![]() ![]() Nearby, tucked into the shadows of the busy 16th and 12th street bridges, is a little riverfront neighborhood complete with docks, decks, solar panels and a houseboat or two. A fact probably lost on graffiti artists who have decorated the foundations more recently. It was an electric railroad that once ran all the way to Chico, say transit historians, who note these rail lines created the first permanent crossings of the American in the early 20th century. But any mythical monsters must have been snoozing on the Saturday morning when we quietly glided by.įurther downstream, past the Capital City (I-80 Business) freeway bridge, are three railway crossings – the old Southern Pacific and Western Pacific lines, plus a pedestrian/bike bridge that once carried the Sacramento Northern. Old concrete abutments under the bridge look ominous – like the lairs of river trolls. Today it’s a four-lane span to upscale suburbs. According to a recent article in The Sacramento Bee, this was roughly the spot where Gold Rush-era folks forded a shallow spot in the river. It wasn’t built until 1932, though other spans preceded it. Back then, folks paddled this river out of necessity, not for recreation.įor example, take the H Street Bridge (also called the J Street Bridge and the American River Bridge at H Street). Before then, the American River was more of an obstacle than an urban playground. Looking up from the water at Guy West and the nine remaining spans, it’s amazing to realize that all were built within the last century or so. It’s the smallest span on this trip and the most elegant by far. This pedestrian bridge (below) is a real gem, a one-tenth scale model of the famed Golden Gate. ![]() You’ll want the companionship anyway, since a vehicle shuttle is required if you can’t arrange for pickup at the Discovery Park pullout.Īfter passing under the Howe Avenue bridge and past a futuristic-looking water treatment plant, we floated under the Guy West Bridge at California State University, Sacramento. So wear a personal flotation device, as always, and go with a group – preferably including someone who’s paddled this stretch of the American before. Not to mention that late-autumn air temps in the 50s to low 60s seem fine for paddling but feel much colder after a flip-and-dip in the river. ![]() But snags and shallows and a few good-sized riffles could take an unwary kayaker by surprise. River current on this stretch tends to be more leisurely in November than at some other times. (NorCal Yak plans to include a full-length paddle of the American River Parkway as a future “top ten” paddle trip.) Our November paddle began near Howe Avenue and ended 11 bridges, 8.5 miles, and three hours later at Discovery Park, where the American converges with the Sacramento River.Īs a bonus, we enjoyed an “underview” of 11 bridges while paddling the final stretch of one of the finest urban parkways in California, if not the West. Little do they know about the environment that lies just below the stream of urban traffic.Ī short, easy kayak trip along the American near downtown Sacramento is perfect for that sunny, late-season weekend when you have a few hours to spare. And a quick check shows that Franz takes up less battery and CPU usage than running the same tabs in the Google Chrome browser-not surprising, given Chrome's troubles with battery and power.Every day, tens of thousands of people in Sacramento drive over the American River. There's a helpful badge on the icon announcing the number of unread messages. You also get native notification support compliant with your operating system. For starters, you can sign into multiple accounts of Facebook Messenger without having to constantly log in and out. In essence, Franz is a Chromium-based desktop wrapper for the web versions of all these apps, but it also offers a few additional benefits. And the developers say they are busy adding more services. Not all of them are chat-oriented either, giving you things you need like Google Calendar or Inbox by Gmail. This includes Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram, WeChat, Skype, Discord, and several others. All-in-one messaging app for WhatsApp, Slack, Skype, and many more.įranz is an all-in-one, universal messaging app, which supports 65 services. ![]()
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