C-Forum

I often wonder how many of us have to go a long distance to paddle at all or do some have a local run that gives them a chance to paddle several times a week. We have a great spot right here in the Appleton area of Wisconsin on the Fox river. Only a class 3 run but a good chance to get out and paddle.
You can check it out at americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/3685

There's an upper section that is basially a concrete ditch with some good surfing spots and nice eddies, then a low dam and below the dam a nature conservatory with a short section of good class 3 rapids, a couple of short drops and some nice surfing areas. Not many know much about this area, even those that live here in town. Don't know what I'd do without americanwhitewater.org!

Check out The Trolls - a great series of ledges under a bridge!

Define "backyard"

I have a couple of world class runs in my backyard right hear in Knoxville. The Little River and Tremont in the smokies but they are both 50 minutes from my office. I get to run them all the time when it's raining if that qualifies as a backyard run.

The best backyard situation in the world has got to be Woody from Liquid Logic. He lives 50 yards from the takeout of the green (the best most dependable dam control run in the world; it runs on average 300 days per year). He drags in boat to the takeout, hitches a ride to the put-in and then paddles right back to his house. That is a sweet set-up.

Honorable mention 2nd place goes to Steamboat Springs locals in Colorado. Fish Creek runs right into town and it's a sick Western IV+ or V (depending on level) version of Big Creek. They also have a great rodeo hole in the middle of town (you can takeout for fish creek at the rodeo hole because it's on the Yampa just downstream of the confluence with fish creek). They are also minutes from the box canyon on the elk and not too far from the Cross Mountain Gorge, Big South and Poudre.

Oh yeah, Psycho and MJ literally have a river in their backyard (class II-III when it comes up after rains)

Also, Lynn has a house with the take-out for the upper Yough in the backyard. That's pretty sweet too.

I live in the urban jungle on Vancouvers mountainous North shore.

Lynncreek is 5 minutes from my house, very tight canyon style, often kayaked, occassionally canoed, gr 4.
The Seymour River is 6 minutes away (different watershed) has 3 runs: the Upper is gr 3-4 excellent canoe, 4 hours long,
the Middle Canyon is 4+, very tight, regularly kayaked, canoed once (Tryler Elm?),
and the Lowwer Seymour varies gr 2-3, used as a training run by all, 2 hours long. There is a large riverwide tidal surf wave at the takeouts when the incoming "spring" tide meets a large outgoing flow.
The Capilano River (different watershed again) is 10 minutes from my house and has a 4 hour canoe run grd 3-4, a tight canyon style, with drop and pool. It is dam controlled so you got to be quick on the shuttle and the phone calls but it is the local favourite with kayaks and canoes.

All of these headwaters feed from 5-6000' mountains and all of them end in the salt water in a relatively short distance. They are continuous and boney and can go from empty to flood in a couple of hours rainfall.

I'm about 5 minutes to the Winnipesaukee. It's class III, a mile and a half long, has a bike trail along it for easy walking on the shuttle, is dam controlled so it runs most of the year and doesn't freeze over in the winter. It's not the greatest run, but it's a pretty good thing to have 5 minutes away.

yes. play spot 20 min, and if it rains a lot class 3/4 creek 10 min away.

I'm half-a-mile from the Pony Pasture rapids on the James River. It's a 3-minute drive so it takes a lot longer to get ready than it takes to drive. Oh yes. Driving is a lot safer than walking--that might get you killed on the way to the river in spite of the neighborhood loaded with family and kids.

Great place to tool around and get in a workout at the Pony Pasture rapids (class 2-5 depending on whether the river is low or near flood stage ). Paddle about one mile upstream to a popular retentive hole ("Z" dam), and up to 2 miles downstream for a great attainment workout (depending on water levels ). High water and flood stages are great in that area. But don't let me sell you on the area, nobody here would like any of that stuff.

Neal

Im 20 minute from the tohickon only ccute little class III but it flashes quick.

some other nice 3-4 within an hour drive but needs rain

It's 25 minutes across Atlanta to the Metro Chattahoochee. The rapids are very easy, but there are some quality eddy lines, and basic slalom practice can be had on the Devil's Racecourse.

There's class 2-3+ whitewater on the Yellow and South rivers, but they are small and seldom runnable.

Fifteen minutes from the takeout for the best class 4 run in Utah (Ogden Narrows)
http://www.eddyflower.com/RunDetailstabs.aspx?RunId=306

10 minutes to another class 4 run (Scambled Eggs Bend)
http://www.eddyflower.com/RunDetailstabs.aspx?RunId=347

15 minutes from two of the best (and manmade) playspots in the state (Ogden Play Park and Riverdale Wave).
http://www.eddyflower.com/RunDetailstabs.aspx?RunId=270
http://www.eddyflower.com/RunDetailstabs.aspx?RunId=271

Not counting those, there are 13 other runs within 20 minutes. Utah- the second dryest state in the union.

I am within a couple miles of "shithole" on the French Broad. It isn't the best stretch of waves in the world, but it's nice to not have to think about the cost of gas. I paddle there often, although I am within an hour of numerous class III to V runs (Green, Rocky Broad, Nolichucky, Big Creek, Brush Creek, Big Laurel, Spivey, North Fork of the French Broad, Pigeon Dries...these are the standards). I don't like to drive two hours if I'm not working, but that helps me overlap Dooley's local runs...sadly, his good stuff is on the otherside of Gatlinburg.

In Harrisburg, I am 30 mins from class III, Codorus Creek, the creek that got me into whitewater (http://www.ccghpa.com/boards_new/index.php?topic=592.0 - trip report I wrote of my first WW experience. )

During my first summer of whitewater, the Codorus was runnable almost the whole summer...and allowed me to run it over 50 sometimes leading into the winter. It's an incredible run for beginners to intermediates.

It's not the green, or UY, but it's the best that I got in harrisburg. Everything else worth doing is 2+ hours away, but there is a lot of stuff in every direction that is 2 hrs away, including the UY.

In arkansas, nice class 4 when it rains, runs thru my property. Dale

I am 40 minutes away from the North Fork of the Nooksack (one class II-III run, and one class IV+ run), 45 minutes away from Pilchuck Creek, and 5 minutes away from Austin Creek park and huck (two 10 foot waterfalls).

Kyle

The Downtown Hair section of the Mascoma is my backyard run. As RodeoClown knows, it ain't much to look at -- urban decay is the theme -- but it's steep (about 180'/mile), has a nice boof or two, and a couple of lines that, as Louie might have said, "No son enchiladas." Do three runs and you've gotten in a mile of boating and a mile of hiking. Its proximity to the illustrious halls of Dartmouth College practically make me feel as though I've gotten a decent education every time I go over there. (More likely, it usually means that I've got folks to boat with.)

Alden