It had been a while since I was last in Napa Valley, so I thought it’d be fun to paddle by downtown and beyond, exploring the upper stretches of the Napa River past the Oxbow Preserve which I reached the last time I paddled the river. Plus there was a $5/bag book sale at the local library that I planned to stop by, so I combined the two trips into one and headed to Napa on a 95F (reads “hot even for someone from Southeast Asia!”) Saturday in late September…..
The parking lot next to Napa College Boat Launch by Kennedy Park is huge. There are also two single-occupancy restrooms close by in case you want to ready yourself before heading out on the water. They have flush toilets, but no running water though (as far as I remember). The dock is only a few steps away, and once on the water you can choose to go either left (south) toward the San Pablo Bay, or right (north) toward Downtown Napa. As I wanted to show off my paddle boarding skills to the Napa tourists, I decided to head north =P But before I got on the water, I noticed this car that was parked next to mine in the lot…. I used to watch this cartoon series with my sister waaaaay back in college. And the series is still ongoing to this day. Recently, they just published a book about this series, supposedly “the longest single-volume book” in the world =)
The Napa river was very mellow when I was there, and as it was a flooding tide when I started out, I could technically float my board to my intended destination, although that would have taken a good bit of the day =) Close to Kennedy Park and running along the bank of the river is a walking / biking trail, where I’d occasionally see cyclists and pedestrians out on their strolls. There were also many birds on both shores of the river, where I could recognize egrets and black-necked stilts, although there were other species as well for which I did not know the names. Right before I got to the bridge of Hwy 121 (Imola Ave), I encountered a couple of fishermen, together with 3 kayakers who were also fishing in the vicinity. I ran into many fishermen (fisherwomen) on this paddle, and had to carefully navigate my board so as not to run into their fishing lines, as I had the knack of doing on my previous trips. Luckily, there were no significant incidents on this trip =D
Oops! It seems like this post isn't published yet. Stay tuned for updates!Downtown Napa was not too crowded on this day, and I’m not sure if it was due to the excessive heat, or if the Covid-effect was still having an impact on the local tourism industry. I decided to continue paddling upstream, and would take a short break in downtown on my return trip. A couple just headed out ahead of me from the downtown boat launch in a tandem kayak, and soon I encountered a whale boat with two tourists on board on their way back to downtown. They said hi, and I returned my hello, and then the boater asked me:
Oops! It seems like this post isn't published yet. Stay tuned for updates!Are you going fishing?
He must have noticed my yellow Pelican box, and mistook it for a tackle box of some sort. I chuckled and said that it’s my lunch box =) Of course, my Pelican box is more than just a simple lunch box, it also contains my bridge camera, my extra batteries (for both my GoPro and bridge cameras), my first aid kit, and my spare leash that could also serve as a tow rope. If I was out in the ocean or bay, I’d probably have my marine radio in there as well. And there is still room to spare with all that stuff in the box, plus it’s waterproof, too. This is probably one of the best investments I have made for my water adventures =P
After saying goodbye, I continued upstream, paddling along side the couple in the tandem kayak. Now and then we’d see a couple of paddle boarders and many kayakers coming back in the other direction. A little girl was sitting in the front seat of a tandem kayak paddled by her mom, and she commented “that is so cool!” when we passed one another. Then I told her, “You gotta try it some time, it’s really fun!” and she nodded in agreement. Hopefully the next time they’re on the water she could convince her mom to try the “fun” paddle board over the “not as fun” kayak =P
Oops! It seems like this post isn't published yet. Stay tuned for updates!The further upstream I went, the less people I saw, and suddenly I was all by myself. I turned around to look and saw that the couple in the tandem kayak was all the way in the back. Since I didn’t really have a destination in mind, I decided to just continue paddling until I could not anymore. It was very easy paddling from downtown to here, and I’d imagine you can continue for a long time without much trouble, especially if there’s a high enough tide. I, however, decided to turn back when I got to the Lincoln Ave. bridge (e.g. the first bridge you’d encounter after the Oxbow Preserve). I saw a couple of ducks just beyond the bridge in what looked like to be shallow mudflats. Not knowing if the wind would pick up soon, and also having a book sale to go to, I chose to turn around and head back to the downtown Napa public dock. I soon ran into the couple in that tandem kayak where I told them about the upcoming bridge; they, too, told me that they’d probably turn back soon as well. We bid goodbyes, and I returned the way I came.
Then just before I reached downtown, I ran into the same whale boater with a different set of tourists in his charge this time around. They were ecstatic to see a paddle boarder on the Napa river, when they waved and sent hellos flying my way =) Then they started asking their guide of how to get their hands on a paddle board and get on the river “like that guy over there!” I’m glad to have helped out the local kayak outfit store with their future sales on this day =D
When I got to the dock at downtown, three young men just launched in their paddle boards and kayak, and were heading south in the same direction as mine. I asked a woman taking care of rental kayaks at the dock whether it’d be okay for me to stay for a bit, and she replied affirmatively. Furthermore, she said that I can also leave my board here and go visit downtown should I want to, for this is a public dock and there is no fee charged to anyone. I thanked her, and said that I would go back to Kennedy Park soon, but would pay a visit to downtown at some later time.
I stayed here for about 10-15 minutes to rest, then headed back toward Kennedy Park. Soon, I caught up to the three young men who started paddling from Downtown Napa a short while ago. Apparently the kayaker is the least experienced among the three, so he had a rope tied to a paddle board and was helped out by the latter. The other paddle boarder had a dog on board, and that dog enjoyed the water so much that it kept leaping into the water. It was definitely a fun afternoon for everyone paddling on the river.
I got back to the dock at Napa College just a tad before 2pm, having paddled 8+ miles for the day. Since the book sale was to end at 4pm, I took my time to clean up and pack all the stuff into the car, then drove some 2 miles to the public library just a couple of blocks from the Downtown Napa public dock to try out my luck for the day. Their foreign language selection wasn’t great, but I did pick out many biographies that would keep me busy for the foreseeable future =) My haul for the day was: (1) Peter the Great (by Robert K. Massie); (2) Catherine the Great (by John T. Alexander); (3) Wyatt Earp (by Casey Tefertiller); (4) Sherman (by John F. Marszalek); (5) Paul Revere’s Ride (by David Hackett Fischer); (6) Samuel Adams (by Ira Stoll); Lincoln the Unknown (by Dale Carnegie); (7) The Life of Samuel Johnson (by James Boswell); (8) Ansel Adam’s Autobiography; (9) The Brothers (by Lesley Downer, about the history of the used-to-be richest Japanese family); (10) The Natural History of Año Nuevo (I’ll want to stop by this place before I leave NorCal later this December); (11) North Bay Trails; (12) Great Day Hikes in & around Napa Valley; (13) 2001 Spanish and English Idioms; (14) The Hydra Head (by Carlos Fuentes; I’d probably want to grab his original Spanish text and use this translation with my reading); (15) Kanji de Manga volume 1 – the comic book that teaches you how to read and write Japanese! This last book is a bit elementary for my taste, for I know almost all the Kanji’s shown in the book already. Perhaps volumes 3 or beyond would have been more suitable for my current level….
Overall, it was a great day in Napa! There wasn’t much wind for the entire paddle, the tides were cooperating throughout, I got enough exercise in for the day, and I was able to have my hand on many interesting books on very interesting people in history. Now I just need to find time to read them =)