An unmanned aerial system was used to acquire hyperspectral image data from the upper Sacramento River in northern California on September 13, 2017, to support research on remote sensing of rivers, particularly retrieval of water depth, and to facilitate efforts to characterize salmon habitat conditions and geomorphic change along the upper Sacramento River. These data were collected by the Nano-Hyperspec imaging system, manufactured by Headwall Photonics, Inc. The flight was conducted by Headwall Photonics, Inc.; Headwall also performed the initial radiometric and geometric data processing. The data were acquired from a DJI Matrice M600 UAS and have a spatial resolution (pixel size) of 0.178 m. The data set consists of 276 spectral bands spanning the visible and near infrared wavelength range from 396.025 - 1005.09 nanometers. Reflectance retrieval was performed by Headwall using their SpectralView software package. The image pixel values represent reflectances and are stored as floating point 32-bit single precision numbers. The image data file has a band sequential (BSQ) interleave and is in an ENVI-compatible file format with an associated header (*.hdr) text file. The image provided in this data release is focuses on the reach of the Sacramento River where it is joined by its tributary Cottonwood Creek. Supporting field data from this reach were collected in coordination with the acquisition of the remotely sensed data.