Nick's Outdoor Adventures

     I went river kayaking for the first time in the summer of 1995 on the Gualala river along California's northern coast.  My sister and I were terrified at first since we were in our own boats but we soon decided we were safe and had a blast.  We had so much fun in fact that we returned to the rental place later that week and did a full day excursion instead of our half day intro.  That trip has always stuck in my memory and ever since then I've wanted to repeat it.    
     Finally in the spring of 2008, after several aborted previous attempts myself and three of my friends went back to Gualala and attempted to repeat my experience.  Unfortunately we were a little too early in the season and the river wasn't flowing (it turns into an elongated lake when the sand bar at the ocean builds up) but we still had fun just paddling around. 
     This got my interest perked up in kayaking again however and I soon planned a 2 day trip with my friend Mike down a section of the Sacramento river between Redding and Red Bluff to celebrate the end of our last class as college students.  We had an amazing time and that summer I reconnected with a friend at work who is a whitewater kayaking fanatic.  I will admit I wasn't super interested in whitewater but more just in multi-day camping trips by kayak essentially.  He convinced me I needed to try it so he took Mike, myself and another friend of ours down Cache Creek and let me "demo" one of his hardshell kayaks he was looking to sell.  I made it through 95% of the rapids unscathed even though it was my first time in a hardshell, but in Rowboat rapid, the last real rapid of the run and the biggest (Class III-), I flipped at the very beginning and swam the whole way down.  Regardless, I was hooked, bought the boat from him the next week, spent the rest of the summer learning how to kayak and successfully roll and the rest is history.....

Trips- Brief summaries of my previous and planned trips

Photos - Photos from my various trips

Gear & Reviews  - Info and personal reviews of lots of different gear

External Links - Links to important kayaking related websites