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Off the couch and onto the river

April 29, 2008

Flake Rapid, South Fork Yuba RiverSouth Fork Yuba River, Calif. - I’ve heard about California kayaking for years now. “It’s the best there is…there’s nothing like it,” they say. While I’ve had the opportunity to paddle a couple of California rivers, the ones I have boated are more closely akin to Oregon’s boating than the classic Sierra Mountain streams that California is world famous for. Yesterday afternoon I finally got a taste of what the spring season holds for Golden State boaters.

The Summit Run on the South Yuba starts just off of Hwy 80 at S. Yuba Rd., only about 20-minutes from Truckee. This section of the Yuba is considered by many to be the “backyard” run for the Tahoe area.

“It’s no classic, but it’s close,” Zack Lannoy, a local boater, said. “A lot of people get off work and come run this in the evenings. Some people even just put in at Rainbow (rapid) and run down to the take-out at Cisco Grove.”

Rainbow rapid, just below the Rainbow Lodge is a beautiful cascade alongside Donner Pass Rd. and is the highlight of the run. It starts with a 15-to-20 foot slide into a big, calm pool and then races through a series of drops that get bigger and bigger. The hydraulic hole at the bottom is what makes this steep rapid Class V. It’s an easy Class V, but still significant enough to have someone standing at the bottom with a throw rope just in case something goes wrong.

This rapid is also just a great place to hang out and take photos on a sunny Spring day. Because of the Summit Run’s proximity to Tahoe Rainbow Rapid, South Fork Yuba Riverand Truckee, any day when the sun is out and the flows are good, you can count on seeing lots of boaters splashing down the rapids. Plus, you might get to see somebody like me end up sideways and almost run the bottom half of the rapid backwards. After-all, who doesn’t like seeing a little carnage? With the fun that Rainbow provides and the way that it flows directly into another series of steep rapids, including a four-foot boof, (a ski-jump style move), on Flake followed by a big drop at the bottom, just sitting in the sun and watching could be a great way to spend an afternoon.

From here the river gives you a couple of miles of Class III boogie-water and scenic, slow moving sections through meadows before getting to Tombstone, maybe the most fun rapid on this section of the Yuba. A boof off a big lateral wave at the top leads into a big boof that gives you a little airtime at the bottom. Not far below Tombstone is a fun surf wave, the only one to speak of on the run, then Grater, a scrapey 15-foot slide that marks the take-out.

All-in-all, my afternoon on the Summit Run of the South Fork Yuba was a great introduction to California boating. It may not be a classic section of whitewater, but for an early season warm-up, I couldn’t really ask for anything more.

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Written by Allan Warren · Filed Under Recreation 

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