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| A dewatered reach of the Au Train River makes an interesting walk. (It would make an awesome run if you could happen to catch it with sufficient water.) Starting from a tall, sloping face dam (above left), water quickly flows under the highway and slaloms through the supports for the penstock. Not far downstream a sweet sequence of short sloping ledge/waves will be found (above right). |
As the river bends to the left it accelerates across shallow sloping bedrock and heads to cross under the penstock again (left photo). Immediately beyond, the bottom drops out as the river drops down upper Au Train Falls (shown below, in a composite panoramic shot).(Note: as of spring 2002 there was a powerline down, draped clear across the river in the middle of this drop. I have no idea how long it has been there or if it likely to be removed.) |
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| As the river swings north again, another series of pocket waves is encountered in a steep-walled section (above left). Not far beyond, the bedrock starts sloping more steeply (above right). This is the lead-in to lower Au Train Falls. |
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| The lower falls starts with a five-foot vertical drop, landing shallow and hard, almost uniformly across the width of the river (above left). The water quickly sheets away down the wide, sloping bedrock heading toward the bridge to the powerhouse (above right). |
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| The bedrock is slightly tilted to shed more water down river-left. It slams into a shore-left bridge abutment which has short pipes sticking out of the cement (above left). Below the bridge, the slide continues until it reaches a couple additional shorter ledges (above right). Current continues through lesser rapids (and snags) until the powerhouse channel rejoins the flow a quarter-mile or so downstream. |