This past weekend (July 25th to July 27th) I and a few other "hearty" souls kayaked down the entire LA River - a 52 mile trek. The trip was physically exhausting, but also pretty darn exhilirating. I felt like a true explorer discovering a part of Los Angeles that few are familiar with. There were plenty of "events" along the way including a run-in with the police and a couple of nasty spills. Fortunately we had a film permit and the officer who approached us was into kayaking so he let us continue on.

While there are some bucolic portions of the river, it is for the most part a sewer. Storm drains dump into the river and the majority of the water comes from waste treatment plants. There is surprisingly a fair number of folks who fish the river - they must have strong immune systems - and quite a few of homeless who bathe in the river. I saw the best of nature and the worst of mankind during the journey. 

The purpose of the trip was to highlight the state of the river and to give people the sense that the river belongs to them. There are many folks who have quietly working to raise consciousness about the river for many years. One of those people is Joe Linton. Joe wrote a fantastic book, "Down by the Los Angeles River," that every Angeleno should own.

You can check it out on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Down-Los-Angeles-River-Official/dp/0899973914/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217291162&sr=8-1

Tom Andrews, photographer for www.lalist.com took some fantastic photos over three days and those can be seen here:

http://laist.com/2008/07/28/kayaking_the_la_river_day_3_marsh_p.php

Tom took the picture of me above.

More posting about this important issue to come...........