American River

About the River

The South Fork American River is the definitive whitewater run of California's Gold Country, rising near Johnson Pass in the Desolation Wilderness and dropping through the Sierra Nevada foothills to Folsom Lake. Two run-of-river dams shape the boating reach: Slab Creek Dam near Camino and Chili Bar Dam north of Placerville, both operated by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, whose scheduled releases give the run dependable flows through most of the boating season. Below Chili Bar the river passes Coloma, the site of James Marshall's 1848 gold discovery at Sutter's Mill, before narrowing into a granite gorge on its final approach to the South Fork arm of Folsom Lake.

Often described as the most commercially rafted river in the country, the South Fork carries a huge volume of boaters across three linked sections: the technical Chili Bar run, the mellow Coloma-to-Greenwood float known locally as "C to G," and the Class III Gorge below Greenwood Creek to Salmon Falls. Dozens of outfitters share the same put-ins and take-outs with private kayakers and inflatable-kayak paddlers, and the calmer pools between rapids hold rainbow and brown trout for anglers working the banks near Chili Bar and below Greenwood Creek.

The gauge near Placerville, just downstream of Chili Bar Dam, is the flow reference boaters watch most closely. The season runs roughly April through October, with SMUD typically releasing boating flows on weekday mornings in spring and summer and on weekends into fall; check the release schedule before a weekday trip. The water is cold Sierra snowmelt even in summer, and wetsuits are common on spring trips. No permit is required for day use on any of the three sections.