Gruene Rapid

At "recreational" flows (< 800 cfs), Gruene is generally an easy and inconsequential rapid.  There is a small hole at river right that can be easily punched at lower levels, but at higher levels (2000+), the hole can cause hard boats to catch an edge and flip.  At those same high levels, the low bridge at Gruene becomes a major hazard (see below) and must be portaged.  At these levels, paddlers generally start left, bypass left of the hole, work their way right below the hole, then jump into the large eddy at river right to portage the bridge.  Despite the relatively easy nature of Gruene Rapid, the bridge makes it such that a swim here could be potentially deadly at high water.  Take out at river right in the large pool above the rapid and portage both the rapid and the bridge if you have any doubts.  Patrons of the former biker bar at river right (Bubba's Big Deck) used to cheer on kayakers as they ran this rapid, but the flood of October 2015 wiped out the bar, and it closed permanently.  The same flood also wiped out the retaining wall upstream of the bar, so the river now partially flows through the former site of the building during full dam releases.