun, splashy rapids. The canyon had extensive placer mining operations in the 1800s but you can hardly tell. In summer the flows from the upstream power release arrive around 2:00PM making this a nice afternoon run. The run takes about 3 hours. Takeout is at the Mammoth Bar OHV (motorcycle) area. Most people take out here to avoid a knarly class 5 rapid just downstream that's difficult to portage. You can see this rapid from the road during your shuttle. Click here for run slide show.

Oxbow Reservoir to Drivers Flat: Class 4-5 with a mandatory portage. 17 miles. This run requires an expert guide. This is the Tunnel Chute run where rafts flush through a chute blasted out by miners and float through a large tunnel at the bottom. Near the end of the run is a mandatory portage around Rucka-Chucky rapid, a class 6. This is followed by several class 4 drops. You'd want to see this run as a passenger one or two times and have a few seasons guide experience before attempting it. Slide Show

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