Feather Falls Cruise 2003 Revisited

Story by Mark Barr

With Oroville Lake levels rising steadily, I find myself wondering if I dare hope for another year like 2003. In that year, northern CA had deep snow in the mountains and some terrific late spring storms that filled the lake nearly to the brim. The club's Commodore at the time, Dave Neilsen, wisely scheduled a cruise to visit the headwaters of the Middle Fork. The old salts in the club claimed that it was possible to view Feather Falls (the 6th highest waterfall in the country) from the upper end of the Middle Fork. I couldn't resist the chance to see such a site from my boat! My boys, Chris and Grant and a sailing friend Julie Edwards joined me for the day-long cruise. It was to be an epic day on the water.

Loafer Creek Boat Ramp (left) provides a close launch point to the Middle Fork and minimal congestion.
Crew for the day (photo right) was Chris & Grant Barr and Julie Edwards. We were coated in sunscreen and ready for fun.

Sailing with us that day were (to the best of my recollection) Wade and Bettie Ann Hough with crew Tony Rodeghiero and Jim Forwalter (Raven), Doug McWilliams and crew Tom ?? (Thistle), Jim & Michelle Marazzo (Thistle) and Dave Neilsen and Dan Helmick (Windmill). We launched and made our way through the moored houseboats before turning downwind towards the green Hwy 162 bridge. The water was so high, we had to negotiate our way under the south end of the bridge, where there is more clearance. It was a tight squeeze for Wade's Raven, due to it's very tall rig (over 30 feet above the water line).

The view of the Hwy. 162 bridge shows how full the lake was that day. It was a tight squeeze under the upswept ends of the bridge.

Once clear of the bridge, we hoisted our spinnaker and sailed straight downwind. The miles rolled by pretty fast initially, as there was a steady 5-7 mph breeze. However, there were some stretches that lightened to only 2-3 mph. We did have opportunities to jibe at each bend in the long, twisting course of the river (now lake). Jim and Michelle Marazzo took the lead and stretched it steadily throughout the day. The rest of us separated more gradually, exploring the beautiful green shorelines. We were treated to views of multiple small waterfalls along the way. As we progressed "upstream" the canyon walls got steeper and the winds became more gusty. Eventually, we doused our chutes and went wing & wing up the narrow canyon.

In left photo, Dave Neilsen was sailing wing & wing while the spinnaker boats did their best to keep the chutes working.
In the middle photo, I drove and my boys did their best to splash, use their squirt guns and practice "man overboard" drills.
In the photo on the right, Dave and Dan are sailing wing & wing up canyon with my thistle just ahead doing the same thing.

As we neared the falls, the motorboat traffic became a bit problematic. There were houseboats and ski boats of every description. Most were very considerate of us and gave us a wide berth, but a few went zooming by unconcerned or unaware of the havoc their wakes produced. When I got within about 300 yards of the end, it was quite narrow and congested. I decided to turn back and anchor in a cove. My boys and Julie and I dropped our sails and had a nice picnic and swim. The water was warm on the surface but turned "glacial" about 5 feet below the surface. I tried to dive down my anchor line, but it was too darned cold to even consider.

(Left)This is the view of Feather Falls from about 300 yards from the very end. Doug, Dave, Jim and Wade went all the way.
My boys (photo right) spent most of the day wet. The cove we anchored in was a perfect swimming spot.

After a good long rest break, we finally had to start the long beat homeward. We raised sails and sailed over our anchor to retrieve it, but it was hooked badly on the bottom. We tried pulling from every angle, tried cussing, tried praying, but to no avail. I finally offered the anchor line to a passing power boater. "If you can get it unstuck, you can keep it", I told them.. They thanked us and took up the challenge. As we sailed away, I watched them pulling and shaking the anchor line just as I had. It didn't look like they were going to have any luck either.

We started tacking our way homeward, which meant a lot of tacking. My oldest son, Chris, started counting the tacks. After less than an hour, he stopped counting at 100. During this beat, an overtaking power boater hailed us. It was the same folks I had given my anchor line to earlier. They had manaaged to retrieve it, but found it wasn't big enough for their needs, so they handed it to me in a neatly tied coil. Their kindness more than made up for the rude manners of some other motorheads we had encountered earlier.

We were saddened to see our wind gradually diminishing as the lake widened. Thankfully, Wade and Bettie Ann had a small outboard motor on their Raven for backup. We all eventually gave up sailing and accepted a tow. Jim and Michelle had not tarried at the end of the canyon like the rest of us had, so they made it all the way to the bridge before accepting a tow from a friendly passer-by. There was a badly needed "rest" stop at the floating bathroom in Sycamore Cove for the rest of us. From there, we proceeded under tow back under the 162 bridge and then to the Loafer Creek Boat Ramp where our adventure had begun. The sun was setting as we docked. What an amazing day it had been. We had sailed 14.8 miles to the Falls and just over 6 miles back before taking our tow.

The floating bathroom at Sycamore Cove (code named SS Relief) was a welcome "rest" on the way back from Feather Falls (note the smiles!).
Wade & Bette Ann Hough towed us home when the the wind died. There was no charge, but we all knew we owed the Houghs big time.

We could be in for another epic Feather Falls Cruise this year. This event has been added to the BSC schedule for Sunday, June 12th. Current DWR predictions are that the lake will be approximately 20 feet from full. If this is accurate, we may not be able to sail far enough up the canyon to view the falls. However, it is raining as I am writing this story. Maybe the lake will be higher than currently predicted. Keep your fingers crossed and plan on sailing with us that day, whatever the lake level. I'm sure it will be a day to remember.

This is the GPS route we took up the Middle Fork. It was a wonderful day in the sun.