Goodwin Canyon (Lower Stanislaus)
Knights Ferry (near Oakdale) · near Knights Ferry / Oakdale · Gold Country & Central Valley
Rivers & Whitewater
At a glance
- Season
- October only (most years) — special salmon-spawning water releases · Spring in heavy snow years
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Dam-controlled below Tulloch Reservoir. Raftable only during scheduled fall salmon-release windows (typically two October weekends) or in high-snowpack springs. Confirm dates annually.
What is here
- Activities
- guided-rafting · kayaking
Worth knowing
- Minimum age
- 15+
- Good for a first timer
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Operators
- All-Outdoors
- Outfitters
- All-Outdoors California Whitewater · Sierra Mac River Trips
Rivers & Whitewater detail
- Nickname
- The Hidden October Run
- Class min
- IV
- Class max
- IV+
- Trip options
- Half-day 'double runs' · Very limited season
- Key rapids
- Haunted House · The granite slot
- Intl tip
- Knights Ferry has California's longest covered bridge and a pleasant historic district on the Stanislaus. The area is an easy day trip from the Bay Area or Sacramento. Confirm the fall release dates early — spots on the Double Runs weekends go fast.
The guide
Goodwin Canyon is the Stanislaus River's hidden gem — a tight, dramatic granite gorge below Tulloch Reservoir near Knights Ferr…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Goodwin Canyon (Lower Stanislaus) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.821, -120.664