Paddle to the Sea comes through Modesto area

More than 20 people paddled in canoes and kayaks through the the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday, the 10th leg and about 80 miles of a 241-mile journey to the sea.

The seventh annual Paddle to the Sea is a fundraising event for the Tuolumne River Trust, an environmental group dedicated to the health of the river.

“It’s one of our largest sources of unrestricted funding,” said event organizer Rebecca Stievater.

Many of the participants work in environmental fields, such as Eric Hopson, assistant refuge manager. He was the keynote speaker – there’s one for every leg – and pointed out wildlife such as a heron and egret rookery that can only be seen from the river.

Others came with families to enjoy a day on the water and, as one woman said, “I just want to have fun.”

Chanda Benson did the paddle Saturday and Sunday with her dog Gunther.

Benson said she swims in the Tuolumne with Gunther and wants to make sure it is safe, so she started volunteering with the trust a few months ago, taking water samples and testing it for nitrates and phosphates.

Karen Retford, a fourth-grade teacher in Empire, works with the Tuolumne River Trust to teach students about the river and the riparian environment.

“I love water and this is our drinking water,” she said. “The kids don’t have any idea where their water comes from or how they affect their environment … and this is their backyard.”

Over the years, Retford has done several legs of Paddle to the Sea, which starts in the Sierra, where experienced rafters take on Class 4 and 5 rapids.

Only the weekend legs are open to the public, but three Tuolumne River Trust interns with the designation of “principal paddlers” will have participated in every leg of the trek by the final day June 13.

The interns have documented their journey on a blog since beginning the 18-day trek, which began May 9.

They described falling asleep under the stars to the sounds of the river in Tuolumne County, watching a beaver tow a willow branch back to his home near Turlock Lake and floating by cattle and a horse that grazed by the river as they approached Modesto.

They felt isolated for much of their journey, but the litter and pollution they encountered when traveling through Modesto made evident the city above.

“Perhaps its convenient location next to the city is what draws out the community, but the positive human presence on the river was also accompanied by the negative urban impact on the river,” wrote intern Monica Greene. “There was definitely evidence of pollution on this section of the river; in fact, for a five-mile stretch we paddled, we counted a hundred and thirteen tires along with other assorted items such as shopping carts and even a port-a-potty.”

The area between Highway 99 and the Ninth Street bridge has been a project for the trust, as well as volunteer Chris Guptill, who for the past year has organized monthly cleanups called Operation 9-2-99.

He’s participated in many of the paddle events, including Sunday’s, which started at the Old Fisherman’s Club off Highway 132.

On Sunday, paddlers were to travel 10 miles down the San Joaquin River to Durham Ferry State Recreation Area, but a mass of water hyacinth several football fields long under the 132 bridge foiled their plans.

“You’d need a couple of samurai swords to get through it,” said intern Luigi Ryan.

Instead, they paddled three miles to the blockage then turned around and paddled back upstream.

Ryan and the other two interns will continue down the San Joaquin River on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until they are joined again by the public Friday.

Over the weekend, paddles will be traded in for sails on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and the following weekend will conclude the journey with sea kayaks in San Francisco Bay.

This story was originally published May 31, 2015 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Paddle to the Sea comes through Modesto area."