I agree with that sentiment. Just driving though "normal" stuff in the West is more spectacular than almost any of the natural tourist attractions in the East. To say nothing of the gorgeous year-round weather. I should have quit my job and stayed in northern California rather than accepting a transfer back East.
I ran the Trinity River with my novice tandem partner at the time back in '81. In those days, there was really wasn't much information on the river in print. I recall Ann Dwyer gave me the name of a guy familiar with the Trinity and called him from my home then in San Jose. I recall his most definitive message: Under no circumstance enter Burnt Ranch Gorge unless you want to die. We didn't enter, but a couple of years later Bob Foote became the first open canoeist to run that section.
I always wanted to re-run the Trinity as I became a much better whitewater paddler, but by then I had moved to Woodstock, NY.
My 2004 trip into the Trinity Alps, along the Trinity River, with my outrigger canoe triggered all those pleasant memories of my novice run 23 years earlier. I looked at our put-in and take-out and at Burnt Ranch Gorge from on high. I desperately wanted to re-run the Trinity, but could not possibly attempt it in a 22 foot outrigger canoe. So, I vowed I would return again with an appropriate canoe. That's one minor reason I purchased my Hemlock SRT, which can run class 2- 3 whitewater competently as well as being a great lake canoe.
But I've never returned since my three rides by the Trinity in 2004 with and without my iakos. It now seems impossible that I will ever return. John and I also did part of the Klamath River on the trip in '81. That's another beautiful creation of god that I'll never see again. The coastal rivers of northern California are beautiful. There's nothing like paddling through a redwood forest.
