I'd read about folks kayaking alameda creek after rains, and discussed it with my co-worker, Jack, a couple times.  Saturday AM he calls me up and asks if the creek was do-able after the recent rains.  I checked the guages online which said around 500cf/s, which is around where folks seem to like it to run the river so we decided to give it a go.

We launched in a downpour with the river looking on the verge of dangerous.  All muddy and churned up, but down about 7 feet from fridays highs.  We had a good drift about 15mph in spots, which resulted in us paddling BACKWARDS the whole time and just trying our hardest to maintain attitude control and avoid obstacles.  Our first major dunking the river split, we went right and there was a log entirely across the channel. I tried to hit it hard enough to jump it, but only got the first 2' over, then the kayak got unbalanced and tilted, water flowed into the drifter's cavernous cockpit and tried to flip it.  I hopped out into the water which was only thigh deep and pushed the kayak over the log and hopped back in.  Fortunately the water was flowing around the sides of the log, not under it, or it could have been a very dangerous hazard.  Jack hopped out in chest deep water rather than hit me.  We'd only gone about 200 yards out of the 4 mile run and I was starting to question the whole thing.  Fortunately that was the worst of it for me.

We continued to careen down the river, which I guess was class III rapids.  The troughs in front of the larger boulders were 18" deep.  It was kind of like kayaking downhill through 4 miles of linda-mar surf.  There was solid brush on the sides so the opportunities to beach before obstacles was pretty low.  We took turns (reluctantly) to go first and yell back advice about wether to hang left or right to avoid obstacles.   

About half-way down we reaches the first check dam, and went careening off a 3' drop.  Jack went first and dropped the nose of the kayak on a rock and went over.  Below the dam was one of the rougher sections as far as boulders went, Jack had the misfortune of a 60 yard run through that laying half on the kayak.  I chose a different spot to go over the dam and stuck the landing fine, but after about 20 yards I got spun sideways in an eddy and hit a barely submerged boulder sideways.  The kayak tilted a bit and water ran in the cockpit and up and over the other side and I was stuck.  Here I was sitting in my kayak, in the middle of a raging river, with water running over it and holding it completely submerged. Fortunately it was only a foot deep so I hopped out.  The kayak stayed submerged.  I'd seen a stuck canoe in another river that was impossible to remove from a similar predicament, so I was a bit concerned.  Fortunately I was able to pull on the front handle and get the kayak clear.  Once it moved a couple feet it shot out from under the water and I hopped in again.  I bounced around for a bit (this was the steepest part of the creek) and landed safely at the bottom of the rapid where Jack was recovering.  There was a little side channel there, whereas the creek resumed going through steep boulderfield for another 50 yards, so we took the easy route. 

We did pretty well after that, though Jack was having trouble keeping my islander kayak straight, he rode half the rapids backwards.  The last spot where there was an accident the river was pretty wide and shallow and there was a riffle where it went down about 6' in 10 yards through a bunch of beach-ball sized rocks.  I decided not to try that and plowed into an area where the water was very shallow with lots of rocks so that I stopped and could pull my kayak around the hazard.  Jack braved the main channel and I saw him do the last half of it laying on his stomach like a surfer.  I don't know how he got that way but I don't think he was showing off.   

The second of the two dams was about the same height as the first, maybe taller, but instead of dropping into the abyss it sloped down at a 30 degree angle, and it was relatively calm under it.  Piece of cake.  After that we managed to stay on and the last mile or so was pretty straightforward.  It was very even in width and had enough water that there were few rocks that could bump us, and staying in the channel wasn't hard.  There weren't really any slow sections though, it just wound around at constant speed all the way to the park just East of Mission Blvd. 

When I got home I checked the flow report and found that'd we'd run it at just the right time.  The rain that had fell during the first half of the trip got to the river just after we left, and the flow went from the upper 400cf/s up to 2250cf/s!  If we'd stopped for a picnic it would have turned into a raging torrent on us.

As far as ideal conditions for that run goes I'm somewhat conflicted.  Less water means less speed and less depth, but also means more rocks.  Especially the lower part might be less fun without enough flow to get over the boulders.  However, more water would result in the creek jumping it's channel and flowing through brush, not to mention going faster. See: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/jspPlotServlet.jsp?sensor_no=7489&end=01%2F06%2F2008+12%3A18&geom=medium&interval=2&cookies=cdec02
We ran it right around that minimum marker in the middle.  I think if I run it again I'll try it when the water is a little lower.  This is something that'd be fun for guys with shorter kayaks, my 2 12 footers handled okay, shorter would definitely have been better. 

We didn't take many photos as we went because, frankly, there was no time.  I used an underwater film camera to take a few so those will be a while.  Jack went back and walked down from 84 to take pictures of some of the spots we went through which should come to my email later today.

Yup.  This page was my inspiration.  The photos are pretty representative.
http://cacreeks.com/alameda.htm  Especially the first photo, the whole creek was like that.  The dams were just a couple one-off things.

I live less than a mile from where you ended up, and all I can say is you guys are nuts for trying it over the weekend.  As you saw it's no joke when the rain comes.

I've always wanted to try it on a calmer day, though. 

From your description and the pictures, I'd call that class II water, but with a huge possibility of death by strainer factor. I'm glad you guys made it down alive.

Scott

You guys are nuts!!!!

  Nice adventure though... I grew up out there, that Creek...Rushing River.. is so piled up with crap I'm really surprised you

 did not encounter a shopping cart!!! , imagine going head first into one of those...ouch..

 Great place to pick up lampreys when the water is low .... Danglin

That water is movin quick! - nothin like mud water to keep an angler home!

Glad to see adventure is alive and well!  Looks like it would have been alot of Fun! 

Jack wants to try again, so maybe next time it rains I'll post a hookup a day or so in advance. 

You guys should wear helmets if you do it again.