The write up and videos of our first overnight whitewater trip, on the Klamath river in North West California.
We were hoping to paddle our first overnight trip on a whitewater river over here, and the Klamath seemed to present the ideal opportunity. The Visitor Centre described the Klamath as a 'backwards river' because its upstream areas are all flat wetland with lakes in Oregon, while downstream it loses its gradient in the northwest part of California before joining the Pacific Ocean. It conveniently runs near highway 96 with several access points, and so we chose a 26 mile stretch from below Happy Camp, to Persido Bar.
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Having selected the put in, take out and provisional camping point, our next concern was the shuttle since we didn't have one! David drove to the take out, and was lucky enough to get a lift back up petty quickly saving us nearly $50 by not having to use the local professional shuttle service. We'd been recommended to take some paddling kit when hitching a shuttle and this worked well in convincing the first car that passed that David wasn't a crazy stalker. Meanwhile at the put in, a huge hoard of duckies (inflatable sit on top kayaks) took off down the river followed by some rafts, so we wouldn't be lonely on the river.
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Although the river wasn't as clear as some we'd been on, flecks of gold were still obvious all along the banks and the scenery impressive despite the presence of the road nearby. The flow on the river was about 3100 cfs and, according to the guidebook, was a grade 3 with a 4 and lots of 2. We'd describe it as Tigger like – bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun-fun, fun-fun! The first real rapid of note caught us a little by surprise when it stopped being a wave train and turned into a pourover with a huge hole. Loaded boats caused interesting times here, but it was all good.
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The wildlife dictated our lunch break as we spotted a family of otters playing on the left bank and so we stopped and ate on the right. They were beautiful – the first time either of us had seen otters in the wild. Moving on, we found a more smaller rapids, some ducks, fish and numerous birds, we paused briefly for a rock skimming session before continuing our leisurely float down to the campsite. Both the rafting group and the swarm of orange duckies were planning on camping the same place we were, so we stopped just upstream and set up camp.
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After a very relaxing evening we woke up fairly early and started to repack our dry bags. Sharon was feeling the effects of the dehydrated meal – it wasn't quite as filling as we had hopped and therefore her blood sugars weren't being very co-operative. However, reducing her post breakfast insulin helped get them back to normal and we hoped to be off the river around lunchtime allowing further recovery time and (we hoped) a treat of Ben and Jerry's to restore blood sugar harmony.
It wasn't long before we caught up with the rafters and then the duckies downstream, but we managed to sneak past the rafts while they were engrossed in their finest Bohemian Rhapsody rendition and overtook the duckies while they were out scouting the crux rapid – dragon's tooth. We had a brief look and successfully paddled our chosen lines, to cheers and congratulations from our audience.
Further on downstream it flattened out and we put enough distance between ourselves and the other groups enjoying the river to notice lots of wild life their shouts would have disturbed. We were tempted to stop and eat lunch at Terrapin cove – a spot we named due to the turtle like creatures playing around a rock at the top of the large eddy – but decided to push on and reunite with Macy as early as possible.
More Tigger rapids and wildlife followed including deer and a yellow butterfly that hitched a lift on David's boat along one of the flatter sections. As the end neared the gradient reduced and we soon tired of the flatwater paddling. We were relieved to see Macy waiting safe and sound where we left her and pleased to have completed our first overnight trip – the first of many, no doubt.
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David and Sharon