South Branch Feather: How a Hobbit Falls 50 Feet!

By Stephen Wright

It’s 4:30 am….why on earth am I awake? My conclusion 12 hours
later was that I was awake to run the single best creek I’ve had the
privilege to paddle: The South Branch of the Middle Fork of the
Feather–generally known simply as the "South Branch". It’s way off
the beaten path, requires either a horrible 1000 vertical foot hike-
out or an overnight, and there’s no reliable gauge–in fact the
closest gauge on the Middle feather can sometimes vary from 1,
200-2,600 cfs and result in similar levels on the South Branch. This
makes the South Branch a seldom-run Sierra creeking playground for
expert paddlers who love waterfalls.

The run begins with about 3 miles of warm-up class 3/4 boulder
rapids that become increasingly steep and fun until the final 1 1/2
miles drop off the face of the earth (the last 1/2 mile drops
something like 600 feet) in a bedrock heaven. It’s difficult to even
remember many of the drops because there are so many. I think we
enjoyed something like five 20-foot drops, more than five 15-foot
drops, and a MILLION 5-10 foot drops throughout the day……oh yeah,
and the world’s cleanest 50′ falls! With only 2 normal portages,
surrounded by a spectacular canyon, this run–quite simply–rocks!

We had an extremely strong group of 4 with Seth, Darin, Tanya
Faux, and Some Jerk. It was a day full of good lines–good stuff 🙂
The other big news was that it gave me the opportunity to run my
biggest drop yet–this Hobbit fell 50 feet in a happy tuck. Another
sunny day in paradise–though this one lasted us from 5:00 am until
11:00 pm. Enjoy the photos–these ones shot by T. Faux and the
Hobbit himself! I’ll get Darin’s incredible photos up as soon as he
sends them in.

Live from Reno, NV,
Stephen Wright
The Hobbit King