The same view in 2010 three years after the fires.
Looking downstream from a cliff below Sheepeater Camp before tehe 2007 fires.
Sheepeater Rapid was formed when a fire-related debris flow entered the river from the right bank and pinched the river to about half of it's original flow.
Passing the Artillery Ledge hole in the commercial sweep boat.
The Artillery series becomes a frusturating rock garden at low water.
Artillery #1 rapid at high water (5+ feet) is a fun bunch of waves and small holes.
The canyon was severly burned in 2007.
Fireweed was an abundant re-colonizer among the blackened trunks.
Fire contrast
Greyhound rapid was greatly altered by a fire-related debris flow that choked the channel with lots of new, angular boulders.
The dramatic red trees only last for a season or two after a wildfire.
The cystal clear water of the Middle Fork will take a while to come back after the big wildfires.
Impressive devastation after the 2007 fires with green shoots coming up the following summer.
Looking upstream over Dolly Lake Camp the summer after the fires in the upper canyon.
A huge Ponderosa felled by fire.
Nuked hillsides with green undergrowth in spring.
The fire spared nothing in places ripping through both young and old trees.
What the canyon looks like in June seven years after the 2007 fires.
Floating out of the burned sections of canyon near Pistol Creek.
An aerial view of the first of many debris fans at the mouth of Lake Creek after the 2000 fires.
A brisk June day on the scout to Pistol Creek Rapid.
Looking up Lake Creek after one of the larger debris flow events.
Pistol Creek at high water (6ish feet)
Taking a hit in Pistol creek at 5+ feet.
Pistol Creek at roughly 2.5 feet in August.
One of the commercial sweep boats enters the crux of Pistol creek Rapid at low water.
The entrance to Pistol Creek rapid has alterd as a result of the Lake Creek debris flows upstream. This is a shot of the left entrance at low water. The river right channel has sinced opened up a little.
Running the right side of the left entrance.
The S-turn at Pistol creek becomes much more pronounced (but slower) at low water.
The tranquil pools below Pistol Creek Rapid.
Pistol Creek rapid around 4 feet.
Looking onto the Pistol Creek Ranch from a ridgeline hike. The Ponderosa Pines are recovering from the 2000 fires (14 years) quite well in places.
The stretch of river leading up to Pistol Creek was spared severe buring in 2007. Greyhound Mountain in the distance was burned completely.
Pistol Creek pools have several great cliff jumps.
Dead pine needles carpet the camp at Pistol Creek a few months after the 2000 fires.
Majestic Ponderosa Pines flank both sides of the river below the mouth of Pistol Creek.
Looking onto the Forest Service airstrip sandwiched between the Middle Fork (right) and Indian Creek (left). The river turns into Pungo canyon in the center of the image.
A stunning Arrowleaf Balsamroot bloom in June above the Indian Creek airstrip.
Blankets of color in mid June in the Middle Canyon.
A view down Pungo Canyon from just below Pungo Rapid.
Orelano Creek rapid at low water in Pungo Canyon.
Pungo Canyon has some powerful hydraulics at high water.
Late August light in Pungo Canyon.
The final stretch of Pungo Canyon
A commercial Sweep boat nears the end of Pungo Canyon.
The patriarch ponderosa grove below Little Soldier Camp.
Boats navigate the low water challenges of Pungo Canyon.
Ponderosa Pine bark frames the still waters of the Marble Creek pool.
