Carson Watts

Who is Carson Watts?

Rafting Magazine Team Paddler Carson Watts is here to bring people together who didn’t realize they’re on the same team. His passion and drive for running rivers is a force to be reckoned with, as is his love of wild places. His first whitewater trip was on the Tuolumne River at high water near his hometown of Lake Don Pedro. On that trip he caught the whitewater bug and began professionally raft guiding in 2011. He has worked on the Kings, Merced, and American Rivers. After 8 years of professional raft guiding he and his partner bought a tandem IK named “Couples Therapy”, and having his own boat forever changed his life. Nowadays, he gets on the water over 125 days/year, mostly in an IK. He loves running challenging whitewater because it demands his focus and brings him closer to those around him - his paddling partners, the river otters and beavers and birds, and the mossy living walls beaming with ferns. The scenery in deep, steep wilderness canyons is top notch, and Carson is blessed to witness so much of it in his home state of California. He recognizes the profoundly positive impact river running can have on his psyche and mental health. He is grateful to boating as a way to be meaningfully connected to the earth’s living systems and reveres the humbling power of rivers to carve landscapes.

Projects

Carson has recently been pushing the limits of his abilities in an Inflatable Kayak running harder and harder class V rivers. He has several projects on the books as well as a myriad of personal boating goals.

Creating an educational video series, IKing with Carson
Continuing to teach guide schools with River Runners and Junior Guides
Multiday trips on the Tuolumne (Cherry Creek and Main) and NF American (Generation Gap to Lake Clementine - Completed) and the SF Yuba (Gold Quartz to Purdon’s Crossing)
Garlic Falls/Upper Kings starting on the South Fork Kings at Boyden's Cave
Devil’s Canyon on the MF Feather
SF American connection (Strawberry to Mile 39, the only section I haven’t paddled from Strawberry to Folsom)
Silver Creek, EF Carson Tributary - I have camped along this creek and carried up to run the last couple of rapids above the confluence with the EF Carson. Highway 4 (closed for the winter when this is running) goes along the road and could be used to cart or carry gear at least a few miles up. Careful scouting of everything would be required due to the presence of wood and continuous gradient with very few eddies.
WF Carson - scenic section through Hope Valley (realistic), and the class V+ section from below Sorensens to Woodfords which could potentially be tackled in smaller, 1 mile-ish sections starting at Woodfords, then working my way up (this is a pipedream and may not be realistic).