Tom, we do paddle up from Willow Beach and back down again. I have only had one time that the water was too swift to paddle through at Ring-Bolt rapids so we just camped there and it was fine the next day. You could also do a carry portage around this spot. The lower 6 or 7 miles are always pretty calm, the last 4 miles can give you a work out on occasion. You can generally just follow the bank inside of the turns and hop from eddy to eddy near the top and do just fine. The water released from the dam can make big changes in just minutes so it is always changing. Motor craft have some complex restrictions this link covers them. http://www.nps.gov/lake/planyourvisit/blackcanyonrestrictions.htm You always have the big tour boats coming down but they are pretty quiet. I can only remember one trip when I noticed water motorized craft to any large extent and that was only briefly. This link will give you some more information on the water trail. http://blackcanyonwatertrail.org/ I have a one page PDF map that captures the route pretty good if you end up going let me know and I can e-mail it to you. I like February a lot more than December.