A 1979 helicopter trip up the Stanislaus River, from Parrott’s Ferry to Camp Nine, 51 min. video

In December of 1979, the National Park Service* commissioned a helicopter to fly up (and in the fall, down) the Stanislaus River, video taping what they saw, with an observer narrating along the way. The video, available here, was originally filmed using old videotape technology and a DVD was created later from it, which was transferred to YouTube for general access now.  The trip upstream was done at very low water, so familiar rapids aren’t very visible, but the almost all of the canyon, the river itself and its camps are pretty recognizable.

As a companion to this, a 70 page PDF of video screen captures is also available, with the screen caps paired with actual photos of most of the sites shown. In addition, a helicopter trip was made to film Rose Creek and this is available here.

*Possibly with the Bureau of Reclamation or the Bureau of Land Management