Sierra Whitewater - A Paddler's Guide to the Rivers of California's Sierra Nevada, 1974 - book review.
One of the early guidebooks for kayaking, canoeing & rafting on whitewater rivers in California.
|"Sierra Whitewater" provides whitewater paddleboating guides for all of the major streams of the Sierra Nevada. West slope rivers include Pit River, Mill Creek, Deer Creek, Feather River, Yuba River, Bear River, American River, Cosumnes River, Mokelumne River, Stanislaus River, Tuolumne River, Merced River, Kings River, Kaweah River, and Kern River. Sierra Nevada east slope rivers include Truckee River, Carson River and Walker River. Many of these rivers have since been protected through the Wild and Scenic Rivers program. |
The book does not describe every whitewater section on every river, but it does cover most of the popular river runs. Despite the passage of time, the whitewater descriptions and the excellent maps are still quite useful. The rivers and the backcountry roads that we use to access them have not changed that much since 1974.
The rivers described in this guidebook have all been covered again in other guidebooks or online guides published more recently. I rate this book as good, primarily out of respect for the author as one of the whitewater boating pioneers in our area (*** 3 stars out of 5).