Feather, West Branch
2) Whiskey Flat to Dean Road(Naked Lady Run)
| Difficulty | IV-V |
| Length | 3.3 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 70 fpm |
| Gauge | West Branch Feather River Near Magalia |
| Flow Rate as of 2 hours | 213 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | September 2, 2023 |
River Description
The West Branch Feather drainage was missed during the early kayaking exploratory that occurred during the 1980s. Several attempts were made to run the West Branch of the Feather from Whiskey Flat to Lake Oroville in the late 80s and early 90s, all resulting in bushwhacking out of this steep canyon. In 1994 Eric Nies and Kate Udall, at the suggestion of Dave Steindorf, ran the section of the West Branch from Whiskey Flat to Dean Road. What they found was a classic undiscovered class IV run with great access.
The run starts off with a few warm up rapids: the first requiring attention is a picket fence that has several options and a bad sieve in the middle. Below this set of rapids is the Miocene Dam. This dam can generally be run at flows below 1.4 on the staff gauge that is located on the right side of the dam. The dam can be easily portaged on the right side.
A few short rapids below the dam you will come to the first major horizon line. This rapid is known as Miniature Golf. Like most of the rapids on the West Branch this one has multiple options. Down the left is fairly straight forward; dodge some holes and make the turn and you are good to go.
Let’s Make a Deal, a rapid with four different routes in between boulders, follows. Door 2 (counting from right to left) is the straightforward option. Door 4 is a little easier to boat scout. The next rapid is Token Eddy which is run down the river right side and grab the token eddy halfway down on river right.
The final two big drops are another step up. The first of these is Stop, Drop, and Roll where you start left and then thread the slot between boulders at the bottom to avoid the sieves on far river right and river left known as the Tunnel of Love. The final big drop is Bullet which has a couple different lines at the top which have changed over the years. Most portage the top section on the left and then enter the rapid midway down. The middle section of the rapid can be run down the cen
...River Features
Whiskey Flat Put-in
Put in on river right where Jordan Hill Road crosses the river. Note that this road is severely degraded and you may not want to take your vehicle all the way down to the river. The namesake Naked Lady is downstream of the put-in.
Minature Golf
Navigate your way through the boulders on river right or take the channel down the left.
Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal offers a choice of 4 different routes.
Stop, Drop, and Roll
Enter left and then thread the slot between the boulders at the bottom avoiding the sieves on far river right and river left.
Bullet
A couple different lines at the top which have changed a bit over the years. You can also portage the top part and continue on down through the lower half of the rapid.
Dean Road Take-out
Take out on river right and hike up the steep hillside, cross the canal over to the end of Dean Road. Make sure you know where the take-out is and don't miss the eddy.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportKevin Hendricks, Chris Chandler, Charlie Guilbault and I were on beautiful Feburary day run. After cleaning up the takeout trail we headed up to the put-in. I am going to call this flow the upper end of good. The flow was 900 cfs, 1.4 on the staff gauge at the dam. While most of the rapids are just fine at this flow, I think this is the highest flow that I would recomend running the dam. We ran it on the right, rafther than the typical left line, as there was more flow exiting below the dam on the right and it was easier to set safety. We all decided to portage Stop, Drop and Roll on this run. There was a line but it was very thin. A little right and you would end up in the seive, a little left and would would get pinned on the rock on the to the left of the exit. To top it off the hole at the botton was pretty stout. The rest of the rapids were all good to go.
Spring trip on the West Branch. This was a chance to experience the West Branch shortly after the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most expensive wildfire in California history that came through the area in November 2018. The fire burned into the canyon the West Branch flows through but the whitewater was all the same.
Hitting the West Branch first thing in the morning before heading to work with Dave Steindorf, Charlie Guilbault, and Thomas O'Keefe.
Tricky rapid at high flows. Don't end up on the Wall
Dave Steindorf, Megi Morishita, Kevin Colburn, and Thomas O'Keefe got out for a quick run of the West Branch when in town for the American Whitewater board meeting.
Dave Steindorf took us out for an afternoon to experience his local run.
Door 2 and 3 are visible in this photo. Door 1 is off to the left and door 4 is around to the right.
Looking upstream from the bottom of Let's Make a Deal.