Smith, Middle Fork, California, US |
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| Usual Difficulty | II-V (for normal flows) |
|---|---|
| Length | 22 Miles |
| Name | Range | Difficulty | Updated | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMITH R NR CRESCENT CITY CA | ||||
| usgs-11532500 | 1000 - 6000 cfs | II-V | 00h42m | 3080 cfs (rc= 0.4 ) |
Getting There: The Smith drainage is in the far northwest corner of California. From the coast, take highway 101 to Crescent City. Take Highway 199 through Jebediah Redwoods National Park. It is only a short ways from Crescent City. Highway 199 is excellent but will generally have heavy traffic. From inland, Highway 199 meets Interstate 5 in Grants Pass.
Sections: This write up covers 3 fairly distinct sections of the
Middle Fork Smith.
1) 6 miles above Patrick Creek to Patrick Creek. (The highway leaves the main river
above this point.)
2) Patrick Creek to Panther Flat (or Gasquet) class 3 to 3+ with one class 4
3) Gasquet to SF Smith confluence: 6 miles of class 3 till the Oregon Hole Gorge (class 4
to 5).
Access points: Highway 199 parralels the river for this entire distance, so there are many options for launching onto the river. The highest launch point listed here is where the river turns south and leaves the highway. The river is fairly small at this point, so congestion and logs could be a greater problem. The more common launch points are probably at Patrick Creek, Panther Flat Campground, the higway bridge below Gasquet and perhaps just above Oregon Hole Gorge (for experts).
The short Oregon Hole Gorge is often run by itself. Check out Oregon Kayaking River page for some descriptions of this gorge.
For books, see: Cassady & Calhoun, Holbek & Stanley, Schwind, Soggy Sneakers.
No photos found. The flow graphed below is for the main fork below where the three forks join together. Each fork should then contribute approximately 1/3 of the total flow. Flow at the upper MF put in, 6 miles above Patrick's Creek might be 1/8 to 1/10 of the flow at Jebediah Park. Flow at the take out, just above the SF confluence will be in the 2/3 range. Actual flows will vary tremendously with different rainfall patterns.
NOAA Flow Prediction page estimates flow on the main fork for the next 4 days.
| Name | Range | Difficulty | Updated | Level | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMITH R NR CRESCENT CITY CA | ||||||||||||
| usgs-11532500 | 1000 - 6000 cfs | II-V | 00h42m | 3080 cfs (rc= 0.4 ) | ||||||||
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| Mile | Rapid Name | Class | Features (Legend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | Patrick's Creek | N/A |  |
| 7.0 | Bridge Rapid | IV | |
| 11.0 | Panther Flat Campground | N/A | |
| 12.0 | NF Smith Confluence | N/A | |
| 13.0 | Gasquet River Access Area | N/A | |
| 19.0 | Oregon Hole Gorge | IV+ |
Patrick's Creek marks the start of an excellent but moderate, class 3(one class 4) section of whitewater. Panther Flat Campground is the usual take out for this moderate section.
Hardest rapid between Patrick's Creek and Panther Flat Campground is on a sharp left hand turn shortly after the river passes under the highway from south to north. This rapid gets harder as flows rise, but can be scouted or portaged with some effort on river left.
Panther Flat can be a good take out for those paddling from Patrick's Creek.
The town of Gasquet lies between the highway on the south and the river on the north. The NF Smith meets the middle fork near the upstream end of town. A bridge crosses the MF just before the confluence.
West of Gasquet, a highway bridge crosses the river. On the south west side of the bridge, there is a very large pullout and parking area. A trail leads down from the turnout to a large gravel beach put in.
This gorge is short but very pretty. There are a number of big drops among huge boulders. The highway on river right has many turnouts with user trails leading down to overlooks. Most of the drops are scoutable from the highway or by hiking down from the highway.
reach
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6 Miles Above Patrick Creek to S. Fork Road (thru Oregon Hole Gorge), Smith, Middle Fork California, US (mobile)
User Comments
20 class 3 rapids in the 5+miles of the run. The run stays consistant with rapids from the start to
the end. Of course it also has class 4 Bridge rapid too. I have been down this run in excess of 50
times and enjoy it now as much as the first time down. Both playboats and river running boats will
find lots of fun waves and eddys to play with. The stated maximum flow should be increased as we
find 12' on the Jed Smith gauge to be good fun, as the river speeds up and wave size increases.
Bridge rapid does get harder the higher the flow goes but can be portaged (and scouted) with a
little bit of effort on river left. I've always used 20% of Jed Smith gauge flow to estimate the
cfs for this run. The run is doable to as low as 500cfs but 800cfs (2,500 & 4,000cfs@ Jed Smith)
would decrease the # of rocks you will hit.