Big Bend Creek

  Photo: Priscilla Macy






BETA

Stream: Ben had found this creek some how or another a few years ago while driving around, then saw it had this mention in the back of Soggy Sneakers.  We had made a couple goes at it over the next couple years, but whether it was snow or logs across the road we had not made it to the put in.  

We were finally able to get on the creek near the end of 2019, and found the Soggy Sneaker description to be perfectly adequate. 

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

It had been a dismal Falls as far as water levels go, so we went for it even knowing it would be very low.  The one class V rapid (or it would be with decent flow) was steep and bouldery, lasting a couple hundred yards.  Each segment of the rapid could be broken down into individual drops at the flow we had.  Most segments we ran, a couple we portaged.

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

Below the confluence with Bulldog Creek, the creek matured a bit and the rapids were a little more quality.  Most of the run was bouldery read and run, with the occasional tease of bedrock. 

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

We had a handful of quick portages, all at water level.  In fact everything could be handled at river level.  

In this instance, I was able to hold up a log while the other two went under.

That's about all you need to know if you want to check out the creek, you might consider paddling down Steamboat Creek a ways to add some more rapids and floating if you head that way. 

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

  
Flows:  Iv'e had two visuals on Big Bend Creek.  The first time the Steamboat Creek gauge was at 3500 cfs, this looked like a medium flow.  We were not able to do the run due to logs blocking the road that day.  When we actually ran the creek on Dec 14, 2019 flows dropped below 1,000 cfs on the Steamboat gauge.  These flows equated to scouting the creek with our kayaks, we were able to paddle the whole way, but it was too low for interesting hydraulics to form.

Access:  Take Highway 138 East from Roseburg, in a little under 40 miles turn left onto Steamboat Creek road.  Follow Steamboat Creek road 11 miles until it crossed over Big Bend Creek.  You can take out here, or at the next bridge downstream on Steamboat Creek, which is what we did.

 After crossing Big Bend take the first immediate right turn, in 2.7 miles is a very old road dropping off to the right that could easily be missed.  We drove half a mile down this road, cutting logs as we went.  Eventually we decided it was faster and easier just to drag our kayaks down the hill.  It only took 5-10 minutes to get close enough to the creek to schwack down into it.  

Granite Creek: San Juaquin tributary

Photos: Priscilla Macy

Priscilla and I had planned to spend a week in the High Sierra's just the two of us the last week in June of 2019.  For this trip I was hoping to find something that was the High Sierra kayaking experience, but without the stress that can come along with paddling class V.   Scouring maps, I decided Granite Creek was just what we were looking for.  It looked like manageable gradient, with polished granite bedrock, domes, slides, and pools all in what looked to be a class IV package.  I sorted out the logistics, found some hiking photos of flickr for a flow check, and felt pretty good about the situation.  Then I noticed it had a page on AmericanWhitewater and while there wasn't much detail on there, enough was present to relieve any anxiety about misjudging how the maps would translate to reality.

 
We started off the week doing Mill Creek with Joseph Hatcher, Darin Mcquoid and Shannamar Dewey.  Darin had attempted to run Granite before, but had got stopped by snow.  We got some more information from him and our faith in this being a good idea was galvanized. 

Palaver on Mill Creek.

We made our way south from Mill Creek through Yosemite, paddling, camping, and looking around on our way towards Wawona, then into the San Joaquin drainage.

We paddled down the NF Stanislaus into Big Trees State park.

Then walked around looking at some big trees.

Below a portage on the SF Tuolumne 

After a night at Squaw Dome, overlooking Granite Creeks descent into the San Joaquin (below the part we would be running) we headed up for the culmination of vacation on Granite Creek and what we hoped would be the High Sierra experience, without the class V.

Launch point (37.474277, -119.266936) for the short off-trail walk up to Squaw Dome.

After a spending a night at what I consider my favorite camping location Iv'e ever used, we drove down off Squaw Dome the next morning and found the take out road for Granite Creek, immediately a tree was in the way but we followed a track around it, then another 200 yards down a tree blocked the road entirely.  We looked for a way around, I thought I saw a way through off to the left, but following that route on foot back to the road further down 5-10 more logs were immediately visible across the next segment of road.  It seemed obvious even if we made it around these logs there were likely to be more.  We dropped the bike off anyway, planning to hike out the two miles at the end.

Getting close.

We made our way up to Granite Creek Campground and found a good spot to pitch our tent, it was now about noon and Priscilla wanted to take a rest day and do the run tomorrow with an earlier start.  I didn't think we had anything to worry about, but since we would be sorting out the river without any hard beta I didn't want to force her hand, possibly leading to a stressful day on the water.  Instead we set about the task of relaxing, spending the rest of the day avoiding mosquitoes and doing some pseudo-bouldering as we took tabs on the notable diurnal cycle of the creek.

The next morning we let the sun heat things up, then got to it. It is possible to start another mile up at a bridge (37.542899, -119.282266) over the WF of Granite creek that adds a couple more quality rapids.  However, we liked the sound of starting straight from our campsite so launched there.

The first part of the run is open and bouldery, it's easy going but moves along. 

 Before long the walls meet the creek at a low angle and some small ledges appear near the site of an old gauge on river right.  Below this point the creek took on a class IV character (at our flow) for the remainder of the run.

Everything was easy to scout along the granite sidewalks making up the bank, long slides started to appear, we were glad we chose to scout them because while most were easy, one had a class V type hydraulic at the bottom that we elected to portage.

A fun one.

The one we portaged, along the granite sidewalk on the left.

 
Back to back class IV rapids continued below the drop we portaged, some on the easy end of IV, some the high end, most smack dab in the middle, all high quality with plenty of variety.  We were finding the river very runnable and loads of fun, exactly what we had been hoping for.

Eventually the bedrock eased off and we entered a bouldery section, still class IV and good fun at this flow.  It was important to be on the lookout for the occasional piece of wood or small sieve, but most of it was read and run, with a couple blind spots seeing us hop out to take a look.  The only portage of the day was around that hydraulic mentioned earlier on. 

Reading, running, eddy hopping.

 In the midst of the bouldery section we stopped on river left to walk up to an outlook and eat lunch under the only overcast day of our trip.

Priscilla limbers up on our lunch break.

 
More bouldery rapids continued downstream, the rapids were all runnable and we were having a good time.  One island caused us pause, but we found a way to squeak by to the right of the island and downstream the quality whitewater continued.

Eventually we turned a corner and eddied on the left as bedrock returned at a small horizon line.  We scouted down a trail on the left and found we were at the end of the run, the trail led to a walking bridge and continued scouting downstream from river-right showed us the way through the final class IV sequence.   Below this bridge (which is in the middle of the final class IV sequence) the creek continues straight-ish for a couple hundred yards before turning sharply to the right.  We stopped at a small boulder bar where the sharp right occurred, and walked up the jeep road that exists there to a trailhead.  We knew it was important not to continue downstream, as the creek goes Richter from this point down to the San Joaquin.

Taken from Squaw Dome.

We had been planning to hike two miles out on the 5S84 road because of the numerous downed trees on it near it's junction with 5S30 where we had left our shuttle bike.  However we noticed there were two vehicles down here at a trailhead.  They looked stock, so figured they must have cut the trees out of the way so we dropped our boats and started walking back up to the bike, planning to come back with our vehicle to pick them up.  The 1/2 mile of road starting from the creek to a bit past the trailhead is rowdy, but soon becomes manageable for a vehicle with clearance.  We saw a few chopped trees, but it seems like the guys had been using an axe so we were not surprised to see many of the trees had been left in the road and they had just driven around them.  The closer we got to our vehicles the rowdier these off-road adventures seemed to get, however we felt that if an FJ Cruiser and a Tacoma could make do, so too would our Xterra.  We arrived at the bike and the mosquitoes were horrendous.  Taking pity on Priscilla waiting with the bugs, I pinned the throttle on our bike on my way back up to retrieve our vehicle at the put in when I could and rode some downhills I had planned on walking (our motorized bike is best described as "fragile" and the brakes are no exception), the lack of suspension made the rough road as exciting as any of the downhill trails I had been doing on my mountain bike that Spring.   Returning half an hour later Priscilla had managed to find a spot away from the worst of the bugs and expended a large portion of our remaining bug repellent.

We were nearly done with our trip, but the fun wasn't over.

 The Xterra performed admirably as we scouted lines and Priscilla spotted me as we made the engaging drive back to the boats, then repeated it in reverse with the boats on the roof.  We felt fortunate Priscilla had voiced that we not do the run the day before, as we would have been lined up to do the two mile hike out instead of being inspired into this fun driving adventure.  While it would have been worth the hike, we much preferred having the boats on the roof, rather than our shoulder.

What a day, it took about 50 more minutes to get back to Bass lake where we stocked up on supplies before heading back into the hills for our last night in California.  The next day we made the long drive back to Salem, Oregon satisfied on the High Sierra kayaking experience, without the class V.

Access:  Granite Creek flows into the MF San Juaquin on river right just below the Crucible on the Devil's Postpile run.  Upstream a couple miles from that confluence is the end of this run, just below a foot bridge (37.502456, -119.237707).  You will need a high clearance vehicle for Granite Creek, preferably with 4WD.  The last 1/2 mile to the take out is even rougher than the rest, and with a high clearance vehicle you may still choose to carry your boats up that part at the end.  A saw for potential trees across the road is a good idea too.  You also want to have an idea about what the snow situation is up there, it is often snowed in early in the season.

From Bass Lake take either Beasore Rd out of The Pines, or Minarets Rd out of North Fork.  The Minarets Rd/Mammoth Pool Rd stays paved longer, but is a further distance.  Beasore Rd becomes pothole filled a few minutes past Beasore Meadows, but takes less time unless you are a pothole crawler.  There were remnants of snow near Beasore meadows when we drove up, but that was the only spot. The Minarets route is a better option if snow is a concern.

The put in is a couple miles past the turn towards Clover Meadow (where a small building serving as a ranger station stands), going right at the fork half a mile past the station will deliver you to the lower Granite Creek Campground put in (37.540796, -119.267806), left at the fork will take you to the bridge over the WF of Granite Creek (37.540796, -119.267806).

I'd recommend caching a map or two of the area on your phone and familiarizing yourself with it before heading up there. 

Click on the map to increase resolution.

Flows:  We paddled Granite creek June 28, 2019.  Here is a photo from the footbridge just upstream of the take out the day we ran the creek.  There was a large diurnal the day before, but the skies were mostly overcast this day and flows were more stable.  

 I believe the Devils Postile gage is probably the most relevant telemetry gage to use to plan a trip to Granite Creek, it is in the same watershed as Granite, but with minimal data points the strength of the correlation is uncertain.  The South Fork Merced shares a ridgeline with Granite and the Merced is nearby too so I'm including that data as well. 

• We felt we had medium, class IV flows on June 28, 2019.  I would go back at higher or lower levels for a different experience, or the same flow.  I believe this creek has a wide runnable range.

• Kirk Eddlemon paddled Granite Creek with a group from the southeast May 11, 2021 at what he felt was a bare minimum, where the bedrock rapids were fine, but the rest was rocky.  He said his group had a good time, but he probably wouldn't go back at the same flow.

Iv'e included data points from both of those trips below to help anyone planning a trip to the area.

MF San Joaquin NR Mammoth Lakes 

June 28, 2019; Medium Flows (600/460)...................May 11, 2021; Minimal Flows (230/280)

South Merced @ Wawona

June 28, 2019; Medium Flows (800/500).....................May 11, 2021; Minimal Flows(575/340)

Merced @ Happy Isles

June 28, 2019; Medium Flows (1400/1000).................May 11, 2021; Minimal Flows (850/700)

          

                                               

Pictures of the same rapids comparing the levels from the two trips.

Low water photos: Kirk Eddlemon and Stephen Formosa

Sycan River: Coyote Bucket

Photo: Priscilla Macy






BETA
 7.5 miles

Stream: Most of the Sycan River is flat, the flattest part is the Sycan Marsh, where the stream collects water from snowmelt, spilling out into a kid and canoe friendly upper section that can be paddled.  As the Sycan approaches, then combines with the Sprague River, it again spreads out and braids.

The combined Sprague and Sycan.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

Between the upper section coming out of the Marsh, and the flat land where it meets the Sprague, the Sycan drops through Coyote Bucket.  In this section are two long stretches of continuous whitewater, the first "bucket" is class IV, and the second "bucket" is harder.

An example of the boulders that make up the river bed/bank and where they came from.

Photo: Priscilla Macy 

The rapids are made of columnar and vesicular basalt from the Winema Volcanic Field that has collapsed from the canyon rim, similar to the rock found along the Upper Klamath.  The two buckets are split by 20 minutes of easy floating.  The whitewater is like a mix of the Upper EF Hood, Upper Klamath, and NF Payette.

Barret Titus, stirring the mixing pot.

 Photo: Yann Crist-Evans

Access is both easy and challenging, there is no hiking required, but the roads can be tricky to navigate and there needs to be someone in the group comfortable navigating primitive roads using satellite imagery, as when the Sycan has water, some of the roads are not passable.  This can all be sorted out beforehand though, the red roads are elevated to keep them from becoming bogs in the Spring and are used to get to the put in.  The take out is either very easy at a paved bridge if you want to float 6 miles of flat water at the end of the day, or a bit of an adventure if you want to take out at the end of the whitewater.

A high density of mosquitoes at a take out in the vicinity of Chester Springs motivated us to load quickly.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

As a snowmelt run, this river runs when it's warm out.  This, combined with loads of great primitive camping options, make it a good place to spend a weekend.

From the put in, the Sycan rolls around a few lazy bends before slowly ramping it's way from flat water to class IV.  The first bucket has a long section of whitewater flowing through it and can mostly be read and ran, with a couple rapids that are worth a quick look if no one knows the lines, especially since there are sieves outside of the main lines. 

Brandon Lake dodging ordnance from Wile E. Coyote, the stand out rapid from the first bucket.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

 Eventually this fun section of whitewater ends and the river returns to lazy floating where you can kick your feet up for a bit, or there are some nice places to stop for lunch but be ready for mosquitoes on the banks in places.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

Near the end of the meandering the walls start to rise back up, and flat water gives way to easy whitewater at the beginning of the second bucket.  This ramps up to intermediate rapids and eventually there is a scouting eddy on the right above the horizon line at the second sustained section of challenging whitewater, which is a step up from the first bucket dropping 120 feet in the next half mile.  Most groups will want to do an extended scout on the right of both Roadrunner and BoB, the first two parts of this long section of whitewater.

Moving fast through Roadrunner.

 Photo: Priscilla Macy

Roadrunner is run mostly center-right, down to an eddy on the right, just across from the largest boulder visible at river-level.  

Yann Crist-Evans nears the end of Roadrunner, with the eddy that needs to be caught in order to scout BoB circled, just across the river from the largest boulder at stream-level.

Photo: Priscilla Macy 

A thorough scout of BoB is in order from this small eddy, as the river bends right through more hydraulics.  It is not so much BoB itself that is of concern, but the eddy that needs to be caught on river-left above Pin-Laden, which is the next rapid and one that paddlers may elect to portage.  This river-left eddy above Pin-Laden has a bugger rock guarding it if you try to boof into the eddy, it worked better to catch the middle of the eddy, don't miss!

Pin-Laden looks to have a line in the middle, but everyone in the group walked it both days.

 Photo: Yann Crist-Evans

Downstream is a long stretch of quality whitewater that is right on the edge between what we were comfortable reading and running and wanting to shore scout.  We always found eddies on river-right when we wanted to scout but they come up fast, and pass by faster if you are not scouting ahead.

                                                                   

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

The last distinct rapid is Fantasia, a rapid that fits it's own definition pretty well, with a boof at the top reminiscent of a scaled down version of this iconic rapid on the Fantasy Falls (1:41) section of the NF Mokelumne in California.


                                                            Between moves in Fantasia.

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

Below Fantasia the river spreads out a bit as it approaches, then splits around an island.  This section can be read and run, but scouting would provide the cleanest lines.  We went either right or center until an island that split the river in two, we took the left channel.  The whitewater abruptly ends as the second bucket pours out into slack water a short way after this island and the action is over.  Some class I-II ends at another island and what can be a hard to see fence going across the river, we took a right channel and were able to duck under it.

Myself, Barret Titus, and Zach Levine at the finish line.

Photo: Priscilla Macy

 

Below the fence it's just a relaxing 10 minute float down to the take out if you parked at one of the upper take outs, or much further if you used the logistically easy take out at the Drew Rd bridge.

Soaking it in as we approach the take out near Chester Springs.

  Photo: Priscilla Macy

Flows:  The Sycan has a gauge, make sure to choose "instantaneous flow" in the drop down marked by the green arrow and box in the photo below. We were there April 26 and 27, and flows felt great both days.

SYCAN R BL SNAKE CR NR BEATTY, OR

 

 

Access:

The area around here is rugged, and many of the roads are primitive.  You will need to be comfortable navigating using satellite imagery on your phone.  Many of the marked roads cross through marshes that are not passable when the Sycan has enough water to kayak.  Fortunately the put in can be accessed via good gravel roads that are raised above the boggy areas.  There is good reception and 4G in the area.

A cell tower visible from the shuttle.

Because of the road situation, there are not step-by-step directions here, you will need to plan your own route.

The put in is here: 42.615212, -121.346747

This is where the whitewater ends (42.548507, -121.313715) there are a couple roads that can be used to reach take outs less than a mile downstream, near Chester Springs.  It's a good idea to park at a spot easily visible from the river so you don't accidentally float by.  Remember to shut behind you any fence-gates that you open, and know the mud is sloppier than it might look.  4wd and clearance recommended if you plan to use one of these take outs.  The road we used was visible in satellite imagery, but not marked on Google Maps.

If you want simple logistics, or are not prepared to drive primitive roads, you can take out here (42.485369, -121.278400) at the Drews Rd bridge, though that would require floating 6 miles of flat water.

The Drews bridge take out, where the gauge is located.  If you use this bridge as a take out, keep in mind the whitewater ends in those hills in the background.

Photo: Priscilla Macy

Note:  If you follow Google Maps from Bend to the put in, it will send you to a ford of the Sycan River, which is not possible when the Sycan is high enough to kayak.  The correct route is to first drive to Beatty, then up the Sycan.

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Joe Anonymous and the Coyote Bucket

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I had never heard about the Sycan River, or noted it on any maps.  It's in an area east of Klamath Falls that looks pretty flat on a topo-map.  After running the Williamson River a couple years ago, a local commented on this website about the Sycan River through the Coyote Bucket and thought we might be interested in checking it out.  Looking at it on a map, I thought it would be a neat trip but a long drive and lots of flat water kept it from being a top priority for me.  Over the last couple years I started clicking in pieces of the puzzle, like locating roads that would cut out hours of flat water, and tracking down a gauge.  Some last minute consultation between Priscilla and the Klamath Lake Land Trust to learn about an area that doesn't have much online info, and friends willing to roll the dice on something new sent the plan into Go-mode.  We knew trips like this always have the potential to be more work than they are worth, but after two trips through the canyon we couldn't wipe the grins off our faces.  What a place to be.  Thanks for the tip Joe anonymous, if I ever find out who you are there will be a beer or two coming your way.



     -jacob