from Eastern Sierra

[colab]

I live in the Great Basin on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada. I bought my kids kayaks and my wife and I a canoe a couple years ago and have enjoyed paddling immensely. I'm considering upgrading the canoe and thought I should seek some advice in doing so, so I joined.

I bought the kids that were 7 and 8 Old Towne Heron Jr. kayaks. They're 9 and 10 now and they'll continue to enjoy those for many more years. Even my wife who is 5'1" and barely 100 lbs fit them nicely. I'm 5'8" and 140 lbs and I've paddled them.

I might have bought a tandem kayak for my wife and I, but my big dog moved me to a canoe. I have no regrets. Solo, tandem, sitting, kneeling, standing, flatwater or whitewater, the canoe has been great. I have an Old Towne Guide 147 that I picked up from someone in town who advertised it on Craigslist.

I paddle mostly small alpine lakes in the Sierra. I have easy access to Lake Tahoe as well and paddle there. I've paddled some rivers, but the rapids make the kids nervous. We had a lot of snow this winter, so this spring there are some very smooth sections of river and sloughs and wetlands that flooded enough to paddle, and we've been enjoying those while they last. The proper rivers are rated class II+, and the rapids persist until late in the season when they get low and rocky. We paddled a mile of one late last summer but it was too nerve-wracking for the kids. I expect it will be more fun for teenagers in a few years.

The flatter parts of the rivers down in the valleys have a lot of diversion dams.

We've done weekend camping and paddling, but most of the lakes are only large enough for day trips, and the rivers are rapids or dams, so we haven't done any multi-day tripping yet.

I usually carry the boats on a small trailer with an SUV. I built a rack for the canoe, and the kayaks strap into J-racks. I can also fit them all in the back of my long bed pickup, which makes return from river trips easier.

So I'm considering replacing the Guide 147. I'd really like to get something lighter. I have a dolly for it that works ok around the parking lot or boat ramp, but in rough terrain I use the yoke to carry it. I'd really like something in Royalex or a fiber laminate so I don't injure myself hauling it.

The Guide 147 is bigger than I need. I could easily fit a canoe 2 feet shorter, but it wouldn't paddle well if the beam wasn't a lot narrower and I'd lose some stability. I find the Guide very stable, so I'd be willing to give up some beam. I rather expect the best boats will be longer with less beam.

I have excess freeboard with the Guide 147, especially solo, and it makes it difficult when the wind picks up. My load is typically 140 to 340 pounds. I solo backward from the front seat, but the bow still sits very proud.

So that's it. I'm looking for a new boat, lighter, faster, and lower.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Welcome to the site Colab !

My simple advise is to go out to some local outfitters, and try some different canoes ! I'd be tempted to look into something in the Kevlar line.
Outfitters around here, usually early Spring have try out events.
I found out along time ago, that I either went soloing, or sat on the bank. I can't hardly remember the last time I Shared a canoe with some one !

Good luck in your search for the Perfect canoe !!!

Jim

 

[colab]

Unfortunately, I doubt local outfitters will even stock canoes much less have tryouts. Here, SUP is the rage for paddlesports. It's all paddleboards and kayaks. I can get some canoes through REI if I go to a city like Reno or Sacramento, but there's no tryouts in the city. At Lake Tahoe, the shops rent paddleboards and kayaks. They might be an Old Town dealer for example and have some of their kayaks, but canoes would be special order. There are canoes around, but more likely than not, they'll be an odd Coleman or an aluminum Grumman. There are occasionally better canoes that come up on Craiglist. At the moment, there's a Royalex Mad River available in fair condition, but it's a 500 mile round trip to pick it up.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I returned to canoeing as a married adult in 1980, living in San Jose. I bought a Royalex Mad River Explorer from Jeff Jones at Western Mountaineering in San Jose. I used that canoe all over NorCal -- on lakes, on western Sierra rivers, on coastal rivers, and on San Francisco Bay with a 2hp motor. I still have that canoe and would recommend it highly as family canoe that can also be paddled solo. It's not that heavy until you reach 50 or so.

Even in 1980 there weren't many canoes around. In the whitewater world it was already the invasion of the kayaks. I don't remember any paddle shops on the eastern Sierra. That's desert.

Which means you have to be serious if you want to find water in that area, and you have to be willing to travel to and from it. You do this many, many times after you have your boats.

You have to be equally serious and willing to travel when it comes to buying a canoe, especially now that they are such a rare commodity. I drove from San Jose to Tahoe to buy a canoe (which Johnny Carson refused to sell). I drove from New York to Florida twice. From New York to Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. From Connecticut to Virginia. And, in 2004, from Connecticut to Sacramento and back, via Oregon, Yellowstone, the Minnesota Boundary Waters, Canada, and the Adirondacks -- all to pick up a custom made $3500 outrigger canoe that I had never paddled or even seen in the East. That trip was 10,000 miles. In your area I paddled my outrigger on Lake Tahoe, Twin Lakes, Mono Lake, and the highest lake in California accessible by car, the name of which I'm forgetting at the moment. It's on the road from Lee Vining to Yosemite. (With the gigantic snow pack, I hope Mono Lake can fill.)

My point is that 500 round trip miles to buy the right canoe, one that may give you pleasure for a lifetime, is PEANUTS. I've driven that far just for weekend paddling trips a hundred times. If it's the right canoe, just figure out a way to turn the buying drive into some sort of paddling trip or other vacation.

Follow my advice and you, too, can have 15 canoes and kayaks rotting under your back deck when you're an old codger. A lot of life sucked, but all the paddling trips and memories are treasures.

 

[colab]

There's a few lakes up there by the Tioga pass. I think Tioga Lake is the highest. Ellery and Tenaya lakes are a little lower on either side of the pass, but at 100 acres, only Tenaya is bigger than a large pond. Those kind of lakes is what I paddle mostly. I've got more than a dozen high alpine lakes like those within 30 to 45 minutes driving distance. They range from 40 to 600 acres, but most are around 100 acres. I don't really care to get far offshore like at Tahoe if there's any wind. The waves don't bother, but my canoe rides pretty high and it just sails. I should try ballast.

We've got a number of rivers for what they are. The Truckee, Carson, and East and West Walker. I've got river within a 10 minute drive, but the rivers are little sketchy for the fainter hearted in my family. I still want my boat to handle them when they get their courage up, and they don't require a whitewater canoe. It's class ii+ at the most. Conversely, I don't have miles of flatwater I need to track straight across, but again, don't just want the wind to spin me around like a top on the rocker.

I would do the 500 mile drive if it is the right canoe, which is why I even knew of it and mentioned it, but I'm not yet convinced it's the right canoe. It's a beat-up Royalex canoe that's lighter than my current poly one, and cheap. But I'd have more options if I spend more. If it was closer, I'd just go get it and see for myself, but the distance is enough to give me time to look into alternatives.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Colab, welcome, by the way. California paddling is very nostalgic for me.

The lake I was thinking of is Saddlebag Lake, at about 10,050' elevation. One book I have says it's the highest lake in California directly accessible by road. I can't access my pictures, but I'll insert below an older one from the internet. Unfortunately, more recent pictures show the drought had significantly lowered the water levels, and Google also says that the resort property is for sale. They probably lost business with the low water level. Surely the level will go up to normal when the melt gets underway.

If you paddle to the north end of Saddlebag you can portage into a chain of higher lakes. I didn't do that with the boat I had, but maybe it could be turned into a nice canoe camping trip. I'll insert a map.

 

[colab]

I think a lot of lakes will be restored this year.

I lived in San Jose also, by the way, through the 90's. I didn't do any paddling at that time though. At one point, I lived right on Lexington reservoir in a rented house. It would have been great for paddling, but at the time I was spending all my money on motorcycling. Some friends had jet skis and we'd go out on Anderson. I liked being out on the water, but a hundred horsepower two-stroke made it a different experience. It's like snowmobiling at a resort compared to cross country skiing in the wilderness. If I was there now, I'd paddle Monterey Bay out of Capitola or Moss Landing, or drive to where I am.