Kayaking on Provo River

Dave and Julie drove down this morning to garage sale with me. We both found some good bargains. Drove back with Dave to his house to help him put together his shed. Worked for a couple hours and then loaded my kayaks into his truck and headed up Provo Canyon. (FYI: These are the sit-on-top style of kayaks)

Because of all the snow and rain we got this year, the river is higher and faster than I've ever seen it. It would have been suicide to try running the lower section. Above the damn near Nunn's Park it was much calmer. We left my car there and drove up to just below Deer Creek Reservoir where others were launching rafts and kayaks.

I gave Dave a quick lesson on steering and we were off. The flow was pretty fast and there was nice spacing of rapids along the whole way. Dave flipped over twice, but managed to hold onto his kayak and paddle until he could climb back in. With the snow melt, the water was quite cold.

The scenery was beautiful along the way. It was a great time to go because the river will probably never get this high again for a long time. As it was we had to lay flat against our kayaks to slide under one bridge. Exited the river at the damn and made the mistake of getting out on the wrong side of the river. Had to hike a ways down a trail with the boats before crossing to the other side at a bridge.

I foolishly locked my keys in Dave's truck back at the top, but we managed to hitch a ride with some guys. We rode in the back of their truck with a friendly black lab. Drove back down, loaded up the gear, then hit Carl's Jr. for some dinner. Love their criss-cut fries. Drove home after--sunburned, sore, and tired. Great day though.