Photo by Jay Lynn

It is my goal for 2017 to get on some of California’s classic multi-day high sierra runs. Upper Cherry and Fantasy Falls are at the top of the list, but it could easily be another month before those flows come into runnable range. Fortunately the Middle Fork of the Feather starts at a lower elevation and is running at prime flows right now.

Devils Canyon is about a 30 mile trip through some spectacular gorges with amazing scenery and great whitewater. It is commonly done as a two or three day trip. While I prefer the thee day, I did this most recent trip in two. The days are long enough and the flows high enough that this was pretty doable. This was only my second trip to MFF. My first time there was in 2013. This trip was much more enjoyable with reasonable flows and people who knew the run. If you’re not familiar with my previous epic, I’ll post a link to that story at the end of this post. We had a party of ten with about half of us knowing the run. We found a great camp spot with plenty of fire wood in the heart of Franklin Canyon at the end of our first day. For me these trips are really about the scenery and the life styling. The fact that they come with great whitewater is just a cherry on top. There is nothing so satisfying as sleeping next to the river under the full moon after a great day of paddling with great people and knowing that tomorrow you’re going to wake up and do even more of the same.

If you haven’t explored the realm of self support kayaking, I strongly recommend it. If you’re not up for the class V aspect check out my previous post about friendlier options for multi-day kayaking.

Multi-day kayaking trips

If you want to read about my first epic trip into Devil’s Canyon you can find it here…

Devil’s Canyon Middle Fork Feather at High Water (4600 cfs)

Thanks for reading!

Pete