Feather, S. Fork
1. Little Grass Valley Reservoir to South Fork Diversion Dam
| Difficulty | IV-V |
| Length | 9.2 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 154 fpm |
| Gauge | So. Feather Below Little Grass Valley |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 171 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | September 30, 2024 |
The South Fork Feather is notorious for causing epics. Swims, beatdowns, pins, broken boats, and hikeouts are common. Please approach this run with respect. This run is NOT class IV, even if you walk the first gorge.
Description
The river starts out with 3 difficult Class V rapids. The first is a glorious shoulder boof of the left wall, and is by far the easiest of the three. Next up is Mad Dog: three tiers of chaos, culminating in a large hole. That hole is a short moving pool away from the lip of the waterfall. The waterfall drops 20-25 feet onto a shelf. Enter right, and then get left. You must be left, or you must boof. Vertical lines anywhere right of center usually result in a broken boat or worse. The lip can be difficult to boof, as it slopes deceptively before going vertical. This opening sequence should be treated as V+ due to the stacked nature and consequences. I would rate Mad Dog as 5.0, and the waterfall as 5.1.
After a couple of class V boofs, the river eases up. Many of the rapids are clean and fun, with great boofs. There are also some manky rapids thrown in the mix. However, the run is long, and the rapids are deceptively difficult. For the seasoned class V boater, the run may feel easy. But for the timid class IV or IV+ boater, the likelihood of carnage is high. I have personally seen many swims, pins, pins on logs, swims under logs, and even boats ghosting through the portage. Hikeouts anywhere other than Post Creek are long and arduous.
Be aware that the second portage (Cavin Falls aka The Crack Drop) has two very sticky holes above it. The slide section runs directly into the portage, and I've seen swims out of both holes. The portage has been swum.
- Greg Lee
Other Information Sources:
...
This is a 20 to 30 foot falls in the middle of the top gorge. Rusty Sage broke his boat after running the falls and landing in three feet of water. The bottom is said to be shallow all the way across the base of the falls. None the less, some boaters are successfully running this drop. If you are tempted to try it, you should thouroghly explore the landing first.
The portage is high on the right bank and requires catching a small eddy above the falls.
After about one mile into the run, you will come to the second gorge. This gorge contains a number of class IV ledge drops with several nice boofs. Boat scouting should be reasonable for many paddlers.
This is a rather innocuous looking drop with a very sticky hole at the bottom. If you don't get your nose up, you won't punch the hole, hence the name. Shawn Morneau took a nasty beating here during the flow study.
This is one of the harder rapids on the run. The entrance is tricky, if you miss it you will get posted on the right rock at the top or the left wall at the bottom. The rapid finishes in a very pretty vertical walled gorge. You can do a short portage and seal launch on the right.
This rapid comes shortly after Postage Due. The rapid has a long lead-in and culminates in a riverwide 4 foot ledge that is best run on the left. Starting the rapid on the right gives you a nice charge to the left boof.
This is the last hard rapid above Post Creek. The line is through the left slot to a six foot drop. You don't want the right side. The entrance can be a little tricky.
Post Creek enters on river right at approximately river mile 3.5. This spot is easy to recognize because of the large log that crosses the river just below the confluence. From this location a trail on river right leads up to FS Road 21N65 . The hike out requires about 30 minutes. This access location can be used for emergency egress or as an early takeout location. This take out also reduces the shuttle distance considerably.
Shortly below Post Creek is a rapid named “Stump The Chumps: The top portion of this rapids is typically portaged due to the log in the main channel. A short portage on the right allows you to put in and run the class IV bottom portion of the rapid. River Mile 4.3
This rather innocuous looking rapid has a horrible cave sieve about half way down the rapid. To make matters worse, a significant amount of water flows into the cave. The rapid is not hard, just junkie and consequential. It is possible to portage on the left. River Mile 4.5
This narrow 25 foot falls is a mandatory portage. It is easy to have this one sneak up on you. The portage on the right is fairly easy but may require a little rope work with the boats. River Mile 5.1
“Stein Stuffing” is the last significant rapid on the run. It requires a drop into a narrow slot; if you get deflected at all you can get broached sideways and likely swim, as Dave Steindorf did during the flow study. The rapid can be easily portaged on the left. River mile5.75
Sep 27, 2024
There is new wood everywhere in the run below the first gorge. All of it is passable, but much of it is in play. I'd estimate at least 15 pieces needed to be actively avoided or forced a change to the line. With all the dead wood from the fire, it's likely that the wood will get worse over the next few years.
We had 2 swims under logs. Approach with caution.
Oct 9, 2022
While a more advanced crew did the whole run, Jordan R. & I followed the instructions of Darin McQuoid (http://darinmcquoid.com/sffeatherL.html) to reach the 3-mile Class III section at the end of this run. Something I'd add, is to leave the Quincy La Porte Road at Google Map location 39.65722789965532, -121.01262924130909, and take the well-maintained fire road. You can head to the take-out and put-in from there. Regarding the put-in, once we got to a closed gate, we left the car and carried the boat down the overgrown trail after the gate, and then at some point, we left the trail and bushwhacked down. But we should have stayed on the overgrown trail much longer until we get 100 yards away from the river. We reunited with the crew running the upper section at our hike-in put-in (by luck), and we all took out at the Diversion Dam. The class III was lovely, even considering the damage of the recent fire, but watch out for wood in the river. Parking at put-in and take-out is tight.
