Squirt Boating Message Board

Hear he here he, I'm calling upon the zombies of the whirlpool to give thy word. The reining champion from this years breathe holding competition has given much interest in having next years event at the fabled Sparrow Cliffs outside Truckee, CA. Seeing as I am one of the few to frequently explore this marvelous seam, it has been asked of me to organize this glorious gathering. There is no question whether this arena is capable of producing record-setting rides, rather it is a question of when to hold the event. Many of my brethren from the Clan of Jib have shown much interest in making the pilgrimage back to the promise land, not only for underwater exploration, but also, to charge the granite gilded creeks of the Sierra, at the same time. Which leads me to ask, when shall we gather and sink on a playing field suited for Kings? I know it is usually held in August, but the most the creeks shall be dry by then, unless we have another epic snowpack like 2011. Luckily, the Cliffs are in all summer as the source is the Great Lake of Tahoe, which is controlled by man to give pleasure to the tourist crowd in search of leisurely floats on the Truckee. Enough chit chat, give thy opinion, and let the planning begin.

Cheers- Will

I just need some notice like a few months to get time off but I'm stoked about the potential combo trip from the south. Locals choice would be my vote. Whenever its all good

local's choice is my vote too. yea!

It's hard to say since I haven't been squirting there that long. However, there is a good old historical graph on the gauge. So, 900 is perfect, but I've found as low ad 500 to be very good also. I'm not sure if we should try to plan the event with another style of paddling. When the creeks are running, the cliffs are usually too high. Check out the gauge and let me know what ya think. Maybe Noah can chime in since he found the spot.

Early May is pretty much impossible for me b/c I have Cheat Fest obligations- but I'm 50/50 about being able to go on a big trip like that- so don't work around my schedule. Sounds most excellent though.

What does Noah say about timing? What about mtn biking access to the Tahoe trails, too?

So to answer a few questions, Swallow Cliffs is best between 650-1300 cfs.
Any higher and the eddy blows out and it is impossible to do more than one ride above 1500 cfs.

Depending on the snowpack and temperatures, sometime middle of June will most likely be the best option, but it could go until middle of July for a high snowpack.

This is right in the middle of the creeking season although a little early for a lot of the really big stuff.

Also the rim trail, etc will likely still have lots on snow on them, although there are many other sick trails in the area that are not at the top of Tahoe.

You can drive right to the spot, it is on railroad land so camping there is quasi illegal but there is plenty of good camping on Boca Lake 3-5 miles up the road.

Will, Colin and I can assist with planning, I will be finishing up my Phd then so I may not be able to help that much but I'll do what I can.

Super cheap hotels/Casinos in Reno, Southwest flys to Reno (easy to fly with boats), 20 minutes to the spot as well, if it is super high then there is a great spot at the Reno Whitewater park that gives 20sec and occasionally much more if we were to have super high water.

Hope this helps, the cool thing is we can nail down a date in March by looking at the snowpack.
Noah

I am around Reno and Truckee, and would gladly help anyone out who wants to come to the cliffs.

Josh W

Hee hee... made a video of the spot...

Like!