Spring Valley Road / Lyons Wave

Just outside of Lyons, as the river heads under Spring Valley Road, you'll find the potentially the most interesting whitewater on the river. Old maps show a dam and millpond here. For decades there was a uniformly-sloped cement slide under this bridge. Many years back, that was broken up and hauled away, and replaced with a stretch of large quarried rock. At low flows, this will be shallow and scrapey (a real pain in the butt). At moderate or higher flows, it will probably provide the biggest excitement on the trip. For experienced whitewater paddlers, there may be some (relatively minor) play here. There is a fine, deep pool at the base of the slide (immediately north/downstream of the bridge). At some flows, boaters may find enough current to do stalls and squirts, however be aware there is a fair amount of rock which has flushed out from under the bridge to some distance into the pool. Getting fully vertical (on stalls and squirts) or getting upside-down is likely to mean an encounter with those rocks.

This spot used to be done as a 'park-and-play', either carrying up repeatedly to 'run the dam', or just staying in the pool below to surf, squirt, roll, etc. However, more recently, this area is heavily posted against trespass, emphasizing the illegality of setting foot on dry land anywhere other than the absolute immediate shoulders of the road (the 'right-of-way'). 

As you continue downstream, you are likely to encounter some wood flanking the stream (though there seems to be regular 'maintenance', sawing any complete blockages not long after they occur. It is only about 0.75 mile to the city park in Lyons for the listed take-out.