Railroad

At high water (>1500 cfs) Coliseum and Railroad Rapids merge into one rapid and should be considered class IV. Just upstream from the railroad bridge there are several large holes to punch or manuever around.  There are two common routes to avoid the large bridge abutment.  Unfortunately, there is not an easy eddy to pull out and scout this rapid and it comes up very quickly after Coliseum Rapid.

(1) Start high on river left and diagonally cross the river (maneuvering around large holes) then move into a small eddy just above the railroad bridge on river right.  If you run this route you are commited to running the far right channel to the right of the abutment.  There is a 3' vertical drop into a non-sticky hole directly under the bridge.  Some paddlers start on river right (there is a eddy, but hard to catch) and then work there way down to the right channel.

(2) There is a very fluid run that stays to the left of the bridge abutment.  Start high on river left and stay aggressively center-left to push through the middle channel under the bridge through a dynamic wave train. This route can be difficult to maintain because the current will push boats to the right.  If you find yourself heading towards the abutment, then continue to move to the right and plunge over the drop.

There is a fairly large pool at the bottom with a large eddy on river left useful to catch your breath or catch a swimmer. :)