American River Trip

Because of the wildfires in Chico, Teresa's dogs ended up on the coast and we had to get them back to home. While we were going to be in th Sac. area, we decided to hit up the South Fork of the American River for some kayaking. We picked up Teresa's brother Ben in Chico and met my brother Scott at the put in for the run on Saturday morning. It was great to see Scott again and be on the river with him. Ben, Teresa, and myself were in hardshell kayaks and Scott did his first trip in an inflatable kayak. We camped Sat. night and did the lower section on Sunday. It was a great trip. I have a bunch of pics and video.

The guys on the American River.

The first day was great with a nice mix of Class 2's and 3's. The first Class 3 is called Meatgrinder and is a nice long rapid with a lot of rock dodging. Scott was just getting used to the Kayak and flipped in the middle. He did a great job of getting back in the boat in the middle of a rapid and even got a an applause from another group.

The end of the day found us at Troublemaker which is a fun rapid with a left to right move that puts you in a diagonal hole and then over a drop. Here is a video of Teresa, Scott, and then myself running it. Scott does a great job staying upright and finding the perfect line.





Our campsite for the night was right above troublemaker, so we took out and spent the rest of the day drinking beers and watching tubers and rafters run Troublemaker with one raft flipping completely over.

The next day started with some flatwater and then the Barking Dog play hole. Ben, Scott and Teresa got some good surfs in here. Teresa took videos of Ben and Scott.





Here Scott gets his first surf in a kayak on. Great job.



There were a bunch of great rapids on this run. This is a video of our run down Satan's Cesspool. I think the names of these rapids are great. Meatgrinder, Satan's Cesspool, Troublemaker, you can't make these names up.




It was a great day and everyone got out safe. Scott did have his first big swim out of his kayak, but he handled it like a champ and kept paddling through the rest of the hard stuff. I am very proud of him and can't wait to get back on the river with him.