By Kanako Iwata-Eng
I am fortunate to boat with friends who travel to rivers in Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, Idaho, and Oregon. I have paddled over 100 different runs since I started whitewater kayaking in 2012, but I hear many of our members don’t go much beyond our three staple rivers – Green, Snoqualmie, and Skykomish. When I heard about the San Juan Seven Challenge by WKC’s sea kayak group, I decided to run something similar for our whitewater group. I am challenging you to run seven rivers that may not be as popular as the Green, Snoqualmie, and Sky, but nonetheless fun, beautiful, challenging and/or different.
WKC members who participate in club trips to the seven designated rivers will receive collective paddle/boat stickers designed by a whitewater kayaker and artist Zeus Rudner. Challenge yourself to get all seven stickers! When a member completes all seven rivers, he/she will receive a finisher’s sticker. To make it easy to keep track, participants must register for the club trip online.
The designated rivers and in Seven Rivers challenge are:
- Nisqually
- Nooksack
- Sauk
- Sol Duc
- Stillaguamish
- Wenatchee
- White Salmon
If you are not familiar with them, read the descriptions on the American Whitewater website. You can run any section of these rivers. All these rivers have at least one Class 2 or 2+ section, so less experienced boaters can participate. To receive a sticker, you must participate in a club trip posted in the WKC calendar. If you don’t see a trip, consider leading one!
Seven Rivers Challenge Program Outline:
- The seven designated rivers are the Nisqually, Nooksack, Sauk, Sol Duc, Stillaguamish, Wenatchee, and White Salmon.
- The launch date of the program is April 1, 2016.
- No end date is set at this time.
- You can run any section of these rivers in any order.
- You must be a WKC member and register to the trip online.
In the March newsletter, we will reveal the sticker design! Stay tuned, read river descriptions, go to the pool sessions, and get ready for the Seven Rivers Challenge!