Cyprinus Carpio, The European Carp, The Common Carp; are all names for what many Utahns' call a "Trash Fish". I suppose if we had the Ark of the Covenant we could place a big ol carp head in it so we can remember the carp given by God that was given to the families of Utah years ago. I suppose that is why the ancient Israelites placed mannah within the Ark of the Covenant along with the tablets from the days of Moses. It was so they would never forget their roots and how God watches over them.
When the early pioneers arrived to the Utah territory there were reports of fish so thick in Utah Lake that you could walk accross them at the mouth of the rivers emtying into Utah Lake. This was a great food source for the early pioneers and it was used in great abundance. So much so that the species of fish became very much depleated. In 1883 Govenor Bigham Young commisioned a replinishment program for the fish in Utah Lake, introducing the European Carp which was the sportfish of the day. That commision proved to be very resourceful as the fish became very prolific. Later it was the sorce of salvation for many families through two different depressions. It was the perfect fish for the job. The carp were shipped on trains and transported to ponds and barrels for families accross the state. The fish were able to survive the trip and live. That is a very good thing for a day before refrigeration became popular. Families recieved fresh fish for the day and many days to come. The fish are big and meaty and amazingly resilliant. It was quite the miracle, much like the seagulls that saved the crops from the mormon crickets that plagued the early pioneers. Today we have the historical monument in Salt Lake City to memorialize the salvation through those seagulls. I wish we had a carp monument for the same reason.
Needless to say that the fish have been a blessing. It is a shame that we have forgoten. Besides that, they really are a fun fish to catch and a hardy fish to eat.
I am not what I would call a carp fisherman but they are so pleniful that sometimes you catch them by accident. When you do have a "carp on" scenario you realize how amazing it is to pull in one of these beasts. Most people after catching one just through it to the side and leave it for the birds. I would offer the "Carp Challenge" and that is this: Stop listening to bad advice. Scale it (it scales just like other fish, the scales are just bigger), fillet it and cook it just like you would any other fish. I have even tried it in the smoker. Amazing!
The Common Carp is the most underrated fish in Utah. They are amazing to watch during their spring spawn and can be seen comming up the shallows, porpoising, and jumping up the waterfalls much like salmon.
Capernaum being close to the fruitful valley of Gennesaret was a major hub of trade for those who lived near the Sea of Galilee 2000 years ago. At about 30 AD the population of Capernaum was about 1500 people. As a comparison for those who live near the Sea of Timpanogos (Utah Lake), the smallest city surrounding the sea is Goshen, population 1000. You might recognize the name "Goshen" as the land that Israel occupied in ancient Egypt. In this case it is a small city on the south part of the Sea of Timpanogos. Oddly enough it has a set located there for making biblical movies. It is where the movie "The Life of Jesus Christ" was made:
Interesting how small and seemingly insignificant places can have a huge effect on the world. In fact this little place called the Sea of Galilee has had an influence on all the Abrahamic religions of the world but none so much and Christianity.
For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
Zachariah 4:10
Nazareth
Jesus Christ grew up in Nazareth, a city that was about 16 miles from the Sea of Galilee. It was a unique place were the legendary Sampson was from. This is why Jesus is always depicted in art as having long hair. It was the tradition of a Nazarite to not cut their hair.
Even though Nazareth was not on the Sea of Galilee it was considered to be a part of a territory called Galilee. 16 miles doesn't seem like much in our day but that could be a one to three day journey depending on what you were bringing with you. You can see in the famous Roman taxation story that Nazareth was a part of Galilee:
"And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judaea, unto the city of david, wich is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)"
Luke 2:4
The Galilaeans must have been an amazing people. Not only Jesus Christ himself but many of the quorum of the 12 apostles, if not all of them, in Christ's mortal ministry, where Galilaeans. We don't know where all the apostles came from. Some we know and others we speculate.
We know from John (the Baptist), a Galilaean that he had disciples who followed his teachings in preparation to introduce the Messiah. He introduces him to two of his deciples in John 1: 35-41. One of those disciples is Andrew who is the brother of Simon Peter. The two immediately recognize the Messiah and call him "Rabbi" (Master). Of this account two of these Galilaeans are the first two apostles called, Peter and Andrew. At the same time Peter and Andrew were called, James and John, who were also fisherman on the sea of Galilee were called as "fishers of men", special witnesses of Jesus Christ. We learn that Phillip also lived on the Sea of Galilee and was called the next day. We can speculate easily that Bartholomew was also a Galilaean and was introduced by Phillip. Airplanes and cellphones where just not a thing of those days. Your friends lived in close proximity. Bartholomew was also familiar with Nazareth. He was famed for saying, "can anything good come out of Nazareth?". Jesus recognized him as "an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!" (John 1: 47). Thomas was also found fishing on the Sea of Galilee by the resurrected Christ. The other Simon we do not know where he was from. We only know that he was a Zealot, meaning in some way he was associated in the insurrection against the Romans. James and Matthew are also unknown.
When you add on the other disciples that were Galilaeans you find an amazing group of people in a tiny little place in the world who recognized the Messiah.
The Sea of Galilee is now known as Lake Tiberius. People today have trouble calling it a sea. Culture changes and people want a sea to be a larger body of water. Except me of course. I want to change Utah Lake to "The Sea of Timpanogos". Utah Lake is twice the size of the Sea of Galilee. It empties into the Jordan River (both seas) and the Jordan river empties into and body of salty water. The Jordan of Israel into the Dead Sea and the Jordan of Utah into the Great Salt Lake. It is a striking similarity. Recently, there has been talks about dredging Utah Lake and building Islands in the middle. People wonder what they will find in this rejected endeavor. It would have been interesting. Here is something they found in the Sea of Galilee. Something from the days of these great Galilaeans:
Fish were a great part of the Galilaean life style. That is easy to imagine spending my childhood in California and watching fish after fish caught on the Huntington Beach pier. After all it is a big ocean. After spending much time on Utah Lake fishing and researching the populations surrounding the Sea of Galilee, I can completely see Galilee as a life sustaining vehicle for the cities adjacent to Galilee. Utah Lake has some big catfish in it and so does the Sea of Galilee.
The problem with that is that catfish do not have scales. That makes it not kosher. It is likely that early Galilaeans did not eat catfish. I imagine that it is a lot like the carp spawn on Utah Lake, where bow and arrow fisherman slay and beach all carp. They are laying around everywhere. More than likely if early Galilaeans caught a catfish they would just throw it up on the shore and leave it to die to protect other species.
Carp have very large scales. There are lots of carp in Utah Lake and lots of carp in Galilee. It is a big fish and it is very meaty and also kosher. I am almost sure that Jesus ate carp. Don't get offended by that. All you people who say carp is terrible have never tried it. It is the unwritten taboo and un-kosher fish of Utah. Most of you out there in Utah believe carp are only good for bear bate, which by the way is un-kosher. I don't usually target carp but on occasion I have caught one or two. You will be happy to know that I have eaten them. The reputation is a lie and I feel a little more like Jesus, The greatest of all Galilaeans.
Look at the scales on that beast. Isn't he beautiful?
Although I believe carp where a part of the Galilaean diet, at the same time I don't believe it was the target fish of the early apostles. After much research I believe tilapia was the target fish of the day. It makes sense. They pretty much used nets all the time, except when they were fishing for coin. Tilapia are mainly herbivores. They eat a lot of duckweed. I have never fished for tilapia but I have heard that one of the best baits is corn. Nets makes sense!
There are no tilapia in Utah Lake so in the spring when I do my apostles experience (stay tuned) I will be throw netting for carp. If I get 153 in my net I may need an army to pull that in. Maybe I will fish from the left side as a safety precaution, after all I will be in my kayak and it is likely that will take me down. Carp are not considered a sportfish in Utah so it is perfectly legal as long as you release any sportfish you catch.
This is from "The Chosen". Keep in mind the movies take a lot of liberty. I just love the tilapia.
I used to think when Jesus walked on water and calm the sea that there was an endless body of water between them and the shore. If they were in the middle than it would only be about three and one half miles to the shore. My x-water polo days are kicking in and that doesn't sound all that scary. In the Navy I experience a few hurricanes with 20 to 30 foot swells. I have even seen those waves take a manmade boat down to Davey Jones locker (Hattian refugee rescued). That was intimidating. But Galilee is a lake that is 7 miles across. I know when the wind kicks up in Utah lake you can get some big swells. The right 20 mile an hour wind can kick up a four foot wave. Some places are only 4 feet deep or less. That is intimidating and people do drown in those waves getting sloshed around in the unforgiving mud. The average depth of Utah Lake is 10 to 15 feet. The average depth of Galilee is 84 ft deep. Can Galilee produce a 4 foot wave?
I think so. I stay away from the rough seas of Utah Lake and sometimes when you are crossing a big lake the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. I have kayaked though the middle of Utah Lake:
I am pretty sure that ancient Galilaeans had many stories of people who had drown on the sea. They ate tilapia from the markets where the apostles traded. They walked when they traveled. They talked amongst friends. They recognized the Messiah. They were what we would consider small towners. They even ate carp and possibly through away catfish. They are the founders of Christendom.
The Day of Pentacost
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and
began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there
were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now
when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded,
because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all
amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, behold, are not all these which
speak Galilaeans?
Feeling the power of the moving water cycle beneeth you is literaly like feeling the power of life. No reason for Captain Literal from Studio C to restore justice here. Looking for planets that can maintain water in it's three stages is now the same science that looks for life in deep space's life sustaining planets. It is the existance of these three stages that makes life as we know it posible on the great planet where we now reside and it is theorized that is what will make it posible in other places in the universe.
Ok, that video was just for fun, and a good reminder to use the word "literal" correctly. But seriously, The water cycle is increadable. We don't have to imagine water evaperating and ascending into the clouds to be distributed into higher places like mountains and high platoughs, then gathering between the rocks and rills and eventually forming into streams and rivers distributing water into valleys and even back into the great oceans because we see it and sometimes take that marvel for granted.
This may not be the thing you are thinking about as you are navigating down a river but it is a good thing to contimplate every once in a wile.
You may be the kind of person that will start with practicing a roll in a white water kayak designed for front flips in a powerful washing machine scenario. This is not about that kind of extremism. Rather, this is about the next step from that beatifull pond you have been navigating and about how moving water effects how you navigate your kayak. More than likely the kayak you have will work just fine for class I and class II rapids. I remember going down my first river in a kayak. It was the Kearn River in the class IV section. I was on the most stable kayak or what I call a rayak (inflatable kayak), half kayak and half raft. What a great time that was and not that hard in an inflatable.
As you progress in your skills you may or may not want to change your hull to improve what you can and can't do, but for now whatever you have will work. That Blunt/Backstab will have to wait. For now some simple ideas of how to read the water and manuver in moving water will work.
I have learned from sad experience that I should not assume someones skill level when I take them down the river. My minimum requirement is that they know how to stop their kayak. NO BRAKES! Watching the person you came to enjoy the day with being subject to the mercy of the river is no fun.
There is more than one way to skin a trout and there are easy ways and harder ways to stop your kayak. I have used them all but I prefer the easy ways. Here is a little video I made years ago to help a group of young men understand the concept of a pillow:
This little spot is at the confluence of the Diamond fork River and the Spanish Fork River. There are lots of places in Utah county to practice these skills. One really good place is where the Provo River crosses Geneva road. There is a parking lot there and easy access to the river any time of the year. Also, there are two or three structures that create pillows in that little easy access spot. You will notice in the video that facing the current and paddling can stop your kayak depending on how swift the current is. If you get right at the base of the cascade you can even stop effortlessly as you are sitting on top of the washing machine. As you become familliar with the river you will notice that there are lots of pillows near the banks of rivers and sometimes big rocks create them in the middle.
You can't miss this one on the Provo River. If you went down that cascade and put the bow of your kayak in the pillow the current would swing your kayak around and your kayak would stop. You would now be facing the current and can easily see others aproaching. That is a perfect spot to wait for your party and plenty of room left for others to wait with you. Good and safe river edicate.
ROCKS
Taking on the unexpected rock can be a challenge. I often will turn my kayak around trying to keep an eye on my party. This ofcourse takes my eye off the river and can be the thing that flips me. As a rule, keep your eye on the river. You can see submerged rocks by the V it is creating on the waters surface and ofcourse there is always a lurknig rock in the shallows. I have hit a lot of rocks in the many rivers I have kayaked. Some have given me a great jolt but if I am facing forward I can usually get through it pretty well. It is the one you hit sideways that flipps you. Keep your kayak facing forward in the shallows and watch out for the Vs. Now that I have mentioned the Vs, sometimes the V is just the flow of least resistance and is the place you should be, especially in shallow water. That V faces the other way. It becomes more intuitive as you practice. I like this video because you can see how the river is moving by the trees and how facing forward is the key to taking on rocks:
What if you do end up in the river?
Remember on your back feet facing forward. Keep your limbs on the surface in swift water. Let the river carry you to a safe standing spot.
Reading the river:
I love the idea of navigating a small river as a good practice for reading a river. I believe if you can navigate the Diamond Fork River then you can navigate a much larger and more forgiving river. In a small river like the Diamond Fork River you really have to stay on your guard and make quick decisions or you will find yourself quickly in a debris pile, thick brush or the bottom of the river, high centered. The advantage is that the river does not have the power of a bigger river behind it.
Locating the deeper channel can be essential portage in a small river and you need to be more selective of your pillows just so you have enough room to turn arround.
Diamond Fork River: Red Rocks to the Campground
Spanish Fork River: Tree line road to the Sports Park
Provo River much more forgiving: Deer Creek Dam to Vivian Park
These three river runs don't get past a class II rapid unless you are in flooding conditions. There are other sections of those rivers that can be more challenging if you want more adventure. For example; the Spanish Fork River has a section called Kit Carson's Cunnundrum that can be class III based on the water flow. And the Provo River has the Bridal Veil Falls section that is more challenging as well.
Video by William Pennington. I am the dot in front of William.
I recomend adding a helmet to your gear in these sections.
There really is some great water in Utah County. The Provo river section that starts at Deer Creek Dam and ends at Vivian Park is the section of choice for most river runners. Hopefully this will give some ideas on how to mix it up a little.
The Back Sweep:
When switching to moving water from a stroll on the pond one of the most valuable control moves to me is the "back sweep". It is not something beginners will use in still water and it can be increadably valuable in moving water. It can mean the difference of getting dumped down a cascade or not. A simple back sweep can put you in the right position to handle anything the river deals you. The forward sweep is how most people contol their kayak and that is great if you can think way ahead of the game. However the back sweep can give you instant control in almost any situation on the river. As you learn to use the back sweep your river experience will be inhanced greatly as you realize you are now working much less and utilizing the power of the river for locomotion.
I have always liked this rule:
“Adventure should be 80 percent ‘I think this is manageable,’ but it’s good to have that last 20 percent where you’re right outside your comfort zone. Still safe, but outside your comfort zone.”
Naming a body of water can be a big deal. Names can stick in history a long time, or the name of a landmark can also date a period as names change over the generations of time. Names are just not as enduring as they should be. It is thought that the Sea of Galilee was named from a Hebrew word meaning harp, the Hebrew word kinnor (×›ִּ× ּוֹר), meaning "harp or lyre". It was believed that the shape of the lake resembled a harp in those days.
But, even 2000 years ago the name was not so solid as you would think. We can look at another name of the lake as the Sea of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1). Gennesaret being an important fruitful land on the west side of the lake. Today the body of water we know as the Sea of Galilee is where parts of Jesus mortal and post mortal ministry took place. It now carries the name Lake Tiberius which name also existed 2000 years ago but seemed to endure the test of time.
The ancient cities surrounding the Sea of Galilee were Tiberius, Hammat, Gader, Korazin, Capernaum and Tabgha. Ancient civilizations seem to gather around life sustaining water sources. The mortal ministry of the Savior of all mankind happened in the tiniest, seemingly insignificant little place in the world. In fact, the Sea of Galilee, although it is Israel's largest freshwater lake is only 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. Half the size of its ecological doppelganger in the New World, Utah Lake.
If you haven't already guessed, you have been looking at pictures of Utah Lake.
Along with early Spanish explorers Dominguez and Escalante, I like to call it The sea of Timpanogos. These explorers had a variation of that name. They called the lake "Lagunas de los Timpanogos". They must have had some knowledge given to them from local natives who named the lake's greatest source of water the Timpanogos River, which today we call the Provo River. If you think that is confusing, early pioneers took the name of the river and gave that name to a mountain. In the Ute language a loose translation of the word timpanogos means "rocky river". The names should be changed to protect the historical and linguistic significance.
On the West side of Utah Lake are the fruitful cornfields of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Created for the purpose of feeding those in need. I imagine it is much like Gennesaret(west of Galelee). It is a fun drive seeing healthy antelope prancing through the corn fields. Many wild geese enjoy the grain as well before it all goes to Church livestock. I have been the benefactor of some of those waterfowl. Here is a picture of my niece breasting out her first corn fed duck:
Interestingly, the only outlet of the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Timpanogos (Utah Lake) is the Jordan River, but not the same river. You might recognize the Jordan River as the place where Jesus was baptized and also the place where Naman was cleansed from leprosy from your bible reading.
Interestingly the picture taken here was done in the Jordan River Utah depicting the event that occurred in the Jordan River Israel. Both of these rivers empty into a very salty body of water. The Jordan River in Israel empties into the Dead Sea. It is so salty that even ocean fish cannot live in it, hence the name Dead Sea. The Jordan River in Utah empties into the Great Salt Lake, another overly salty body of water that cannot support fish. Both of these salty bodies of water are larger than their mother source. Interestingly, when early explorers stumbled across the Great Salt Lake they thought they found an inlet to the Pacific Ocean.
They did not find an inlet to the ocean, but you can see why they thought so when you see the Great Salt Lake in this video:
There is an interesting Prophecy regarding the Dead Sea in Israel. The Prophet Ezekiel talks about our day and the rebuilding of the Temple in Israel. He prophecies about a river flowing from the temple and bringing life back to the Dead Sea (Ezekiel 47).
Antelope Island is home to a multitude of terrestrial mammals, including one of the oldest herds of bison in America. The island resides on The Great Salt Lake. They cannot drink the water from the Lake, however, the island has springs that come out of the ground and support the life on the island. Other springs feed the lake as well and a portion of the lake has been diked off to create what locals call Willard Bay. Willard bay is a great fishery full of life. An angler can go there and fish from a very controlled ecosystem of hybrids like "Wipers" and "Tiger Musky". Life truly has been brought to The Great Salt Lake. Even though that is not the prophecy that Ezekiel was giving it shows how that can happen in a similar ecosystem.
The Sea of Galilee was a great source of food for ancient Israel. Likewise Utah Lake has an abundance of fish much like the Sea of Galilee. Fish from Utah Lake have been the savior from starvation for many families throughout time. Ancient people of Utah gathered at the lake to partake of its abundance. Early pioneers reported so many fish you could walk across them to another bank. Utah Lake has been the bail out of two major depressions. It's fish being delivered even by train to needful families in modern day times. The Sea of Galilee has several carp species that occupy its waters much like Utah Lake that has a 90 percent carp biomass.
But, what kind of fish did Jesus eat from the Sea of Galilee?
The thought of this brings me back to my grade school days. Hot school lunch Fridays was always fish sticks. I never knew why, I just accepted it as a great thing, I loved fish sticks. Little did this trusting boy know that it had to do with a Lentin tradition. Now that of course is the watered-down version of the several millennia old tradition that was passed down from biblical times. That cod was delicious but was not quite the traditional fish that Jesus ate. Rather, it was more likely he ate Tilapia, and that mild tasting fish was rumored to be the fish that was caught by St. Peter in the Sea of Galilee and fed the masses in Tabgha. That is why Tilapia is known as "St. Peter's fish".
There are no Tilapia in Utah Lake. in fact commercial production is illegal in Utah. However, there is a similar mild tasting fish that is very plentiful in Utah Lake.
The White Bass
I love the story of the resurrected Christ telling his disciples, “And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.”
John 21:6
If you have ever fished the white bass spawn in Utah Lake you can catch the same kind of numbers that Peter and his crew brought in, even without a net. Based on the current Roman(local state authority) laws you will have to do it with a fishing rod one fish at a time. It is still very possible. But if you insist on the experience of the apostles, you can legally use a net to catch the European Carp in the Sea of Timpanogos. You may get the same struggle. One time I watched a young man from Russia use a small handheld fishing net to catch and European Carp from the waterfall behind the fire station in Provo. It was quite the battle. In the end his smile was ear to ear and the prize was huge. The gestalt of the experience was way better than anything on Netflix.
Birds enjoy a plentiful habitat at both the Sea of Timpanogos and the Sea of Galilee. There is a lot of wilderness area near Utah Lake. One time I did catch a surprise sighting of a wild emu. It must have escaped from someone's farm. Interestingly there was a species of ostrich long extinct that once existed in Israel in the days when Jesus walked the shores of Galilee. There are some 240 species of birds that reside near Utah Lake. I think it is the pelicans and the sea gulls that make both lakes seem like a sea. Life is indeed abundant in these cities surrounded bodies of water.
Very often we view the changing of a landscape in terms of a
great deal of time. Mountains for example are formed in seismic events and then
eroded and weathered with hundreds and thousands of years of Mother Nature
sculpting the meticulous details of one of these earthen wonders. One of the
greatest sculpting tools Mother Nature wields is water. This is why a river can
change much faster than a mountain.
Years ago I learned how a meadow is formed: Water picks up
minerals from the earth and deposits them on the sides and at the end of a
meandering river. Eventually it completely fills the river forming a meadow,
filling with local vegetation and ready for life to inhabit the area. I good way to
view this happening is our very own Provo Bay.
Satellite view of Hobble Creek and Mill Race
Years ago I grabbed this satellite image of this area to research
the possibility of a paddle down Hobble Creek and back up Mill Race. You can
see at the bottom how Hobble Creek feeds into Provo Bay and at the top you can
see a gaping wide opening to Mill Race. It was a successful paddle with the
help of a few Utah County Kayakers and their adventurous spirits, in spite of a
few scary lightning strikes. The water that year was even higher than this
image projected. In fact, I got a little lost looking for the mouth of Mill
Race in a confusing fragmite jungle.
Because of proximity to my home I frequently kayak Mill
Race. It very easy access for me and I don't have to plan a put in and take
out. It is a river that can be entered and exited at the same place. I can do
this solo or invite friends. A few weeks ago I took my friend Colton to the
mouth of Mill Race. The water was low that day and when we reached the end a
sand bar was blocking the entrance into Utah Lake. I thought to myself that
when the water gets higher I will be able to kayak into the lake once again.
Here is a picture comparison to the same spot:
The pelican picture was taken by Colton Rigby just a few weeks ago and is a zoom shot for two reasons. One, not to spook the Pelicans and two, we couldn't get to that area beacuse of the sandbar. I kayaked to the same spot yesterday and the buoy that used to mark the entrance of Mill Race is now on dry land and the sand bar is rapidly becoming an estuary Island. Here is a video of the island that is forming. There are streams of water going through but it got to where it was only a few inches and I had to turn around for fear of getting stuck:
Here you see that even with higher water levels (probably the highest I have seen all year) the sandbar is like Gandalf saying, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS".
Infact, the mass seems higher. At a guess I would say it has grown 6 to 12 inches higher.
The birds seem to love it out there so bring your camera. The current dominant species out there yesterday was the Glossy Ibis. A few weeks ago it was Pelicans and American Avecets.
The most popular place on the Provo River for watercraft is
a 2 to 3 hour paddle that starts just below the Deer Creek Reservoir dam and
ends at Vivian Park. It is a fun section that pushes you along without much
effort on your paddling. Most of your paddling ability will be for steering.
There are 1 and 2 class rapids along the way that add just enough element to
make it more fun for a beginner. Beginners should avoid the train bridge. There
is a takeout spot just before the bridge and a put in just after the bridge.
Make sure you are with someone who knows where it is. Otherwise stay to the
right side of the river to ensure safer passage.
Even if your ability to navigate through the bridge is good,
there are some unseen obstacles that can be problematic. Here is a video of
people going through on a mild day with dumb luck. The video starts with the
kayaker warning a tuber about the train bridge and shows the take out and put
in before and after the bridge even though this crazy kayaker goes through
(Me).
Don't let the bridge ruin your trip. It is just the one obstacle
you want to avoid. Even though I went through I was able to see the high water
condition that can change how you go through the bridge. Famous last words
"It is best if you know what you are doing".
The great thing about a summer Provo River solo trip is that you are rarely solo. The popularity of this trip is growing. The 2 to 3 hour paddle makes it so you can do it twice because sometimes once is not enough.
River safety is important and you want to at least have some basic skills before you get into a river like this. Here are some good tips from Ace Adventure Resort:
Basic Kayak Manuvering:
It is good to know how to stop a kayak in a river.
If you take one thing from this I think the Defensive Swim
Position is it. The Provo River is not that swift in this section but it can be
deceiving. Don't put your feet down in swift water. Just relax on your back
with feet forward to protect you from river obstacles and eventually the water
condition will change for safe standing.
Here is a few video tours of the Provo River Vivian Park
take out section:
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