BRT Insights - WW Kayaking & Hiking

Whitewater extravaganza with photos & videos to prove it !!

GabrielleM, PeterG, TaylorC & I drove up to Coloma, CA to kayak the C to G Run on SF American River (map & guide) (El Dorado County, California, USA). While driving shuttle I could see that the flow had not yet reached the Hwy49 bridge, but by the time we got back to put-in I think the flow was up to the 1600 cfs that was the peak flow for the day.


• More pictures of whitewater kayaking on SF American River, C to G Run.

We had a nice lunch just downstream from Henningson Park, picked some blackberries, reapplied sunscreen, got back into our kayaks and got going again.

Playboating our brains out on some great whitewater and sometimes paying the price !!

Gremlin Wave-Hole provided a great surfing warmup for all. Its funny how such a small wave can be so snarly. It doesn't look like much until you get into its clutches and then its quite challenging to stay on it long enough to get a good ride. Its a fun spot for me now, but I'll never forget that I swam there at least three times on my second day of beginner kayaking class.

The little wave just upstream from Camp Lotus is another one of my favorite kayak playboating spots. I got a few good surfs there, but there was some urgency to get downstream to the main event of the day.

Barking Dog Rapid was bigger and steeper than it was last time I was there. Somebody has done a little riverbed rearranging there to push the main jet of current a few feet to the left. This has steepened the wave-hole and made the run-out from the hole a little less chaotic for those who need to roll back up. I surfed across the hole a few times, but didn't make any moves to try to stay in it any longer than that. I need to spend some entire days surfing here to get this incredible hole figured out.

• Videos - whitewater kayak freestyle playboating at Barking Dog Rapid, SF American River, California.

After driving the SuperEgo kayak tugboat around in the river all day I was pretty tired by the time we got to Current Divider Rapid. Unfortunately, I didn't yet know how tired I was. At first I was happy to catch a tiny, boiling microeddy, but when it flipped me the eddyline defeated my weak roll attempt. I didn't have enough air in me to hang out long enough to make a second roll attempt. So goofus me, I'm swimming again!

I did a little ferrying and eddy hopping at Highway Rapid. Then those who had any energy left used it up ferrying at Swimmers Rapid and trying hand-rolls at takeout.

Thanks to Taylor for a pitcher of Scotch Ale at Yosum's Pizza in Coloma, CA!! After baking in the sun all day on the river it was refreshing to drink & chat in the cool, dark restaurant. (The photo of us sitting around the table was illuminated by the flash, not by any light in the room.)

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

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

Labels: trip