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

North Fork John Day

BETA

~ 43 miles

Stream:  This Eastern Oregon overnight run starts out at 5600', and has more water than most streams you would encounter at that elevation in Oregon.  It runs from snowmelt and has a nice long season in the Spring/early Summer. 

The stream is clearly immature up near the put in, with minimal incision and migrating channels.  You get the high desert experience, with more action than the Grande Ronde, or lower sections of the John Day.  The run is II-IV(V).

A couple of us did this run over Memorial Day weekend in 2017, this is the only time I have done the full run (I've paddled the section you can drive upstream to from Dale while in the area on another trip).  The stress level was a bit higher than I like on class III runs due to the lack of eddies and the wood concerns, but we still had a good time. I would choose less water next time, probably shooting for 2,000-2,500.  Keep the water level in mind as you read the report, less water would change the experience.

The first mile offers a nice warm up, at one island we went left when we should have gone right and had to hop over a log jam.

Warming up.

The start of the significant whitewater is clear, the first rapid can be boat scouted, but as the river bends to the left, hop out on the right and climb up to the trail.  It is worth scouting out the next mile of stream if levels are healthy from the river-right trail, while the whitewater is class III/IV the eddies can be scarce, and the wood ever-present.  On our trip this section was both fun, and stressful with levels peaking over 3,000 cfs. 

Fast action up top.

After scouting the first mile, we chose to walk our boats along a hundred yards of it, due to the obstacle and others like it visible in the photo.

We put back on, and ran some fun stuff before scrambling into an eddy above a log we hadn't seen.  Fortunately it was an easy portage and we were back at it running some more fast and fun stuff.  The relentless nature of this section keeps up until the confluence with Trout Creek, which comes in on the right at a point where a large log is in the river.  It looks bad from above, but further inspection proved to offer easy passage on the left.

The final portion of the first onslaught of class III+ whitewater.

Downstream the gradient drops slightly, and the wood decreases.  Diligence is still required as wood in the wrong place could be tricky, eddies were still rare at our flow, and the corners can be blind.  The logs are spread far enough, and the portages easy enough that they don't detract much from the trip at this point.

A couple of the logs on the NF John Day

The further one goes, the less blind the corners, the less steep the rapids, and the less hidden the log hazards.  There were some campsites along this part of the run, on our trip many of them had hikers in them as there is a trail along this upper part of the river on river-right.  The trail switches to river-left about 4 miles downstream of the Granite Creek confluence in the vicinity of Bear Gulch.

There is a section of good rapids in the mix a number of miles below the first onslaught.  This view of the rock formation on the left is the indicator that you are about to enter this next section of whitewater.

Making moves with the rock formation in the background.

10-15 miles downstream of the put in, you cross under a bridge and Granite Creek comes in on the left.  I recommend hopping out at the bridge if levels are high, as just around the corner is Granite Falls, a rapid that should be scouted and is often portaged.  If you miss the opportunity to exit the river at the bridge, there is a decent last minute eddy at the lip on the right.

Foot bridge, Granite Creek comes in just below on river left.

Zach Collier mentions a nice horse camp his group stayed at near this bridge in his trip report from 2023.

Granite Creek Falls.

The couple miles below the Granite Creek confluence is the highest quality whitewater of the trip, the longest and steepest can easily be scouted from the right bank along a trail.

Zach and company named this rapid "Little Jake's"

The whitewater is still pretty continuous below here at high water, and long miles of class II are often broken by fun sections of class III (at high flows).  The wood situation and visibility improves drastically down here, from this point on the river was read and run.  If you are looking for solitude, don't hold out for an ideal campsite down here, by the time you find one you will likely be within access of a road that comes upstream along river-right and one does not typically embark on a wilderness trip to fall asleep to the sound of motors.  

Picture taken from the access road.

That said, there are some nice spots down here that Priscilla and I have car camped at on another trip, so it's not a bust if you didn't find something upstream.

When I did the full trip, we found an island that worked ok for us not far below Big Creek, and only one intrepid motorcyclist had made his way that far upstream.

Big Creek confluence 

There is class V on this creek, but I have not heard of it being run.

Our chosen island to camp on.

The floating eases further below Big Creek, and there are miles of lazy floating down to about a mile below the bridge at Trough Creek.

Lunch break from another trip 

(we drove up to just run the last few miles that day).

When we were kayaking the run, a sign warned of downstream danger, and a scout was mandated by this sign.  

We were unsure if the sign was related to the fish-counter not too far downstream, or a section of fun class III rapids further along.

The most interesting rock formations were in this lower roadside section.

And some human formations were neat to check out as well.

Eventually, the stream eased off completely, with some class II's downstream of Dale.  Knowing we were near the end it was pleasant just floating along slowly and taking it in.  We were further lulled into relaxation knowing the shuttle was already run. 

 After reaching the take out we leisurely loaded our gear before making the drive back to the Willamette Valley.  We took the route back through Redmond for the views, I passed up one gas station while at half a tank and very much regretted that. 

Beautiful and new to me roadways helped me ignore the gas-light that had come on.

I pulled into a Redmond gas station a few hours later, an hour after the gas light had gone on.  I found out that by really finessing the gas consumption and (fortunately) traveling mostly downhill that our Toyota Yaris can have a tank range of 399 miles.

Back in Redmond was a reminder of why we had the three day weekend.

Flows:  3,000 cfs is the max I would recommend putting on at the NF-52 bridge.  It was stressful due to lack of eddies and wood in the upper reaches.  If I came back at similar or higher flows, I would put on to Granite Creek.  The section of the NFJD below Granite Creek was fun and not very stressful, with better and more challenging whitewater than what we encountered upstream (excluding the initial couple miles to Trout Creek).  If the levels were lower I would put in at the NF-52 bridge again.

North Fork John Day River at Monument

Flows the days we were paddling the NFJD, Memorial Weekend 2017

Access:  We hired the owner of the Dale store to run our shuttle, we were happy with the fair price and the job he did.

541) 421-3484

The entire route is paved.

We took out at a bridge a couple miles downstream of Dale.  To get to the put in we headed North 15.3  miles on Hwy 395 from Dale.  Turned right, and another right 1.3 miles later in Ukiah onto Camas Street towards Granite.  This road becomes NF-52 and 40 miles from Ukiah crosses the NF John Day at the put in. 



Take out:  45.001482, -118.989199

Put In:  44.913070, -118.400401