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First, for anyone wondering about the river upstream of the recommended put-in, don't bother! From anyplace upstream that you might be able to access the river, you will find no real gradient or features, and more than enough snags to have your fill. As you finally near the recommended put-in, you will encounter one of the most horrific snags I have ever seen in my life (above left). Wood is piled up in the streambed for hundreds of yards, and has become so thick that the stream has started to find a new channel, also quite wooded up (above right). All this wood completely obstructs what otherwise would be an impressive (probably class IV-ish) drop.
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From the recommended put-in you will immediately be on a pretty good downslope of open bedrock slides.
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The 'warmup' part of this short run culminates in a short ledge just upstream of the side-road bridge. It should be runnable almost anywhere (as long as there is no wood hung up on it, as seen in this photo). There may be some play possible here, though the 'pool' is likely to be fairly shallow at all reasonable water-levels. Under the bridge (seen above right), the footings may provide a handy spot to more precisely 'gauge' this stream.
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Since I have not boated this stretch, I cannot speak from personal experience how the run might go, but I think you can see from these photos (above and below) just how sweet this ride is likely to be. In general, the river is wide and free of obstructions (I.E. rocks). The main concern would be if a tree from shore happened to drop into the river, still anchored by it's roots, it would not be swept away. Since the water will be sheeting quite fast down the steep sloping bedrock, you will have few places to get out, and little 'purchase' with your paddle to maneuver at most runnable water levels. There is private property along most of this stretch, so advance scouting of the run may be problematic. (We walked the riverbed at low water to avoid the trespass issue, but that is not likely at option at runnable levels.)
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Beyond the final slide and pool, the remainder of the run will be a flat paddle-out to the highway.
Note: Vidcaps (photos) from 'exploratory hike' at (obviously) way too low water level (2002.05.27).
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