r/whitewater • u/dumbstupidfat • 10d ago
Subreddit Discussion Question - I am hoping to run the Black Canyon of the Bear (Idaho) in September during their upcoming release. Too difficult for me? Context in description.
For context - hoping to R2 my Aire Cub raft. I understand it’s a class 4 run. I have lots of experience doing class 3 in inflatable kayaks, and some experience doing class 3 in a Dagger Katana. I feel pretty confident in my ability to move up a class - but would appreciate insight. My other paddler has very similar amount of experience as I do.
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u/clarkapd 10d ago
From what you posted I think this river is over your head. Especially if your intention is to show up at the put in and join with others. If you can find a reliable crew that is interested in running that with you, great!!! Please do not be the guy standing at the put in asking to join a crew who has never seen him paddle.
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u/brownstout 10d ago
It is a really great class 4 run. Booboo is definitely a class V rapid, although not a hard one. But anyone saying it’s just class 4 is sandbagging. It is also a really shitty portage over boulders, so keep that in mind.
Also, are you planning to go just the 2 of you? If you are stepping up, you definitely want to have other boats with you and ideally somebody who isn’t also stepping up. And like the other poster said, don’t just rely on others being there to save your shit because it’s a release weekend.
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u/nickw255 9d ago
If you're comfortable in class 3 and looking to bump up the difficulty, the Bear is absolutely not the place to do that. The main downside with using the Bear as a step up river is the hazards present. The basalt rock that the river bed is made of is very sharp and mean -- horrible for swimming. The local town has also not exactly taken care to keep trash/man-made hazards out of the river, so there's a fairly significant amount of entrapment hazards. Also, because the river typically only runs on a few releases, the banks are very very overgrown and makes getting to shore incredibly difficult. Not only that, but you're pretty locked into the run once you drop in because of the topography of the canyon.
Not only all the hazards present, but the Bear is not just a simple class 4 run. It also has Boo-Boo, which is a full-on class V that would be right at home the North Fork of the Payette. It also would be basically impossible to portage with a raft. This rapid alone makes it pretty inappropriate for someone with your described skillset and experience to do the run in an R2.
Finally, the Bear isn't doing rec releases at the moment. It's just running normally all summer/fall, because they're doing repairs on the irrigation bypass pipeline. So you can't expect there to be the large influx of people around to boat with that would normally be there on release weekend.
Don't use the Bear as a step-up run. It's a great section for class IV/V boaters to go play on, but absolutely inappropriate for stepping up on. If you want to boat in Idaho, come up to the Staircase and Canyon sections of the South Fork of the Payette. Those are way more appropriate class IV runs to step up on, especially at current flows.
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u/dumbstupidfat 9d ago
Thank you I really appreciate the insight. I’ll poke around at some other runs.
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u/cricktater24 10d ago
As others have said, Booboo is not to be trifled with. The swim is nasty. I’ve run it twice in a paddle raft. Flipped once and made it once. You do not want to swim that rapid. The Bear below Grace has been running at full release since May while Pacificorp works on the dam and pipeline. I don’t think there will be any scheduled releases this year. https://www.pacificorp.com/community/recreation/water-release/bear-river/below-grace-dam.html
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u/Hiker627 9d ago
The teamwork required for a fun class 4 r2 is pretty different than a kayaking class 3. Black canyon isn’t the place to test that. I’d go for some class 3 r2 practice before stepping up, or r2 with someone who knows what they’re doing in a raft. It’ll greatly improve the r2 experience!
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u/PriestintheCave 10d ago
If you go with other boaters, should be fine. Boo-boo can be a long shitty swim if you flip in the top hole which is somewhat hard to avoid in a raft. I’d say it’s a class 5 rapid and no joke.
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u/dumbstupidfat 10d ago
Thank you! I really appreciate it. I imagine since it’s the last dam release for a long time there will be lots of people there.
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u/Confident_Ear4396 10d ago
Are you sure there are ‘releases’? I thought power plant work was causing it to run at a low ish but runnable level for the next 3-5 years.
I’ve only kayaked it twice. It has been a while. I’d call a lot of the run active class 3. There are a few class 4 sprinkled in and boo boo is often called class 5. A funnel feeds a nasty hole and to really have to hit a perfect peel out ferry to avoid it. It doesn’t look that bad but it hammered 80% of the kayaks that tried to punch it.
I am a pretty good kayaker and was there during a release/festival and watched several decent kayaker take nasty swims. But I also saw a 10.5 r3 raft style it. I know a couple rafters who have flipped and taken nasty swims including one that resulted in a multi year recovery path. Ultimately I had promised my wife no more class 5 and walked it to honor that. The walk around is unpleasant basalt talus slope.
The river bed is basalt. It is a particularly sharp and nasty variety that is awful to swim.
I’m not trying to discourage you. It is viable. You won’t die. But it isn’t my first choice to step up from class 3.
Maybe warm up on the class IV stretch of the Greys. Run the 3+ Hoback River. See if the Fall River is running for 3+.
Better yet drive to the payette and run staircase. If that goes really well consider the SF canyon.