If you’ve ever lost something on the American River, Karl Bly can help find it.
The kayaker and founder of American River Lost & Found made it his mission to reunite owners with items lost in the currents. It’s his obsession.
“My dad introduced me to the river,” Bly says. “He would go out diving and I would kayak or canoe above him and follow his bubbles around. By the time I was 6 or 7 years old, I could paddle a boat.
“My dad was a treasure hunting explorer. Anything he found with a name on it—a wallet, a fishing license—he would pull out the phone book and call everyone with that last name until he found the owner.”
Bly’s first big find of his own was a wallet in a pair of cutoff jeans. He was 10.
“Treasure of treasures!” he says.
The wallet contained a driver’s license and CHP ID. Following his dad’s process, Bly called everyone with that name. The grateful traffic officer gave him a CHP baseball cap.
“It was the first big thing I found and returned. It made me feel like part of the community,” Bly says.
Since then, whenever Bly finds something, he posts it to his Facebook page—a faster process than the phone book.
Bly’s posts went viral with a unique discovery. Kayaking near Rio Americano High School with his son, Bly spotted a GoPro camera. He retrieved the camera and posted some of its 16,000 pictures.
The device belonged to a young woman who traveled the world with the camera. The post received 15 million views in three days. Bly says, “The next thing I know, people are trying to follow my personal page, interested in what I’m doing.”
He started a separate Facebook page called American River Lost & Found in 2017, and got thousands of new followers. Now he was obligated to go out and find things.
“It’s a feedback loop: you find something, you find the owner right away and it’s encouraging to go out and find more stuff,” he says. “It’s not just a hobby, it’s a full-fledged addiction.”
These days, requests arrive almost daily for sunglasses and cell phones. His strangest finds? Prosthetic legs. It happens more than you think.
Bly’s familiarity with the river lets him assist law enforcement when they search for drowning victims. His advocacy for waterway safety was learned the hard way.
“I do know more about this river than most people, so I can take a better stance,” Bly says. “When people lose stuff, I have to know where the trouble spots are where people are wiping out.”
Bly’s best advice?
“If you’re bringing it on the river, make sure it floats.”
For information, search American River Lost & Found on Facebook and follow @arkayaker and @american_river_lost_and_found on Instagram.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
