SMUD has notified the whitewater community that they are planning to release 500 cfs down the South Fork of the Silver Creek below the Ice House reservoir from 10/15 to 10/24. This release is due to maintenance on the Union Valley penstock. Flows should start sometime after 9 am on 10/15 and ramp up to 500 cfs over several hours. Flows are expected to stay @ 500 cfs for the entire period.
Silver Creek is a tributary of the South Fork of the American River.
We originally confused this with the class V (experts only) run above Ice House. In fact this is class III-IV whitewater, depending on whom you ask and where you put in and take out. (Thanks, Chris!) Visit Dreamflows for a chart of the expected release. Daniel Brasuell has posted an illustrated description of the South Silver run, from Ice House Dam to Road 31.
This whitewater stretch is rarely runnable, so take advantage of the 10-day window if you can, and thank SMUD for notifying us of the flows.
