Pint-Sized Perspective: Full Moon Paddle

Recently, I went on my first full moon paddle from Coloma to Lotus, with my parents and some friends. In order to paddle safely, you should have paddled the section of river many times before and memorized the structure of the waves, holes, rocks, eddie lines, and when rapids are coming and you should only go with people who are very experienced. Even though I am capable of doing the class II section in my own boat, I went in one of my family’s double kayaks with my Dad.

The best day to do a full moon paddle is a couple of days before the actual full moon. If you were to paddle on the night of the actual full moon, the moon doesn’t come until very late and therefore you would be very tired. I would also advise to bring glow sticks for you, your paddle and your boat so that you can see if anything or anyone is missing, you can see better, and it is much more fun. You can’t see much when you are paddling, even with the moonlight, so it makes the rapids much more exciting.

The American river at night is very beautiful as you float past lights from houses and cars nearby, the moon, and stars. On this particular trip we went on, my parents and I were invited by my math teacher. This is something I would not advise, even though my math teacher is a fun, exciting, kind person, it was very awkward and embarrassing. We agreed to pretend it never happened and to act the same at school. All in all, this is a very fun thing to do if you have the right experience, and I myself had a very fun time doing it.

All word and images copyright California Women’s Watersport Collective 2019. All rights reserved.