Rivers of California

California's rivers cover the full whitewater spectrum, from the most-paddled commercial run in the United States to the hardest guided rapids in the country. The South Fork American is where most Californians take their first raft trip, Class III through Troublemaker and Satan's Cesspool, an hour from Sacramento. The Tuolumne is the state's great wilderness day-run, Class IV through a roadless granite canyon, and Cherry Creek above it is Class V — the most difficult commercially guided whitewater in America. The Kern gives the south its whitewater and its warm summer flows; the Middle Fork American, Kings, Merced and Kaweah run hard on snowmelt; and the Klamath, Trinity, Cal Salmon and Smith carry the north's wild and scenic water. For floating rather than running, the Russian, Truckee, lower Kern and American River Parkway are inner-tube country.