Simplot Ranch Bridge to Bruneau River Wild

Sheep Creek (class II-VI) is rarely run because adquate flows are hard to catch, much of the run is obstructed by a willow thicket, and the canyon is extremely remote.  With that said, for adventurous paddlers, it is a bucket list item not to be missed.  This run is best suited for hard shell kayaks because at least 20 miles of the run involves stuffing your boat through thickets of willows growing in the streambed.  A wider or softer boat would insure that you would be stuck that much more. From a launch at the last road bridge there is an hour of moving water through willows.  After the stone cabin on the right marked as James Place on GPS maps (nice camp), the gradient begins to pick up with small rapids in the willows.  At mile 7 there is a sharp left bend marking the first class IV which is a narrow chute through the willows, from which you must move left in order to avoid the rocks bottom right.  More class III's in the willows follow. Around mile 9 Mary's Creek enters from the left, but you will not see it for the willows.  This has been run (see the 1999 May-June issue of the AW Journal).  To my knowledge no one has run it since then.  There are many enjoyable open sections interspersed with willows for the next 10 miles. There are many small camps, the best starting at mile ~12 on the right.  One more class IV in the willows is split into two channels, and the right one ends under the cliff in the rocks.  It is possible at lower flows to run the right channel and cut to the left one before the cliff.  A class III drop follows. The willows wax and wane until mile 17 or so, when the canyon narrows.  At mile 20 an obvious horizon line will be the class V rapid called Gushy, aka the Slide.  Scout and portage left.  A left side line opens up at higher flows, the right side may go at lower flows.  One of the largest camps is 1/4 mile downstream around the bend on the right. About a mile downstream a long class III occurs in a narrow section of gorge, and then two steeper drops, the first of which has large rocks obstructing the view and can be run driving from center to left, and the second of which is best scouted from river right. Soon after this point the canyon opens up and the willows take over again.  After this batch of willows is another long scenic stretch of amazing canyon with class II rapids until you reach Redwall Rapid, class V.  It has been run.  The rapid appears after a left bend, where the river necks down against a sheer cliff on the left.  Scout and portage right.  There is a two boat eddy immediately above the horizon line on the right. Below Redwall there are 5 more miles of mostly class II and III rapids.  The willows return, and one class IV hides in the willows after a right bend.  Climb up the tall rock on the right to scout.  After this drop it is less than an hour of easy but scenic river to the Bruneau. Once on the Bruneau it is 10 miles to the East Fork Confluence, another 10 miles to Fivemile rapid, 5 miles to Wild Burro and 5 miles from there to the takeout above a low head dam.  It is possible to make all 30 miles in