Hi Mary,

Maybe there's no exploding river population on the Deerfield (I've always
felt that the conditions in the NE would limit boaters). It's simply not
true out here. The river running population in Idaho is literally
exploding.

Lots of it is newfound boaters using kayaking as an extended vacation
vehicle-- something that has been relatively a foreign concept. But there
are also tons of new, young local boaters. TONS.

We used to have uncrowded rivers here in the Gem State. Now, if you want
solitude, you have to paddle serious Class V. And some of us don't have the
time to maintain the edge to do that stuff-- like myself.

There's a bunch of other stuff in your piece that is way off-base, but
predicated on your argument that the sport isn't growing. I just don't have
the time to rebut it all, but I can tell you taking the long view (I've been
a kayaker for 23 years), in the last five years we've seen a spurt in growth
geometrically equivalent to what I witnessed in the mid-'80s, where popular
Eastern runs went from being uncrowded to endless zoos. My first year on
the Gauley (1980) there was one other party putting in on the Upper. In
1984, the sport exploded, and something like 1400 put in. We're seeing
numbers on the Lochsa now (an incredible Class III-IV roadside run) that
reach into the high hundreds-- unheard of even five years ago. Campgrounds
up and down the river are filled with boaters, always. And there are a lot
of campgrounds.

I think urban whitewater parks are a good idea. I'm not as harsh on the
young kids as Oci-One, but concentrated park-and-play is not a bad idea,
considering the huge population entering the sport. At least, there will be
accessible toilets.

Best,

Chuck

in article , Mary Malmros at
wrote on 10/6/03 5:42 PM:

and so there IS no
exploding river population coming out of this.