Trip Report: American (South Fork "Chili Bar" - 1500cfs) - August 14, 2005

Run: Chili Bar to Troublemaker
Difficulty: III+
Flow: 1500 cfs

Map of the River

Great run in my brand new boat (Wavesport EZG) from Chili Bar down to Troublemaker. Brian T & I put in around 12 Noon with the flow still up arouund 1500 cfs. The crowds had already headed down the river and so we avoided playing "bumper cars" with the rafts. Weather was nice, not too hot, not too cold.

We eddy hopped all the way down through Meatgrinder, which was good practice. The play spots at Maya & First Threat were pretty busy with kayakers but not overly so to be annoying. Mike was pulling a few moves at Maya (video). There were about 8-10 people in line at any given time at First Threat with about the same number hanging out on the river bank. A couple of guys were really throwing down, fun to watch. The rest of the river was pretty quiet.

Troublemaker was a kick, fun at 1500 cfs. These two clips show a nice line at Troublemaker. I eddied out river left (video) and then went just right of gunsight (video). Brian took a tighter line further towards river right to catch the eddy in the middle at the bottom (video).

We were out and on the road by 4pm, with plenty of play time on the way down. Boat worked out great, I really enjoyed taking it down. We'll see how it performs in the coming weeks.

A fun day was had by all.