Other Sources:
Over the past number of years I have collected quite a few guidebooks... so I thought I would share some info about the ones that I have collected.USA - California
- ★ ★ Stanley/Holbek "The Best Whitewater in California" link. This is the go to guidebook for California. It is a 4th edition, but the last edition was released a long time ago at this point. The book has no color photography and really only tells you the bare minimum of information about what to expect. Additionally, since the final edition was released in 1997, it is missing many of the California high sierra staples, like Upper Cherry and Royal Gorge. But, it does have 180+ runs, so for that, and the great stories of first descents and comedic boondoggles, I give it two stars. And although it is a fairly old book, the ratings hold up surprisingly well, and I feel are still in alignment with current understanding of class III/IV/V. I mean heck, these guys defined what class V was in the state.
- ★ Cassidy/Calhoun "California whitewater" link. Like the S/H book above, the final edition of this book is from the 90s. This one was written by rafters, has a mile by mile guide so information is plentiful. However, it also means in most cases the ratings are inflated. My final complaint is the total runs included are only about 50. OK for a local, but not if you are coming to explore. And most of the runs that are included would not be considered part of the classic list these days.
- ★ ★ ★ Menten "New School Guide to Northern California" link. Newest California book, specializing in the North Coast area (i.e. has no runs from the Sierra in it). It is comprehensive with information on many runs that have never appeared in any other guide source. It is fully color, with good info for what to expect on the water and logistics. The only downside is the paper quality is poor. This book needs to stay dry otherwise it will fall apart on you.
- ★ Martin "Sierra Whitewater" link. This is a historical book. Released in 1974, it is fun to read their impressions of rivers like Giant Gap, and to see the paragraph that coined the term "Golden Gate" for the SFA run, but other than that, it is not useful as an actual guidebook. But locals will likely enjoy the book for the historical purposes of it.
- ★ Schwind "River Touring" link. This is a historical book as well, released in 1974 as well. Where as Martin's has lost its applicability, this one actually contains numerous rivers which are rarely run these days... for a class II/III boater looking for runs off the beaten path, this is still very useful.
- ★ ★ ★ Eddlemon "Whitewater of the Southern Appalachia" vol 1 & 2 link. A modern book released in 2015. Two volumes, full color, great descriptions give you enough info to approach a river with confidence without over sharing and spoiling the surprise/adventure of a new river. As a transplant to the area, the only thing that is missing is a lay of the land map which would help a non-local get an understanding of the area. That and GPS coordinates for put-in and take-out. But seriously, nearly every peice of known marginally worthwhile whitewater is included in these two volumes. Also, these books both have great background on the regions as well as an intro section explaining how to use the rain gauges to estimate flows on rivers... which in the SE, is an art that you need to master to maximize your experience. The books then tell you how much rain in the past 6/12/24 hrs is needed for the river to be running, giving you all the info you need to make your decisions. Finally, it is modern, so where some guidebooks may not be accurate when rating the rivers compared to modern standards, this book is completely accurate with the current understanding of III/IV/V.
- ★ Davis "North Carolina Rivers and Creeks" link. Prior to Kirk's books above, this was the best modern book there was for the area. It is limited in breadth however and ignores the Tennessee Plateau all together. Overall, it is more for someone visiting and wanting info on a more select group of runs. Whereas Kirk's books are for the local who wants to know about all the runs. It is also a large format book, meaning 8x11 which has never been my favorite, and whereas the North America book by the same authors maximize the page space, this one seems to have a lot of open space wasted. It's lay of the land is useful though, but also missing GPS.
- ★ ★ ★ Bird "Let it Rain" link. I really liked these books. Nice color write-ups, and good directions and maps to easily find the access to rivers. It is in large format 8x11 and is maybe 2 inches thick, so it takes up a lot of space in the car. But the breadth of the write-ups is nice and covers all of the NE and Quebec.
- ★ Rada "Northwoods Whitewater - A Paddlers Guide to Whitewater of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario, and Michigan." link.
- ★ ★ "Paddling Pacific Northwest Whitewater" link. Honestly, for a new release (~2016), the book is a bit of a disappointment. Great color write-ups, good descriptions of rivers... but... no table of contents makes the book a pain in the ass. Also, you can tell the editor wasn't a kayaker as there are errors like the White Salmon saying 1-6 cfs is the ideal flow. Still, the book is nice, but you just have to work to find the runs and be smart enough to decipher the typos. Honestly though, not having a table of contents costs a star. On the plus side, it does have GPS coordinates.
- ★ ★ ★ Bezemek "Paddling the John Wesley Powell Route" link. For anyone wanting to brainstorm a trip on part of the Powell route, this is a great starting location to get an idea of which section. It shares history and logistics. Obviously, the logistics are a little light when it looks at 1,000 miles of river. I mean, there are entire books dedicated to the Grand Canyon section. This book is more about the sense of adventure, retelling the story of Powell with the added info for you to partake in your own adventure. It is a fully color full size book.
- ★ ★ Davis "The River Gypsies Guide to North America" link. This color full size book is a good one to start day dreaming to... but not great as a singular tool to execute a vacation to. How could it be? It covers all of North and Central America. "All" is an exaggeration... it lacks some paddling regions entirely, but it does have good coverage. There are obvious runs however that are left out, and a few obscure runs that are added in. Additionally, there are no overnighters included which really limits the scope. But, the info is good, the directions are fine... it lacks GPS coordinates but it was released before those became standard. Overall it is good... but just can't get the third star since it is more about the initial planning rather than final planning for a vacation.
- ★ Robey "A Gringo's Guide to Mexican whitewater" link. Honestly, maybe the worst book. Terrible maps and missing so many rivers. Of course, it is fairly old now... so it is very dated since a lot of the Mexico classics weren't even explored yet when this was written. Hopefully someone writes a new book soon, seems like an obvious project.
- ★ ★ Eudy "Chasing Jaguars - The Complete Guide to Costa Rican Whitewater" link. So, I have yet to use this book for a trip. It is black and white, with some photography, and then color inserts for a few more color photographs. There are nice maps to accompany each river as well as GPS coordinates to accompany the directions. For the rivers, it provides a medium amount of detail generally, not mile by mile, but not just a blurb. Certainly more than enough to approach a river with knowledge of what lies below.
- ★ ★ Small World Adventure "The Kayakers Guide to Ecuador" link. I liked this book, gave enough information and had good enough coverage. However, it is maybe 10 years old and the river scene has changed a lot in Ecuador meaning it will be a little out dated.
- ★ ★ Curtis/Saether/May "Whitewater Chile - A Paddlers Guide" link. A nice color mid-size format book, with descent information about runs and with challenging logistics. It is also inconsistent, some runs have GPS, others don't. I find that disappointing. There is a nice section of maps in each region to give you a lay of the land which is nice though. Overall, I think I find this book a little too impersonal and just business, and not enough about stories or history etc. There are books that you read for pleasure, and ones that are just business. This is the latter.
- ★ ★ Charles "New Zealand Whitewater" link. Overall, this book is good enough. In 2016 they released the 5th edition so it is nice they update it often. It is not in color however, though it does have some color photograph inserts. It is missing GPS though... and the directions at times can be tough on some of the trails which kinda lead to a lot of epics. Additionally, there is some info lacking like "locals never run the second and third canyon on the Hollyford's Marian Creek section because it is a pile of crap" and instead say "scout and portage high if needed." Finally, some of the info for heli phone numbers is inaccurate which can be challenging if you don't have local contacts to get straightened out with.
- ★ ★ ★ Klatt "Norway - The Whitewater Guide" (Out of Print). Honestly, my favorite guidebook. It was missing GPS, but it had great maps that were very useful in finding the rivers. It was full color, and a large format. The latter isn't my favorite, but it is in English AND German, so I forgive them this. The descriptions give you a taste of what to expect on the water, and yea. That is all you need. I couldn't find a link though for a new copy when I just looked.
- ★ ★ Santal "Whitewater Pyrenees" link.
- ★ ★ ★ Knowles "Whitewater South Alps" link. Italy and Switzerland! So I don't have the newest edition, but David Maurier did on our trip. The newest edition is color with the same write-ups. The information was pretty good, but was missing some of the hard classic runs all together. Overall though, it was a good book. The old edition wasn't great about the lay of the land, and I do not know what the new edition had with that regard.
- ★ ★ Denis "Kayak Cevennes" link. This book is actually pretty good. It is in French and English in a smaller format. It is black and white, with some photos, and then color insert section of photos. Has ok maps to get you sub regional lay of the land, though it misses the higher picture. It does include GPS which is nice, and covers the classics along with many other sections of river. Specifically, this guidebook focuses on the the south central part of France, as opposed to the Alps or the Pyrenees.
- ★ ★ Gavrilov "Rivers of an Unknown Land" link.