Same Deep Water: It Goes On...

Photos by Jono Ramsay unless otherwise noted.

After the Salmon we rallied straight to the Feather drainage where the goods are as densely packed as the poison oak and the snow has been melting and providing great flows. First stop was the South Branch of the Middle Fork of the Feather.

Put-in scene.

Yard sale at the put-in. Cheaper than you might think.

Photo: CG

On good beta from Darin McQuoid, Chris, Jono, and I drove the excellent FS roads and camped at the hike-out point for the one day section. After an entertaining night around a great fire and a leisurely morning at the put in, we geared up and put on to what was to be one of the best one day runs any of us have ever done.

From the bridge, the river starts slowly with mellow boulder gardens and slowly picks up the pace with a few more complex drops before the first bedrock section.

The first falls after a great warm up.

Photo: CG

After a mandatory rapid and another short, mellow, and incredibly scenic section the river picks up the pace and every corner holds the sight of what could very well be the edge of the world.

Dropping into the mandatory.

Hitting the boof at the bottom, avoiding the spicy hole.

Photos: CG

I don't even know how to begin to explain the steep section of falls, slides, and rapids that make up the steep part of this run. It truly is an amazing place and one that defies description. Imagine standing at the lip of a twenty foot waterfall, looking downstream, seeing another twenty footer, then a horizon line and tree tops. Imagine this for a mile and all but one drop is runnable. Paradise indeed.

Dropping into the steeps.

Chris G trying not to boof.

And again.

Just around the corner...

Coming in hot.

Photo: CG

Right into this

It goes on

And on.

This one was a little more consequential than most of the other drops on the run, as it flows rather quickly into a usually portaged falls.

Stacked is what we like to call it.

Photo: CG

Dropping the final slide above the mandatory portage around a 150' falls. This is likely the most consequential, oft run drop on the South Branch, with the pool leading directly over the lip of the 150' falls.