sacto (negro bar ) reports?

[grassyknoll]

As for the upper AR dive, how long of a walk is it between the two bridges? I'm wondering if it's feasible to do the dive with only one car.

I think it would be almost impossible, you could do the dive with a scooter but unless you have one of those amphibious vehicles you would likely ruin the car.
Now, as far as using only one vehicle to bring gear down, this is totally do-able. I can usually carry 3-4 divers and gear in my 4-runner. There is plenty of parking at the top of the canyon or at turn-outs on the upper parts, it's just the lower section that gets congested.
The distance between the two bridges is not that far, you can easily make two round trips on a 72/80 (depending on current, if they are dumping a lot of water then it can be worse than Negro Bar and you will pull yourself along on the bottom on spots. There are bottlenecks on the river where the current will vary no mater what the release is.
Other info for those contemplating the upper AR:
Water temps, in the lower to mid 70s, a 3/2 shorty is plenty, trunks alone can get chilly. Distance is roughly 2 miles down hwy 49 from Auburn. Visibility will be dependent on flow but expect 10-30'. There are some areas around the submerged, collapsed bridge that can be challenging, the structures are in only 0-10' but STRONG current, submerged structure=entanglement issues. If you aren't comfortable around such structures it would be one an area to avoid.

 

[ErkZissou]

Just a quick note on Negro bar....If you go to the rocky beach between the new and old bridge and work your way upstream, the viz is much better than by the boat ramp. Granted, you'll have to still control your buoyancy so you don't kick up all the silt on the bottom, but you'll be able to reach depths of 30+ feet. It's certainly more rocky up this direction as well. Loads of crawdads when I went. I filled half a game bag. The little buggers were escaping when I tried to put more in...haha. My 2 cents.

 

[bolantej]

Okay, so Saturday @430pm is the time so far. Anyone else coming?

 

[grassyknoll]

Okay, so Saturday @430pm is the time so far. Anyone else coming?

So far it is Bolantej, myself and possibly my daughter.
I have 2 AL80's that are up for vis this month, so I am willing to let anyone else who wants to join us use one of my tanks, c'mon, that's at least $5.00 worth of air! That's it, I'm done bribing you all!

 

[bolantej]

Had a cool dive Saturday. The current was rippin' hardcore, which takes a bit getting used to, but it mellowed out near the submerged bridge. Saw tons of cans, shopping carts and other junk. The bird skeleton that Grassyknoll found was interesting. (Thanks again for your help. I had thoughts of saying "to heck with it", and donating my remaining gear to the river gods. ) This is definitely a dive site where you should be sort of physically fit, due to the steep climb to the entry/exit. I will have to rent a mule to use if I want to dive it again.

 

[grassyknoll]

Had a cool dive Saturday. The current was rippin' hardcore, which takes a bit getting used to, but it mellowed out near the submerged bridge. Saw tons of cans, shopping carts and other junk. The bird skeleton that Grassyknoll found was interesting. (Thanks again for your help. I had thoughts of saying "to heck with it", and donating my remaining gear to the river gods. ) This is definitely a dive site where you should be sort of physically fit, due to the steep climb to the entry/exit. I will have to rent a mule to use if I want to dive it again.

Glad you had a good time Bolantej. I wasn't expecting that much water to be flowing but heck, call it a NorCal inland drift-dive. As for the trek down, sherpas would come in handy (or a mule) but at least the next day you sure FEEL like you had done some diving. The collapsed bridge structure is allways pretty cool though and remember, you did end up with a new pair of Oakly sunglasses (=treasure).
Next dive I'll let you pick the location