Evan Garcia’s Whitewater Bodega fills local hole, and brings history with it

The walls in the store reflect that, and are covered in different whitewater memorabilia — prodding Garcia about any of them leads to its own anecdote.

There are signed posters from film festivals and race trophies, along with a photograph of the Little White Salmon River’s gauge at 4.8, which Garcia says is his favorite level to kayak. A broken paddle sits on the ground, a keepsake from the world record-breaking descent of Palouse Falls in southeast Washington.

“I wanted to create a space that felt like a river shop, with cool artwork and cool pictures,” he said. “My whole idea is to keep it hyperlocal, right in the heart of the Columbia Gorge paddling community.”

The Gorge, Garcia said, is one of the largest hubs of whitewater with 365 days a year of paddling, whether there’s snow, rain or sun. “There’s not one day in a year that you cannot go paddle something fun,” he added.

Despite the year-round access, essential boating gear such as paddles, helmets and personal flotation devices (PFDs) were only possible to purchase online. The Kayak Shed in Hood River burned down in 2017, as previously reported by Columbia Gorge News, and the next closest store in Portland, Next Adventure, announced its closure in 2025. That became the final catalyst for starting the Whitewater Bodega.

“I saw this moment of opportunity,” Garcia said. “I decided to jump in and create a little shop here, and do it in a way that felt sustainable, keeping things small and the overhead low.”

And that’s a page out of his dad’s book. He owns and runs a river store in Bozeman, Montana, where Garcia grew up working, and his brother later opened up an outdoor store in Pucón, Chile.

“It’s kind of become a family business,” Garcia explained, saying that he wants to keep it old-school like his dad and skip dropshipping or anything related to Amazon. Items are available to purchase online at whitewaterbodega.com, and Garcia is the one behind the scenes, sending out the packages and preparing kayaks for freight delivery.

Currently, the Whitewater Bodega is open Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., with weekdays available by appointment at 509-281-3454.

Unlike a typical bodega, there are no snacks, drinks or sandwiches to purchase — instead, there’s rows of gear from smaller necessities such as custom-made drain plugs to large ticket items like brightly colored kayaks and rafts.

“I sell the products and brands that, for me, represent the whitewater industry and the whitewater community in the best way,” Garcia said.

Gear is stocked from larger-known companies, “the classics,” as he calls it, and there is an intentional effort to work with smaller businesses, too. The list includes throw bags from River Station, fleecewear from Mountains 2 Sea Apparel and neoprene skull caps from Nobody’s.

During store hours, conversations about beta on local rivers or obscure waterfalls are common. Boaters stop by with questions, knowing Garcia likely has the information about running a specific river section and can recommend the correct gauge level.

“I just love that kind of stuff,” he said. “Even though I’m maybe not running huge waterfalls anymore, I’m still very invested in the art of it and helping people do it.”

It’s not just advanced kayakers that Garcia enjoys helping, either; he pointed to a couple from Spokane who just bought their first PFDs on consignment from the store a couple of weeks ago. They returned with more questions, as their local outdoor shop had closed down in 2019, and with it, access and knowledge to whitewater gear.

“They were stoked,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, it’s just about getting people on the water.”

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