Reno’s popular Truckee River Whitewater Park in the downtown hotel-casino district received official dedication Aug. 19 with a commemorative plaque and public information about the kayak course.

Mayor Bob Cashell and Councilmen David Aiazzi and Pierre Hascheff conducted the dedication at a site overlooking the park’s half-mile long kayak course, which encircles an island in the Truckee River. The $1.5 million park was funded by a statewide bond and built in 2003 after a nearly five-year effort spearheaded by the Nevada Commission on Tourism with the collaboration of the cities of Reno and Sparks, Washoe County, Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, Truckee Meadows Water Authority, Silver Legacy Resort Casino, Eldorado Hotel and Casino, Harrah’s Reno Casino Hotel and others.

The rock-lined whitewater park offers 11 drop pools, easy access and is open year-round for free public use. It is home...

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Truckee River Bike Path: the path features signs with distances to areas along the river and is well-maintained. Photo by RenoTahoeBiking wasn’t a hobby that I thought that I would want to get into. I’ve been pretty active all my life, but biking? Sure, it’s great exercise and you can bond with people who share that same interest, but I still thought it wasn’t for me.

It wasn’t very long until I found myself and a friend at the Reno Bike Project buying me a mountain bike. It wasn’t a brand new bike, but the RBP took care of it, made sure it was working all right and sold it to me for what I thought was a fair price.

Before I get going, let me tell you that I had not ridden a bike since I...

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I’ve lived in Nevada most of my life. More specifically, in the countryside outside of Reno. When you live somewhere for such a long time, you forget about the good aspects of it and focus on how to leave that city or state. Most of the people I know have done just that. I’m included.

When I moved back from Kansas a few years ago, I thought, “Here we go again. It’s just Nevada. It’s just Reno.” From the way I saw things, there was nothing exciting or fun to do, especially if you were under 21. At least in Las Vegas, there were other attractions. Here? Nothing.

It wasn’t until I met my best friend that I began opening my eyes to Reno and the surrounding area. I was terrified of downtown. I thought there was nothing there but homeless people and crime. Now don’t get me wrong, downtown still scares...

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It was a clear blue Sunday morning and the temperature was supposed to reach the low 90s. My boyfriend and I were off to spend Father’s Day rafting down the Truckee River with our two friends and their daughter.

We packed up our cheap rafts, oars, water and sunscreen and headed to Dorostkar River Park, off of Mayberry Drive in Reno. We piled out of the truck, got creative and used an air mattress pump to pump up our rafts.

After we got the rafts pumped up and into the Truckee River, we slid (none-too-gracefully) into them and started our almost five-mile trek from Dorostkar Park to Wingfield Park in downtown Reno.

Within 10 minutes, the bottom of our raft was already flat. As we hit rapids, trees and rocks, we had to lift our entire body off of the raft and lie straight in order for our bodies to...

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