Pauley Creek

Pauley Creek is a very popular run in the North Yuba drainage with good reason. It is a pristine forested creek with a few great, low stress drops. This creek is separated from Lavezolla Creek by just one ridge, and the shuttle road goes right up the ridge. The regular put in involves trespassing right past a private residence, which is apparently okay. On the last of our three runs, we hiked up about a half mile past the regular put-in. This adds a cool mini-gorge that is similar to Lavezolla Creek. There is beginning to be a well worn trail to this put-in, and I highly recommend it.

The first drop is sloping 12 footer that is a mandatory plug on the right (at lower flows). This is a very fun drop to lead first timers into blind. There is a paddler in there somewhere.

There are a couple more fun smaller drops and then the best rapid on the run- a slide to ledge of about 15 feet. This is a very photogenic rapid, where you can run laps pretty easily. Also recommended is accidentally knocking your friend's boat off the center rock so he has to jump after it into the pool below.

From above.


And below.


The take out falls look like they would be fun with more water, but would hand out a lot of abuse at lowish water. Be careful on the small ledge above the falls. This would be a bad place to swim. Overall this is a great little run, very popular (read: easy to find a shuttle) and a good way to spend a couple hours in Downieville.