This is a long, remote and difficult paddle. Make sure you start out early and come prepared. Due to the remoteness of the river, a miscalculation can result in a long, exhausting walk out or a very chilly night; probably a combination of both.
The river comes out of strawberry reservoir and continues all the way (roughly 30 miles) to starvation reservoir. All of it can be paddled.
The river starts outs a nice, clean, dark color and goes at a relatively easy pace for a couple of miles. There were many large, river wide trees in the top section. All of them can easily seen, skirted and/or portaged if necessary. The river continues in a beautiful alpine canyon with Willow creek comeing in soon, changing the color (to a dirty brown) and signaling the beginning of the harder stuff.
You will soon come to many class III to IV rapids, which continue fairly continuously for the next 15ish miles (till where red creek comes in) As you descend lower in elevation, wood becomes more of a problem and will continue to be so all the way through the run. Plan on many exhausting portages through there. We stopped counting the portages at 15 ish. Make sure you always have your next eddy in sight as many of the drops seem clean from the top, but upon closer inspection, end in pretty nasty log jams.
A little more than half way through the canyon, there is a dirt road that comes up to give access to the many private cabins. There are many low bridges in this area. Keep your eyes open as they most likely will require a portage. The rapids ease up and you can take out almost anywhere along the road (There is a private gate that stops you from being able to drive up to the top of the road, but taking out below is fine).
If you continue on to starvation reservoir, you will be paddling through farm land, and the river is wider, calmer and logs less of a problem through there. You will have to paddle across some of the lake.
