1. Little Grass Valley Reservoir to South Fork Diversion Dam

_The South Fork Feather is notorious for causing epics. Swims, beatdowns, pins, broken boats, and hikeouts are common. Please approach this run with respect. This run is NOT class IV, even if you walk the first gorge._ Description The river starts out with 3 difficult Class V rapids. The first is a glorious shoulder boof of the left wall, and is by far the easiest of the three. Next up is Mad Dog: three tiers of chaos, culminating in a large hole. That hole is a short moving pool away from the lip of the waterfall. The waterfall drops 20-25 feet onto a shelf. Enter right, and then get left. You must be left, or you must boof. Vertical lines anywhere right of center usually result in a broken boat or worse. The lip can be difficult to boof, as it slopes deceptively before going vertical. This opening sequence should be treated as V+ due to the stacked nature and consequences. I would rate Mad Dog as 5.0, and the waterfall as 5.1. After a couple of class V boofs, the river eases up. Many of the rapids are clean and fun, with great boofs. There are also some manky rapids thrown in the mix. However, the run is long, and the rapids are deceptively difficult. For the seasoned class V boater, the run may feel easy. But for the timid class IV or IV+ boater, the likelihood of carnage is high. I have personally seen many swims, pins, pins on logs, swims under logs, and even boats ghosting through the portage. Hikeouts anywhere other than Post Creek are long and arduous. Be aware that the second portage (Cavin Falls aka The Crack Drop) has two very sticky holes above it. The slide section runs directly into the portage, and I've seen swims out of both holes. The portage has been swum. \- Greg Lee Other Information Sources: South Feather Water & Power Agency Darin McQuoid's site: SF Feather: trip write-up and info on this run. Darin McQuoid's site: SF Feather (Lower 3 Miles):  detail on accessing the easier whitewater. Old Overview: The South Fork Feather from the Little Grass Valley Reservoir to the South Fork Diversion is a Lost Sierra jewel that was discovered, or rediscovered, in 2004. Even though this reach has flows every fall when the utility draws down Little Grass Valley Reservoir, little was known about the run due to its remote nature. It takes roughly an hour to get to the put-in from either Oroville or Quincy, the two closest metropolises.  The foreboding views from the dam down into the first gorge likely scared off early would be paddlers from this reach. What they did not know is that below this gorge, which is still a portage-fest for most, is a classic run with many beautiful granite gorges and high quality whitewater. South Fork Water and Power, the utility that operates the Dam, has been more than willing to work with American Whitewater to schedule these flows so that they work for the paddling community.  As part of that process, South Fork Water and Power agreed to schedule boatable releases from Little Grass Valley Reservoir into the South Fork Feather each fall.