This class IV/ V run is a California Classic and can be combined with the lower Deer Creek Run to make a 40 mile wilderness journey, from near the crest of the Cascades, down to the valley floor. The run begins with relatively mellow class III and then gets progressively harder as you go downstream. About two miles into the run is a large falls, Fish Ladder Falls, which is portaged on river right. Be sure to exit right at the first place you see an unvegetated slope on river right. Getting suckered in on the left will require you to portage back up to make the ferry back to the right bank.
About two miles below the falls a bridge crosses the river that serves as an alternate put-in if you don’t want to deal with portaging the falls. The whitewater get harder after you get to Boulder Bar Rapid, a big class V rapid about 6 miles into the run. After this rapid the pace picks up with many more class IV drops. Bandito canyon, river mile 11, is a spectacular locked in gorge that has several Class V rapids that are very committing and difficult to portage. Things ease up below the canyon for a few miles but then pick up again, with several Class V rapids, in the last half mile before the Ponderosa Way Bridge where the Lower Deer Creek run begins.