San Joaquin, CA

Scenic Section

Scenic Section
Photo of Eric Burke by Paul Martzen taken April 16, 2005 @ 1,600 cfs

River Description

Horseshoe Bend is a beautiful section of river that has seen relatively little boating use in the past. It only has boatable flows during periods of spill; typically late Winter and Spring of an average to high water year. Many years there is no spill at all and therefore no boatable flows. Scheduled weekend recreation releases will happen in the future if certain fishery studies allow it. In the meantime SCE started providing real time flow information in the summer of 2006, which will allow boaters to use this reach whenever there is boatable flow.

The river character is classic pool drop, with long pools separating relatively short steep drops. The streambed is a deep granite trench and many rapids are formed by large boulders. Most rapids, even the small ones, have distinct horizon lines, which hide any view of the correct route until you are just about entering the rapid or have in fact committed to the rapid. Low cliffs or sculpted boulders form much of the shoreline, but all rapids are easily scouted from shore. There are a few small beaches along the length and one large beach at about the halfway point. It is a very pretty section of river.

Time required: One can enjoyably spend all day, but fast trips are also feasible. A recent kayak trip at 2000 cfs with 3 boaters, doing 4 scouts, two portages, 1 swim, and numerous rolls, took 2 hours and 15 minutes from put-in to take-out.

The Horseshoe Bend Trail is on river right. It comes close to the river in a couple spots, but usually it is several hundred yards up on the hillside. Sometimes its path is obvious but in many other areas it is faint. The downstream end of this trail starts where the road to the powerhouse is gated. The upstream end starts from a level area a mile before you reach Willow Creek. At the upstream end, there is a sign for the trail and a dirt road leading to a power tower. Vegetation in the area is grasslands, brush, oaks and some Digger Pines.

Getting there: From Fresno, take Highway 168 (or highway 41 to Friant Rd to Auberry rd), to Prather. Continue a couple miles then turn left onto Auberry road and go to the town of Auberry. In town veer left at the school onto Powerhouse Rd. Drop down to Kerchoff reservoir, cross the bridge and immediately turn left into a parking area which is the take-out. Allow 1 hour and 10 minutes from Fresno. Continuing to the put-in, cross the highway to a small but paved road. Drive 4.5 miles to Willow Creek below Reddinger dam.
From Madera take highway 145 to Friant, to Auberry rd, to Prather and Auberry, etc. See this Google Map.

Put in: Is easiest at Willow Creek just downstream of the dam rather than at the dam itself. Drive on a dirt road on the left side of the creek to where a huge pipe comes out of the hill and crosses the creek. Duck under the pipe and follow the trail out to the main river. Kayakers often just launch into the creek itself and fight through the trees on the way to the river. Trees are thick in the creek just below the bridge and again very thick at the mouth. A new trail is to be constructed someday, but the final plan has not been approved by the forest service yet. 

  Topozone map. google map

You can launch near the dam, by carrying down a trail that leads to a gauging station.  Launching here allows you to run a big serious drop in a narrow gorge.

Take out any where at Kerchoff Reservoir. There is a large turnout on the northwest side of the highway bridge and a decent take out underneath this bridge. It is a short carry from the water up to the road, but rafters may wish to paddle across the reservoir to good beaches with car access. The shuttle is about 4.5 miles on a paved one lane road. Allow 10 to 15 minutes driving time each way. Topozone map. google map


Toilets and primitive campsites are available at Smalley Cove on Kerchoff reservoir. Toilets are also available at the boat ramp on Reddinger Reservoir, not far past the dam. There is an area suitable for primitive camping at the put-in, but on the north side of the paved road, up a short dirt road. There is a grocery store and several decent resteraunts in the nearby town of Auberry. There are more stores and restaurants at the shopping mall in Prather, at the junction of Auberry Rd. and Highway 168.

FERC Information:   Reddinger Reservoir and Big Creek #4 powerhouse operate under FERC license # 2017 reissued in December 2003.

Threats to the River:
The downstream area of the San Joaquin is presently under study for several potential large dam and reservoir sites which could also affect this section of the river. See: Upper San Joaquin Basin Storage Investigation Three sites are under serious investigation! One site is about one mile upstream of the confluence with Finegold Creek and could have a maximum size of around 2.1 million ac/ft. Another site is downstream of Temperance flat and could be as big as 2.7 million ac/ft. The last site is upstream of Squaw Leap about halfway through the Patterson Bend section. This would only contain 1.4 million ac/ft. Despite their size maximum annual yield is only 200,000 ac/ft. All of these reservoirs will bury the Patterson Bend section and will also bury some or all of the Horseshoe Bend section. Maps from the study showing the sizes of the proposed reservoirs are linked below.

A speech by Gary Bobker of the Bay Institute, gives some arguments against building new dams at these locations.



Paul Martzen
Guidebooks: Cassady & Calhoun, Holbek & Stanley

Chris Labounty comments:

Ran Horseshoe on Sunday (May 29, 2005) with a stomping flow (10,000 cfs). Reddinger had one door full open, and a second maybe half way. Big water, confusing currents, and random whirlpools that liked to try to turn you sideways or backwards right above holes. I can't recall a time I've ever had to fight so hard to catch eddies, but I scouted about 5 times. Scouting Big Dog was near impossible, as the big river right eddy appeared to be at a higher elevation than the current going past. There was one enormous hole a little ways before Little Dog that took most of the right half of the river. An exciting run to say the least, and I look forward to doing it again at a downshifted flow. Interestingly, later in the afternoon, they had shut off the second door of the damn and took things down a notch from the looks of the 1st rapid.

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.