Rock Creek Waterslide (Feather River Canyon)
Feather River Canyon (Hwy 70, near Rock Creek Powerhouse) · near Quincy / Belden · Shasta Cascade
Swimming & Hot Springs
At a glance
- Temperature
- 55–66°F
- Cost
- FREE
- Season
- Mid–late summer only (low flows)
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Safety
- The approach is a genuine boulder scramble (dogs not advised) and the natural slide is fast rock — scout your runout, go feet-first, and only at low water. A second pool waits above for the ambitious.
Swimming & Hot Springs detail
- Type
- swimming-hole
- Temp
- cold
- Clothing optional
- No
- Directions
- Hwy 70 (Feather River Scenic Byway) east toward the Rock Creek Powerhouse; turn down the gravel road just before it and park along the road. Scramble ~0.75 mi up the right side of Rock Creek over massive boulders — the route fades to boulder-hopping — to the slide and pool.
- Pools
- A polished natural granite waterslide plunging into a clear pool deep in the canyon, with a second pool upstream — a hands-on, earn-it Feather River gem.
- Intl tip
- Hwy 70 through the Feather River Canyon is one of California's most underrated drives, threading with the railroad through tunnel after tunnel. Quincy (the MTB guide's Mt. Hough find) is up the road — same Lost Sierra weekend.
The guide
Deep in the Feather River Canyon, Rock Creek hides one of the Sierra's genuine natural waterslides — a polished granite chute p…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Rock Creek Waterslide (Feather River Canyon) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.956, -121.322