Eel River North Fork near Kettenpom

This run is definitely worth doing once, although the scenery is not dramatic enough to bring boaters back every year, and the rapids, though excellent at times, are not consistent enough to justify such a long drive to put-in. The wilderness is deep in this remote portion of California.

The Cassady/Calhoun guidebook has always included a description of a run on the North Fork Eel from Hull Creek to Mina Road, including an anecdote concerning access difficulties and deflated tires. The Holbek/Stanley book has never included this run, perhaps because they scoffed at the few class III rapids this section contains, or had heard about access problems.

Downstream of Hull Creek, the south bank is mostly Round Valley Indian land, except for a private plot at the end of Hull Creek Road, a poor ranch that has gone thru various ownerships. When Dick Schwind ran the river before 1974, the owner was friendly, but when Bill Cross arrived in 1983, the landowner deflated his tires. Zach Collier reports this road being gated in 2001 about a mile from put-in, and difficult access down to Hull Creek near the gate. There are other access points way upstream on Hull Creek, above a >300 fpm section that is probably unrunnable.

Access problems are really a moot point, because this is such a pathetic little 8 mile run, with so few rapids, flowing at such a cold time of year, that intermediate boaters really have no business here. Using public access upstream on USFS land, more serious boaters can reward themselves with a grander adventure.

The 12 miles upstream of Hull Creek contain a fun 5-mile stretch of continuous class III rapids, which Dick Schwind calls “some of the best whitewater in [coastal?] California.” There is also one mandatory portage around a class V-VI rapid, and one potential portage around a class IV-V rapid (both rapids could change at any time to become harder or easier).

Unless you plan to spend a night on the river, camp near put-in and get going at dawn. Begin by bumping your boats down narrow Salt Creek, starting near Long Ridge Road. At lower flows you might need to get out of your boat, and at higher flows these rapids are steep class IV.

On the north fork itself, rapids are easy for almost 6 miles, with a gradient of about 35 fpm. At mile 3.5, a small knife-edge ridge appears to block the channel, but the river flows around it to the right, then along the back side. At mile 4.7, Lightfoot Creek enters in a definite valley on the left. Just beyond that, a small waterfalls is visible on the right. The first rock cliff soon appears on the left, and the topo map shows the gradient increasing to 80 fpm, although nothing happens for 1 mile below Lightfoot Creek.

At a right bend where a 400' pinnacle peak comes into view straight ahead, the first major rapid occurs. During the winter of 1998 with flows at Mina bridge around 1300 cfs, we ran this and considered it class IV+. In another .2 mile, another major rapid occurs, which in 1998 seemed class V+. The best portage route, muddy in spots, was on the right.

After the portage, which ends around mile 6.2, the bottom drops out, and the gradient must exceed 80 fpm to make up for the moderate first 6 miles. There are innumerable rock slaloms, continuous in places, and class III+ in spots, for the remainder of the run. At mile 8.2 a diamond-shaped rock juts up from the center of the channel. At mile 10.1 there are some concrete pillars in the river where an old road crossed on a bridge, long ago washed out. Hull Creek, with a higher drainage and more possible snowmelt, joins the north fork at mile 12.

From there you can rely on the Cassady/Calhoun guidebook description. After the rigors of continuous class III, adding up to a IV in Schwind's book, you probably won't be intimidated by The Narrows (III+) at mile 14.5, or by Unnamed Rapid (III) at mile 15.5, but you might have trouble paddling fast enough to reach take-out by dark. We enjoyed the section below Hull Creek more than the section above, perhaps owing to higher flows.

No vandalism has been reported for vehicles parked at the Mina Road bridge. Downstream the north fork drops steeply, with gradient sometimes exceeding 100 fpm, to its confluence with the main Eel. This section isn't that bad in itself, but the 24-mile paddle out on the main Eel is arduous, making for a run that Jim Cassady “wouldn't do” again.

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