Merced

This fish ladder at the Crocker-Huffman dam provides the easiest way to portage if you are comfortable walking down the 12 inch wide walls. The ladder is no longer functional for fish.

Two gates were completely open, allowing the river to flow through unobstructed. Merced Falls dam is a run of the river PG&E hydro-electric project. The lake normally backed up by this dam is very small, but extends a mile to the base of McSwain dam.

The put in that we used is next to the Hornitos Road bridge, on the north side. There is a big turnout for parking. Most of the bank is very steep, but there were a couple spots low enough for easy launching of our canoe. There is a boat ramp down to the water on the east side (upstream side) of Hornitos Road, but somehow we missed it on this day.

The McSwain powerhouse dumps into the upper end of this small reservoir, so there may be playboating potential near that outflow.

Looking north across the top of the Crocker-Huffman diversion dam. A cat walk extends all the way across the dam. You can take out on river right (the far side in this photo) and walk 1/4 mile to a fishing access parking lot. One can also portage on the river right side also. The long ramp visible on the other side of the dam is an old fish ladder. The walls are 12 inches wide and can be walked down. Otherwise lower boats down the dam face, or carry over the berm and bushwack to the river.