5. Confluence with Middle Fork to Folsom Lake Wild

The North Fork American River, now navigable down to the reservoir following the closure of the Auburn Dam diversion tunnel in late 2007, offers a dynamic and scenic paddling experience. This section invites boaters to explore its rapids and the scenic canyon while passing the eerie backdrop of the Auburn Dam site. The area around the Auburn Water Pumping Station features newly-formed rapids and an artificial whitewater section, where features vary significantly with flow levels. Access Logistics: Put-In: The usual put-in point for this section of the river is at the confluence of the North and Middle forks. To get there, take I-80 east and exit at Highway 49, heading south for a few miles towards the river. Drive past the Highway 49 bridge and turn onto Old Foresthill Road. You’ll find several parking areas along the road on both sides of the river, providing convenient access to the water. However, be cautious at lower flows, as submerged metal debris just downstream of the Highway 49 bridge can pose a hazard. Take-Out: For take-out options, there are a few choices depending on how far you want to paddle. The most popular take-out point for those looking to avoid the reservoir is the Birdsall take-out, located just below the Pump Station rapid. This take-out provides a direct route to the river with parking situated on a hill above. Alternatively, the Oregon Bar and Rattlesnake Bar boat ramp offer further access points, with Rattlesnake Bar located on Folsom Reservoir and requiring a longer paddle out. The Oregon Bar take-out, however, is challenging with its steep, boater-unfriendly access. At this location, you'll need to park about half a mile away and carry your boat uphill, which can be exhausting and time-consuming, especially when the weather is warm. While it’s an option for those up for the challenge, many boaters find that paddling across the reservoir to Rattlesnake Bar may be the more practical choice. First Hand Accounts: Neil Nikirk reports:  For those floating the confluence run and wishing to take out before the reservoir, the best place is the Birdsall takeout about ¼ mile below the Pump Station rapid (PCWA intake) near the old tunnel ending. The road goes right down to the river here and parking is on the hill above. Floating down to the other access below Oregon Hill gives you a couple more small rapids to run, but the takeout is NOT boater friendly. For this access, you must park over ½ mile away (and about 500 feet vertical!) which means carry the boat 100 yards uphill to the loading zone, walk uphill about 0.7 miles to the car and drive back down to get your boat. I was beginning to think it might be easier to paddle 5 miles across the reservoir to Rattlesnake Bar! Note, at high flows there was a beautiful retentive feature right at the (Oregon Bar) take out! \-\-\----- Jeff Colteux reported on the cfsonline maillist: 'We had 4 amigos run the N. Fork American on Sunday (3-2-2008) to the tune of about 1400 cfs. ..... At the end of the trip in the parking lot we all agreed we liked this run. The new whitewater course is great at 1400cfs and Jeff W. says at 2,000 cfs just monstrous. The rapids below the whitewater park had enormous haystacks and a few noteworthy holes. The fun continued downstream with the only downer being the half hour paddle out at the end of the trip.  NO swimmers, soggy sandwiches, lots of great rapids, and more future paddling buddies. ....... Good news relayed by John Hauschild that the new takout at Oregon Bar should be operational sometime in April.....' \-\-\----- Terry.Calif reported at Boof.com on 4-25-2008: 'I found the play spot where the river channel was restored to be disappointing at 1250 cfs. The 3rd of the 4 drops on river left had biggest surfable wave. Eddies were very small. Tongue over drops is shallow and very fast water. River right chute/channel by pump station had no eddies making it impossible to catch the turbulent wave. The reconstruction seems to have been a missed opportunity. Seems like designer had no experience kayaking or designed for a total different river level. Access required put in at confluence and long paddle out to Rattlesnake Bar boat ramp in Folsom lake.' \-\-\----- Neil Nikirk reported in May of 2009: The “China Bar Day Use Area” is now open on weekends and provides access to the old Auburn Dam site and facilities along the river. It has been rumored that the new rapid provides play opportunities and has been called the “AuburnPlayPark”. So we just had to check it out last weekend while the flows were big. Unfortunately, it is not a “play park” in the same sense as the RenoWhitewaterPark and other play parks we have used in Colorado (where every river town seems to have one!). There is no vehicle access to the rapid, it must be accessed via floating from the confluence. You could always carry your boat down the trail from the top (maybe 2 miles) or walk up from the downstream access point (1/2 mile). At over 8000 cfs that day, the rapid itself looked like it had some big hydraulic features to run. Looked to be an entrance wave and then at least four hydraulic features. They were probably surfable at the high flow, but pretty violent too. Catch them on the way down as there wasn’t much chance of getting back up except by carrying along the portage trail. Maybe at lower water this rapid will have a good play wave and area for surfing and playing. I sure hope so! Have to check it out later when the flows come down. Would be interested in hearing what others have to say about the play possibilities at various flows for rafts and cats. \-\-\----- Stephen Wright reported in April of 2009: ' At the levels we were there, we found a fast, fun wave up top with a greener slower wave behind it. We've been told that other levels sometimes yield 3 different spots.' Other Information Sources: Flow gage is reported by PCWA here: https://www.pcwa.net/recreation/flows/gages/r31 American River NF-MF Auburn Run (III).   river guide page at BRT insights. Pumping Station Rapids   river guide page at BRT insights. Friends of the River Placer County Water Agency American River Pump Station pdf Placer County Water Agency Middle Fork American Hydropower Relicensing Homepage Read the Sacramento Bee article. http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/448426-p2.html Watch it flow, a short video (mpg). http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q...ewater%20Park/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/10824556@N03/sets/72157603502003510/ Stephen Wright report SIERRA WHITEWATER, MARTIN, 1974