Tuolumne and Stanislaus Rivers, November 2000

by Wini


I thought that since I had this ancient, y2k trip report by Wini Heppler I would send it out as an ad for the upcoming POST Tuolumne and Stanislaus Rivers Canoe Trip on November 5 and 6. It dates back to Nov. 11-12, 2000. -ed


Those who could, met at Surrey Lane at 6:30 am on Saturday to load 5 canoes, paddles, PFD's, and all the commissary stuff into the van and trailer. We had 7 in the van...Vince, Ann, Wini, Eric, Jane, Stephen, and new member Alex. Vince was our trip leader and Ann did the commissary. We left about 7:30 and stopped in Modesto at a neat little dough nut shop for coffee and yummies. The shop had a nice assortment of Danish pastries and apple fritters. We were 7 plus John and Nate, Thad and Karen, Bob and Joan, Bonnie, Bijili, Jim from Turlock, Tom(from LA), Lee and Becca (from Berkeley).

We drove directly to our Turlock Lake SRA campground, set up the commissary tent and loaded it with all the cold chests and boxes. We also set up our own tents. The sky was clear but it was very cold.

At La Grange we off-loaded our gear and carried boats and gear to the river at the old bridge while the shuttle was run.

Salmon all over the place...you wouldn't believe it unless you had been there what a constant splashing of fish in the shallows looks like. The stench of decomposing salmon flesh was yucky! We hadn't this many salmon here in over 20 years. There were some "sit-on-tops" at the put-in but they didn't come down the river.

We had 9 craft on the river...8 tandem canoes and 1 kayak. It was hard keeping people in sight and we were pretty strung out. The release at the dam was reported to be about 360 cfs per the Internet but that was plenty for us. At no time did anyone have to get out and haul a canoe over a gravel bar. We lunched soon after we put-in because it was oneish and people were hungry. Although it was a sunny day, it was rather cold and windy.

There had been frost on the roofs of the houses on Surrey Lane and Bob reported heavy frost in Oakdale. The cottonwood trees were golden and the grape vines were bright red. We checked the fig crop but they were dry and wizened. In the afternoon a stronger icy wind came up and tried to blow us upstream.

The river split just above that one tight place through the willow where some of us had portaged in the past. The river had broken through the brush on the left and it looked like a new route but we had to get out and drag the boats through the narrow slot. So the right side would have been a better choice. Somebody please remember this for next year.

I think the last few years it must have been overcast because I don't remember having so much trouble with the glare of the low western sun on the river surface. My partner, Ann, had polarized(sp) sun glasses and it didn't seem to bother her as much as it did me.

We were at the takeout at a little after 4 pm. We had brought firewood and thoroughly enjoyed a warm campfire on Saturday evening.

Ann did a great job on commissary...we had a variety of crackers and cheeses and dips, pasta, green salad and 3 marvelous pies courtesy of Jim Stevens who is in the restaurant business.

The moon was full and brilliant. A definite added plus to this trip was Lee and his guitar. He had also brought a bunch of song sheets and the group very much enjoyed sitting around the campfire and singing old folksongs. (Note: This writer enjoyed hearing the singing but she went to bed at 8 pm.)

On Sunday we lost some of our paddlers (Jim, Lee, Becca, Stephen) and some new ones showed up. Lu and Jeeves actually arrived on Saturday evening. John and Bosco arrived on Sunday as did Brian and Orgelina. We left camp about 9 am and drove to Knight's Ferry on the Stanislaus with a gas stop in Oakdale and a drop off the shuttle cars at Orange Blossom Bridge take-out.

We were amazed to see so many salmon here, even at the put-in.

There were several other boats and even rafts at the put-in. We had 9 canoes and Joan in her kayak. We had 6 tandem canoes and 3 solos including the C-1. We paddled down to Russian Rapids and all scouted. Some of us preferred to sit this one out. Others got to run it twice or more. Bonnie looked really elegant in the C-1! I think she ran it 3 times. The form here is to catch as many eddies as you can on your way through. I think Vince and his partner, Alex, won with 7 eddies! Most of us caught 3 or 4. John soloed while Lu, Nate and Jeeves cheered him on. We had lunch here while watching each other perform. Everybody got through easily. Bob in his brand new 'Outrage' swam but it doesn't count against him as he was playing in the waves and was struck by another craft.

A little farther down the river we found two men just standing out in the water. It turns out they were checking the cleanliness of the gravel bars. As I understand it, when the river is really low they bulldoze the gravel into bars for the salmon to spawn in.

We made the take-out by 4 pm. The steps by the bridge pier on river right have been washed out. It's a steep climb up a slippery bank. It was lovely getting into dry clothes. We stopped at a Taco Bell for takeout on the ride home in the van. We even got to enjoy the remains of Jim's pies.

Thank you Ann for the good food! Thanks also to Jim for the pies and, of course, to Vince for all the organizing and driving.

Wini