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Whitewater timing varies with scouting, portages, and group pace. Use as a planning baseline.
Description
This section of whitewater has the distinction of being Nevada's only (known) legitimate steep creek. Its not just a novelty though, the run is actually pretty decent -although California boaters would probably consider it to be manky. If you're from Utah or Colorado though, you'll be right at home.
This run is fast and furious, generally similar to something like Clear Creek of the Arkansas in Colorado -except steeper, longer, and with moves/rapids which are generally better defined and feature more boofs. Its essentially one long rapid from put-in to takeout, and few eddies exist. If you haven't run it recently, scouting the creek in its entirety is recommended before putting on.
In the fall of 2018 the Lamoille Fire cleaned this drainage out, removing excessive brush, logs, and most vegetation. The creek can now be easily road scouted, and is ready for action!
The crux section is about half way through the run, when the creek makes a bend away from the road. From the highway, this spot can be scouted at a large turnoff with huge boulders on a knoll above the river. Going up the canyon, it's the first major turnoff after a long section with guardrails and a 'no stopping next 2 miles' sign. The crux consists of multiple steep ledges and distinct moves to remember, with a few bad rocks and spots scattered throughout.
Below the crux are more sections with ledge holes, rocks, and continuous whitewater. Eventually the pace slackens somewhat about 0.5 miles above the takeout, but make sure to check out the 'squeeze gorge' which is the last distinct section.
Above the crux, the river has a couple sections of steep mank which can be easily seen from the road, at a turnoff after another bit with gaurdrails. From the put-in to the main mank event (we dubbed that section 'mank party'), the creek winds through some forest that was not burned, and is still quite fast with some surprise rapids and good ledges to boof. Stay on your toes, its all fast and extremely continuous.
Flows are difficult for this run, as its deep in the desert and often can go years without proper water. 400 cfs is probably ideal. Below this the rock smashing will escalate greatly, but above 400 cfs the speed and continuity of the run will pick up quickly. This a creek that averages about 300 FPM for its entirety, but has basically no individual drops greater than 5 feet.