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You Need a Thneed · 07-04-2012, 10:33 PM

Reasons for the weir renovation:

Maintain original purpose - diverting water to the irrigation canal
Recreation - rapids watermark within the city
Eliminating the barrier to fish - fish should now be able to get up as they please, instead of trying to find the narrow fish ladder by the gates.
Restoring navigability - rafters can now go over the weir, and fire dept boats can get up at all times of year.

There is now no boom across the whole river, as there was before. There are boulders guiding more of the river into the easier river right channel. The booms now just block boaters from getting to close to the irrigation gates. There is signage stating that river left is class 3, and river right is class two. The question is how many people know what the different classes are.

I would do a class 3 with a decent raft, life jackets and paddles, and a normal river level. I wouldn't do the river left channel with a Walmart raft, period. The class two is probably fine with an ok raft, life jackets, and paddles, but you might get a little wet. For people just floating down the river, there's a nice portage path.

I believe that I've been over a class 4 rapid in a raft before, but that was a large whitewater raft with a guide. I don't think a raft can really do anything more than a class 4.

07-04-2012, 10:33 PM	#57
You Need a Thneed Voted for Kodos Join Date: Dec 2007 Exp:	Reasons for the weir renovation: Maintain original purpose - diverting water to the irrigation canal Recreation - rapids watermark within the city Eliminating the barrier to fish - fish should now be able to get up as they please, instead of trying to find the narrow fish ladder by the gates. Restoring navigability - rafters can now go over the weir, and fire dept boats can get up at all times of year. There is now no boom across the whole river, as there was before. There are boulders guiding more of the river into the easier river right channel. The booms now just block boaters from getting to close to the irrigation gates. There is signage stating that river left is class 3, and river right is class two. The question is how many people know what the different classes are. I would do a class 3 with a decent raft, life jackets and paddles, and a normal river level. I wouldn't do the river left channel with a Walmart raft, period. The class two is probably fine with an ok raft, life jackets, and paddles, but you might get a little wet. For people just floating down the river, there's a nice portage path. I believe that I've been over a class 4 rapid in a raft before, but that was a large whitewater raft with a guide. I don't think a raft can really do anything more than a class 4.