Cuyama River: Lower Canyon
class III-IV
length: ~15 miles*
gradient: ~30-40 ft/mile
drainage area: ~500 sq. miles
elevation: ~1400 ft (put-in), ~750 ft (take-out)
minimum flow: 500 cfs
optimum flow: 3000 cfs
shuttle: 12 miles, highway 166

* note that numbers with squiqles by them are crude estimates and will be
determined in detail later

     The Cuyama River (pronounced Qwee-ah-mah) flows in an east-to-west
direction in the coastal Central Califonia mountains.  It is located north
of Santa Barbara and south of San Luis Obispo, between drainages for the
Salinas River to the north and Santa Ynez River to the south.  The river is
impounded approximately 24 miles from the ocean by Twitchell Dam (el.
687ft).  Approximately 7 miles below Twitchell Dam is the confluence with
the Sisquoc River, which has a smaller drainage area, but carries more
water.  After the confluence it is called the Santa Maria River, and flows
through the city of the same name.
     On February 7, 1998, our group of five kayakers put-in about 35 miles
above Twitchell Reservoir (13 miles east of the town of New Cuyama), in the
main Cuyama Valley, at a bridge that crosses the river.  Our first
attempted put-in was 5 miles below this point at a very small creek that
entered the river 100 yds from the road.  A sheriff passing by stopped and
made us re-load and put-in upstream to respect private property rights (I
was already on the small creek).  It had rained an inch or two the previous
day.  The river was flowing ~1000 cfs here.  The first ~18 miles of
paddling in the valley was mostly flat and fast moving, sand waves here and
there, and a few class II rapids with a couple little play spots.
Sometimes we would be frustrated by getting stuck on a part of the river
that was too shallow (it was difficult to discern depth in many places).
The water was extremely silty (siltiest I've ever seen), and felt smooth
rubbing one's fingers with its residue.   Visibility through it was about 1
mm.  After rolling in this muck, the residue on one's face would get into
the eyes and make everything foggy for a while.  Incredible amounts of dirt
would remain in our hair, ears, and eyes after we had finished the run.  It
was so bad that our eyes ached horribly that evening, and the next morning
we awoke to them being pasted shut from all the gunk that was being cleaned
out as we slept.  The sandy banks along the river would rise vertically
1-10 ft and would occassionally topple in (erosion in progress).  Initially
I tried nudging this along by paddling the nose of my boat into the bank
(which really didn't do anything).  Having angered the river Gods at me, a
little while later I was paddling by one of the banks (not nudging it at
all), and a huge chunk of a couple hundred pounds of dirt slid into the
river at my side, splashing dirt in my eyes, and nearly tipping my boat
over.  I showed a little more respect after that.  This run through the
valley would be very fun with high water - up to flood-levels.  It was
raining pretty steadily on our run through the valley.
     The river flows north of the highway at the next bridge crossing of
highway 166 (~15 miles above Twichell Reservoir), and enters a canyon.  We
were all glad to enter it after paddling for over three hours in the
flatter, open valley.  The river's character changed quickly after its
entrance.  Being much more constrained in its width, there were no more
spots where we would get stuck on sand.   Class II rapids started
immediately - waves were larger, play spots abounded, and the scenery was
striking - reminiscent of the Eel River Canyon in Northern California.
Along this line, several miles down is a great rock spire several hundred
feet above the river, clearly visible from river level, similar to the
Spyrock on the main Eel run.  In places there were small yucca-type plants
covering the canyon wall, but mostly it was green grass, and some oak
trees.  The highway, which runs near the river a couple hundred feet above
it and often separated by granite walls, was unobtrusive.  It continued
raining, and at some times the downpours and winds were incredibly strong.
The water began rising.  Side-creeks carried hundreds of muddy cfs into the
main river.  Small clear streams of water poured down the canyon walls.
With a steeper gradient and rising water level, we found ourselves paddling
in class III, and soon after class IV.   Huge sand wave trains (up to 8
vertical feet) gave some of us great surfing fun.  Long rapids with holes
lurking in them kept us all on our toes.  A few of the rapids we gave names
to: Willy Wonka's Chocholate Factory (at a nice surfing wave at a right
hand bend in the river), Chocolate Dreams, and the like.  At one point my
skirt popped (as it had done several times that day) when I was in a large
hole, and I took a swim in the fast river.  Thankfully my partners got
everything to the side quickly.  Our estimates on the flow were about 3000
cfs.  It moved you very quickly through the beautiful scenery.  Showers
would occarionally stop and the crisp clean clear air would allow us to see
and feel what a wonderful canyon and river this was.  There were two more
highway 166 bridges across the river about 10 miles into the canyon, and
the last one was five miles further (where we had left the shuttle
vehicle).  Twilight came upon us and we still were uncertain how far it was
to the truck.  Two of our party decided to quit then, as it was still class
III-IV (about 4 miles from the take-out) and carried up to the road to
await our arrival with the truck.  The rest of us continued down.  About 3
miles from the take-out the rapids eased down to class II and it was pretty
mellow as we finished our way in the nearly dark conditions.  What a run!

Because this river is centrally located, I have the feeling that some
Central California boaters may have run it previously.  Please inform us if
you know this to be true.

Paddlers:
Rocky Contos
Tom Diegel
Preston Holmes
John (?) from Santa Paula
Don (?) from Patagonia


James "Rocky" Contos                            **an avid whitewater kayaker**
jcontos@ucsd.edu
Neuroscience PhD program