MIDDLE FORK OF THE FEATHER
SWIMMING WITH DANIEL ROITMAN
Fall 1991
Hartman Bar to Milsap Bar
A New Experience
Bev and I have climbed, hiked, and skied in the mountains for many years. Our trips have ranged throughout Alaska, Canada, and Ellesmere Island in the Canadian artic; Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru in South America; Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa; Nepal and Afghanistan. Many of our trips were organized for the Sierra Club. They all tended to be quite adventurous. Now we were looking for projects less difficult, with lighter loads, warmer temperatures, and plenty of water and wood for good camping; but we still wanted a wilderness experience, and a little bit of adventure. We turned to river canyons.
The Middle Fork of the Feather River in northern California caught our eye. The river forms on the east side of the northern Sierra around Quincy and flows west cutting 40 miles through the mountains in a continuous series of canyons, gorges, and rapids, finally emptying into Lake Orovile. Jim Cassady in his book California Whitewater describes it as the "most spectacular and difficult river in this book". Between the start of the canyon at the road crossing south of Quincy and Lake Oroville there are foot bridges for the old and new Pacific Crest Trails at Onion Valley Creek and Hartman Bar, jeep trails from the south at Cleghorn Bar and Stag Point, two foot trails from the north, and, finally, the road crossing at Milsap Bar. There are no trails along the river. In many places helicopter access would be questionable.
River flows can reach 50,000 CFS during the spring runoff. But summer and fall flows are much lower, around 1,000 CFS. We figured we could get through, but we anticipated we would be climbing as well as swimming. We planned to carry very little gear, food and a light bag. All was packed in doubled plastic garbage bags and stuffed in our packs. We could carry our packs and scramble along the banks, or put our packs in the water and use them as flotation devices.
We selected the section from Hartman Bar to Milsap Bar for our first trip. Blair, a neighbor with a pickup truck, agreed to meet us at Milsap Bar. We would leave the van there, and he would take us to the Old Pacific Crest Trailhead, whence we could walk down to the foot bridge at Hartman Bar.
Daniel Roitman, a climbing friend, agreed to go down the river with us even though he realized we had very little idea of what we were attempting.
Hartman Bar
Out of Gas
Walked a Mile Down the Road
Hartman Bar
Pacific Crest Trail Bridge.
Trailhead
Pacific Crest Trailhead
We planned to arrive at Milsap Bar by noon. We ran out of gas on I 80. Fortunately, the van could coast down a long hill stopping across the freeway from a gas station. Dodging a few cars, I filled a gas can with enough gas to the van going again.
Descending the Pacific Crest trail we passed the world record ponderosa pine. This tree was perfect; no fire scars or major broken branches; so perfect that at a distance it did not look large. The base of the tree was surrounded by fallen chips of bark. This pile of bark was about ten feet high. Only then did we realize the enormous size of this tree.
The evening at Hartman Bar was glorious; moonlight shone on the bridge and cliffs and the river gurgled quietly through the rocks. There was a warm breeze coming up the canyon. I remember thinking this was unusual.
Into The River
Into The Water
Which Is Quite Cold
Wading
Not All Wet Yet
Into The Water
Love Overcomes All
It took a while to organize and pack our gear in the morning. There was some discussion as to exactly how to proceed. The water was pretty cold. We decided to walk as long as we could. At first progress was easy along the banks over ledges and rough granite boulders, then through river shallows.
Les
Looking Worried
I thought I had slept well that night, but this picture doesn't show it. Maybe I worried.
It was easy to visualize a situation where you had to swim, and there was a nasty place in the river just below. Maybe the river went into a boulder field and funneled under the rocks.
We worried about finding a campsite for the night. Cliffs could prevent leaving the river. But we were assured plenty of water. There was driftwood scattered all along the river banks. Our concerns about the stretch beyond the next bend blended with awe at the beauty of the canyon.
Into The Gorge
Getting Deeper
How Far Can We Walk?
Swimming
Cold All Over Now
We began to encounter deep pools. The banks closed in and became difficult. Finally swimming seemed the only answer. In the pools we pushed the packs in front of us. In the riffles we put the packs under our chest and rode them. They protected us from crashing into rocks. This is the concept of a riverboard, as we later learned from Carlson and Cassady of Pacific River Supply.
There is a theory that one should go feet first through a rapid. This does not work well, as your bottom tends to bounce along the rocks.
Granite Cliffs
The Walls Close In
The Gorge Starts
Cliffs on Both Sides Now
Shortly the sides became cliffs of polished granite, in some cases overhanging. The river became deep and slow moving. These stretches were calm and beautiful under the low flow conditions we were experiencing. High flows would be terrifying.
We progressed through the gorges, deep pools under granite cliffs alternating with boulder fields almost blocking the river.
There were some pretty dicey places. Unfortunately, we did not have waterproof cameras and didn't take pictures. There was one place we had to cross the stream above a falls. There was a deep pool with slow water. Only a few strokes would be needed. But, if you weren't fast, the water would quicken and suck you over the falls. We all made it to the rocks on the other side. To get down on the far side of the falls we had to go hand over hand down an old rusty mining cable.
Out At Milsap Bar
Milsap Bar Camp
Hanging Our Food
Milsap Bar Camp
We Are Out!!
The campground at Milsap Bar was quite pretty. The van started easily and pulled us up out of the canyon with no difficulty. Daniel called his girl friend Ellen from a restaurant in Oroville. A huge firestorm had burned through the Oakland Hills and part of Berkeley destroying over 3000 homes. We learned our home was safe.
This trip had been a huge success; we had travelled through one of the most remote and scenic areas in California by a new and novel technique. Immediately we planned another "swimming" trip to cover the stretch from Milsap Bar to Oroville Lake.
Later I would do the first section from the Quincy bridge to Cleghorn Bar with Bob Carlson and others. Bob and Jim Cassady were the inventors of the river board. They would teach us a lot that we would use later on our trips to the Grand Canyon of Mexico, the gorge of the Urique as it breaks through the Sierra Madre on its way to the sea of Cortez.
I have never done the section from Cleghorn Bar to Hartman Bar.