Upper South Fork Feather

[trevorhaagenson]

I ran to Upper South Fork Feather on Monday and want to highly recomend it! This was my third trip in three years and I am continuously impressed by the high quality of both the secenery and the whitewater. I must not be the only one as there were 11 people on the river that day and all of us had done the run before.

We put in at Little Grass Valley Reservior and did the whole section to South Fork Diversion where all the water is diverted. We moved pretty fast for a large group and it still took more than four hours. On my first trip no one in the group had seen the run, and we did it in about five hours but that first year had more wood. On another trip we did the run in under three hours. It is a long and exhausting day anyway you slice but well worth it by any standard.

Check out Rick Stocks writeup on dreamflows @

http://www.dreamflows.com/Guide/Feat...rSF/index.html

After talking to many people and then paddling with the large diverse group this weekend it is clear that some standards have begun to develop for the "best" way to do the run. Definitely put-in down the Spillway of the dam on river right. The run has four pretty standard portages, two moderatley strenuous ones in the first gorge with the other two much easier and nicely spaced further down. Additionally there is one river-wide log in the class II section near the end that requires getting out of your boat and stepping over. The wood situation seems to change from year to year.

The run has many short mini-gorges with lots of boat scoutable rapids. As the creek is quite small most stuff goes right down the middle as does all the water. For the incredible gradient of 154 fpm with two sections near 200 fpm it is amazing that most of the rapids are in the class IV+ range. The whitewater is great for the first seven miles and the last two miles is mostly class II and III. If you have some one who knows the run you will have more fun, if not you will get to enjoy a great adventure.

It took us just under and hour to drive to take-out from Chico. The shuttle is 25 miles and takes about 50 min. Make sure to get a Plumas National Forest map and an American House topo if you can. As the take out is especially difficult to find. The easiest shuttle is on river right. Again having someone who knows the run really helps.

This run is up for relicensing right now so the more people who boat it and show a presence the better. Please be on your best behavior. The sigh to Take-out was stolen this weekend and this reflects poorly on the boating community. The water for this run is released by the power company each fall for their benifit creating an excellent and reliable fall run; a rare case of boaters and power company allignment.

I love this run and just wanted to share it.

Enjoy,

Trevor

[DarinM]

One of my favorite runs too, perhaps sticky this thread like we did Fordyce last year? We paddled it last Friday with a group of three. 300cfs is much better than the 250 last year, much less tedious in the paddle out.

http://darinm.blogspot.com/2005/10/s...f-feather.html