Ahead of us lay more than 350 feet of gradient in the next mile.  A couple drops had rocks in
bad places that would definitely clean up with 50-100 cfs more.  Oh well, better to have a
comfortable flow for the first descent.  






























Chris scouts a 12 footer




























Nearing the crux of Box Canyon #2




































Box #2 action




























Note the river width



Arriving at the heart of the gorge, we encountered a set of drops that we could not
realistically portage nor could we fully scout the bottom landing zone nor see what lay
downstream.  I’m gonna name that one, “Bill Clinton’s Dirty Cigar,” because once you go
there, you couldn’t even lie your way out of it. Seeing that it might be possible for us to make
a very dangerous, rope-assisted climb back up from the bottom, we sent two guys down the
drops to scout the next river bend.  We had already made some hard portages, and didn’t
want to get stuck without being able to egress back upstream.  20 minutes later, Culley
radioed that the next bend was clear, and that it would at least be possible to climb out of the
canyon if we needed to (With our 140 feet of rope and lead climbing gear).  We all thought
this section reminded us of the Crucible Gorge.




























Making radio contact



































Nathan having a taste of the “Dirty Cigar”



A few drops downstream we arrived at one of the most massive landslides I have ever seen in
a river.  Here, the river lost 50 vertical feet through a disgusting landslide boulder sieve, all
blocked downstream by several larger than house-sized boulders, which were stuffed like
chock-stones into the crack of the box canyon floor.  As a result, the river dammed up and
created a 40 foot falls.  The entrance to the falls was clean, but 100 percent of the flow
slammed smack into the river left canyon wall.  We named it “Boxasaurus Rex.”  This drop
was not portageable on river right.  Our only option was to perform a 30-35 foot throw and go
just downstream of the falls.  Here, we were 100 percent committed to running the rest of the
canyon.
























“Boxasaurus Rex Portage” start of Hard Work



























Big Landslide = Hard Portage



























Chris jumps past “Boxasaurus Rex”
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by Nathan Hunkapiller
May 06, 2008
The Box Canyons of the Middle Yuba have been on my to do list for the last few years and I
finally ran out of excuses not to get ‘er done this season.  Paddlers included myself (Nathan
Hunkapiller), Culley Thomas, Macy Burnham, and Chris Tulley.  We did the descent in 2 long
days where the paddling was only half of the adventure.   During the planning stages of the
trip, we often asked ourselves, “ why is this run is still a first descent in 2008.”  Reason # 1
Jackson Meadow Reservoir and it’s little sister, Milton Reservoir completely dewater the
Middle Yuba of the majority of its headwater flows.  Melt, even in huge snowpack years, has
not exceeded their combined diversion capacities in the last ten years.  So, we decided to go
in very early in the season when there is still low elevation snowpack to feed the lower 2 box
canyons.  Reason # 2: Getting there is hard.  Short of renting a bird, the only way to get up
to the put-in in May is on foot or via serious snow vehicles.  Nearby Graniteville, at 5000ft and
11 miles from the put-in, was as far as we could get without help.  To get to the river, we still
had to climb 1500 feet on bad dirt roads near Bowman Lake.  Reason # 3: Box Canyons are
scary.  Several aerial reconnaissance trips that I am aware of were unsuccessful because two
of the three box canyons could not be seen into from above.  We definitely had our work cut
out for us.





















The put-in and Box Canyon #2 (Click to Enlarge)

The trip didn’t start off well, because we couldn’t get down our take-out road to Plumbago
crossing.  Getting stuck in the snow (max elevation 4400 feet) burned hours of our flow
scouting time; we tried an alternative route only to be thwarted again!  This didn’t bode well
for getting up the put-in roads at 6500 feet.  We finally gave up and jogged several miles and
1500 vertical feet down into the canyon on a miners trail to scope out flows.  We arrived just
before dark, but were excited to see about 400 cfs in the riverbed.  That was promising
because the next few days were heating up.  Hiking out of the canyon in the dark was brutal
and we arrived exhausted at the car at 10:30PM.  From there we drove to Graniteville to
check the put-in road and were not enthused by the wall of snow on the road immediately
outside town.





















The last time I hiked 11 miles with a loaded boat was the Middle
Kings…and it sucked.

I had a feeling this might happen, so before the trip I contacted some hard-core 4x4 guys who
were members of a local wheeling club.  Offering gas money was all it took to convince them
to go.  Afterall, this is their hobby.  Keane and Rob showed up in the morning and as soon as
I saw their trucks, I knew we were golden.  Two words come to mind…BAD-ASS.  These off-
roaders defied expectations and were surprisingly cool guys: they organize local road clean-
ups, they use special tree wraps when they wench so they don’t hurt the trees, and they
weren’t your typical tobacco chewing, beer swilling rednecks.  Thanks again guys!  





























Keane and Rob: our saviors




























We loaded up boats and gear and started up the road.  Rough Riders,
Mount Up!



























5 feet of snow, no problem!



























Sketchy bridge?… just give ‘er!  



























Trees!  Who needs a chainsaw?  Just drive over it!  





















Bowman Lake



























Lots of snow


Making great time, we arrived at Bowman Lake around 11AM.  Only 5.5 miles to go.  We
rallied over the last ridge, but reached an impass at the top.  Saying goodbye to our new
friends, we started hiking the last 5 miles in the snow.  





























Hiking is good for you.


Three hours later, we reached the end of the road and began our half mile snow-covered
creek bushwhack down to the river.  Dangerous highlights included walking across 45 degree
snow covered terrain with boats, and crossing the creeks many snow bridges.  We didn’t
have a lot of juice when we arrived at the put-in, but the flow looked good and we needed to
get some miles under our belts.  























Good flow at the put-in


We rallied the first steep mile and encountered some cool drops.   




























“Rasta-Bush,” because is manky but goes.






















First Good Rapid




























Gorging up






































Soon, the canyon walls closed in and we knew we had arrived at Box
Canyon 2.  
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The next 100 feet of gradient was lost to several runnable drops and several mega-portage
boulder sieves.  It was getting dark, we had boated the last 1.5 miles in 5 hours, and it was time
to camp.  Mid portage, we found an awesome boulder shelf high up and directly above the river
to camp on.  A large brown bear checked us out from half-way up the opposite canyon wall.  
Bears are amazing climbers, by the way.  Burnt out tired, we ate heavily and tried to get some
sleep, knowing that we had 3-4 more miles of box canyon to deal with in the morning.






























Mid-portage camping  



Day 2 of our descent cleaned up amazingly well.  The day started out with at least a dozen
super clean and fun drops.  























“Breakfast in Bed”



























“She Boof’s Well”



















Chris gets hit with a bag but doesn’t need it.
Culley showing his boof skills



One more tough portage took us to the end of Box Canyon #2.  The canyon walls opened up,
the gradient eased to 200 fpm, and the flow doubled following the river’s confluence with East
Fork Creek.  Now we were living large.  Great rapids followed for the next mile.  























“Viagra”




Miles go fast when you can boat scout, so we quickly arrived at Box Canyon 3.  This canyon
was a little less intimidating and was of exceptional quality.  I think we only portaged once in
there.  Here we found some big clean drops.  One was a 15 foot falls with the option of running
a nice clean spout or a dirty, but juicier cascade.  That one is called, “Hygiene.”






























Culley prefers to drop into “Good Hygiene”





















Macy decides to probe “Bad Hygiene”




A little later came the tallest runnable drop on the trip.  This drop was created by a large
boulder stuffed into the gorge, making a slot waterfall on either side.  The two falls converge at
the bottom, so we called them “The Wizard’s Sleeve.”  
Nathan drops into the “Wizard’s Sleeve,” but keeps it high and dry.



The action just kept going with great drop after great drop.  Pack all the rapids from 49-
Bridgeport into 1 mile, make them taller, and you’ve got Box Canyon 3.



























Nathan in the thick of some “Bad Pie,” named for a sieve to be avoided mid
drop.
Click HERE to see the Video!
Macy runs “A Taste of Booty,” named for what Chris Tulley owes us.

When the canyons finally opened up, we were amazed with the quality of the day we just
finished.  Five more miles of class III took us to the take-out.  Stoked to have completed one of
the few major descents left in Cali, we were all happy it turned out so well.  Praise be to the river
gods.  And thanks to the Graniteville locals, who loaned us a replacement tire.  Culley’s van had
a flat when we got back to the car.