Located a few miles downstream of the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the American, the Gay Wave gets its name not because it’s so fun that it makes people happy… But because it’s located downstream of a famous nude gay beach. While paddling down to surf, many groups have gotten much more than they bargained for.
North Fork American River
Kayaking Shirt Tail Canyon: Tributary to the North Fork American River
Shirt Tail Creek is one of the few runable tributary’s to the North Fork American River. In this video, Nick follows me on the bottom half of the run. With higher flows and no shuttle driver we put-in right at the falls, and Nick impresses with his ability to paddle this difficult whitewater with very little beta. Shirt Tail’s reputation holds strong among the class V community. Love it or hate it, it is an action packed mile dropping over 400ft. (filmed spring 2011)