Lower Bear River (Crack Addiction)

A very short but spectacular canyon. The main feature is the crack gorge, a dramatic intersection of two granite domes that form a crack. As the water comes out of the reservoir, it is quite chilly, so be prepared for it. There is a USGS guage at the outflow of the dam. Like many USGS gauges, there can be significant back logs in the data, such that flow rates are only published several months afterwards. The few recorded full descents 5-7 cfs seem to be good flow, probably wouldn't want too much more than 8. Unfortunately, real time flows are not available for this gauge, so one must be prepared to measure and/or compare flows at the drop in. Below is a list of conditions known from recorded descents (automated waterflow analysis is currently not picking up the above USGS gauge properly):

The approach is from the back of the dam. More specifically, park on the North side of the dam and take the dirt road down to the water.

The canyon starts out mellow, with some jumps and slides, some of them can be quite technical at high flow. Eventually you're stemming over the current, which is awesome, and then it drops off into a series of waterfalls. Some drops have dual bolts, other have single bolts and other have no bolts at all and require mandatory jumps. The crack gorge bolts could get ripped out with higher water, so bring a bolt kit to be safe or a strong climber ready to do some exposed climbs in order to avoid the danger.

Somewhere downstream there are some nice tea cups. Right around there a forest road almost gets to the river and allows for a comfortable exit. If you set up a shuttle, get out on the left. If you only took one car, head out Rattlesnake Creek on the right and make your way through the woods back to the car (adds about 2h to the overall time for the descent). Alternatively there is a nice cairn trail that follows the edge of the granite dome and the crest of the hill back to an old dirt road that goes back to the dam.