American River, North Fork - Generation and Giant Gaps (Tadpole to Colfax-Iowa Hill Road)

Trailhead is off of Forrest Hill Road.  Access this road from I-80 just outside of Auburn and head east.  The hike in is about 3 miles to the river.  You will have to decide if it is worth taking overnight gear or going light and pushing for a day trip.

This trail is about 1.5 miles long from the trailhead to the river and footbridge.  This makes a nice put in or take out spot depending on how much of the North Fork you plan on running.  To access the trailhead, take the Alta exit off of I-80 and follow the frontage road to the trailhead.  This trail accesses the river from the North.

Follow the Iowa Hill road down to the river from Colfax.  Cross the bridge and you'll see the takeout immediately on your left.  There is a campground here as well.

This is the main entrance into the gorge that starts Generation Gap.  You have a few options here.  You can run the falls after scouting it.  You can portage this entire mini gorge or you can try to seal launch off the rocks just below the falls and then run the rest of the mini gorge.

Scouting, portaging and safety can all be had on river left bank where the tadpole trail comes into the canyon.

This tight chute is really rocky, even at higher flows.

Scout or portage left.

Another drop with possible hole retention based off of where you choose to drop in.

Scout or portage left.

This is an often portaged rapid.  Not because it can't be run but it has been known to have wood and logs wedged in here. 

Scout, set safety, or walk on river left.

After the canyon begins to narrow again and leaves green vally, is a rapid that marks the entrance to Giant Gap.  This is identified by a large boulder with most of the current going to the right.  Immediately below the first boulder is anouther big boulder.  Good idea to scout here due to trees often being stuck here.  At one point there was a tree all the way across the river here with a sneak on the right.

Scout on river right in the eddy just above the rapid.

A rocky boulder drop here. Kayaks have more descent options than rafts.

Scout river right just above the rapid.

This rapid gets worse at higher flows.  Follow the drops down between the cliff on the right and the big rock on the left.

Scout and portage on river left.

A large rock protrusion on river right signifies the narrow locomotive drop.  There is a sleeper or lurking rock in the main drop.  You have to decide if you want to run right or left of the rock.

This is a tough area to scout and portage because of the cliffed river channel.

Considered the crux of the run by many.  Depending on flows you need to pick your way down the drops and make it to the right for the final drop.  The final left drops can have retentive holes.

Bouldery portage on river right.

This is the last big rapid on the Giant Gap stretch.  Just below here is the takeout. This isn't the hardest rapid but after a long day of paddling V's and IV' you still want to treat this rapid with respect.  Pick your zig zag line through the boulders.

Scout on river left.