California and Oregon Rafting

The busy boating season is over, but there are still some places to paddle here in California. Fall boating is usually based on dams that have special releases this time of year or because of rain.

Butler Creek run on the Cal Salmon (suggested by Noel) at super low water, be sure to bring down a raft full of high opionated women/girlfriends. I thought that was the most fun river trip any of us had ever done.

South and Middle Forks of the American These “bread and butter” rafting runs don’t have guaranteed water into the fall, but tend to run into October. The South Fork seems to be consistently flowing with fun flows.

North Fork of the Stanislaus The North Stan has fall dam releases of a few hundred cfs which is great for kayakers and “doable” for rafters. The most commonly done run is the Class IV+ one just below Sourgrass Campground, but there is plenty of more difficult boating above and below this run.

Goodwin CanyonThis is an interesting Class IV++ run in the foothills with plenty of thrills. It is much like Disneyland, so much so that when “the Costley” named the rapids, he named them after Disneyland rides. This somewhat dangerous run can be done 2-3 times in a day.

Fordyce Creek This is alpine creeking at it’s best and should be releasing any time now. Kayakers that like granite and big drops are in heaven here and rafters that want to push the envelope will have fun as well.

Upper McCloud This is a fun Class III run that typically runs all year do to the many springs in the area. This is mainly for kayakers because the top section is bony and the rocks are sharp.

Lower McCloud Fall releases from McCloud reservoir allow just enough water to do an overnight run on this beautiful section of river. It is quite bony so the “duckie” is the preffered method of travel here.