South Branch of the Feather

Well I would have to say that the South Branch of the Feather is now one of my favorite runs, not because of how gnarly it is, or how hard the drops are, but simply because it is incredibly fun. This style whitewater is so cool because it is fairly relaxed. You drop a very fun, clean waterfall into a pool, and do it again... and again. While there are consequences on this run, and it should not be taken lightly (class5 is still class5). It could be one of the most fun river running runs out there. After paddling Kimshew, we cruised over to the takeout of the South Branch with Demshitz. We packed as many people in the van as we could and went for a good day on the river.


Its always fun paddling with a big crew taking your time.(although i still think jared should route the speeder down some big stuff.

The crystal clear waters of the S.B of the Feather.

The creek starts out with less clean waterfalls, and more slide-type rapids with fun boofs and some cruisey boogey water.

Fusilli in one of the top rapids.

The crew in some of the top rapids, this creek is beautiful!

It then drops signifigantly in gradient all of the sudden when you come to a triple tiered drop that you boof far right, run left, then center left. We had a crew of 10 people, so we moved pretty slow which gave us plenty of time to take in the beauty of the run. Then the waterfalls start, perfect 20 footer, another perfect 20 footer... and so on.




I botched the line at the first 20 footer by getting surfed by a tiny hole to the the far left side. It ended up being fine as i just bounced down.

Jake went for the plug, but got kicked a little forward and did a bit of a pitch-pole.
Jared boofing a sweet slide to 20 footer directly below another perfect 20 footer.


Jake on the same drop.
The Crew kicking it.
Jared and I on a fun in-between rapid.


Me on double drop, good stuff.

This is what Kayaking is about for me, going out in the woods, basking in the sun with good friends, and navigating a river successfully. Fun stuff.
Dave on a killer drop.
Shannon Carroll stoked to be on the river.
Jared running another sweet 20 footer.
California is a beautiful place with great whitewater, clean rapids, and plenty of gradient.
This is the first portage of the run, a 100ish footer with a huge boof flake. It goes... not.

South Branch will go down in the books as an amazing creek.

Here is a little video I made.

South Branch of the Feather Creekin from Fred Norquist on Vimeo.

Go kayaking. Its fun.