Obviously running solo you have to be super conservative and I take the safe route every time even if it means some extra work. I always rig to either portage or line the complex stuff, so it doesn't seem like an ordeal. In fact my mind set has made these shore excursions into a diversion rather than a task. For those boaters unfamiliar with lining a boat, it is an extremely useful technique on small, complex rivers. I highly recommend learning it. I always run with a 25’ length of ¼ inch braided rope on bow and stern, stowed where I can grab them instantly but where they won’t hang up on brush.
With a shorter boat (mine was a 14’ SOAR) and some good back-up I would have considered running all but the mandatory portage. It’s mandatory because there just isn’t any room for a boat to go through, anywhere.
One thing that made two of the three portages easier is that I camped at them. Since the boat is empty for camp and the stuff is up on the bank anyway, it saves loading and unloading once. In addition, as you set up or break camp, you can make carries at leisure between camp chores.
I did get pinned temporarily in one spot where the entire flow goes between two rocks just 48 inches apart. The left rock had a big (for the flow) pillow wave on it, and that created a lateral into the right side rock. Above this feature is a small rapid where you have to pick your way down between a small rock garden. I got out of the boat well above the rapid, looked it over, took a picture, and put on my helmet. My thought was that if I didn't nail the line through the approach rapid just right, I'd get shoved left, hit the pillow, and bounce right, entering the chute at an angle that would plant my bow squarely into the right side rock (and I'm talking house rocks, not just big boulders) while my stern got forced by the current against the left rock, and the boat would roll over or swamp at the stern in the pillow wave.
On the other hand, if I hit the line right, it would be an easy run.
It played out exactly the first way. I wouldn't have run it if the run-out wasn't perfectly safe. My boat got stuck, with the bow stuffed head-on into the right rock and the stern against the left, with the current pouring water into the back of my boat. I put a foot out on either side to see if I could find bottom, and there was a nice solid ledge on the right about knee deep. I stood on that and pulled like hell to get the boat off. It rolled upside down in the process, but I didn't have to use mechanical means and then I quickly un-flipped the boat, got it on the right line, and went on my way.