This was a casual kayak down the Truckee river with my wife, at the recommendation of to Tahoe local friends. Most of the river is lazy and refreshing, but some riffles at the end really challenged my poor flatwater inflatable kayak.
There are supposedly several ways to manage the car shuttle. The commercial float companies will shuttle you if you go through them, but I can't even begin to imagine what they charge. There is also allegedly a bus that you can take from near the takeout, but it is very infrequent. I waited for about 20 minutes for the bus while trying to decipher the posted bus schedule before realizing that the bus was likely at least an hour away. I was prepared for this possibility, and started running up the Truckee River Trail.
The Truckee River Trail is wide, thoughtfully designed, well-shaded, and very popular. All told, it was a great run. I arrived at the put-in at 64-Acres Park just as my wife was finishing inflating the kayak. I was getting toasty, so I jumped in to cool off before we set off.
There is a public dock to take out at at River Ranch, about 4 miles down river. The take out is right after the only significant riffle along the run. We encountered some shallow water in the riffle, making for some tricky, but low consequence navigation.
This was a great Type-1 fun sort of outing. Even not being able to catch a ride to the put in just meant a pleasant jog.