sidvail,
Hold on a minute there fella as you are about to embark on a memorable trip! Down river on Euchre Bar it goes into a canyon just After a white water sharp S curve. Down in that first canyon, depending on the time of year (at high water forget it), the going is relatively simple with a few easy drops, skirt around a few large boulders, some rapids and then you come out at the upper end of Green Valley at a point where the canyon walls on the river are 12 feet apart.
At this point looking down river there is one very tall section called Giant Gap and I suggest you do not go in there. There are two trails leading out of Green Valley, one goes up to a road that leads to the town of Forest Hill and the other leads to a road that takes you out to Hwy 80 near Alta.
If you've made it this far then you prepared your raft well otherwise you will have broken legs/hips/back from sitting on the thin floor of the raft where all the rocks will beat you to death or into some real pain. You need to think this trip over very carefully as you could kill yourself by doing this raft float. Stay out of the narrow gorges!
As I've mentioned the floor of the raft is only there to keep the river water out or in the raft, it is not for sitting on! Typical raft paddles that come with "yellow rubber duckie" or PVC type rafts will get sharp cutting you or/and the raft and break as you fend off the rocks to keep from hitting them head on and bursting the air bladder in the front. Also at the wrong time of the year the water temperature will be below the summer time value of 54 degrees, even 54 is tough on a person and temperatures below that will kill you.
Between Euchre Bar and Green Valley are high cliff walls with no trails to hike out on. If you commit to going through Giant Gap you should know it is a class Four section of water, rating from 0 to 4, big rocks, 6 foot water falls that are rough, fast water and the steep canyon walls are even higher and again no trail in there to hike out on. You exit the Gap at Pickering Bar with at least one trail there to hike out on, I do not know where it is or where it comes out at. But just before you reach Pickering Bar there is one last water fall, take it on the far right side down the stair case.
Usually the very first canyon between Euchre Bar and Green Valley will have taken the floor out of the raft, any gear loose in the bottom of the raft will be lost, any gear not in truly waterproof bags will be soaked or ruined IF it happens to remain in the raft. Rubberized laundry bags with a single tie at the top are useless!
I've rafted the river from Euchre Bar to the second bridge below Colfax four times (crash helmets and life jackets Are Mandatory). With CFS values at or above 250 CFS a person in good shape can not swim back up river (CFS - cubic feet per second). Check out the river level conditions at USGS Real Time Water Data, on the Calif. map you will need to locate the north fork Dam (Clementine) below Auburn and those will be the water flow datum you want to watch. During those four trips we've lost raft floors, punctured air bladders, broken paddles, lost a raft full of gear (in rubberized laundry bags) that had to be removed from the bottom of the river by diving (~ 90cfs rating), we've had severe sun burns, boulder bruises, shin stitches (only three stitches), hits in the heads from a paddle as your buddy climbs back into the raft and we had two rafts of guys plucked off the rocks by chopper as they refused to follow instructions. They spent a nasty 2.5 days stranded in direct sunlight there due to a little four letter word, fear. Their rafts were ok but their minds were not. Fear is another enemy in there, bad planning is another, poor execution of tight spots another, loosing control of the raft is another (they are not easy to control either) and in general going in there alone in the spring with high cold water is a bad idea. If you are an experienced Kayaker then you know the ropes and you can go in when rafting is not advisable (either high water or low). If you are not experienced with white water rafting or Kayaking then I suggest you hike the open canyons via trails, stay out of the gorges as there's no prospecting in them anyway and enjoy the beauty.
From Euchre bar up river the trail stops before Italian Bar. Up river from Italian Bar the trail is the river till you reach Mumford Bar. From Mumford to Sailor there is a trail in the bottom of the canyon, really heavily filled with weeds (!!) that can be hiked for many days if you are strong. From Sailor to the upper reaches of the NFAR again, the trail is the river and it ain't easy, rough, rugged, beautiful but not easy. IF we do not have more rain/snow between now and the middle of June then by July 4th or sooner the river at the upper end of the Sailor canyon will be dry for a mile or two till one reaches Wabena Creek and the upper falls on the NFAR, about a 60' diameter pool a good 20 +' deep. I figure that is enough good backpacking/prospecting area for any one person to Play in for over 40 years and still not have seen it all. Be careful, better yet stick to backpacking not rafting......................63bkpkr
