Starting at Burke's Canoe in Forestville, CA this is a 10-mile self-guided canoe trip down the Russian River.  You can rent your canoe from Burke's and launch from their beach.  Burke's will also pick you up 10 miles down-river and shuttle you back to their parking lot.

This canoe trip features lots of little beaches where you can park your canoe and take a break from paddling to have a picnic, swim in the shallow river, or just hang out and work on your tan.  The water is not frigid either, so jumping out to go for a quick swim won't freeze you to the bone.  We stopped at a small secluded beach for a lunchtime picnic and spent another 30 minutes just having a rock skipping competition.

We visited in the summer after a particularly wet winter, so we had enough of a current and enough depth to make this an easy trip...not much paddling was required to get us moving.  We only needed to paddle for steering away from the trees on the banks.  Be warned that if you visit after a dry winter the river can be very low in spots and you will need to get out and walk it through the shallows as paddling won't really get you anywhere.

Although Burke's is a popular canoe rental company, the crowds thin out the further you go down the river.  For most of our 5 hour journey we were all alone with the water and the sun and the beaches all to ourselves.

If you're interested in camping, Burke's offers a small campsite on their property.  The campsite has running water, showers, and bathrooms.