River

All roads may lead to Rome, but not all rivers lead to the ocean.

You might have heard the phrase ‘all rivers flow to the sea’ – often used to mean that different paths will all lead to the same end at some point, While it’s a pleasing idiom, it’s not geographically true. In fact, one of the longest rivers in the world never reaches the sea at all.

The Volga is the longest river in Europe, flowing through central and southern Russia. Its basin sprawls across two-fifths of the European part of Russia.

The river begins in the Valdai Hills as a tiny trickling spring, before turning into the Volga.

It winds for a whopping 3,531 kilometres through forests and steppes before emptying into the Caspian Sea which, rather misleadingly, is not a Sea at all, but a colossal lake.

The river is connected to five different seas via an intricate network of manmade canals which were built over the centuries, although the Caspian is its main and natural mouth.

The canal system allows ships to travel from the Volga to the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Baltic Sea and the White Sea.

The sprawling Volga Delta, where the river splits into more than 500 channels, is also a world-famous wildlife sanctuary.,

It is a spawning ground for the Beluga sturgeon, which means that the lower stretches of the Volga are the epicentre of wild black caviar – one of the most sought after and expensive delicacies in the world.

The river was also a lifeline during World War II, providing a lifeline for Russian troops during the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Soviet Army was pinned against its west bank, so all supplies had to be ferried across the mile-wide stretch of water under constant barrage from the German artillery.

As winter set in and the river began to freeze, it became too icy for boats to cross but not yet thick enough for trucks to drive on.

Russian forces were nearly starved of ammunition until it froze solid.

However, as the German army focused all its energy on fighting across the riverbank, the Soviets snuck across the eastern side of the river to launch a surprise attack and completely surrounded the German forces.

This river was thought to be the stuff of legends – but it is very real

In a remote part of the Amazonian rainforest, there is a river so mired in myth that many thought it didn’t exist. However, thanks to the research and work of a celebrated geothermal scientist, the existence of the river has now been proven – and he’s fighting to protect it.

The Shanay-timpishka, commonly known as the ‘Boiling River of the Amazon’ is a tributary of the Pachitea River which flows towards the Amazon River. The river has been known to indigenous Peruvians who live in the Amazon, and it has been used for spiritual and healing rituals for centuries. They called it ‘Shanay-timpishka’ which translates to ‘boiled by the heat of the sun’.

The local Asháninka and Shipibo peoples believe the river is birthed by Yacumama, a gigantic mythical serpent thought to live in the Amazon. “a mythical enormous serpent believed to inhabit the Amazon Rainforest.”

Local shamans teach that Yacumama is the “Mother of the Waters”

Geothermal scientist Adrés Ruzo first heard of the scalding river from his grandfather who told him a legend about the Spanish conquistadors who ventured into the jungle and came back with tales of a river which boiled.

He was the first scientist permitted by the local shamans to map, study and legally help to protect the river. He travelled through the jungle in 2011, guided by his aunt and confirmed the existence of the river.

Ruzo worked to study the river, and also helped the local indigenous people secure their rights to it. The area is in massive danger from deforestation which destroys the forest and surrounding ecosystems.

Ruzo became an advocate for the ancestral people living in the region, and helped secure the legal titles to the land. He also founded the Boiling River Project – a non-profit organisation which advocates for the permanent protection of the river.

One of the most fascinating things about this river is that it is an anomaly.

Usually, geothermal rivers and springs are heated by volcanic currents but in the case of Shanay-timpishka, the closest volcano is 700 kilometres away. Instead, the water is heated by the core of the Earth.

Rainwater seeps into the earth’s crust through fault lines where it is heated to boiling and then pushed back up into the river. At its hottest points, the river can reach close to 100°C, and boils anything which is unfortunate enough to fall in.

The river is littered with animal bones and bodies which have been cooked inside.

Tragically, it’s not only animals which have been killed by the boiling water. A Toronto woman died in 2025 after she fell into the river whilst meditating on a rock nearby.

Although Maya Moreno managed to escape from the water alive, she tragically died later in hospital after suffering burns to 70% of her body.

According to a GoFundMe for Maya, she had travelled to the river as part of a spiritual journey, and fainted beside the river which caused her to fall in.

‘The wind is in from Africa / Last night I couldn’t sleep.” Joni Mitchell has ear-wormed her way into my head as my wife and I step out from Zahara de la Sierra into the mountains of Sierra de Grazalema natural park. The Africa bit probably comes from yesterday’s visit to Zahara’s castle museum. Here, high above the tiled terracotta mosaic of village rooftops, we learned how the recapture of this picturesque hill town was a turning point in the Reconquista – the military campaign of the 1400s that saw the Catholics retake southern Spain after seven centuries of Moorish control. As for sleep deprivation, I may just have overdone it on last night’s tapas.

Either way, Africa feels present as we tramp through the countryside of Andalucía, if only in the wildlife. The painted lady butterflies drifting over the flower-spangled verges, the turtle doves purring from the olive groves and the booted eagle drifting overhead: all are summer visitors recently blown in from the great continent to our south.

It’s day two of our White Villages of the Ronda Mountains walking tour, a self-guided seven-day route from On Foot Holidays that explores this alluring corner of southern Spain. We arrived yesterday by bus from Málaga, winding up through the mountains until the whitewashed dwellings of Zahara appeared like teeth in the hillside ahead. This was the first of the week’s four pueblos blancos, all tucked picturesquely into the natural park’s rugged 51,695 hectares (127,740 acres) of limestone peaks and serpentine river valleys.

I’ve walked with On Foot before, so the routine is familiar: water bottles and packed lunches stashed in daypacks, laminated map around neck on lanyard and route app open on phone (belt-and-braces navigation). Best of all, our luggage is already wending its way by taxi to the next destination.

The conditions couldn’t be more perfect. The hillsides burst with blossom and birdsong, the May temperature is a pleasant mid-20s (midsummer out here would be punishing), and the peaks stand proud against the clear blue sky. It’s hard to believe February brought such heavy rains that much of our route was then impassable – and some areas of the park were affected by wildfires later in the summer.

But each month here has its own character. September/October – also prime walking season – sees the chestnuts and cork oak forests turn russet and gold, and the spring irises and orchids replaced by the post-summer bloom of wild asparagus and autumn crocus. Overhead, those booted eagles will be massing for their return journey – along with bee-eaters, honey buzzards and other winged voyagers – back to Africa.

Today’s hike takes us south towards Grazalema: pueblo blanco number two. We skirt a reservoir then wind along a lush river valley, nightingales serenading us from the oleander thickets, and by late morning are rising into the mountains, the vista gaining grandeur as we gain height.

Lunch is in a high meadow, where we unwrap our bocadillos while bees buzz and butterflies busy themselves among the blooms. Afternoon brings a long uphill slog, then finally a cool descent through shady pines to sleepy Grazalema. Another 11 miles (18km) under our belts.

We stay two nights in Grazalema at the Hotel la Mejorana, meeting wild ibex on a mountain circuit high above town, and eating at the cosy Cádiz el Chico restaurant, where a menu featuring partridge and wild boar (though, thankfully, not ibex) reflects the region’s hunting traditions. At night, the cobbled streets are quiet beneath a canopy of stars.

Benaoján, the third of our pueblos blancos, lies about 16 miles to the south-east. We exit Grazalema early in the morning, beneath the Los Peñascos mirador. Roosting griffon vultures line the cliffs like pterodactyls, warming up in the morning sun before, one at a time, flapping off on table-top wings for another day combing the plains.

Our route leads down through the oak woods before rising again into the hills. Here we enter a limestone wonderland, the karst formations sculpted by wind and rain into Henry Moore-like statues. Bee-eaters dart overhead, their liquid chirrups audible long before we lay eyes on them. A passing walker greets us with a cheery “Buen camino!” He’s returning with his father to see the farmhouse where they grew up. We find Dad sitting on a nearby rock, devouring an empanada. They’re the only other walkers we meet all day.

Our hideaway at Benaoján is the Molino del Santo hotel, where we dine beside a chuckling stream on a terrace crowded with potted geraniums. From here, it takes us two hours to hike to the Cueva de la Pileta, an immense cave system discovered in 1905 when a local farmer spotted bats streaming from a fissure in the hillside.

Local guide Ainhoa Bullón leads us down cool, narrow passages into measureless caverns, her thin torch beam illuminating flowstone formations as enormous and elaborate as a Gaudí cathedral – formed, she explains, by the drip-drip of lime at the rate of 1cm every 400 years. The farthest recesses hold exquisite shamanic rock art, some more than 25,000 years old. Ainhoa overflows with information, talking us through the cave’s successive ages of antiquity, from Neanderthal to Neolithic. Most important, she delivers us safely back to the blazing sunshine outside.

Our week ends at Ronda, perched atop the precipitous El Tajo gorge. The celebrated clifftop town seems to beckon us onward like some mythical sky citadel as we tramp our final kilometres towards it. Below the cliffs, we find ourselves back in tourist land, sharing the steep climb to the top with a gaggle of selfie-snapping day trippers.

We make it, slumping at the first available cafe table to lever off boots, fold away the map and order a celebratory cold cerveza. Tomorrow, we catch our bus back to Málaga. For now, a final night lies ahead, with a stirring panorama from our room at the Parador de Ronda and the promise of a slap-up meal down in the old town. Our beers arrive, and any lingering strains of Joni are soon lost to a busker’s volley of flamenco guitar.

The trip was provided by On Foot Holidays. It costs from £985pp for a seven-night self-guided route in Grazalema natural park, ending in Ronda; five-, six- and eight-night routes also available. The walking season is February-May and September-December (April, May, September and October being optimum)

DISNEY WORLD has revealed the first look at its new holiday resort opening next year.

Opening on July 1, 2027, Lakeshore Lodge will have 967 rooms sitting on Bay Lake.

The resort has a range of different accommodations including Duo and Deluxe Studios, that sleep between two and four guests – each inspired by Encanto and Bambi.

There’s also Resort Studios, which sleep up to four people and are Pocahontas inspired.

The Villas then feature one, two or three bedrooms, sleeping between five and 12 people.

Each has a full kitchen and is designed around Bambi – with original concept art taken from the archives – and Fantasia.

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Or you could book into the Waterfront Lake Houses which are all detached with floor-to-ceiling windows and feature one or two bedrooms.

Each house sleeps between five and eight people and is inspired by Brother Bear as well as lighting inspired by the Northern Lights in the main bedroom.

The final accommodation available is the Presidential Suite & Club Level, which includes the two-bedroom Hidden Willow Suite.

Some Club Level rooms also include access to The Artist’s Nest concierge lounge for Magic Kingdom fireworks viewing.

Of course, the resort has plenty of dining and lounging spots as well, such as Moonglade, which sits on the waterfront and serves locally sourced dishes.

For a quick bite, guests will be able to head to Bay Lake Provisions – an all-day marketplace.

At Paint Out Point Bar & Grill, you’ll find a poolside bar serving sharing plates and drinks.

And finally is the Dandelion Terrace nighttime lounge with a two-story Fantasia art gallery which makes the ideal spot to watch the fireworks over the lake.

As for things to do at the resort, families and guests can head to The Wetlands which has a Lakeshore Lagoon with a spiral slide, Daydream River which is a lazy river and Cypress Point which is a quieter pool with a whirlpool spa.

Kids can also head to Heron Shores climbing area and Otter Springs, an interactive, Pocahontas-themed splash pad.

There’s plenty to see as well, for example in the lobby, there are floor-to-ceiling views of the wetland, as well as an illuminated fiberoptic river through the floor.

Guests will also be able to hop on a direct boat to Magic Kingdom.

Passholders will be allowed to book from October 7 and general booking will open on October 8.

DROPPING £40 on dinner usually gets you standard pub grub these days – but I’ve found a deal for a posh two-course meal on the Thames for even less.

This City Cruises Thames lunch cruise is currently on sale, with tickets costing £38 instead of the usual £53.

Click below to book a City Cruises lunchtime cruise from £38

City Cruises offers loads of experiences on the Thames, from Afternoon Tea and fancy dinner cruises to jazz, murder mystery and Elvis tribute nights. Click here to browse all the options.

I put their most popular cruise – the Lunch Cruise – to the test to see what you actually get for your money. Spoiler alert: I was pretty blown away.

The tour begins at Tower Milennium Pier, which is right beside the Tower of London.

After scanning my ticket, I stepped onboard to find a fancy dining area with huge floor-to-ceiling windows for soaking up the views.

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Tables are laid with crisp white tablecloths, and once you are seated, friendly waiters are soon swooping in to serve you glasses of wine, cocktails or soft drinks.

After relaxing into my seat, we soon set off to gently drift along the Thames.

I sipped my wine and enjoyed the views, and, within 15 minutes, a delicious main course was placed in front of me.

For the main event, diners choose between a hearty white bean and oyster mushroom cassoulet or a roasted chicken supreme. Do note that drinks, other than tea and coffee with pudding, are an add-on.

I opted for the chicken and was genuinely stunned. It was drenched in a rich, creamy mushroom sauce and paired with an indulgent, cheesy fondant potato.

It’s a dish that could easily hold its own in a top-tier London restaurant – which makes it all the more impressive aboard a moving boat.

Click below to bag a lunch cruise for £38 – or browse offers

Then dessert arrived: a baked cheesecake bursting with a molten white chocolate centre, topped with sweet raspberry coulis.

I washed it down with a warming cup of tea, and decided to head up to the upper deck to soak up the views.

We had cruised from Tower Milennium Pier all the way along to Canary Wharf, taking in the contrast between London’s old maritime docks and the ultra-modern skyscrapers of London’s financial district.

After pausing to soak up the glittering lights of the financial hub and the towering skyscrapers reflecting off the water, we turned around to make our way towards the main event: Big Ben.

There were plenty of impressive sights along the way, and the tour guide, who stood out on the open-air deck to share his expertise, revealed plenty of fascinating facts.

We glided under nine magnificent bridges and learned all about their history.

One of my favourite facts I learned was that the famous Tower Bridge was originally painted a drab chocolate brown before being given its vibrant red, white, and blue colours for the Queen‘s Silver Jubilee in 1977.

The expert guide also explained how the modern Millennium Bridge famously had to close just two days after opening because it wobbled so violently under the footsteps of pedestrians.

After cruising past the legendary Globe Theatre (and spotting the pub that Shakespeare used to frequent: The Anchor) we drifted right past the London Eye.

It was amazing to see the landmark up-close and take in its size, watching teeny tiny people in their pods raised high above the impressive London skyline.

Soon we reached Big Ben, where we paused on the water to take in the views and take photos.

The view from the water was breath-taking – plus it was far more peaceful taking in the landmark from the boat than the noisy, bustling streets surrounding it.

I snapped some shots before we headed back down to Tower Milennium Pier, feeling far more knowledgeable – and full – than I had before stepping aboard that day.

Overall, I think the lunch cruise is a fantastic way to tick off London’s major sights in one go.

And when you consider the fancy meal that’s also included, I think this cruise is the ideal experience for a date, birthday or special occasion.

Click below to browse offers at City Cruises

Prices correct at the time of publication.

Aug. 21 (UPI) — Arizona, Colorado and Nevada will see reductions in their water deliveries from the Colorado River by a combined 1.25 million acre-feet per year under a new framework finalized by federal officials on Friday.

Under the new 10-year “Decision Framework” governing the operations of the drought-afflicted Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs along the Colorado River Basin, Arizona implements the largest reduction in deliveries of river water — some 760,000-acre-feet in each of the next two years.

Meanwhile, California will be hit with yearly reductions of 440,000 acre-feet and Nevada would see 50,000 acre-foot declines as state and federal officials grapple with a prolonged drought during which the two reservoirs have reached their lowest-ever recorded levels.

One acre-foot is enough water for as many as four households to use for a whole year.

The cuts represent the largest ever proposed for the three “Lower Basin” states.

The combined contents of Lake Powell and Lake Mead have not been this low since before Lake Powell began filling following the closure of the gates at Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum noted in announcing the new framework.

“We are grateful for the seven basin states, the thirty basin tribes, Mexico, and many other basin stakeholders who have provided the feedback and voluntary arrangements necessary for the development of the 2027-2028 operating guidelines.” he said.

“Forty million people, millions of acres of farmland and ranchland, industries that power the American West, and some of our nation’s fastest growing metropolitan areas depend on the Colorado River.”

In addition to the reduction in water deliveries, the framework allows for the three Lower Basin States to voluntarily conserve and store at least 700,000 acre-feet of water over the two-year period to protect the system.

The Colorado River Basin has been experiencing what federal officials have called an “unprecedented multidecadal drought,” resulting in historically low runoff and reservoir levels.

Conditions worsened during 2026, driven in part by the lowest observed snowpack on record during the winter of 2025-2026.

Aug. 15 (UPI) — Hungarian working crews are sinking two barges into the Danube River in an attempt to raise water levels and stave off an energy crisis, the prime minister said on Saturday.

Water levels of the 1,800-mile river have fallen to record lows amid a months-long drought across Europe.

To raise the waters, crews are sinking two 260-foot barges into the Danube River.

Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, Paks, depends on water from the river to cool down its reactors.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar said current water levels on Saturday were 48 inches lower than usual, and could fall a further 4 inches by Monday.

If it falls that low, he added, the power plant would have to shut down one of its last two functioning turbines.

“Water management experts are continuously monitoring the water level, water velocity, and riverbed condition using a measuring vessel and installed measuring devices,” Magyar said in a statement on X.

The plant is responsible for generating half the electricity needed by the country’s 10 million people.

Doc Rivers needed some time to write the speech that he’ll give when formally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.

The storytelling, that part was easy. He’s a natural at that.

But what Rivers wound up learning during the trial-and-error process of speechwriting was that the words he’ll say from a stage in Springfield, Mass., aren’t going to be about him. They’re going to be about everyone else who played a role in him getting to that moment.

“You go through this journey of writing it and you realize it has nothing to do with you in a very good way,” Rivers said. “People are happy for you, and I am happy for them because they got me there. You hear all your life, ‘You don’t do anything alone.’ When you get in the Hall of Fame, you really understand that you don’t do anything alone. It’s all the coaches in your life, your parents, the players. It’s a thankful journey and that’s what the Hall of Fame should be about.”

Numbers prove he’s among best

A winner of 1,194 regular-season games as an NBA coach — and that’ll be all, he insists, saying his retirement is a real one — Rivers ranks sixth in league history. The only others ahead of him: Gregg Popovich, Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan and Pat Riley, all of whom are Hall of Famers, so it was obviously a lock that Rivers would be joining them.

He won a championship with Boston in 2008, won 114 playoff games as a coach, played 13 seasons, was an All-Star once, has been a broadcaster and — if he goes back to work, and his family currently has a pool that he will — he’ll be a broadcaster again.

But there’s more to life now. The Illinois native and Marquette legend has seven grandchildren, a house on the water and can’t play enough golf. He’ll still be involved in the game, somehow. It just won’t be as a coach. It’ll be as a Hall of Famer.

“Doc is a proven, extraordinary leader and communicator during his renowned NBA coaching career,” Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst said when the Bucks hired Rivers in 2024. “As a championship coach, he’s widely respected as an established innovator, and the right coach to lead our experienced and talented team.”

He was, until he wasn’t.

Injuries derailed every chance the Bucks had at being a winner last season, and when the season came to its dismal close Rivers was fairly certain it was the end for him as well — after 27 seasons on the sideline, and whole lot of missed moments along the way.

“The one thing that people have no idea about is the toll it takes on you and the family component,” Rivers said. “It is rough. You’re never home. You make sacrifices and your family has to make them as well.”

That won’t be an issue now.

A hit from the beginning

Rivers won coach of the year in his first season, taking a team he called “the 301s” in Orlando and leading it to a 41-41 record. On the surface, there’s nothing special about going .500. But the Magic were supposed to be bottom dwellers that season and Rivers used a preseason ranking of the league’s top 300 players as inspiration — since none of those top 300 were playing for the Magic.

“That season gave me great confidence,” Rivers said.

He has some regrets, of course. Critics have long pointed to the 10 losses that Rivers-coached teams had in Game 7s, by far the most of any coach in NBA history. And his fans will retort by pointing to his 114 playoff wins, fourth-most in NBA history. But the biggest do-over, if Rivers had such an option, would be changing his mind about leaving the Celtics for the Clippers in 2013.

Rivers got to the Clippers not long before the end of Donald Sterling’s ownership of the team; Sterling made racist comments and was banned by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

“I underestimated what a great situation I was in, and I took that for granted, like you can just go anywhere and create that,” Rivers said. “I messed that one up. But then when I go to the Clippers, the team is pretty damn good. The organization, it was the worst organization in sports with the ownership problem. Within a week there, I remember telling my assistant, ‘We’ve got a lot to do here.’ ”

The championship with the Celtics in 2008 — Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the stars of that team, will be together again to present their former coach for his Hall enshrinement — was an obvious high point for Rivers’ career. There were other moments he’s particularly proud of as well, such as delivering on a promise that he made to someone who barely played for him.

Tyronn Lue succeeded Rivers as coach of the Clippers. Lue played 11 games for Rivers in Orlando during the 2003-04 season; that was all the time it took for Rivers to be convinced that Lue would one day be a coach. He told Lue to call him if he ever wanted a job and Lue took him up on it. Rivers wound up going to the Hall of Fame, and few within the game would be surprised if Lue joins him there one day.

“It’s the stories like that that you think about,” Rivers said. “Rajon Rondo played for me in Boston. We had a very tumultuous relationship when I coached him and now, I probably talk to Rondo more than probably than any player that I coached.”

It’s what the game does, Rivers said. The lucky ones get guided along the way. He played that role with players like Rondo — who coached with Rivers — and Lue, and in Rivers’ own case, it was Riley who gave him the push he needed.

Riley and Rivers clashed at times during their player-coach relationship, and their biggest fights came when Riley was telling Rivers that he belonged in coaching.

Riley was right.

“When I was doing TV, he kept writing and sending me these freaking messages about getting into the fray,” Rivers said. “He knew it. And here I am, going into the Hall of Fame.”

Reynolds writes for the Associated Press.

The Russian River was running low and slowly. A few miles outside Guerneville at Steelhead Beach, several men stepped into the water, laden with flotation devices. A duck, a flamingo, a unicorn …

“Don’t you know?” asked Anna Deurloo, standing by me on the shore. “It’s Lazy Bear Week! That’s why the river is full of bears: big hairy men with beards. And Speedos.”

Deurloo, who lives in Guerneville, had made glittery bandannas for her crew of bears to wear at the annual celebration. Out on the water, Joe Souza of Long Beach adjusted his blinged-out headgear, hollering that he’d been coming to Guerneville every summer for more than 20 years.

“It’s a nice place to meet our friends from all over the country,” Souza said, “and get tricked into this river.”

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1. Steelhead Beach is a popular starting place for warm-weather floats down the Russian River. 2. Families play in the Russian River near Johnson’s Beach. 3. The view from Korbel Winery includes vineyards and forest along the Russian River. (Photographs by Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

When the weather is warm, the Russian River draws dawdlers of all kinds, including LGBTQ+ vacationers, longtime locals and Bay Area families. On summer weekends, thousands show up in Guerneville with kayaks, canoes, inner tubes — just about anything that will float, preferably with a cooler attached. Then they spend hours gliding downstream past scenery that might as well be a Northern California highlight reel: vineyards, redwood forests and eventually a beach scene full of driftwood and sea stacks.

They know that time is of the essence. Many places on the river in and around Guerneville shut down November through early May because it gets cold and rainy and the river can run high and fast.

But for now through early October, with little rain and seasonal dams controlling the water’s flow, this might be California’s laziest river.

Still, for plenty of Californians, including me, this corner of Sonoma County is little-known territory. I’ve just gotten my first good look at the area, which is about 85 miles north of San Francisco, and I’m glad I arrived when I did.

For years, as Sonoma County’s wine country has grown ever more pricey and elegant, the communities of the lower Russian River have clung to their rustic, quirky and more affordable ways, in part because of the area’s vulnerability to changing seasons.

But the riverside scene is evolving. Since the pandemic, several new or revamped lodgings have boosted glamping and other upscale elements in a territory once better known for old cabins. At privately owned Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville, where parking was free in the old days, the fee is up to $10 a day. In the Johnson’s Beach lodgings, long known for summer-camp vibes, some rooms now come equipped with luxury linens and a French press. On the menu at the River Electric, there’s a “high-low dog” — a hot dog with black caviar — for $40. In other words, the lower Russian River is edging up-market.

“There’s a lot more new blood up here. A lot of new people in the last five years,” said Robert Baba, who runs Ideal Hardware in Forestville.

“Prices are going up and hotels are getting more posh,” said Michael Rex, owner of Guerneville’s Russian River Bookstore. But still, he said, “there’s a lot to do here where you don’t have to spend a dime.”

Here’s what I found in four days as a Russian River rookie.

River guide Keith Chandler prepares to kayak at the Russian River estuary at Jenner on the Sonoma County coast.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Forestville: Stepping into the river

If you want to imagine time standing still, start at Burke’s Canoe Trips, which has been renting canoes and kayaks for decades. At Burke’s, which sits at the edge of Forestville (population: about 3,300), most customers rent a watercraft ($95 per canoe, $60 per kayak) before noon, drift 10 miles down river to Guerneville, then catch a Burke’s bus back to where they began.

The river water is shallow, often 3 to 5 feet deep. The beaches are pebbly. The redwood groves begin within stone-skipping distance of the Burke’s property and follow the river downstream. Drinking water and sunblock are vital. Sightings of blue heron, egrets and river otters are common. (Burke’s also has camping with hot showers and fire rings, at $20 per person per night.)

Canoes await paddlers at Burke’s Canoe Trips in Forestville along the Russian River.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A cat sleeps alongside a Jesus statue and beach gear at Burke’s Canoe Trips in Forestville along the Russian River.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

“People know that no matter how the world is doing, when they come to the river, it’s going to be like it used to be,” said Linda Burke, second-generation owner of the business.

“It could be 1946 when you’re paddling,” said Ted Schroeder, longtime manager at Burke’s.

But even at Burke’s, things change: Demand is up for kayaks, down for the metal canoes, which are heavier.

Along Front Street, Forestville’s tiny commercial core, you could get a corn dog for $3.30 at Carr’s Drive-Inn, which looks like a time capsule from 1979. Or you could get some wood-fired pizza on the big, bright patio of Sonoma Pizza Co., which opened in 2022; or maybe a cup of organic ice cream at Angela’s (since 2023).

If you want to go luxe, you can eat or sleep at the Farmhouse Inn, a 6-acre property on River Road that includes 18 rooms and cottages, a pool and some spa services amid lushly landscaped grounds. Its restaurant occupies an 1873 farmhouse. (Nightly rates start around $440.)

For a lot of people, however, Forestville is just a place to slip into the lazy river — often at Steelhead Beach, half a mile downriver from Burke’s.

Glamping tents are a central part of Dawn Ranch, near the Russian River in Guerneville, Calif.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

As glampers arrive, Guerneville gets fancier

Guerneville (population: about 4,500) is the hub of human activity on the Lower Russian River. River Road becomes Main Street there, and in summer its shops and restaurants buzz with people. Riverfront recreation at Johnson’s Beach is a block away. A network of redwood forest trails awaits 2 miles up the road in Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Preserve.

Be warned, however, that on weekends, Guerneville is often short on parking. Consider parking for the day ($10) in the big dirt lot at Johnson’s Beach, which has food, drinks, rental kayaks, canoes and inner tubes, campsites, historic bungalows, modern tiny cabins, canvas cabanas and a four-bedroom lodge. There are about 35 units in all, open mid-April through October. (The bare campsites start at $55, historic bungalows at $165.)

“It’s a lazy river and walkable to town, so we can camp and eat at restaurants,” said Kim Loda of Oakland as her son, Axel, 10, showed off his juggling skills near the Johnson’s Beach snack bar. “I don’t know why my family didn’t bring me here growing up.”

The River Electric, a resort along the Russian River in Guerneville, Calif., includes glamping tents.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Guerneville grew up as a 19th century logging settlement, prospered as a weekend getaway for San Franciscans arriving by ferry and train in the 1920s, slumped in the ‘30s and suffered extensive flooding in the 1960s. It entered a new chapter in the late 1970s, when a handful of gay entrepreneurs began buying up and revamping rustic resorts and bars.

First, in 1978, was a riverside getaway called Fife’s. Another early gay-owned venture was the Rainbow Cattle Company bar, still in business on River Road, a.k.a. Main Street. (Every week on Give Back Tuesday, the bar stages raffles, offers $5 dinners and earmarks 10% of revenue for charities.)

When the 1980s and 1990s arrived, Guerneville suffered deeply — from the AIDS epidemic and from repeated floods.

Nimble & Finn’s sells ice cream inside the Guerneville Bank Club building in Guerneville, Calif.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Yet a generation later, the community has gained ground.

Since 2008, entrepreneur Crista Luedtke has built a series of businesses, including Boon Eat+Drink and Boon Hotel+Spa. The Guerneville Social Club, “Russian River’s First Queer-Owned Social Club,” is due to open with a restaurant, bar and shop in 2027. Lazy Bear gatherings have been staged every July since 1996 by the nonprofit Lazy Bear Fund to raise money toward LGBTQ+ community health. There’s also a Russian River Pride parade Sept. 19.

Cars park along Main Street on July 30 in Guerneville.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Timing my visit to avoid weekend crowds, I ate a dinner of chicken in tasty mole negro at Three Cultures Kitchen, which opened last year. I got ice cream at Nimble & Finn’s, lunch at Coffee Bazaar and a $15 sandwich to go at the Korbel Winery, which offers a deli, tasting room, wine shop and free tours at its scenic site about 3 miles west of Guerneville. I also browsed at Russian River Books & Letters.

“I ended up here because of the pandemic. It just went on and on, so I decided to open the bookstore,” said bookshop owner Michael Rex. Since that time, Rex said, he’s seen a growing number of remote workers.

Most notable among the new and renovated Guerneville resorts: Dawn Ranch and the River Electric, both with a glamping focus, both with docks on the river.

Dawn Ranch, dramatically upgraded in 2023, is a 22-acre, all-ages property that once held the Fife’s resort. The verdant grounds feature 86 cabins, cottages, chalets and glamping tents (open year-round) that share bathrooms and showers. There’s an upstairs restaurant, spa services, a pool and boathouse bar, along with a dock and private beach at the end of the short trail that feels like a secret path.

The tents, which start at about $300 nightly, have furniture, electricity and Wi-Fi, but if you show up on a 93-degree afternoon, as I did, your un-air-conditioned tent will be about the same temperature. That’s when it’s time to jump in the pool or river.

The Russian River runs past a dock at Dawn Ranch in Guerneville, Calif.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The River Electric is sited on long-idle, flood-prone 12-acre expanse of riverside land that old-timers remember as the site of J’s Amusement Park in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. In 2025, the current owners unveiled a newfangled resort with a restaurant, two pools (one of them round) and 46 furnished, electrified tent units, which start at about $260 nightly.

The resort stays open until Oct. 31. Then, by design, most of the resort will be carted away or submerged when the river rises.

“Everything except the concrete, we take off-site, Which is wild,” said River Electric’s Jessica Baker, who gave me a tour. The resort also sells day passes for $38 and hosts many weddings and special events.

Yet another glamping option is Guerneville’s Autocamp Sonoma, which opened in 2016. It doesn’t have river frontage, but it includes 25 Airstream trailers and 10 glamping tents in the shadow of a redwood grove.

Stand-up paddle-boarders are common at the Russian River estuary, next to Jenner on the Sonoma County coast.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

This is how the river ends: with roaring wind on an empty beach

Heading west from Guerneville, you roll through Monte Rio, seeing more redwoods, cabins and glimpses of river.

You might spot the 11-room Inn on the Russian River, a recently upgraded property whose riverside perch includes a private dock and summer rates of roughly $260 to $430 nightly.

Kayakers often come across harbor seals in the Russian River estuary at Jenner on the Sonoma County coast.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

What you’ll need to imagine is the Bohemian Grove, which hides in the nearby forest, serving as a haven for the rich, powerful, famous and all-male members of the Bohemian Club since the 19th century.

Gathering every July at that 2,700-acre compound, club members, who have included Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Bob Weir, are said to stage a ritual “cremation of care,” burning an effigy of “care” in front of a 40-foot owl statue. (Suddenly, Burning Man seems a little less original.)

Anyway, a casual tuber or kayaker can’t float all the way to the Pacific from Forestville. (Obstacles include seasonal dams at Johnson’s Beach and Vacation Beach.) But if you drive the river road past Monte Rio and the historic but touristy shops at Duncans Mills, you reach the coastal hamlet of Jenner. That’s where the water flows into the Pacific, where the Russian River goes from mild (in summer) to wild.

To see the converging waters and feel the roaring wind, you can drive to Goat Rock Road and Goat Rock Beach. Or you could stop for a snack at Cafe Aquatica, whose patio fronts the water’s edge.

Or you could do both, followed by a night at River’s End, where a restaurant and five woodsy guest rooms enjoy sweeping views of the river, sea and sea stacks.

Kayakers paddle through sunset on the Russian River estuary, which looks out at the sea and sea stacks near Jenner.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

I did that. And on my last morning along the river, I got up early and met Keith Chandler of Jenner-based Watertreks Ecotours at water’s edge. Then we paddled around the estuary on a pre-breakfast kayak tour.

“I never get tired of this,” Chandler told me.

Some tours go out by night, focusing on bioluminescent plankton. We skirted Penny Island, where native Pomo people lived and farmed for generations before immigrants from Europe arrived. In fact, Chandler’s boss, Suki Waters, is part Pomo. Jenner might be small, but river, sea, natives and newcomers all converge there.

For a good chunk of this morning, however, there was just two of us in a kayak, sidling up to egrets, cormorants and harbor seals, watching pelicans glide in formation over the long, empty beach where the Russian River ends.

Someday, you might be able to ride a bike from the western San Fernando Valley to Long Beach along the Los Angeles River. But not yet.

The longest unfinished stretch is the eight miles from Elysian Park through downtown to Maywood. For decades, advocates of the path have tried to complete those eight miles along the concretized river.

Yet a decade later, the unrideable gap remains. The ambitious project remains mired in planning and bureaucratic complications, with groundbreaking still two years off and the cost nearly tripling to more than $1 billion — almost $24,000 per foot — documents reviewed by The Times show.

It looked like the prospects for the bike route to the sea were getting serious after Angelenos enthusiastically passed a half-cent tax for transit projects in 2016 that earmarked $365 million for the L.A. River Path.

At the time, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the lead on the project, priced out a simple path on one side of the river.

An aerial view of bicyclists where the Los Angeles River Path ends near Golden Shore and Shoreline Drive in Long Beach.

But by last year, the proposed designs were much wider and added seven pedestrian bridges. They also included sections where the path would be elevated above the ground, supported by beams. The changes responded to community input and comments from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and L.A. Department of Water and Power, among others. Estimated completion of the initial phase is not until 2031.

Navigating the web of nearby structures, like active rail lines and historic bridges, is part of what makes the construction so complex, Metro says. An original $75 million set aside for unforeseen expenses in 2016 swelled to $309 million last year, and the rising cost of construction also added to the high price tag.

Advocates for the path say this grander plan would be great, if there were a way to pay for it.

Yuval Bar-Zemer is a board member with Streets for All, a group that advocates for safer streets in L.A. He also is a downtown loft developer and commissioned studies that helped inform a far less expensive option that would run down near the flowing river, rather than up above. The path would be unusable during heavy rains, but Bar-Zemer and others say that would be less than 20 days each year.

This option was included in Metro’s initial scoping of the path in 2016 but has since been dropped, with the agency citing safety concerns. Bar-Zemer contends that safety features could be installed to make sure pedestrians have enough time to exit the pathway if water rises swiftly. He says he’s spent $350,000 of his own funds in engineering studies and advocacy to advance the path.

A pedestrian walks with an umbrella on the L.A. River Path near Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park.

“The benefits are so obvious, it’s such a home run and such a low-hanging fruit that for me, it’s like criminal not to make it happen,” he said.

Currently, bikers headed southbound run out of path where Riverside Drive crosses the L.A. River at Egret Park. From there, they’re forced to weave through high-traffic streets in neighborhoods including Lincoln Heights, Chinatown, Downtown L.A. and Boyle Heights before they find the path again in Vernon.

“It’s a huge chasm,” said Michael Schneider, founder and chief executive of Streets for All. He called the gap in the L.A. River path “a shame because it’s an otherwise amazing resource.”

Some 76,000 residents live within walking distance of the proposed path, and a million within three miles of the L.A. River, according to Metro estimates from 2022. Around 17% of working-age people who live within a bikeable distance already walk, bike or take transit in their regular commute.

An aerial view of downtown Los Angeles and the Sixth Street Bridge amid an unfinished eight-mile gap in the L.A. River Path.

More recent numbers could be higher since high fuel prices have motivated many to use transit, bikes, e-bikes and scooters. The path also could provide recreational benefits to an area that has some of the most limited access to green space in Los Angeles.

Metro had the eight-mile gap on its list of 28 projects it wanted ready for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As costs soared, it quietly was taken off the list.

Yet there are recent signs of progress for the L.A. River Path.

In late May, the Metro board voted to create a committee that brings together all the players needed to push it to toward completion.

The Los Angeles River runs under the Sixth Street Bridge amid an unfinished eight-mile gap in the L.A. River Path in downtown Los Angeles.

Mayor Karen Bass chairs the Metro board. Despite the project’s stagnation, she continues to convey optimism.

“Angelenos voted in 2016 to make the L.A. River Path path a reality, and Mayor Bass is marshaling the resources necessary to eliminate further distraction that have threatened the project’s pace and cost,” her office said in statement.

Metro staffers are reviewing comments on the draft environmental impact statement, the agency said. They intend to recommend a path forward in the fall.