I missed the weekend festival at the Reno's Whitewater Park, but I did
get there during the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, May
17-19.

I hadn't been in Reno for over four years. During my earlier visits,
I'd often wandered down and looked at the Truckee River that flows
through the downtown area. I always thought it had potential for
kayaking if it could be cleaned up and easier access provided.

This was my first visit to a "man-made or engineered" whitewater park
so I can't compare Reno's to any other whitewater park. Nevertheless,
I'm impressed by everything that was done and the fact that the El
Dorado and Harrah's casinos loaned $500,000 each to get it built.
For WW kayakers in the far western states, Reno could become a road
trip destination for park and play or slalom training.


The Truckee River whitewater park has two channels around an island.
The right channel has the slalom gates. The left channel has the
playspots. Surfboarders, dogs, tubers, and fisherman were also in the
river.

If you're with someone (spouse, kids, etc.) who's not a kayaker,
there's a multi-plex movie theater located right next to the park. Of
course, there's casinos all over town.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few photos that
I took with my new digital camera. I'm still trying to figure out how
to work the digital camera so the photos aren't the greatest and I'm
too lazy to learn Photo Shop or image editing.

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/bobowilliams77