JH mags: Snake River Narrows?!?

So who out there has floated past Sheep's Gulch and run the Narrows?

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I'm very curious, but haven't talked to many people who've done it. What's the deal?! Good rapids? Is it worth dealing with the lower boat ramp? Still a good run these days (3900cfs)?

A little canyon stoke, cause today was gorgeous!

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BUMP, cause its almost boatin season!!!

yeaa for boating season.

Can't wait to get the boat in the water soon.

one last bump, cause I know someone out there has done it. What's the deal? no one likes to talk about the Narrows, eh?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by powder_prophet

one last bump, cause I know someone out there has done it. What's the deal? no one likes to talk about the Narrows, eh?

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I have found the same thing. Although, I am an angler that rows a drift boat so maybe I am talking to the wrong crowd. I have walked in a waded some of that stretch at low water. There is some big shit in there even at winter flows. Odd currents, pools etc... In 10yrs here, I have yet to talk to find someone who has ran that. Plenty of people out there though, I'd imagine.

I've run the narrows several times and in my opinion the first mile is the funnest stretch of the upper snake. Really fun nice long wave trains, kind of like ropes but a little bigger waves, with no major consequences. Then a nice float out to Alpine is spectacular, if the water is low enough you will see two arches, one you can boat right into. I highly recommend it, but if you wait for low water in the fall the take out is muddy as hell.

the "BFW" is in that section

what is the bfw?

I've run at low water (about 4500 cfs if I remember correctly). It was a lot of fun. It starts out with a couple of tall rollers, then a long Ropes-like wave train which, as the canyon narrows, comes to span the entire width of the river. The waves get very tight together, like 2-3 foot high chop for a good hundred yards, so there is no real line to follow. There is a decent-sized hole on river right in the middle of this rapid, but it was easily avoided and at low water it is not a keeper.

We ran it in a floatilla of K-mart rafts, kayaks, and 15-foot metal canoes. One of our canoeists swamped on the very first wave and swam the entire stretch (including the big hole) and came out OK. I was solo in the other metal canoe and made it through upright. Everyone else was fine.

After that, it was just a pretty float down to Alpine. Beautiful canyon walls, a couple small play waves, but no other rapids.

We saw a group trying to bail on the rapid by carrying their raft up the cliffs to the highway - it must have taken them hours.

I have talked to a BLM ranger who runs the narrows often. I think most people don't go down there because of the risk of having to paddle through 1-2 miles of flat water if Palisades has backed up into the canyon. Also, I've heard stories of the large hole becoming dangerous and tough to avoid in high water.

Thanks for the info. funny to see this one revived. Still havn't run it myself, but heard from a friend who ran it a couple weeks ago. Level was 20000+ and he said there was a river-wide hole that was basically unrunnable. they flipped both their boats.

holy shit, i just came through there today, that looks like a totally different river compared to how high it is now.