Sunday, March 11, 2007

 

Coloma to Greenwood Run, SF American River, kayaking class II

Masa-akiO, KenyaO & I met Don, SherryM and Sharoni at Greenwood and shuttled to Marshall Gold State Park for put-in. See the guide for the C to G Run, El Dorado County, California, USA. Normally Masa-aki kayaks rivers that have angle instead of gradient, so it was a rare treat to kayak with an old friend whose skills have zoomed far past mine. Last time we kayaked C to G Kenya got hammered. Today it was my turn to flail.

This unseasonably warm sunny day was the first boating of the year for me and a few others in the group. There were lots of birds on the river today, including Canada geese, ducks and even a few wild turkeys. The green hills make the canyon especially pretty this time of year.

The river was a delight at 1600 cfs as we eddy-hopped down to Gremlin Hole. Masa-aki & I got in a few surfs at Gremlin before we all headed down to Old Scary Rapid. We ran a variety of left side and right side lines here, all successfully. Despite being out-of-shape and out-of-practice I think I'm finally getting the hang of the Dagger SuperEgo kayak that I was paddling. Now that I've recalibrated my reflexes and expectations I'm smoothly driving the boat in and out of eddies and onto playspots.







After a quick lunch at Henningson Pk, we ran down to Barking Dog Rapid. Masa-aki & I got in a little surfing there. I got hammered after my first surf. Oh well, sometimes you shred and sometimes you get shredded! After a little rest I got back in there and got a couple more surfs with better outcomes. At this flow Barking Dog is really great for surfing in a short playboat and a difficult challenge for longer boats. How awesome to have a rodeo-quality playspot in the middle of a class II run!!







We ran down Current Divider Rapid, Highway Rapid and Swimmers Rapid before taking out at Greenwood Ck. After a little confusion most of us ended up at Yosum's Pizza in Coloma for post-paddle munchies, rehydration and river-talk.

Flow Data - What It Is Flowing NOW As You Read This



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Comments:
Bruce!

It was a good paddling day indeed. I had to laugh after about 20 minutes as "sweeper" behind the group, as I began to realize everybody was pretty well capable of what we were up to!

The Gorge is next!

Sherry M.
 
Sometimes its the one you'd least expect who flails on a given day!!
 
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