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You May Be Able To Go Whitewater Kayaking Down The Los Angeles River Someday
Kayaking the Los Angeles River (Photo by houze via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Sure, going for a nice and quiet kayaking cruise down the L.A. River is pretty nice, but what about strapping on a helmet and cutting through some wicked rapids?
If the Los Angeles Kayaking Club's plan goes through, our L.A. River may soon be have a whitewater park to go along with the proposed $1 billion makeover. "Current kayak rides are nice, but it's shallow and scrape-y in some places," Charles DeRosa of the LA Kayaking Club told Curbed.
According to the LA Kayaking Club, the only local spots in the region for natural whitewater boating are Piru Creek (in Ventura County) and the Arroyo Seco during the spring runoff. The planned park would require that scrape-y concrete bottom to be removed (as is planned in the $1 billion makeover) and a few artificial drops to add a little excitement to the now-tamed waterway. The park would only be in a short, 100-meter stretch of the river, possibly in the Glendale Narrows. Think of it as analogous to a terrain park at a ski resort.
The plan is currently in its infancy, but the club will have an engineer from S2o Design check out prospective locations for the park in the coming weeks. S2o is a firm specializing in designing whitewater parks, including one they recently built on the San Marcos River in Texas.
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