Cedar River

Paddle Report: We paddled from the Landsburg Bridge to Belmondo Reach yesterday. The total time was 3 hours and 40 minutes; probably 20 to 30 minutes of that were spent on the shore. The level was about 950, and decreasing during the afternoon. We were in two Aire Tributary Tomcats and one Sevylor sk100ds (this turned out to be a viable little IK for that kind of paddle). The Cedar is beautiful and feels pretty wild for the first stretch. There are no difficult rapids, just a few unexpected boulders beneath the surface that we grazed. All in all, we encountered three places that we took out and scouted; two of them had signs and didn't pose any problems if you stay right, as the signs instruct. The third, right after one of the rusty railway/Cedar River Trail bridges had a bunch of trees blocking the main course of the river, but we could walk and float around to the other side on a side-channel which was shallow and leads past a few houses. Other kayakers walk through the trees and put back in right after the obstacle. There were trees here and there in the water, but nothing that couldn't be scouted and dealt with. At one point, we got out to find a route around a tree that crosses 3/4ths of the river, which can be passed by staying right, but within 100 ft after that, you have to get all the way over to the left and paddle under a log which bridges the river or you will be caught up in a big tangle of roots. We got out, chose a course, and paddled under the log. I talked to people at the take-out who know the Cedar as a tubing river. It might be when the flow is 350 or less; but not at 950. Easy enough as a class II paddle, but you have to keep an eye out for strainers and root-balls.