Cali Trip Part. I – My first shoulder injury

As I type this, I’m sitting the Safeway parking lot in Pollock Pines, CA. I just dropped of my buddies at the top of the Golden Gate section of the SF American River. I’m not paddling because I hurt my shoulder, the first shoulder injury of my kayaking career. We charged hard yesterday, my paddling partner Mike and I running the hardest section of the South Fork of the Yuba River, just west of Truckee, CA.

It was big, beautiful and tough. It was much harder than we anticipated. It changed character dramatically during the 7 miles we paddled. Initially, wide-open metamorphic rapids passed under and aside I-80. Gradually the Yuba escaped civilization, as we wanted, steepened up and dropped into deep gorge. The river thundered in our chests. As we exited the gorge, the river calmed down, winding through redwood forests and the remaining big drops before entering Lake Spaulding.

The pictures say much about the day. The drops were stout but runnable. We had a low flow in the river and things would have been much better with more water. Towards the bottom of the run, after a portage, I made a mistake. I flipped and sublexed my shoulder, injuring the rotator cuff. Shoulders are precious to kayakers and this is the worst I’ve ever hurt there. I also can’t remember the last time or even if I’ve injured it before.

As I ice my shoulder in the bed of a pickup, I think about the first and maybe only day of kayaking I’ll have this trip. If that’s the case it will be a big personal disappointment. But it will still be worth it. Large difficult rapids in remotes places are the things I dream about, awake and asleep. This is why I live my life kayaking at every opportunity. Typing these words, sitting in pain, as my friends are kayaking, I couldn’t be happier.

Photo clarification: Mike and I have the same color boat, lifejacket and drysuit. Our helmet are the same model, though mine is red and his is black. We usually don’t dress alike off the river.