Middle Fork American River
Oxbow / Foresthill (El Dorado & Placer Counties) · near Foresthill / Auburn · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Rivers & Whitewater
At a glance
- Season
- May–October · Dam-controlled, reliable summer/fall flows through Labor Day and beyond
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Commercial outfitters permitted through Auburn State Recreation Area / Tahoe NF. Private boaters: self-register; the run includes a MANDATORY portage at Ruck-a-Chucky Falls (Class VI). Oxbow put-in access via the powerhouse.
What is here
- Activities
- guided-rafting · kayaking · multi-day
Worth knowing
- Minimum age
- 12 (summer flows) · 15 (spring high water)
- Good for a first timer
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Operators
- OARS · All-Outdoors · American Whitewater Exp.
- Outfitters
- OARS · All-Outdoors California Whitewater · American Whitewater Expeditions
Rivers & Whitewater detail
- Nickname
- The Tunnel Chute Classic
- Class min
- III
- Class max
- IV+
- Trip options
- Full day (16 miles, Oxbow to Greenwood) · 2-day overnight camping option
- Key rapids
- Tunnel Chute · Ruck-a-Chucky Falls · Kanaka Falls
- Intl tip
- The Middle Fork canyon is deep in Auburn State Recreation Area — the same canyon country as the Confluence swimming holes (swimming guide) and the Western States 100 trails. Foresthill and Auburn are the base towns; Old Town Auburn's restaurants are the post-river celebration.
The guide
The Middle Fork of the American is the step up from the famous South Fork — a more remote, more committing canyon whose signatu…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Middle Fork American River — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.008, -120.836