I think it's more than just fuel costs.

A group of us open boaters were on the Klamath 4th July week, and normally
we see rafters and kayakers, but rarely canoeist. Curly Jack CG, Sarah
Totten CG are full, commercial rafters at Trees of Heaven, Happy Camp,
Curley Jack, and Ferry Point put-ins. This year we saw one youth group of 3
rafts, and one guided raft on the Happy Camp run, and one group at Trees of
Heaven, and the camp grounds were basicly empty... Unheard of! To our
surprise though, the surf wave at School House is now considered a "park 'n
play" spot, and was occupied with lots of kayakers.

We still enjoyed having the river to ourselves, but it was almost too quiet!

Added note: Rattle Snake and The Trench have seen some changes from our
last visit 2 years ago.

Carol

"Bill Tuthill" wrote in message
...
krueger wrote:

But in some respects, I think this also reflects the state of the
paddling
community, especially open boaters on the West Coast. It used to be our
rivers were a busy place with lots of folks of both persuasion out there
enjoying a great sport. Did anyone catch "My Turn" in Newsweek? Now it
seems that every other outing, our group is the only one out there and
it's
getting smaller too........We're getting older, our boats are getting
older
and neither are replaceable to a certain degree. Yes, along with the
creaky
joints, our interests are slowly shifting or is it expanding? Be it
better
or worse. But as long as the knees still bend, the ankles still flex and
the
wrists/fingers are willing to grip, we'll still paddle. Rivers may
morph
into the bay, slough, and lagoons, but the spirit carries on!

The higher cost of gasoline might have something to do with it.
I was going to drive north from San Jose to run the class 2 Klamath
(below Copco reservoir) last weekend, but didn't want to pay for gas.
However two weekends ago on the South Silver below Ice House reservoir,
there were scads of kayakers!

Build a river, and they will come!

I was going to submit a TR of my recent Grand Canyon adventure,
but the audience here is so small I didn't take the time.