The Eel River is one of the largest river systems in California. It travels through Lake, Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt Counties with 4 main stems - the South Fork, the Middle Fork, the North Fork, and the Main. The Eel has whitewater stretches that range from Class I to V, wilderness stretches, and lots of wildlife. In 2011, Jeff and I paddled the 169 mile main stem of the Eel to the ocean. See the Summer 2012 issue of California Kayaker Magazine for my article on the trip.
The past 2 weekends, we have had the pleasure of sharing the wildlife, whitewater, and wilderness of the Eel with our students.
Our Whitewater Kayaking I Class enjoyed the views of snow capped mountains as we drilled eddy turns, ferrying and river running skills.
Of course we ended the class with the thrills of a Class II Rapid.
and spills.
Last weekend, our Whitewater River Kayaking II Class enjoyed the Eel as they learnied river running skills.
Skills included peeling into and out of eddies
Eskimo rolling
and swift water swimming.
Everyone has their own reasons for running whitewater. Adrenaline is an obvious one. Jeff and I really like the challenge of running whitewater as well as the wilderness and wildlife that we get to experience running a river. Our list of wildlife sitings on the Eel is considerable and continues to grow. Winter time, we have the salmon spawning which brings lots of wildlife to the river.
Eagles perch in the trees looking for salmon
Bears patrol the banks for salmon
and river otters bask in the sun (there are many stories about this old-timer).
In less than 2 weeks, we plan to be back on the Eel with our Precision River Running Class. In this class, we will be coaching our students to perfect their whitewater kayaking skills and playing our way down the river.
We are really excited to have students who want to learn to whitewater kayak and a venue like the Eel for wilderness, wildlife, and whitewater FUN!
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