Whitewater Forum: Upper middle middle. Hardscrabble to burnboot

Upper middle middle. Hardscrabble to burnboot

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URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13825
Printed Date: 13 Aug 2025 at 11:07pm

Topic: Upper middle middle. Hardscrabble to burnboot

Posted By: mikenash
Subject: Upper middle middle. Hardscrabble to burnboot
Date Posted: 06 Mar 2014 at 10:10pm

Has anyone out there done this run? What's the road/access like

Replies:

Posted By: Kiwi
Date Posted: 06 Mar 2014 at 10:44pm

It could have washed out again, but I believe that the Taylor river bridge has been repaired...

Posted By: James
Date Posted: 07 Mar 2014 at 7:30am

Did it years and years ago. Lots of effort for a very short piece of whitewater. We did it at the lowest possible levels too, so I am sure it would be much better if you went higher up in the flows.

Posted By: SOPBOATER
Date Posted: 07 Mar 2014 at 9:32am

high effort. however some could be alleviates if you are willing to Huck a big one. cool piece of river though. been years for me though, so can't speak to access.

Posted By: BRoss
Date Posted: 07 Mar 2014 at 3:12pm

Dingford to Hardscrabble is a long road walk. Essentially flat until the turnoff to Goldmyer, then uphill grade. The road is in great condition up to just before Hardscrabble trail since there are active mining claims in that area (crystals I believe). There are a few small rock slides over the road within a couple hundred yards of the Hardscrabble way trail cutoff.

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"That boated a lot better than it looked." "It always does until it doesn't."

Posted By: BRoss
Date Posted: 07 Mar 2014 at 3:13pm

At least, as of september 2013

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"That boated a lot better than it looked." "It always does until it doesn't."

Posted By: SOPBOATER
Date Posted: 07 Mar 2014 at 4:32pm

disregard my post. i was speaking about the,hotspring run. sorry about the confusion.

Posted By: JayB
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2014 at 12:49pm

I did some pretty extensive foot-scouting a couple of years ago when I had some downtime. I took a bunch of photos but never got around to posting them - I'll see if I can dig them up and add them to the river page.

-The river is absolutely beautiful up there - might be worth the drive just for the scenic factor. I can't remember how long the hike in is - maybe 1-2 miles, and the put-in is obvious - when you see a prolonged section of flatwater to your right on the hike in, you're there.

-The river has a more ledge-drop character. Easy IVish at low levels, potentially up to IV+ at higher flows.

-There looks to be a pretty substantial pin hazard at the base of "Lost Key" (It's ~4-6 foot, single ledge drop).

-The wood situation seems pretty dynamic. There was zero wood in the Dingford rapid when I went in to take a look, and there was tons of it clogging the drop when I went back ~2 weeks later to visit the hot springs.

-If you are heading that way, I think that the Taylor looks like it will deliver a better bang-for-the-buck (based on a foot-scout and running the bottom third of the run). Beautiful stretch of river with some nice boulder-garden rapids (at least 4 of them) and a fairly continuous gradient, with one ~10-foot sloping ledge drop at the end. Worth taking a look at if you are heading that far in.

-Bang for your buck wise, I think the Taylor River looks

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-Jay

Posted By: mikenash
Date Posted: 09 Mar 2014 at 8:53pm

Thanks for all the good info, going to get in there and check it out as soon as snow permits. Should have had a good clean out with the last flood. Bennett says that Roads End to Goldmeyer Hot Springs has got 2 big waterfalls in it, a 40 footer and a 50 footer.

Posted By: James
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2014 at 8:35am

Mike one other note since no one mentioned it. There is a gate not listed in the guide book at the bridge of Dingford Creek. You have to walk at that point which means that you have quite a hike to get to the hot springs and then more to reach the road end. The nice thing is that the hike/walk is all on a big wide gravel road which you used to be able to drive on. That I know of the caretaker and a few DNR guys are the only ones with keys to the gate.

Good luck, would love to see some beta after your trip.

Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2014 at 10:35am

Originally posted by mikenash

Thanks for all the good info, going to get in there and check it out as soon as snow permits. Should have had a good clean out with the last flood. Bennett says that Roads End to Goldmeyer Hot Springs has got 2 big waterfalls in it, a 40 footer and a 50 footer.

There is some big stuff way up there, and like James said, its a good deal of hiking now that many miles of the upper road has been closed.

Tao & friends ran that stuff back in the late 90s and it was featured on the original "Twitch" video.

Posted By: James
Date Posted: 10 Mar 2014 at 1:53pm

I figured you knew about the gate since it is not really all that new but no one mentioned it. Before that gate was there it was still a good amount of hiking. From the Gate at Dingford to the Goldmeyer Trail it is 5 miles then another 3 miles to hardscramble for a total of 7-8 miles.

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