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Welcome to The Kayak State.  Here you can find a little bit of everything kayaking related.  Check out our online river guides to find out info on rivers around the world.  These are loaded with photos of stunning river views.  You can find stories from competitions and paddling trips in the blog section or check out gear reviews on Westroke.

River Classifications:

The classification of rivers is often disputed because it is so subjective so this is a description of how rivers will be classified on this site.  It’s always best to get first hand and recent beta from a local paddler before putting on a new run.  I use a scale of I-V (1-5) to rate both the difficulty and danger of a run sometimes with a sixth (VI) class meaning a rapid is not runnable.  You will find many runs on this site with two numbers for the rating, for instance the Green Truss section of the White Salmon River, class IV/V or the Okere Falls section of the Kaituna River, class III/IV.  This can denote that a run has several rapids that are commonly run but if portaged then it can be made into a less challenging run.  The Green Truss is definitely a class V run if you run all the rapids but if you portage Big Brother, Double Drop and BZ you can make it into a much easier, class IV, run.  This can also denote that a run has a distinct difference in difficulty and danger like the Kaituna.  There are many moves on the Kaituna that require class IV skills to do well but there are very few consequences to messing up and swimming, so it gets a class III/IV rating.  Either way these runs will pose good opportunities to push your paddling skills a half step forward.  Finally a few of the runs, like the Kaituna, have a V in parentheses after their class rating.  This means theres a rapid much harder and more dangerous than the rest of the run that is usually portaged but can be run if you have the skill.

Class I:

Still or moving flat water.  This doesn’t take any skill to navigate and doesn’t have any significant features.  The only dangers are objects like fallen trees in the river.  Class I is easily navigated in any craft.

Class II:

Small wave trains and weak eddy lines.  Class II doesn’t require any previous kayaking ability to navigate.  Rapids are short and straight forward with small features that would normally not even flip a novice paddler.  The only dangers are from objects like fallen trees and standing up in a rapid.

Class III:

Medium to large wave trains with defined eddy lines.  Class III rapids often include multiple moves and can continue for longer distances.  Class III moves require an intermediate ability to maneuver a kayak to “style.”  Swims sometimes result in minor injuries like bruises and scrapes and can sometimes damage gear.  Class III doesn’t pose any serious risks other than foot entrapment and objects in the river like fallen trees.

Class IV:

Class IV rapids can have a number of moves that require an advanced skill set to “style.”  Class IV big water rapids will have long large wave trains with pushy eddy lines and currents.  You’ll need a bomb proof roll in these rapids but any holes will be easy to avoid.  Class IV boulder garden and creeking rapids can have stacked sequences of moves but usually have a number of possible lines and very rarely have siphons or other dangers to avoid.  Swimming in Class IV often results in damaged or lost gear and minor injuries like bruises and scrapes.  Class IV can sometimes cause more serious injuries but has a low chance of death besides for strainers or foot entrapment.

Class V:

This class covers everything else thats runnable.  Rapids often have long series of moves that require both an expert level of ability along with good physical fitness.  Class V rapids can have tall drops, pushy flows and dangerous holes and sieves.  Class V is a broad category of rapids that often have real death consequences for messing up the line.  It’s important when attempting to paddle class V that you have a strong understanding of your own skills built over years of kayaking experience.  Just because you’ve run class V rapids doesn’t mean you can run every class V rapid.

Class VI:

Un-run and unrunnable rapid or section of river.  An attempted descent will almost definitely result in death or serious injury no matter the paddlers skill.  Not a term used lightly on The Kayak State.