A group of us just got off the Slickrock-Bedrock section so thought I'd pass along some general beta, none of it breaking news, but it might help somebody out.
Standard class III water, mainly because of tight channels and the resulting swift and swirly currents as well as the prevalent undercuts in the riverside sandstone. The only real rapid in our estimation was Spring Canyon, and it wasn't particularly memorable either. One-holer was just an easily avoidable hole, La Sal didn't exist, and S-curve is just a sharp turn at 1200 cfs (but of course at the higher water levels that are forthcoming, these will get more rowdy and even dangerous). But the paddling, particularly in the upper stretch above Coyote Wash, is very fun for such a small river with basically no conventional rapids. The channel is heavily incised because of the dearth of sediment-laden loads over the last several years and as such is narrow, deep and swift, with many tight squeezes between large angular rocks or around undercut cliffs with weird eddies and shifting currents. Pinning is definitely a possibility in here, although unlikely if you don't get distracted by the scenery. And the scenery is distracting...because it is fucking awesome.
We stopped and checked out many "camps" listed in the guidebooks/maps, and frankly, if you're used to large sandy camps with room for five boats, 10 tents and a volleyball court, you might be slightly let down. Most the pull-ins had little room for more than a boat or two without involving some creative docking and/or willow-whacking. The camps themselves were mostly overgrown, with both larger willows and tammies at waterline, but also with dense groundcover, thorny bushes, weedy plants, cacti, etc. further in. I hate to admit it, but a river cot might have actually had a purpose on this trip. Cows have made their unfortunate mark at and below Coyote Wash. Much of the camps will likely improve with regular use between now and end of May, but I'd imagine some folks won't be able to resist getting a little proactive with their camp maintenance (just keep it minimal and respectful, please!)
Camps were crowded just inside the WSA to just below Bull, with about every obvious camp occupied, including the party camped with their dogs at the arch site and overhang at Mile 65. People spread out pretty good after that, and we didn't see another person for two days below Anderson Bend. However, we weren't on the crowded Friday to Sunday schedule that most everybody else was on.
Please bring the required firepan and also a fire blanket or two. Fire blankets are cheap. The fire hazard is pretty high at these overgrown camps...there really isn't much bare ground at all, and will be significantly less at higher water. And much of the ground cover is dry and crackly grasses and small shrubs that burn easily--a fire could get out of hand pretty easily in the riparian zone down there, at least until 4000 cfs covers much of that zone up in standing water.
Keep some good notes on what you see/encounter, and send them in to the fine folks at DRBA who are putting together the new guidebook (Thanks DRBA!). The draft copy out now is better than the old guidebook by a mile, but is still full of errors and inaccuracies, imo, and most of the book, including the mileages, should be taken with some skepticism for now.
Oh, and if you hire "Hill Billy" as your shuttle driver, you might want to give him a map. He's not from around these parts, and seemed to have some trouble understanding the basics of the local geography, among other things.