Gold Rush A CALI SEASON TO REMEMBER

Warm weather, clear water, and big granite slides. California is a kayaker’s wet dream - when there’s water. Each winter, paddlers monitor California's weather and snowpack, trying to predict where and when the melt will fall. Then, they flock in droves in hopes of ticking off the classics, from joy laps on the lower-elevation day runs of the Kern and Kaweah to High Sierra Hike-ins like Middle Kings and Upper Cherry. With newspaper headlines declaring one of the largest state-wide snowpacks in the last decade, Cali 2019 was primed to be liquid gold. Water was guaranteed, but just how it would all play out would be up to the river gods.

Words: Dane Jackson

WE’RE GOING BACK TO CALI, CALI… As creatures of habit, we often find ourselves trying to branch out and try new things. Yet, if there is one place kayakers are constantly drawn back to, it’s California. From north to south, the Golden State has the whitewater goods- especially when summer comes around and the snowpack is holding strong. But, California is weird… there is rarely an "average" year. It is usually very dry or very wet. In 2017, the crisp, refreshing, runoff ended a five-year drought, supplied farms, replenished lakes and rivers, and gave kayakers a season to remember. This spring, eyes were kept peeled on Cali once again as snow dumped all over the Golden State and blizzards pounded the Sierra Nevada, burying the towering mountain range. True to…

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Kayak Session (Digital) - 1 Issue, Winter 2019

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