2) Whiskey Flat to Dean Road

The West Branch Feather drainage was missed during the early kayaking exploratory that occurred during the 1980s. Several attempts were made to run the West Branch of the Feather from Whiskey Flat to Lake Oroville in the late 80s and early 90s, all resulting in bushwhacking out of this steep canyon. In 1994 Eric Nies and Kate Udall, at the suggestion of Dave Steindorf, ran the section of the West Branch from Whiskey Flat to Dean Road. What they found was a classic undiscovered class IV run with great access. The run starts off with a few warm up rapids: the first requiring attention is a picket fence that has several options and a bad sieve in the middle. Below this set of rapids is the Miocene Dam. This dam can generally be run at flows below 1.4 on the staff gauge that is located on the right side of the dam. The dam can be easily portaged on the right side. A few short rapids below the dam you will come to the first major horizon line. This rapid is known as Miniature Golf. Like most of the rapids on the West Branch this one has multiple options. Down the left is fairly straight forward; dodge some holes and make the turn and you are good to go. Let’s Make a Deal, a rapid with four different routes in between boulders, follows. Door 2 (counting from right to left) is the straightforward option. Door 4 is a little easier to boat scout. The next rapid is Token Eddy which is run down the river right side and grab the token eddy halfway down on river right. The final two big drops are another step up. The first of these is Stop, Drop, and Roll where you start left and then thread the slot between boulders at the bottom to avoid the sieves on far river right and river left known as the Tunnel of Love. The final big drop is Bullet which has a couple different lines at the top which have changed over the years. Most portage the top section on the left and then enter the rapid midway down. The middle section of the rapid can be run down the center but working towards the left. As the rapid approaches the wall at the bottom, work right to avoid the hydraulic up against the wall on river left. There are a couple more rapids to finish out the run. As a wall approaches on river left the river drops into hydraulic up against the wall. The currents along the wall feed back into the hydraulic that tend to hold boats and swimmers. The final rapid is a fun class III+ rapid. Immediately work to river right at the bottom of the rapid. Below here the river drops into a tempting series of boulder gardens representing the start of Ben and Jerry's Gorge. Resist the temptation and don't miss the take-out. It is a steep hike up an informal social trail that heads up to the flume and the parking area.