“A Wet State” does Chico, CA

More adventures from ” A Wet State”
Chico, California is probably best known for its college and its excellent brewery, Sierra Nevada. However, an often overlooked aspect is that there is some excellent kayaking in the area. The Feather River is only an hour away and creeks such as Deer, Mill, Antelope, and Butte drain the lava hills in magnificent form. Rolling off the of Mount Lassen, is an expansive lava field that when carved out by rivers forms impressive bluffs rising steeply, high above the rivers. This area certainly is special.

Butte Creek has a class II section often paddled by club boaters just minutes outside of Chico, and above that section is a great section of class IV-V that is regularly paddled. My first time in was 2 years ago; after making our way to water, we were greeted by high water but due to our lack of probe unit and lack of a guide, we hiked back out the two miles uphill to the gate (and our car) with our tails between our legs. This year however, locals Scott Yoder and Sean Corbett were nice enough to show Diane Gaydos and I down the river and what resulted was a great day on a great river with a great group of friends.

-Daniel Brasuell

Video:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/CxcQWnjE0Bg[/youtube]