SLOUGH MAGIC

We need the tonic of wildness, to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground. – Henry David Thoreau

"Stay back," she whispered, "I want to take a picture." My wife Debbie likes all creatures great and small. It's like being married to a fairy tale princess the way all animals are drawn to her and her to them. Often while kayaking, she used her quiet voice reassuring the ducks, geese, and deer that they are safe and they need not be afraid while she passes by, while at the time warning me to give them a little more space as I draw near in my boat.

She paddles quietly ahead through the narrow section of water, while I stay back quietly watching. She inches forward, barely using her paddle and hoping not to scare off the duck sitting transfixed on a log coming out of the water. It doesn't move.

"You're alright.'' she says assures the waterfowl as she brings her camera phone to her eyes, "You're alright." It is the same for me. Everything is perfect.

"The shore is an ancient world, for as long as there has been an earth and sea there has been this place of the meeting of land and water," wrote Rachel Carson environmental activist who alerted the world to the impact of fertilizers and pesticides in the environment, best know for her book the Silent Spring, it is easy to picture her out gathering water samples in the old wooden canoe as she illustrates her passion for waterways when she said, "Yet it is a world that keeps alive the sense of continuing creation and of the relentless drive of life. Each time that I enter it, I gain some new awareness of its beauty and its deeper meanings, sensing that intricate fabric of life by which one creature is linked with another, and each with its surroundings."

Like for Carson, these waters are my sanctuary. I don't get much time to reflect, except out here.  These are quiet waters of tranquility that have been filtered through my life. On a fast-moving river or the ocean, I'm looking for eddy lines, currents, and tides, but in the calm of the backwater, I do some of my best thinking out there as I float along. These are the places that inspired Thoreau, Emerson, and Muir. Sometimes, I conjure up deep thoughts about God and the universe but mostly inner thoughts are simple ones as I paddle around the marsh. How are my children doing? Could I have handled that better at work? Should I buy another kayak?

"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature," observed, Carson,  "The assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. The lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world are not reserved for scientists but are available to anyone who will place himself under the influence of earth, sea, and sky and their amazing life."

I lose track of the time, I lose track of Debbie. She has gone out of sight into another cove. The water on Lake Natoma's depth is always fluctuating. Today, we caught it at a high level offering more slough coves to explore. The water imbibes a feeling of magic. It takes on an art form of textured richness that no photograph could convey.  The sky and pond flow in a collision of reflection. Time seems to slow and stand as still as the glassy water surface. In the sunlight, turtles lounge on rotting tree branches, while fish make sudden boils below my bow and the waterfowl stand like statues. Across the bow comes the fragrance spring flowers intertwined with the earthy scent of the lake's aquatic garden. Before long I find Debbie again in the watery maze. Our bows break the stillness of the water sending small ripples carrying dancing flecks of light back toward the shore and ahead of us the lake glistens.

"When I would recreate myself, " penned writer Henry David Thoreau "I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and the most interminable, and to the citizen, most dismal swamp. I enter the swamp as a sacred place–a sanctum sanctorum. There is the strength, the marrow of nature."

This article was originally published in Outside Adventure to the Max April 8, 2016

Sierra Snowpack at 162 percent

California received some good news on Tuesday for the state's water supply: The Sierra Nevada snowpack is well above normal, at 162 percent of average. That's good news for the California water supply. The snowpack will provide about 30 percent of the state's water supply.
“The snowpack is nice and cold. It's a little different than 2017, where it was warmer winter … and [the snowpack] melted quicker,” California Department of Water Resources' Chris Orrock told Capitol Public Radio.
The abundant snow also shows a strong indication of a promising whitewater rafting and kayaking season on area rivers this spring and early summer. It could last even longer as hydrologists say snow could stick around at high elevations into late July or August.

Whitewater Summer 

It's not just California rivers that will be offering a long, exciting and historic whitewater this summer.
The Idaho Outfitters & Guide Association announced that snowpack levels were above-average in basins that feed many of Idaho's whitewater rafting rivers.
"It just looks tremendous," Barker River Expeditions owner Jon Barker said in a prepared statement to the Boise Weekly. Barker's company leads river trips in southwest Idaho and four- to six-day canyoneering trips in the Owyhee Plateau. "We're really excited about this year."
While in Maine, still buried in up to 11-feet of snow, Jeremy Hargreaves, founder of Northeast Whitewater in Shirley Mills, Maine is anticipating an amazing season on three Maine wild rivers this year.
“Early season we are absolutely going to get some big water,” he told the Boston Herald“ But it is the long term we are really excited about. We should have really good water well into October this year.”

150 Anniversary of John Westley Powell's Trip Down the Grand Canyon 

In 1869 John Wesley Powell set out to explore the Grand Canyon region. Now, 150 years later you can make your own history as you journey down the Colorado River.

To celebrate the anniversary of Powell’s historic expedition, OARS, which specializes in whitewater rafting and other outdoor tours will retrace portion of 1869 expedition from the launch point at Flaming Gorge to take-out on Lake Powell with plenty of Class III and IV whitewater rafting.

Departures are June 5 and 17, Sept. 9 and 15. For info:bit.ly/powellanniversarytrip

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"WHAT FALLS THERE ARE"... A GUIDE TO RIVER SCOUTING

We call upon the waters that rim the earth, horizon to horizon, that flow in our rivers and streams, that fall upon our gardens and fields, and we ask that they teach us and show us the way. -- Chinook Blessing

In 1869, ten men and four boats embarked on a journey through almost 1,000 miles of uncharted canyons trying to map one of the West's last great wildernesses and forever changing our view of it.

"We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore," said one-armed Civil War hero leader John Wesley Powell, "What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many things."

The party experienced calamity after calamity. One of the boats sank in a rapid, taking with it all their scientific instruments and a quarter of the party’s provisions. Another near-sinking of a second boat took the remaining food through spoilage. Morale disappeared as party members gave up and abandoned the expedition. After three months, only five of the original company would emerge from the depths of the Grand Canyon. Although hailed a hero, Powell's first trip into the unknown was a disaster.

"The relief from danger, and the joy of success, are great." wrote Powell in Down the Colorado: Diary of the First Trip Through the Grand Canyon, describing the perils of the trip, "The first hour of convalescent freedom seems rich recompense for all—pain, gloom, terror.”

Photo by Roger Peka

There is an old whitewater kayaking adage that says, "When in doubt, scout." If Powell's trip down the Colorado River teaches us anything, it's that the party didn't know anything about what they were likely to face. Today's whitewater paddling experts give us several reasons why you might want to scout a rapid first before running it.

"The first is just to make sure it has an exit. If I’m paddling on an unfamiliar stretch of river and no one in the crew knows it then it’s crucial that there is a way out of a rapid before you commit to dropping in." said Current Adventures Kayak School & Trips instructor Pete Delosa, "In California it’s not uncommon for the river to run into and under a pile of boulders. In the Northwest, it might end in a pile of trees. If you can’t see the exit from the top, you don’t really know."

The California-based kayaker Delosa sponsored by Immersion Research and member of Team Pyranha, recommends that if you know it’s going to be a hard rapid to paddle, to study the flow and get an understanding of what the water is doing. Look for hazards you want to avoid and the line you want to make. See how much of the water is going into the hazards versus where you want to go.

"Are there certain features that are going to flip me?" said Delosa, "Maybe there is a feature like a small eddy that I can use to get to where I want to go, or maybe there’s a really big hole that I need to avoid because it feeds into a sieve."

Rafa Ortiz via Facebook

Red Bull athlete Rafa Ortiz never runs anything too stout or dangerous without a proper scout. Ortiz is one of whitewater kayaking's superstars and the focus of “Chasing Niagara," a film produced by Red Bull chronicling his pursuit of being the first person ever to go over Niagara Falls in a kayak. However, he says, when he is guiding someone down a river they've never paddled, he finds it tricky choosing when to get them and scout it.

"I often find that too much information doesn't necessarily result in them having a good line, " Ortiz wrote on Facebook Messenger, "When you scout a rapid, for example, with a bad hole on the left, as you get in your boat and paddle into it, all that is in your mind is the dimension and apparent stickiness of the monster on river left. Your mind is often blurred by fear."

On the other hand, he warns, not to make someone drop into a rapid their first time without enough information. He says it would be neglectful on his part if they ended up in the gnarly hole on the left, swim and get body recirculated just because he didn't emphasize its dimension.

"What I do nowadays is an in between," wrote Ortiz, "I suggest people scout a rapid that in my opinion does have a life-threat in it and even something that could result in a negative enough experience for them to want to quit kayaking. Otherwise, let them enjoy the pleasure of the one chance they have to run it blind."

Photo by Ethan Howard

After you've made the decision to run the rapid, start at the bottom and work your way back up to your boat, suggested DeLosa. He says to find landmarks that you will be able to spot from the water.

"Landmarks are really helpful for knowing where you are in a rapid when you can’t see the entire thing from the entrance." said Delosa,  "A good example is Skyscraper (rapid) on South Silver Creek in California. There are two really tiny standing waves right at the lip of the drop. From the pool above you can’t see anything past the horizon line, but if you go off between those two little waves with a slight left angle you’re in good shape to start."


Sacramento paddler Gavin Rieser agrees and thinks the biggest reason, is being able to see a pool at the bottom of the drop. 
"If I can't see what looks like a pool below," said Rieser,  "I have no idea if what I'm about to run is a huge monster drop or not."
Rieser also does his homework by reading up on the rivers he will be running and checking in with area boaters on what to expect.
"Another big factor is how much I've heard about the run or not." said Rieser, "If I know it's supposed to be a Class III to IV run, then I'm not likely to scout it much. If it's a Class V run, I will be scouting a lot more"

If you’re on a longer mission day to save time, a good habit to develop is to always take your rope with you whenever you get out to scout. Delosa says by doing this you won't have to go back to your boat and then back downstream if someone in your crew asks you to set as the safety.
"Also, while you’re scouting," said Delosa, "Another crew might come along and paddle into the rapid without scouting and you’ll be well positioned to help them should someone get in trouble."

In 1871–1872, Powell again retraced part of his ill-fated expedition down the Colorado River. This time, he would be fortified by knowledge instead of folklore. His scientific expedition filled in the blanks left behind on the previous trip and produced the first reliable maps of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Wanting to be more comfortable, Powell acquired a sturdy armchair and tied it to the middle bulkhead of the pilot-boat. From there, he could view the river ahead of him, but this time, he had seen it before.

If you want to learn more and practice some advanced skills contact us at Current Adventures Kayaking School and Trips and ask about private advanced classes.
PHONE: 530-333-9115 or Toll-Free: 888-452-9254
FAX: 530-333-1291
USPS:Current Adventures, P.O. Box 828, Lotus, CA 95651
info@currentadventures.com
owner Dan Crandall dan@kayaking.com