Merced

Red Bud to McCabe Flat Spring 2017

The January floods have changed my favorite local playspot. Felix (guage hole) has dramatically shifted and lost its lower water form. At 2250cfs. It's now a super sticky hole that's shallow in all but the middle with a boil line that's 8 feet back though its pretty level and on thr gentle side with exits on both shoulders. Used to be one of the best natural playspots in cali from 1350 to 2500cfs with all hole maneuvers possible and wavy shoulders.. So beginners beware, this is no longer a good spot for learning to surf. I imagine the playspot will come into better form around 3500 or higher. Maybe even making the higher, waiver flows better than ever as the feature shape is way more retentive and uniform. But it's a sad loss as it may take another flood to move the rocks to give us a low flow playspot again. No more early fall aerial play sessions without bigger storms and it will definatly take significant snowpack to keep the level high into the late spring.

3000+ cvs is a little high for most hole moves... Felix is a little more of a wave than a hole and surges through green spells. It will give up some wave maneuvers but the surge means the retention wavers. Still, its a fantastic spot!

This lovely little spot is easy to spot from the road. Its very good at 1300cfs. Loops, cartwheels, spins in my Allstar-M. Just a bit shallow for aggressive ends in some spots. I'd imagine 1500-1600 would be Primo for this hole. Then it would become more of a wave and eddy service would be lessened. Ive been here at 1050 and 800 and I must say 800 is bones minimum for anything but flatspins and surfs. 1050 is tricky for vertical maneuvers as the rocks are still shallow.

A group of 3 rafts and 2 kayaks put in at Redbud with about 2400 cfs estimated by dreamflows at Redbud. The staff gauge on the bridge was at 1.3 feet. See photo. It was a good powerful flow, but not overwhelming. Lots of holes to dodge through out the run. All of the big rapids felt really big with strong turbulence and big waves. We took out at Railroad Flat, after running Split Rock and Corner Pocket. Split Rock had huge waves and powerful turbulence. Corner Pocket did not feel as serious.

The staff gauge at the Red Bud put in. 6/17/11
Flow at Briceburg was about 8,500 so the Red Bud put in, I would estimate to be over 6,000. The biggest I've ever seen the Merced. Big water, lots of fun, Huge waves and holes.

The Merced River downstream of the South Fork confluence on a beautiful spring day.
In May 2006 the Ferguson Rock Slide buried the highway along the Merced River that leads into Yosemite National Park.

The South Fork confluence is a good put-in option at lower flows.

The slide has completely covered highway 140 and extends out into the river. Large boulders have rolled into the river creating a more interesting rapid than was there before.

The road detour crosses the river upstream and downstream of the slide. Since the hillside may never be stable again, it seems likely that the detour will be permanent.
A line of cars wait at the downstream detour bridge while another car comes from the other direction. The wait can be as much as 15 minutes if you arrive just as the light turns red.
Low water reveals the jagged rocks in the right channel at Nightmare Island. The entrance drop just upstream is somewhat less ugly.

New boulders form a new rapid at the base of the big landslide on the Main Merced River. This new 'Slide rapid' is about 3/4 mile above Ned's Gulch.

Late afternoon view on the Merced River near the South Fork confluence.

8-10 foot standing wave train. Although the view
from downstream doesn't show it as well.

Not the best angle or tightest shot, but these
wave faces were MIGHTY impressive!!!

1500 - 2000 is pretty primo for hole moves here! aka Guage hole, Feliciano hole has nice wavy shoulders. A beautiful eddy, just the right amount of retention and size. A tad shallow under 1500 but still vertically possible all the way down to 1300 or so. Starts to turn into a wave around 2500 all the way up. All in all this is damn near world class when it comes to natural features in Cali.