Kayak to the Sea

At long last, after talking about doing the trip for at least two years, we did the 2-day kayak trip from Guerneville to Jenner. So, basically kayaking the Russian River from Guerneville to the sea. To be honest, it isn’t that far at all, so this trip could be done in one day *IF* you are on the river by something like 6AM. The reason being that the winds really pick up at about noon and from that point on you will be fighting the wind the whole way, and making very slow progress. Also check the tide tables, because as you get closer to the estuary, incoming vs outgoing tide will make a big difference.

Trying Pliny at its source
Vacation officially begins now!

Of course, we stopped at Russian River Brewery on the way up to Guerneville. I always say that beer doesn’t travel well, so you should always endeavor to drink beer as close to its source as possible, as that is where it will taste the best. Well, let me tell you: drinking a Pliny at its source was totally worth it. It was better than the best most freshest tasting Pliny we’ve ever had in San Francisco! So if you are a Pliny fan, it is worth it to take the trip to the brewery.

Now on to the kayaking.

The first day, we actually got on the river by about 11 (because King’s doesn’t open until 10), so we were battling the wind and an incoming tide most of the day. So it was slow going, we did about 8.5 miles in about 4 hours. Yikes.

The very beginning of our journey, in Guerneville
Arranging all our stuff and getting ready to put in at Guerneville!

Day 1 on the River

Day 1 on the River

Day 1 on the River

Day 1 on the River

River Selfie

Being silly on the river

So, having learned that lesson the hard way, the next day we woke up at 6:30, with the intent to get on the river as early as possible. The second day was very foggy when we woke up, and since we were going westward towards the coast, even as the fog burnt off behind us we would kayak into fresh new fog in front of us. So the whole second day was in fog.

Wake up and time to get going for the 2nd day on the river
Rise and shine! This is where we were camped for the night. You can just about see where we stashed the kayaks on the right of the photo.

Foggy morning kayaking

Foggy morning kayaking

Foggy morning kayaking
Here you see the fog is just about burnt off where we are… but we are kayaking West into more fog, so the sun didn’t last

Foggy morning kayaking

Foggy morning kayaking

We still made breakfast and coffee withe jetboil and had to tear down and stuff, so we didn’t actually get on the river until about 8AM. But still, we didn’t have much wind to contend with and I think we even had an outgoing tide, so we made it to Jenner (~7.5 miles from where we camped) by 10AM. So we almost went twice as fast the second day!

Made it to the sea!
I see the town of Jenner – straight ahead!
Made it to Jenner
The end of our journey

Made it to Jenner

All in all, it was a great trip! We of course got to see lots of green herons, great blue herons, snowy egrets, etc. The usual stuff. On the second morning, though, we got to see river otters!!!! A whole family of them. They were sooooo cute, eating little fish and things whilst frolicking about. When they saw the kayaks, they were super curious and adorable. As we got closer to the sea, we started seeing lots of seals and sea lions. We also got to see a vulture and a seagull negotiating over a giant dead fish. Lots of cool wildlife!

And then after finishing with the river, we played a round of minigolf at the Pee Wee Golf & Arcade.

Pee Wee Golf in Guerneville

Pee Wee Golf in Guerneville

Pee Wee Golf in Guerneville

Pee Wee Golf in Guerneville
Doc got his head stuck in the bars for this photo, so I admire his dedication