The Middle Gorge SectionClass V
1.5 Miles
Big Creek Gorge
Big Creek Gorge Photo of Gavin Gladding by Paul Martzen taken June 6, 2005 @ low Gauge Information
Big Creek
River DescriptionThe Overview of Big Creek:Big Creek is just west of Wawona in Yosemite National Park and runs into the South Fork of the Merced just upstream of the Wawona Campground. The Middle Gorge has 5 waterfalls worth paddling and is only about 150 yards long. A common procedure is to run the falls in the gorge several times, then carry back up to your car. The first descent party reported that continuing down the creek to the SF Merced was not worth doing and most subsequent parties took their word for it. Recently, Chris Tulley reported that the rest of the creek down to the South Merced is excellent which prompted explanations from members of the first descent party. Late April or Early May is the likely season. When the SF Merced is high, this creek is worth a look. Getting There: Take Highway 41 to Wawona inside Yosemite National Park. Turn onto Chowchilla Mt Road. If you're coming in from the Fresno area (or south), you'll make a left hand turn onto this road that runs across the golf course. This road is not very wide and at first glance looks like its for golf carts only. But quickly widens and turns into a dirt road that crosses Big Creek in about two miles. GPS Coordinates at Google Maps.  Many people will drive or hike in and just run the Middle Gorge several times. It's like park and play for creekers. Another option is to put in at Fish Camp and run the 2 miles down to the middle Gorge. As seen here: Big Creek (Chowchilla Mountain Road to S.F. Merced River) First 400 yards: The best parking spot is just across the small wooden bridge, putting in on river left, just pass the bridge. You can boat or hike down about 400 yards or so to the main gorge where there are 5 great waterfalls. In this first section there are some shallow rocks and tree portages.    First Drop "The Tricky One": The first falls at the entrance to the main gorge, has a boulder in the pool at the bottom on river left, that can be is easily seen when scouted. Boofing out far enough to miss it is easily done by sliding down the falls on river left, or by first dropping into the pot-hole on river left, then running the falls.     75 Yards To Go: This next section can be kind of tricky. Its junky and has some brush that gets in the way. The best advice is to stay to river left and push your way through. You might have to get out and swim or wade down. But once you see the big smooth granite rocking slope on your left, you're there! This is the entrance to the main gorge.   Main Gorge: Now all your hard work pays off, and the fun can begin! The falls are all very straight forward to run, and the pools are all clean and deep. GPS Coordinates at Google Maps.  "Rooster's Drop": This is the first fall of the gorge, and should be run on river right. There is a small rooster tail created in the middle of the falls at higher flows and makes for a big smile.  "The Slide": This fall is one big water slide. Try it backwards if you're feeling lucky. At high flows, this drop does become a serious, river wide, very sticky reversal.   "The Big Drop": The tallest and funniest of the waterfalls. It's about 10 feet high, but don't worry, the pool is nice and deep. So you can practice your boof or go right over and pencil in if you want. Use caution, the level of water would determine the depth of this pool. However, you can go over from the left, or all the way over on the right side. Change it up a little for some extra fun. There are some nice rock slides here too for a different drop approach.  "The Last Drop": A little right/left gets you over the last drop right into a large pool of water. You can wait here and watch the rest of your group catch up with you. There is also enough room on this last waterfall to paddle back up and try to get behind the fall up against the rocks.  (this picture shows Dan running "The Big Drop," but it's a good shot of the "The Last Drop") The takeout is on river left. GPS Coordinates at Google Maps.  River left is best for scouting and hiking back and forth. The left side also has the best places for picture taking. Sometimes after a nice long day of boofing, the best thing to do is go back to the beginning of the gorge, cross the creek to the right side and hike straight up to the dirt road. Other nearby rivers: Big Creek: Fish Camp to Chowchilla Mt. Road NF Willow Creek Local Clubs: For more information on this and other local paddling areas, please feel free to contact these local clubs: SJPaddlers, NEW Kayak Club, or Gold Country Paddlers. Online: You can get more information from California's Whitewater Community at boof.com. StreamTeam Status: verified
Last Updated: 2008-05-17 23:52:09
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Boatable flows tend to be in April and May but can occur in other months as well. See this table of Monthly mean flows; 1997-2006.
North Fk Willow Cr nr Sugar [ CA ] |
Current Conditions
Station Graphs |
| Level Legend: | Running | Below Minimum Recommended Flow | Above Maximum Recommended Flow | Unknown |
| State | River Name/Section | Class | Level | Rel. Level | Updated | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | Big Creek— Fish Camp to South Fork Merced | II-V | 3 cfs | low | 10/7 15:30 | |
| CA | Big Creek— The Middle Gorge Section | V | 3 cfs | low | 10/7 15:30 | |
| CA | Willow Creek, NF— 1. Grey Mt. Campground to Chilkoot Campground | V | 3 cfs | low | 10/7 15:30 | |
| CA | Willow Creek, NF— 2. Chilkoot Campground to Bass Lake | V | 3 cfs | low | 10/7 15:30 |
| AW Gauge ID: | 4638 |
| USGS Station: | 11242400 |
| HUC: | 18040006 |
| Latitude: | 37.3978 |
| Longitude: | -119.5653 |
| Class: | 4 |
No guide books for this stream. If you know of a book that describes this stream please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. User Comments |
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2008-04-14 02:23:14 (176 days ago)
Chris Tulley
Stellar underrated V run! Consistant gradient of South Silver style granite bedrock interspersed with technical boulder gardens. A group of 5 of us ran this 4/9/06. Here is what we found: <br />
<br />
FLOW<br />
We had what we deemed a great boatable flow of ~200 to 250 cfs, for a class V run down to S. Merced. Note: the online guage is way off (it read 17 cfs the day we ran it) while the Merced below Briceburg was @ 3800 and falling due to recent rain. (Chris is refering to a gauge that is no longer listed on this page. It was gauging a diversion from the creek rather than the creek itself. The gauge now linked is on an adjacent creek of similar size. Hopefully flows are fairly similar between the two drainages and the present gauge has better accuracy - PM)<br />
<br />
CHARACTER:<br />
Lots (10+) of classic Sierra bedrock drops of 10-20 ft. Some great slides and big boofs. Some sections of technical class V boulder drops that reminded me "Big Creek" in the Smokies (classic SE squeal like a pig creeking). We did not experience the "brush" referenced in the streamkeepers description. Lots of horizon lines to keep you on your toes...smile<br />
<br />
HAZARDS:<br />
1)At our flow (~200-250cfs) the 4th drop of significance (shown in above description as the "slide") becomes a nasty river wide hole that should be treated with extreme caution, as it is basically becomes a low head dam. We vertically extracted someone from here and it was not pretty.<br />
2) Wood. There were a few big logs that looks like they could shift around. That said there was a nasty log jam strainer at the very bottom of the second major boulder garder rapid. Which was several hundred yards long. The strainer was basically blind and a bit walled out. Scout/walk high river left.<br />
Other than this all the rapids were runnable and had clean, albeit sometimes narrow lines. Expect to get out of your boat to scout frequently. <br />
<br />
ACCESS:<br />
PI: The gate was locked for us just after crossing the golf course. There is limited but discrete parking here. The hike is ~2 miles. <br />
TO: We parked at a pull off with a restroom ~1 mi downstream of S. Merced bridge near Wawona. Shuttle is super short and could be walked.<br />
<br />
TIME: First time runs by mere class V mortals should expect 4 or more hours to scout and run this ~2 mile stretch.<br />
<br />
OVERALL RATING: 9 out of 10.
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No rapids entered. If you know names, and locations of the rapids please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
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