In the world of whitewater kayaking, California trades its reputation of vibrant cities, sunny beaches, art, film, and music for remote river canyons of seemingly solid granite, the true gold of whitewater paddling.
Huge slides and waterfalls cascade out of the high sierras and when the levels are just right, it’s possible to paddle some of the world’s most spectacular whitewater.
This year I was lucky to catch the North Fork of Mokelumne in prime flow. The section called Fantasy Falls drops over 3,000 ft and is one of California’s most iconic rivers.
Our goal was to do two descents of this river, back-to-back. A two-day descent followed by another in only one day.
Aniol Serrasolses, fresh off eight laps on the Stikine in Northern BC, arrived late to my home in White Salmon, Washington. He quickly re-packed, and we loaded up in my Jetta for a drive through the night straight to the takeout of Fantasy Falls.
We met Scott Lindgren and Joe Todd, or Toad, as most people call him for a descent none of us are soon to forget. Between the four of us we represented three distinct generations of paddling. Our differences of perspectives, skills set, and knowledge blending nicely for a cohesive team.
Scott, one of the pioneers of expedition kayaking and California whitewater, did the second descent of Fantasy Falls in 1994, four years before Toad was born. This was to be Toad’s ninth descent of Fantasy, his third this year. For me, it would be my second personal descent, my last one 15 years prior. Aniol, one of the greatest athletes to ever sit in a kayak, had done a few laps on the river over the years. It was clear this was going to be one for books.
Gorge names like Total Reality Vortex, Jedi Mind, Mommy, Untouchables, Rifemans, and Beartrap host dozens of big drops, slides and rapids. Thin lines through exploding whitewater and jagged rocks. But there’s always only once place to begin: the Top.
Unique to other runs in California requiring long hikes, Fantasy begins at a road and late in the day, we put in and paddled under the bridge looking forward to high afternoon flows to float us over a very ‘manky’ section at the top. Jagged rocks piled together form the riverbed high up and we snaked our way through this technical, dangerous section of river. The flow began to pick up as soon we were running some of the classic whitewater we had come for, whitewater glowing in the afternoon sun.
We camped that night on the granite at the top of the TRV gorge.....
Pulling a kayak up on a rock, building a fire, cooking a simple meal, and laying out under the stars to the sound of the river is one of the true joys of my life and I savored these moments, happy to be sharing them with such good friends.
The next day we were right into some of the most difficult whitewater of the run. That day we paddled many dozens of class 5 rapids, did a couple long portages, and generally had one of the best days of whitewater imaginable. We ran most of the big drops, Aniol of course going "full send", running some of the most impressive lines on the river. Six hours after putting on we looked down the last section of whitewater into the reservoir, tired, happy, and mostly in one piece. Paddling across the reservoir to the car it was hard to imagine going straight back to the top for a one-day descent. My shoulder strained from snapping a quick roll and my body aching from 3,000 vertical feet of cascading down water and rock.
Aniol and I set up camp near the takeout, did a cold plunge, ate dinner, and went to sleep early. My mind very undecided about the day ahead. After a good night's sleep, I woke up early and did a couple rotations with my shoulder, it was going to be fine. We packed up, drove to the put-in, and dropped in again for what was the most incredible single day of paddling I’ve had in a damn-long time completing the full descent in around 6 hours.
At the end of the day, I was simply grateful to be there, following rivers and adventure, celebrating life and friendships. For me, it doesn’t get better.
Tyler Bradt
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Tyler Bradt KAVU
© 2026 KAVU
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