Sites fill up fast on weekends. There is a class V run upstream starting at the highway 174 bridge, but it is so short and dangerous that most people find it unappealing. The Bear also has many promising sections with good gradient upstream of Rollins Reservoir, but these sections are mostly dewatered by hydro diversions. Downstream of highway 49, the Bear plummets thru a poison oak infested class V canyon that even stalwart Lars Holbek called a portagefest. mile 0 Put in along a swift section of river on the far side of some willows. A blackberry-lined trail leads down to the river, following hairpin turns of the old road.
Most rapids are swift and shallow, dropping around small boulders lodged in gravel bars.
Some rapids are obscured by willow trees in certain years. Chicago Park Ditch comes in on the right, after a horseshoe bend in the river. 2.3 Signs of Placer County Park become visible, and remain so for almost a mile. The river enters a miniature gorge. Gravel and boulder bar rapids change to bedrock rapids.