Charles Pike - Paddling Northern California: A Guide To The Regions Greatest Paddling Adventures

For more than fifty years, Charlie Pike has enjoyed paddling wide rivers, lazy float streams, lakes big and small, roaring whitewater, tidal estuaries, and Pacific Coast headlands. While in college, the Appalachian Mountain Club introduced him to whitewater canoeing, starting with sliding canoes over the snow in March. Paddling soon became his passion. Wherever he has livedupstate New York, New England, Missouri, Arkansas, or the West Coasthe has enjoyed paddling. In each location he has organized training sessions and paddling trips using whitewater kayaks, rafts, canoes, and sea kayaks. His paddling adventures have led him to enjoy waters as diverse as kayaking the Grand Canyon, floating the Allagash River in Maine, and canoeing 160 miles of the Stikine River in Alaska with his two grown sons. Before retiring, Charlie researched and developed water efficiency programs for local, state, and national water organizations. He is still looking for more paddling experiences to enjoy with his grandchildren.

Many people helped make every edition of this book possible. In addition to those who helped me create the earlier editions, many others have contributed more recently. Obviously paddling partners and members of canoeing and kayaking clubs deserve thanks for sharing their experiences. Retailers and outfitters provided guidance on equipment and support of the paddling community. Resource managers of national forests and parks, state parks, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and local and county facilities deserve recognition and appreciation for making their resources available to the public and providing information about specific waterways. Local, state, and national environmental organizations deserve our appreciation and support for the work they do to maintain the quality and availability of our experience on the water. To all of these I extend my sincere thanks. At the risk of omitting names (my apologies), they include:

Barbara Bitner; Bay Area Sea Kayakers; Bryant Burkhardt; Carol Kreuger; Steven Krystek of the Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center; Cass Schrock and staff of Monterey Bay Kayaks; paddling partners Charles Ferris, Deb Gesler, and Jeanette Turvill; Dan Arbuckle of Headwaters Kayak Shop & Boathouse; Dan Efseaff; Davide Sartoni of Gold Country Paddlers; Elin Ljung, Geoffrey McQuilkin, Arya Degenhardt, and Rose Catron of the Mono Lake Committee; Eric See of the California Department of Water Resources; Erica Brenzovich of the Plumas National Forest; Gena Bentall of Sea Otter Savvy; Guy Hedges of the Sierra Outdoor Center; Jan Dooley of Six Rivers Canoe Club; Jackie House, Jeff and Terri Bedford of Sacramento Sea Kayakers; Jennifer Santos of Yolo County; Kathy Bunton of Delta Kayak Adventures; Keith Miller of California Canoe and Kayak; Kelsey Machen of USACE Lake Sonoma; Lawrence Ames and Pardee Bardwell of the BLM Ukiah Field Office; Lisa Herron of Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, USDA Forest Service; Marc Musgrove and Ed Rosenboom of Loma Prieta Paddlers; Nathan Houx of the City of Modesto; Pat Graham of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Suisun City; Meg Gonzalez and Patrick Koepele of the Tuolumne River Trust; Patrick Maloney and Jason Carkeel of Turlock Irrigation District; Paul Gilker of Tidelog; Paul Redd; Penny Wells of Bay Area Sea Kayakers (BASK); POST Canoe Club, including Kit Hewitt and Don Jarrell; Rick Doty shuttle service; Robin Schrock of the Trinity River Restoration Program; Sacramento Sea Kayakers; Sam Brown; Toby Wells of the City of Ceres; Todd Ehret of NOAAs Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services; and Tom Hoffman of the Heritage Oak Winery.

We miss the Paddlers News Bulletin editors and contributors, who provided trip reports for so many years identifying changes in river access and stream conditions.

Thanks to the folks at Globe Pequot who organized the material and made it publishable.

My wife, AJ, looks forward to the completed book. Special thanks and love to her for her bountiful support.

Internet

Eureka/Northern California: www.wrh.noaa.gov/eka

Sacramento and Central Valley: www.wrh.noaa.gov/sto

San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey: www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr

NOAA Weather Radio Frequencies

Especially important for marine forecasts for sea kayakers.

NOAA Tide Predictions, California: tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.shtml?gid=1393

Winds and Waves

National Weather Service coastal and buoy data, including wind, wave, and temperature conditions

Internet sites worldwide: ndbc.noaa.gov

Northern California: www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/buoy.php

Bay Area Sea Kayakers (BASK): bask.org/trip_planner

Google Earth: google.com/earth/index.html

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) charts may be downloaded for free from www.charts.noaa.gov/InteractiveCatalog/nrnc.shtml#mapTabs-1.

18626: Elk to Fort Bragg

18628: Albion to Caspar

18643: Bodega and Tomales Bays

18647: Drakes Bay

18649: Entrance to San Francisco Bay

18685: Monterey Bay

San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail: sfbaywatertrail.org

Topographic maps sources:

MyTopo: mapserver.mytopo.com

National Geographic: shop.nationalgeographic.com

US Geological Service (USGS): usgs.gov/products/maps/topo-maps

Dream FlowsWestern states river reports: dreamflows.com

California Data Exchange Center river conditions (uses DWR IDs): cdec.water.ca.gov/riv_flows.html

California Data Exchange Center daily reservoir report: cdec.water.ca.gov/reservoir.html

USGS Water Resources in California (uses USGS gauge numbers): ca.water.usgs.gov/data/waterconditionsmap.html

Placer County Water Agency for North Fork and Middle Fork American Rivers: PCWA.net

Trinity River Flow Schedule from Lewiston Reservoir: trrp.net

Yolo County Flood Control & Water Conservation District Field Office, releases from Indian Valley Reservoir and Clear Lake to Cache Creek: (530) 662-0266

Rivers are listed in alphabetical order and from upstream to downstream.