Bogus Tom Rapid

Just around a sharp left flatwater bend below Ìk·wì·k, Bogus Tom Rapid charges straight ahead with an almost 0.4-mile-long long continuous set of waves and small holes. The rapid is very long but is a read-and-run affair. This rapid begins just upstream of the site of the Copco 1 Dam (removed in 2024) where the river was flooded by the 132-feet deep Copco Reservoir for 108 years. The rapid drops through the dam site, where stripes of concrete on the canyon walls are all that remain, and continues downriver, around a slight right bend, and through the site of the much smaller Copco 2 Dam (removed in 2023) before ending in a short slackwater pool just upstream of the next rapid. Coming out of the pool, the river turns sharply left and the real action of the canyon begins: Ìk·wì·k and Bogus Tom Rapid are the preludes. If you've found the whitewater in the canyon too challenging by the end of this rapid, you should exit the canyon here by hiking out the steep, switchbacked road on river right (the road is gated and closed to vehicles). Starting with the next rapid, the river is significantly more difficult and the only reasonable way through the heart of the canyon is by boat. The name for this rapid honors Bogus Tom, a Shasta leader who emerged as a key figure following the upheaval and displacement of the Shasta people wrought by the Gold Rush and the subsequent construction of the Copco dams.