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Whitewater River Guide & Maps - California

Flow on Putah Creek at put-in.

River Difficulty vs. Flow Rate.

class *	flow (cfs)
II (IV)	300 - 1600	Class II whitewater and Class IV strainer hazards.

Description - Putah Creek Lower Run.

Easy whitewater with very serious strainer hazards. Good scenery and great wildlife viewing. This brushy little creek is not recommended for boating. (Yolo/Solano County, California, USA)

Driving Directions, Distance, Estimated Time & Road Conditions.

Mapquest provides directions, distance & time from your house to the river.
* From Davis, CA to Winters, CA - driving time 22 minutes.

California Road Conditions (Delays or closures due to weather, construction, etc.)
* California Travel Information - highwayconditions.com.
* Road Conditions - California Dept Transportation.

Distance: 5 miles.

Topographic River Map, Road Map & Local Business Search.

• The map below is interactive - click and drag on the map to adjust the location.
• Point or DoubleClick on the red markers below to see their names.
• Use the tool on the left to zoom and pan.
• Click on Map button for road map, Topo button for topographic map.
• Click on Google logo for road map & local business search (gas, food, camping).
• Full screen topo map and coordinates of additional landmarks - see below.
• Topographic map user instructions.

Topographic River Map.

A=Put-in. B=Takeout.
Full-Screen Topographic Map: Putah Creek Lower Run - Acme Mapper.

River Landmarks - Geographic Coordinates.
Copy/paste the coordinates below into the search box at Google Maps or into the Find box at Acme Mapper.

• N 38.51318 W 122.09849, Put-in, below Monticello Dam. (A)
• N 38.515 W 122.081, CDEC flow gauge. (B)
• _____________________,
• N 38.49364 W 122.02824, Take-out, Pleasant Valley Rd bridge. (C)

Local weather in Winters, California.

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

Online River Guides & River Flow Data for Paddle Boating.

• Putah Creek Directory.
(Display options - alphabetical 100. See section 1.)

River Guidebooks & Webguides.

• Ann Dwyer's Easy Waters of California North, 2000. (pg. 210-211)
• California River Maps - Atlas & Gazetteer by Delorme, 2008.

Whitewater River Trip Reports

• See trip report in comments below.

River Recreation Links - Putah Creek.

• Putah Creek Recreation Directory. (Display options - alphabetical 100. Section 1=whitewater, 2=rafting, 3=conservation, 4=fishing, 5=camping-hiking, 6=local-info)

More about:
• How to use guides to white water river rafting and kayaking - BRT Insights.
• Rivers & creeks nearby: Cache Creek, Bear Creek (Colusa County), Putah Creek, Sacramento River Valley Region.
• California Whitewater River Guides.

Tags: kayaking, paddle boating, California, river map, river, whitewater.

Labels: guide

Whitewater River Guide & Maps - California

Flow on NF Cache Creek at put-in.

Add up the release from Indian Valley Reservoir and your best guess about additional runoff from recent rains.
(id=1778)

Flow on Cache Creek at Rumsey - downstream of the take-out.

(id=6078)
The gauge at Rumsey has been unreliable in recent years. A second method of estimating the flow on the Rumsey Run is to add the release from Indian Valley Reservoir (above) with the discharge from Clear Lake into Cache Creek. Another flow estimate by Dreamflows probably uses a similar method.

River Difficulty vs. Flow Rate.

class * flow (cfs)
III 1000-3000
IV 3000-15000 winter-time flood flows, isolation & strainer hazards

Description - Cache Creek Wilderness Run.

Rainy season flows enable this run to be boated in winter and spring of years with sufficient precipitation. At put-in on the NF Cache Ck the flow of a few hundred cfs needed to float the initial section depends upon recent rainfall and/or the release from Indian Valley Reservoir. Then a flow of one or more thousand cfs in Cache Ck is needed to float the rest of this rather long run before the daylight runs out on a short winter day. Distance: 17 miles. California's Wild and Scenic Rivers System protects this section of Cache Creek. (Lake County, California, USA)

Driving Directions, Distance, Estimated Time & Road Conditions.

Mapquest provides directions, distance & time from your house to the river.
* From Davis, CA to Rumsey, CA - driving time 1 hour, 2 minutes.

California Road Conditions (Delays or closures due to weather, construction, etc.)
* California Travel Information - highwayconditions.com.
* Road Conditions - California Dept Transportation.

Topographic River Map, Road Map & Local Business Search.

• The map below is interactive - click and drag on the map to adjust the location.
• Point or DoubleClick on the red markers below to see their names.
• Use the tool on the left to zoom and pan.
• Click on the Map button for a road map, Topo button for topographic map.
• Click on Google logo for road map & local business search (gas, food, camping).
• Full screen topo map and coordinates of additional landmarks - see below.
• Topographic map user instructions.

Topographic River Map.

A=Put-in. B=Takeout.
Full-Screen Topographic Map: Cache Creek Wilderness Run.

River Landmarks - Geographic Coordinates.
Copy/paste the coordinates below into the search box at Google Maps
or into the Find box at Acme Mapper.
* N 38.98840 W 122.54060, Put-in, Hwy 20 at NF Cache Creek.
* N 38.98103 W 122.50374, confluence of NF and main stem Cache Creek.
* N 38.94499 W 122.42186, Twist and Shout Rapid (II+)
* N 38.92723 W 122.37235, Buck Island campground and access point.
* N 38.92456 W 122.33783, Mad Mike Rapid (III-)
* N 38.92653 W 122.33294, Take-out, Cache Ck / Bear Ck confluence.

Local weather in Clearlake, California.

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

Online River Guides & River Flow Data for Paddle Boating.

• Cache Creek Directory.
(Display options - alphabetical 100. See section 1.)

Printed Guidebooks - Cache Creek whitewater.

• Paddling Northern California by Charlie Pike. (pg 134 - 137)
• California Whitewater - A Guide to the Rivers. (pg 152-154)
• Ann Dwyer's Easy Waters of California North, 2000. (pg. 202-203)
• California River Maps - Atlas & Gazetteer by Delorme, 2008.

Whitewater Trip Reports.

• Wilderness Run, Cache Creek, Jan 22, 2006 (III).
• California Whitewater Paddling: Cache Creek (Wilderness, II-III) - CA49rivers.
• Cache Creek kayaking video
- yolohiker 11july2008.

River Recreation Links - Cache Creek.

• Cache Creek Wild & Scenic - Recreation & Conservation Directory. (Display options - alphabetical 100. Section 1=whitewater, 2=rafting, 3=conservation, 4=fishing, 5=camping-hiking, 6=local-info)

More information:
• How to use guides to white water river rafting and kayaking - BRT Insights.
• Rivers & creeks nearby: Stony Creek/Grindstone Creek, Cache Creek, Bear Creek (Colusa County), Sacramento River Valley Region.
• California Whitewater River Guides.

Tags: wild and scenic, kayaking, river map, paddle boating, California, river, whitewater.

Labels: guide

California residents should contact Gov. Schwarzenegger immediately to urge signing of the flood policy bills.

An incredible package of flood policy and land development bills have passed the California legislature (AB 5, AB 70, AB 156, AB 162, AB 1452, SB 5 & SB 17) and are awaiting the signature of Gov. Schwarzenegger. This includes California Assembly Bill 70 which I discussed in a recent post. All of these bills are described in more detail in a recent article by Gary A. Patton - Deluge of Strong Flood Policy Bills Heads to Governor.

If signed, this legislation should help to protect the environment and conserve our taxpayer dollars by directing future land developments in California onto high ground where expensive flood control structures are not needed. This legislation stops short of a complete ban on foolish development of flood-prone lands. It will force any local government that approves such a development to accept some responsibility for flood control and a share of the liability risks in the event of flooding.

Flood Policy Bills Need Signatures by the Governor.

Call Gov. Schwarzenegger's office (916-445-2841) to support ALL of the flood policy bills.

Or send an email to Gov. Schwarzenegger.
Subject = Water issues/concerns.
Your position = Pro. (Support signing of the bills!!)

No more foolish development of flood-prone lands in California!!

No more New Orleans-style developments in California!!

Future developments in California should be made on higher land that will not require expensive taxpayer-funded flood control structures or disaster relief after the inevitable flooding occurs.

More about:
River Conservation and Flood Control News Sources.
Floodplain Developments, Flood Control and California River Conservation.

Tags: flooding, water, river conservation, river.

Labels: conservation

Conservation, Preservation & Restoration of our Precious Rivers.

River conservation and land development policies are very closely related. Preserving our natural environment while building the homes and businesses that people need is a difficult challenge. We must protect our existing land developments against flooding with dams and levees. The most cost-effective way to protect against flooding in the future begins with directing all new land developments away from flood-prone lands.

California Water Policy. Water - California Progress Report. Aquafornia - Water Legislation. LG Carter - Water is scarce. California Greening blog. Northern California River Watch blog. On Water - blogs.lib.berkeley.edu. Water H2O podcast. H2Know California Water Crisis US Water News Hydro-Logic WesternWaterBlog WaterSecretsBlog River Conservation News. Bloglines. Google Blog. Friends of the River. Technorati. All-Outdoors. Sacramento River Watershed Program. Western Water Magazine. Trout Underground Fly Fishing. Aquafornia. River & Water News. Sacramento Bee. SF Chronicle. Oppose Auburn Dam proposal. Auburn Dam Directory. AORafting. Auburn Dam Watch. BRT Kayaking. Radio Left. Solongjohn. theamericanriver. W.E.T. River Trips.

Flood Control in California. Flood - California Progress Report. Google News. Sacramento Bee. MSN News. SF Chronicle. CA Dept Water Resources. Flood Control California News. Google News. Sacramento Bee. msn news. SanFrancisco Chronicle. Yahoo! News. Google News. Flood Control for Sacramento CA. Folsom Dam Directory.

Back to:
• Whitewater River Kayaking Directory - BRT Insights.
• Sitemap - BRT Insights Whitewater River Kayaking in California.

Tags: river conservation, river, flooding, dam, levee, water.

Labels: directory

River conservation vs water and land development issues - 2006 archive.

Land development and river conservation policies are highly inter-related. Rivers are critical for our environment, wildlife habitat, recreation, drinking water, irrigation water and flood control. Water development projects should be scrutinized carefully to minimize environmental impacts and use taxpayer dollars efficiently. Whitewater rivers provide dynamic and intriguing environments that should be restored and preserved.

Hydroelectric is not a clean, green power source 28dec2006.
Flood Protection Plan for Sacramento is on Track 24oct2006.
River Conservation Organizations - USA Nationwide 09oct2006.
Support Proposition 1E for Flood Control in California 04oct2006.
Sacramento Flood Control Sept 2006 03oct2006.
Sacramento Flood Control 2005 02oct2006.
River Conservation Organizations - Watersheds in California 26sept2006.
River Conservation Organizations - Western USA Region 24sept2006.

More about: Flood Prevention and River Conservation in California.

Labels: conservation

Whitewater river kayaking trip reports - 2006 archive.

California rivers provide a 12-month season for whitewater paddle-boaters!

Gorge Run, SF American River, Oct 28, 2006 (III).
Electra Run, Mokelumne River, Oct 14, 2006 (II).
Electra Run, Mokelumne River, Sept 30, 2006 (II).
Coloma to Greenwood Run, SF American River, Sept 17, 2006 (II).
Coloma to Greenwood Run, SF American River, Sept 3, 2006 (II).
Electra Run, Mokelumne River, Aug 26, 2006 (II).
Coloma to Greenwood Run, SF American River, Aug 20, 2006 (II).
Electra Run, Mokelumne River, Aug 6, 2006 (II).
Buck Island Run, Cache Creek, July 30, 2006 (II).
Rumsey Run, Cache Creek, July 23, 2006 (II).
Shirttail Run, NF American River, July 3, 2006 (II).
Coloma to Greenwood Run, SF American River, June 24, 2006 (II).
Rumsey Run, Cache Creek, April 29, 2006 (II).
Chili Bar Run, SF American River, Feb 25, 2006 (III).
New access point adds 3 mi on the Cache Ck Rumsey Run.
New Put-in for Bear Ck into Cache Ck.
Chili Bar Run, SF American River, Feb 12, 2006 (III).
Wilderness Run, Cache Creek, Jan 22, 2006 (III).

Kayaking trips: Recent trips, 2008 trips, 2007 trips, 2006 trips.

More about: Trip Reports - Kayaking Whitewater Rivers in California.

Labels: trip

California residents should email to their California State Senator to support Assembly Bill 70.

Flood protection that doesn't protect enough - sacbee 07sept2007. California is making a small step towards discouraging foolish development of flood-prone lands via the anticipated passage of Senate Bill 5, but this bill would not start to alter any floodplain development plans until year 2015.

Lawmakers could greatly strengthen our protection against unwise floodplain developments "by passing Assembly Bill 70. This bill by Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, would require local governments to share liability with the state for new building in the floodplain. Such shared risk could well dampen the enthusiasm of local officials to put more homes in harm's way, even against the relentless pressure of builders and land speculators." (sacbee)

Wiser land development will also protect our rivers.

Please support California Assembly Bill 70. Don't let greedy real estate developers continue building New Orleans-style developments on flood prone lands in California !! It is immoral and unethical and should be illegal to build on land that is certain to become flooded sooner or later. Find out which California State Senate district you live in and send an email to your Senator expressing your support for California Assembly Bill 70.

Remember that every fool who buys a home or locates a business in an unwise floodplain development becomes a voter who will demand building of more flood control dams to protect their flood-prone property. Don't let your favorite river be ruined by a flood control dam to protect a foolish land development that never should have been built deep in the floodplain !!

More about: Dave Jones, California Assemblymember (D) Sacramento - TotalCapitol.
Flood Control, Floodplain Developments and California River Conservation.

Tags: river conservation, flooding, rivers, dam, levee, water development.

Labels: conservation

New developments in the floodplains increase the need for new flood control dams on our rivers!

Legislators Craft Flood Policy Pact - sacbee 06sept2007. California legislators are making progress towards requiring that flood risks and flood control will become part of the planning process before new land developments are approved. Hopefully this will make it less attractive to make foolish "New Orleans-style" developments on flood-prone lands in California and redirect more of our new home and business developments onto higher grounds. Our bankrupt California government cannot even afford to properly maintain our existing levees and other flood control infrastructure. Clearly new developments should be made on higher ground in California where costly flood control structures are not needed. Flood-prone lands are best used for river channels, agriculture, wildlife habitat and recreation.

More about: Flood Control, Water Policy and California River Conservation.

Tags: river conservation, rivers, flooding, dam, levee, water development.

Labels: conservation

Critical for protecting Sacramento against flooding.

Funding for Folsom Dam (American River, Sacramento County, California, USA) flood control upgrades now seems assured. The Water Resources Development Act of 2007 passed the U.S. Congress by a veto-proof super majority, so although the President has not yet signed the bill there appears to be no purpose for him to attempt a veto. Sacramento will remain the U.S. city with the lowest level of flood protection for a period of 10 - 15 years while this project is under construction! After Folsom Dam and downstream levees are upgraded Sacramento will be protected against a 200-year flood.

More about: Folsom Dam Directory.
Flood Control Sacramento CA and California River Conservation.

Tags: river conservation, rivers, flooding, dam, levee, water development.

Labels: conservation

Kayakers are the Jedi Masters of the whitewater rivers.

"Do or do not!! There is no try." (Yoda, Jedi Master) No matter how many times I see the Star Wars movies these jewels of wisdom always hit me like a bolt of lightning. Whitewater kayaking provides incredible mental and physical challenges. As captains of our own little boats we get an up close and very personal experience of the relentless power and amazing beauty of the river environment.

Immediate rewards or immediate consequences.

For me kayaking is a total participant sport. When I decide to DO a maneuver on the river sometimes I get rewarded with success and sometimes I find myself struggling to survive my mistakes. Wow, the successes can be so sweet! After my failures I DO my best to learn along the way and prepare to DO better in future maneuvers.

"DO or not DO !!" Will you accept the challenge ??

MasaO showing how to DO it at Hell Hole Rapid, Trinity River.

More about: River Quotes & Philosophy of Whitewater River Kayaking.

Tags: rivers, river quotes, kayaking, whitewater.

Labels: philosophy

Cool whitewater and hot air make a great summer day in California

After traveling here and there all summer TaylorC made a rare home visit, so we were able to set up a kayaking trip. It was a great and necessary day to get out of town and go somewhere cooler and wetter!! We went up to Coloma, CA and kayaked the Coloma to Greenwood run on the SF American River (El Dorado County, California, USA). Here is my whitewater guide for the C to G run.

The flow was definitely lower than the 1600 cfs that the river had on many of my previous trips there this summer. One rafter that we asked thought that the river was flowing 1000 cfs, but when I got home and checked online I found that the river flow had been 1500 cfs. Its amazing how such a tiny change in flow rate can make such noticeable changes for kayakers who explore the river in such minute detail! On this holiday weekend I was surprised that the boater traffic was average, or maybe a little below average, but there were lots and lots of people at the parks and beaches along the river.

Dynamic stretching at put-in set me up for a good smooth start to my boating day. I'll discuss this more in a future post.

Surfing whitewater is such a great delight.

I had a good day of surfing in the Dagger SuperEgo playboat on loan from BobL. Gremlin wave-hole growled at me as usual. I got some good rides and suffered a few quick rejections, but didn't ever let Gremlin chew me up. All of the rivers I've been running this spring and summer have re-built my paddling-fitness and timing a bit, but I'm still far from my previous levels.

We did a pretty good job of eddy-hopping at Old Scary rapid. Then we caught the occasional surf wave on the way to Henningson Park. We were also practicing our straight arm paddling technique throughout the day.

We found a quiet spot downstream of Henningson Park to stop for a leisurely lunch in the shade. Wild blackberries made a nice dessert. I remembered to reapply sunscreen; hopefully I can get that new habit locked into my mind. Remember - absence of a sunburn at the end of the day does not ensure that your UV protection was sufficient!!

I didn't take too many pictures today. On a 2-boat trip we need to be watching out for each other constantly and its always my turn to surf next!

Here is TaylorC surfing at Gremlin wave-hole. A few more pictures are in my album at Picasa.



The little surf wave above Camp Lotus was smaller today, but was still great at this flow. What a perfect spot to learn and/or practice steering the boat with edge control. If you have got that skill figured out, then surfing here is easy, rhythmic and hypnotic. If not, then flailing around on this innocent, little wave-hole will be difficult, frustrating and humbling.

We noticed that the river flow had dropped a little, so we picked up the pace downriver a little bit. And I think we had both used up a lot of energy surfing, eddying and ferrying earlier in the day. So we did a lot less surfing and eddying in the latter part of the run. We didn't see too many other boaters toward the end of the day, so maybe we were one of the last groups off the river.

The parking lot at Greenwood was still full of cars and boats and boaters, so I was able to pass out lots of cards with the blog URL in hopes of getting more new readers.

On the way home we stopped in Cameron Park, CA for some ice cream and junk food. We got home a bit too soon. It was still blazing hot, but it cooled down eventually.

More about:
Trip Reports - Kayaking Whitewater Rivers in California.
California Whitewater River Guides.

Tags: rivers, kayaking, whitewater.

Labels: trip