BRT Insights - Whitewater Kayaking

A nice trail with excellent views of the Coast Range.

Oliver, Royce & I drove up Berryessa Knoxville Road to the Zim Zim Falls trailhead (trail map - yolohiker - pdf) on 31jan2010. Putah Creek valley was covered in fog, but the skies cleared as we drove north past Lake Berryessa. The trailhead is at the confluence of Zim Zim Creek with Eticuera Creek.

Map of Zim Zim Falls.

• Instructions for online interactive topographic river maps & road maps.
• Click on Map button for road map, Topo button for topographic map.
• Full-Screen Map - landmarks in Zim Zim Creek valley.
• Names of landmarks (A, B, etc.) - DoubleClick or point on the red markers.

      N 38.75197 W 122.28337 - Zim Zim Falls trailhead (A).
      N 38.78092 W 122.31864 - Zim Zim Falls (B).
      N 38.76151 W 122.31289 - Overlook to Lake Berryessa (C).

Hiking the Trail to Zim Zim Falls and Beyond.

The trail along Zim Zim Creek provided nice, easy hiking, but be prepared to wade across the creek many times. Depending upon the flow in the creek it may be possible to hop across on rocks and keep your feet dry. Alternatively you may want to go barefoot across the creek or wear shoes that you don't mind getting totally wet.

Double-click on the photos to see a larger image. Use the back button to return.
• Zim Zim Creek crossing.

We climbed up the hillside to have lunch at a place where we had a great view of the falls.
• Zim Zim Falls overlook.

We hiked around behind the falls and up the ridge trail to get some spectacular views.
• Zim Zim Creek Valley - panorama of 2 photos.

• View down to Lake Berryessa from the ridge trail.
• Zim Zim Falls hiking photo gallery.

Then we hiked back down into Zim Zim Creek valley and retraced our steps down the creek back to the trailhead.

More about:
• Zim Zim Falls photo gallery - Eric Machleder april2007.
• Zim Zim Falls Trail - Napa Wiki
• Hiking & Camping Trip Reports - BRT Insights.
• Olympus Stylus 720SW camera. Photos edited with IrfanView & PanoStitcher software.

IceRocket Tags: hiking, Zim Zim Creek, Zim Zim Falls, Napa County.
Tags: photography, panoramic photography, landscape photography.

Labels: hiking

After all the rain of the previous week it seemed like a perfect day to kayak the Wilderness Run on Cache Creek and visit the bald eagles that overwinter there. As soon as the rain stopped the creek flows dropped rapidly because drought-depleted reservoirs upstream were not releasing much water. By the time we were driving to Cache Creek on Saturday morning the only part of the creek with boatable flows was the good old Rumsey Run, but we couldn't even paddle that because Hwy 16 was closed due to a mudslide. During rainy weather be sure to check road conditions before driving to put-in!!!

Fortunately BillJ, SueCJ, DonnaF, KateA, JimH & I had made an early start, so there was plenty of time to switch to the Coloma to Greenwood Run on SF American River (map & guide) (El Dorado County, California, USA) at a really nice flow of 1375 cfs. Kate rented a LiquidLogic Biscuit kayak at The River Store in Lotus, CA. Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park was closed, so we parked our shuttle vehicle just north of the park at a wide spot along Hwy 49 and put-in at the normal spot. Muscles that I hadn't used for months were barking at me at the start of the run, but they eventually calmed down and I had a pretty good day of kayaking. We did some kayak surfing at Gremlin wave-hole, ran Old Scarey Rapid and played our way down to Henningson Park. Two cold kayakers took out at Henningson Park and the rest of us went on down the river.

BillJ kayaking Old Scarey Rapid.

Kate kayaking downstream from Henningson Park.

Kayak Playboating at Barking Dog Wave-Hole.

We found no crowds of kayakers at Barking Dog Rapid, so it was a treat to do some surfing there with little or no waiting lines. We met Sage Donnelly and were impressed with her surfing skills.

JimH kayak playboating at Barking Dog wave-hole.

• CtoG American River SF kayaking photo gallery.

Just below Barking Dog the eddy sharks gobbled up an unwary kayaker. A valiant series of roll attempts on a knarly eddy line were all unsuccessful, so we got some practice salvaging the wreckage. The rest of the run was pretty mellow, with some eddying and some surfing along the way. There was a giant log blocking the right channel at the top of Highway Rapid. Boaters don't normally go that way so it is not much of a hazard in its present position.

My Hydration Fruit-Ade home made sports drink flavor of the day in the recipe was V8 Splash Berry Blend, one of my favorites. I did remember to drink occasionally while kayaking. I didn't finish drinking the first quart until just before take-out, so it was another day of my kayaking in a state of dehydration. I drank another quart of Hydration Fruit-Ade at takeout, but I've got to train myself to drink more before and during the kayaking trip!!

Parking was really difficult at Greenwood Creek River Access, but with ALL parking spaces available the shuttle drivers eventually made their decisions & picked out the spaces that they liked the best. At the end of the day the place was filled up (not!) with bums and smelly kayakers. Oops, that was us! Having great kayaking friends is important, and even better when we bring great take-out munchies.

On the way home we stopped for dinner and Kate's birthday party at Chantara Thai Cuisine, El Dorado Hills, CA (see photos). The food, the atmosphere and the service were all quite excellent. I'm sure we'll be returning there often!!

More about:
• Trip Reports - Kayaking on California's Whitewater Rivers.
• Whitewater River Guides for kayaking, rafting & paddle boating in California.
• photos from Stylus 720sw waterproof camera edited with IrfanView software.

IceRocket Tags: kayaking, paddlesports.
Tags: kayaking, river, whitewater, paddle boating, playboating, American River, California.

Labels: trip

Pretty nice hiking - pretty close to home.

With a rainy afternoon in the forecast JimH & I did a quick morning hike at Lynch Canyon (pdf brochure & map) on 17jan2010.

Map of Lynch Canyon.

• Instructions for online interactive topographic river maps & road maps.
• Click on Map button for road map, Topo button for topographic map.
• Full-Screen Map - landmarks in Lynch Canyon.
• Names of landmarks (A, B, etc.) - DoubleClick or point on the red markers.

      N 38.18531 W 122.18204 - Lynch Canyon entrance (A)
      N 38.19475 W 122.19234 - Lynch Reservoir (B)

We hiked out on Lynch Road, Middle Valley Trail along the SF Lynch Creek & continued on Saddle Trail. The trails go through lands that are used for cattle grazing and there are some high tension electrical lines, so its definitely not wilderness. Cattle were fenced out from the creek to preserve the habitat. We saw some habitat restoration planting areas. On the wet day when we were there a few low spots in the trail were ankle-deep in soft mud, but most of the trail was quite good. The trails wind around in hilly country through some areas that are quite pretty. The mist turned to rain as we were getting to the Saddle Trail. Fortunately we continued on to make a loop rather than just turn around and go back the way we came.



• Lynch Canyon hiking photo gallery.

Hiking on the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

Then we hiked back past Lynch Resevoir on the North Ridge Trail (which is part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail). This North Ridge Trail was quite excellent!! In the wind and the rain it was moderately difficult hiking up to the top of the ridge. The visibility ranged from poor to very poor, but we saw enough to know that on a clear day the views from the ridgetop would be awesome. Eventually the rain stopped and the visibility improved. We met some experienced birdwatchers on the trail and they pointed out the golden eagles soaring off in the distance. The cows & the bulls were doing what they do in the springtime & they seemed not to mind having hikers inside the fence with them. The last part of the trail ran along the NF Lynch Creek. Partial breakup of the cloud cover made some dramatic skies as we hiked out.

More about:
• Lynch Canyon - Solano Land Trust.
• Lynch Canyon - Solano County government.
• Lynch Canyon - Bay Area Barn and Trails.
• Hiking Lynch Canyon - SF Examiner 05jan2010.
• Wildflower trails of San Francisco Bay Area - Lynch Canyon & other hiking places.
• Hiking Trails in Solano County - Vacaville wiki.
• Hiking & Camping Trip Reports - BRT Insights.
• Olympus Stylus 720SW waterproof camera. Photos edited with IrfanView & PanoStitcher.

IceRocket Tags: hiking, Solano County.
Tags: photography, landscape photography.

Labels: hiking

Getting the New Year off to a good start!!

JimH & I went hiking at Samuel P. Taylor State Park. After driving past this place many times in the past on the way to Pt. Reyes National Monument it was a real treat to stop and check it out. We hiked the North Creek Trail, Devil's Gulch Trail, Bill's Trail, Stairstep Falls Trail, & Barnabee Fire Road to loop back to the trailhead. North Creek Trail is wedged tightly between Lagunitas Creek and the lightly travelled Sir Francis Drake Blvd, so maybe South Creek Trail would have been a little nicer. Although it was salmon spawning season we didn't see any salmon in the creek. We need some rain to provide the creek flows needed to enable the salmon to swim up the creek from the ocean.

Map of Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

• Instructions for online interactive topographic river maps & road maps.
• Click on Map button for road map, Topo button for topographic map.
• Full-Screen Hiking Map - landmarks in the Samuel P. Taylor State Park.
• Names of landmarks (A, B, etc.) - DoubleClick or point on the red markers.

      N 38.01955 W 122.72954 - Samuel P Taylor State Park (A)
      N 38.01882 W 122.73319 - Lagunitas Creek (B)
      N 38.02932 W 122.73683 - Devil's Gulch (C)
      N 38.02697 W 122.71626 - Fire Lookout (D)

Hiking up Devil's Gulch Trail & Bill's Trail got us away from the road and out into some pretty country. The thick Douglas Fir forest provided very shady hiking with ferns everywhere on the forest floor. The trail began with good views of Devil's Gulch Creek, then slowly climbed up the canyon wall. We made the short side hike to Stairstep Falls, but this only had a trickle of flow due to the lack of recent rains. Bill's Trail continued climbing up gradually through thick forest towards the Fire Lookout for a total elevation gain of 1350 feet. At the Fire Lookout the trail breaks out of the forest onto grassy hillsides. This provided great views of Bolinas Ridge to the south and Black Mountain & Tomales Bay to the north-west. We didn't go all the way to the Fire Lookout to see the views it provides to the north & east. Turkey vultures were soaring overhead as we hiked Barnabee Fire Road, which provided a steep, direct path back down to the trailhead.

007 Lagunitas Creek, Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

064 Turkey vulture, Black Mountain, view from Barnabee Fire Road, Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

• Photo gallery - Hiking at Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

More about:
• Samuel P. Taylor State Park
• Bay Area Hiker: Samuel P. Taylor State Park
• Samuel P. Taylor State Park Parks - Yahoo! Travel
• Samuel P. Taylor State Park - redwoodhikes
• Samuel P. Taylor State Park - KQED QUEST Exploration
• Viewing Coho Salmon at Samuel P. Taylor State Park - nps.gov
• Redwood Forest Ecosystem at Samuel P. Taylor State Park - sfsu.edu
• Waterfalls of California - Stairstep Falls; Samuel P. Taylor State Park
• Wildflower trails of San Francisco Bay Area - Samuel P. Taylor State Park & other places.
• Hiking & Camping Trip Reports - BRT Insights.
• Olympus Stylus 720SW waterproof camera. Photos edited with IrfanView & PanoStitcher.

IceRocket Tags: hiking, Marin County.
Tags: photography, landscape photography.

Labels: hiking

Sometimes we are hiking to scout a river for future kayaking, sometimes not !!

Jump to: North Coast, Klamath Basin, Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, Great Basin, San Francisco Bay Area & South Coast, Southern CA Desert.

North Coast California.

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Klamath Basin.

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Sacramento Valley.

• Zim Zim Falls Trail - hiking trip report 03feb2010.
• Cache Creek Redbud Trail - The Jams Waterfall 20dec2009.
• McCloud River hiking for a view of the whitewater 27july2007.
• Cache Creek hiking with GPS 03jan2007.
• Lassen Volcanic National Park hiking & camping 03sept2004.
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San Joaquin Valley.

• Waterfall videos from MF Kings River in Kings Canyon National Park 30june2009.
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Great Basin California & Nevada.

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San Francisco Bay Area & South Coast California.

• Lynch Canyon hiking - Solano County, California, USA 17jan2010.
• Samuel P. Taylor State Park hiking 02jan2010.
• Skyline Wilderness Park hiking 26dec2009.
• Jepson Prairie Preserve wildflowers march2006.
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Southern California Desert.

• Death Valley National Park hiking & camping March 2005.
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Back to: BRT Kayaking & Hiking Homepage. | Sitemap.

Labels: hiking, subtopic

Something else to do in the Napa Valley!!

JimH & I got an early start driving to Skyline Wilderness Park. The day was cloudy with a chance of rain towards the end of the day. We hiked out on the west side of the park on the Skyline and Buckeye Trails (See Skyline Park trail map.) which provided views down to the city of Napa and to the Coast Range off in the distance to the west. Being one of the first groups on the trail may have helped us to see the flock of 17 wild turkeys and a small herd of 5 deer.

Map of Skyline Wilderness Park.

• Instructions for online interactive topographic river maps & road maps.
• Click on Map button for road map, Topo button for topographic map.
• Full-Screen Map - landmarks in Skyline Wilderness Park.
• Names of landmarks (A, B, etc.) - DoubleClick or point on the red markers.

      N 38.27949 W 122.24839, Skyline Wilderness Park (A)
      N 38.25860 W 122.23002, Lake Marie (B)

We had lunch at Lake Marie, then crossed the dam and returned via Lower Marie Creek Trail and Lake Marie Road. Hiking down by the trickling creek was quite a contrast from the morning when we were hiking higher up on the hillsides. In the afternoon we saw more hikers and some mountain bikers heading in as we were heading out, but the place never seemed crowded. Overall, it was really good hiking and there are more trails to explore some day when I go back there.



• Photo gallery - Hiking at Skyline Wilderness Park.

More about:
• Skyline Wilderness Park.
• Bay Area Hiker: Skyline Wilderness.
• Sugarloaf Mountain at Skyline Wilderness Park - Kevin's Hiking Page.
• Skyline Wilderness Park - Napa Wiki.
• Wildflower trails of San Francisco Bay Area - Skyline Wilderness Park and other hiking places.
• Hiking & Camping Trip Reports - BRT Insights.
• Olympus Stylus 720SW waterproof camera. Photos edited with IrfanView & PanoStitcher.

IceRocket Tags: hiking, Napa Valley.
Tags: photography, landscape photography.

Labels: hiking

Panoramic photography provides the wide view needed to capture the full beauty of river valley landscapes.

The compact digital cameras that many kayakers, rafters & canoeists carry on whitewater river paddleboating trips have limited zoom capabilities and no replacement lens options, so the full width of a beautiful river valley landscape often cannot be captured in a single photo.

Panoramic photography is done by taking a series of overlapping photos which can later be assembled into a single seamless photo. I use this technique frequently whenever a single photo cannot capture the wide landscape scene that I want to photograph. Panoramic photography can be done with any camera. No tripod or special equipment is required. I just try to have 1/3 of each picture overlaping with the next one and try to keep the camera level as I move from one photo to the next.

Pixtra PanoStitcher software allows these series of overlapping photos to be assembled into beautiful seamless panoramic photos. After loading two or more photos into the PhotoBench most panoramas are quickly and easily created by the Stitch and Blend functions in PanoStitcher.

Panoramic Photography Galleries.

Some of my recent panoramic photos made with PanoStitcher are online at Cache Creek Wildlife Area hiking trip. Older panoramic photos that I assembled with PhotoShop Elements software are online at Death Valley panoramas.

PanoStitcher is a great software! The free trial version is fully functional for stitching two photos together. The full software costs only $30 to assemble larger panoramas from multiple photos. (**** - my rating 4 stars out of 5 - recommended!)

More about:
• Panoramic Photography at Death Valley National Park, March 2005.
• BRthomas6 hiking & camping photo gallery.
• Brthomas6 whitewater river kayaking photo gallery.
• Taking photos while kayaking whitewater rivers is really challenging - BRT Insights.
• Reviews - Books, Videos, Websites & Software for White Water River Kayaking.

Tags: kayaking, river, whitewater, rafting, canoeing, paddle boating, panoramic photography.

Labels: software

Scouting a difficult portage on this scenic, overnight, wilderness run (Lake County, California, USA).

Hiking the Redbud Trail at Cache Creek Natural Area & California State Wildlife Area.

JimH, OliverH, Royce & I drove up Hwy 16 on a cold, dark, foggy morning. As we passed through the Capay Valley the fog lifted and suddenly we were in the sunshine! By the time we reached the Redbud Trailhead at Hwy 20 and NF Cache Creek it looked like a really great day for hiking. (Redbud Trail map pdf download.) There were some great views of the landscape as we hiked up the trail. When we reached the Cache Creek overlook high up on the valley we first hiked down the spine of a ridge just upstream from The Jams. Then we continued a bit farther down the trail and hiked down & up the spine of a longer, taller ridge that led to the pinnacle of rock that is on river-left towering directly over The Jams rapid. As we sat up on top of the spire and had lunch the clouds came in and the first few drops of rain started to fall.
• Photo gallery - hiking the Redbud Trail and scouting The Jams rapid.

Map of Redbud Trail at Cache Creek Natural Area & California State Wildlife Area.

• Instructions for online interactive topographic river maps & road maps.
• Click on Map button for road map, Topo button for topographic map.
• Full-Screen River Map - landmarks in the Cache Creek Wildlife Area.
• Names of landmarks displayed below (A, B, etc.) - DoubleClick or point on the red markers.

      N 38.98783 W 122.54047, Redbud Trailhead (A)
      N 38.97009 W 122.52434, The Jams Rapid (B)
      N 38.97726 W 122.51923, Baton Flat (C)

Scouting The Jams waterfall - a mandatory portage without a doubt!!

A main objective for our hike was to scout The Jams, a portage on the Clear Lake to Hwy 16 Run on Cache Creek. Fortunately Oliver & Royce talked us into hiking all the way down to creek level to inspect the downstream side of The Jams waterfall. Wow!! Even with no water flowing in the creek it was easy to see that The Jams would be a deathtrap when the creek was flowing at runnable levels. Any paddleboater who foolishly blundered through the blind left turn to enter the waterfall would find water pouring over car-sized boulders from bank to bank. Steep shorelines provide nowhere for scouting or portaging at creek level. Paddleboaters wishing to run this section of river MUST eddy out above The Jams on river-left and make a very difficult portage over the ridge leading down to the spire overlooking The Jams. This portage will be long and hard, but kayakers should be able to portage here without any special equipment. Although a helicopter for portage would be optimal!!

(I'll add a picture later to show the portage route.)

Hiking & Returning Home.

Then we faced the big decision about whether to hike downstream at creek level or do the very long climb back up the canyon wall to the main trail. Fortunately we found a way downstream on river-left and this unofficial trail got easier and more distinct as we hiked towards Baton Flat. The rain also increased to a pretty steady drizzle. We continued on unofficial trails over The Peninsula and up the meadow back to the trailhead.

Then we had a great dinner at La Casa Betty in Vacaville. The special of the evening was an excellent homemade chili and cornbread. We watched some football on the big screen TV and then I left at closing time and headed home.

The day after I was totally sore from head-to-toe, but I didn't have any painful spots. So it really was a great hike, but I've got to get busy getting into better shape for more hiking & kayaking trips next year.

More about:
• Redbud Trail - Wilson Valley to Cache Creek - Putah-Cache Bioregion Project
• Cache Creek Wilderness Redbud Trail - Bureau of Land Management
• Redbud Trail - Bald Eagle Viewing Opportunities - California Dept Fish & Game
• Redbud Trail to Cache Creek - Yolohiker
• Cache Creek Natural Area Redbud Trail - Bureau of Land Management
• Cache Creek Redbud Trail backpack - songbyrd's Photos.
• Cache Creek Overview - California Whitewater River Paddleboating Guide.
• California Whitewater River Guides for Paddleboating - BRT Insights.
• Hiking & Camping Trip Reports - BRT Insights.
• Olympus Stylus 720SW camera. Photos edited with IrfanView software. Panoramic photos assembled with PanoStitcher software.

IceRocket Tags: hiking, river map.
Tags: Cache Creek, hiking, California, river.

Labels: hiking, trip