The All-Outdoors Whitewater Rafting California River Blog

Thanks for helping me clear out some room in my merchandise storage! I am happy to report I am officially out of the AO fleeces and I am ready to move on to fabulous new products for 2008.

As usual, our company garments will be original, guide-designed, and as eco and community friendly as possible. For me, that means I comb the ends of the earth for opportunities to buy American-made shirts, use local screen printers, and find garments made from recycled, organic, or other sustainable fabrics.

For years now we’ve had hemp shirts, organic cotton tanks, and recycled fleece and guide-issue board shorts–in 2008 I’ll continue to investigate opportunities to build the most sustainable merchandise program I can put together. It won’t be perfect, but as the garment industry begins to appreciate that many consumers and retailers want products that are hip, affordable, and also responsible, I hope I’ll have even more options. For now, I’ll continue to search out the needle in the haystack–I’ll let you know what I find.

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I ordered too many fleeces and I’m on a rampage to clear out my storage space. Someone is bound to benefit from my early spring cleaning! This is the perfect Christmas present for the whitewater lover in your life!

The deal: I have a limited quantity of brand-new Patagonia fleeces that are embroidered with our “surf logo” on the chest. They are pull-over style, with kangaroo pocket in the front and they’re made from recycled fleece! Patagonia means they are made to last for ages. Frankly, they’ll last so long they’ll go out of style and still be going strong long enough to eventually be authentically retro. And on that distant day when your fleece finally gives up the ghost you can recycle it through Patagonia’s “Common Threads” recycling program.

The inevitable downside: I only have size large left. And I only have “Sultan Red,” a dark marroon-y red appropriate for both ladies and gents.

The bargin: These fleeces are $76 new–it says so right on the tags. But you can get your hands on one for a mere $45. I’ll even ship it to you for free. If you contact me soon I can get get it in the mail in time for Christmas……..

Email me at malina@aorafting.com or even better call me at 530 626 0882 extension 103.

(Danny doesn’t want to model but at least you can see the color)

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The first day of August was unlike any other. After years of preparation, buckets of sweat, hundreds of crossed t’s, dotted i’s, foiled plots and careful designs, AO guides met AO guests at our River Property in Lotus. The

All-Outdoors River Center was officially open for business!! I rolled in late and missed everything because I was busy making a Coffee Cake to mark the occasion (one of my signature moves in life is to be late because I’m making a Coffee Cake). Luckily for all of us, Scott A had his camera at the ready and documented the momentous occasion. Frankly though, even his eagle eye and swanky camera couldn’t really capture the magic of the moment—it’s hard to articulate how much work and commitment went into bringing a raw and beautiful piece of property into a polished and beautiful space ready to welcome the public—our guests—to their day on the river with us. (more…)

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The 2007 rafting season AO was chock full of the stuff movies are made of. Last weekend (October 13) marked the end of a pretty amazing summer here at All-Outdoors. We spent the season playing, building, expanding, improving, bonding…oh yeah, and rafting! Now that the season is over, we will be blogging a little less, but we will keep you in the loop about our guides, the California snowpack, changes for the upcoming season, winter rafting trips (including Chile), and interesting tidbits from All-Outdoors.

AO Headquarters, Coloma: After months, ok, years, of hard labor, we finally opened the All-Outdoors River Property and began doing put-ins and take-outs for the South Fork American right here at home. Guides and guests both loved the new bathrooms, meet-and-greet straw bale building, and beautiful amphitheater. Stu and his crew have put an enormous amount of time and energy into the property and will continue working on the finishing touches this winter. (more…)

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Ok guys, this is really it. Our last weekend of commercial rafting trips has officially arrived. We’ve been in full swing since early spring but even the best rafting season must come to an end.

The good news is if you can’t wait till next spring to get a taste of whitewater and you’re feeling spontaneous you can jump on a trip this weekend and help us take out 2007 with a bang. After Sunday’s last trip on the Lower section of the South Fork we’ll be cleaning coolers, checking equipment, washing lifejackets and hanging up our river sandals to dry for awhile. Then it’s time to take a breather, watch the winter skies, and pray for snow.

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Not to make you jealous or anything (Hi RC! ), but our fall Whitewater and Wine trip was a blazing sucess.

The day started at our River Center property, where guests met their guides for the day. After a fun day on the Lower Section of the South Fork of the American River, we met back up at the River Center for a late lunch and leisurely tasting of Boeger Winery’s award-winning vino. The hit of the day seemed to be their white table wine called “Hangtown Gold.” Apparently the blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Viogner was the perfect compliment to our lunch. We had Pissaladiere (Southern French Carmalized Onion Tart), hand-made morrocan flatbread and hummous, cheeses, organic local tomatoes, locally-produced olive oil…..

One of the highlights of this trip was a bottle of Boeger’s newest port-style wine that their winemaker personally bottled just for us. Called “Rubies,” it is an unusual blend of Refosco and Charbonno–two rather obscure Italian grapes. The wine hasn’t even been released to the tasting room yet but we got to crack a bottle and served it with dark chocolate and made-from-scratch brownies.

It’s a lot of fun for us to do new trips and we’ve enjoyed working with Boeger so we look forward to offering more of these trips next year. Stay tuned for dates and details, but you can also book “charter” versions of these trips if you’re looking for a premium river trip or you’re celebrating a special occasion. (trip minimums apply–give us a ring for details)

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After 45 years in the business sometimes we gotta mix it up a little—hence the idea that pairing the foothills’ outdoor adventure with its respected wines would be a cool thing to do. We debuted our “Water and Wine” trip back in June and one of the guests on the trip had so much fun she put together another trip with a group of friends and you’re invited too!

The Water: We’ll meet at the All-Outdoors River Center in Lotus and raft the class III Lower section of the South Fork of the American River. The Wine: After the rafting trip we’ll reconvene in Lotus (shuttles included in trip price) where you’ll taste a flight of Boeger Winery’s renown wines.

Boeger is particularly known for Barbera, but since they grow over 28 varietals, who knows what the flight will be! We’ll have a mix of reds and whites to accompany a late lunch inspired by the flavors of the Mediterranean—think olives, tomatoes, rosemary, roasted peppers . . .

Meet time and place: The meet time for this trip is 11:00, at the All-Outdoors River Center on September 15th. Click here for map and directions.

Price: This trip is $150 (price includes all fees, taxes)

To book this trip call us at 1 800 24 RAFTS

To learn more about the rafting section of this unique trip, please visit our South Fork Lower page.

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This September the good folks at American River Inc. are hosting a music festival along the banks of the South Fork of the American
River in the beautiful Coloma-Lotus Valley. World class musicians will grace several stages (including intimate evening venues for ticket holders staying at event camp grounds!) and local food and wine makers will keep concert goers fed and watered throughout the day. There will also be fun stuff like CDs, t-shirts, and art you can browse at your leisure. (more…)

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For a long time now, All Outdoors has been providing inflatable kayaks for our guests on Middle Fork American River 2 and 3-day trips. “Duckies,” as we sometimes affectionately call them, are a great way for people to try out their own water reading abilities and make the Class II section of the river seem much more exciting than it does from inside a raft. Inflatable kayaks bring you much closer to the water… it’s amazing how big those “small” waves can look when they’re right at eye level. As fun as they are, though, inflatable kayaks can be an added logistical challenge to a trip on our end… they are a little bit big and awkward to transport, especially if difficult rapids are interspersed through calmer stretches, making it so that the kayaks need to be temporarily stored time and again. And of course there’s the challenge of making sure no one gets left behind, perched on a rock somewhere in the middle of the river! Because the Middle Fork has a long section of Class II whitewater, the logistics are easy. But until this year, we never brought our duckies along for a Tuolumne trip.

We’ve decided, however, that the value and extra fun those little boats can add to one’s rafting experience far outweighs the logistical challenge of bringing them along. And so, for the first time, we’ve tried out our inflatable kayaks on the Tuolumne! Their virgin run occured sometime last month. I rowed an extra gear boat down so that we could carry them, and tried with the other guides to come up with a quick way to rig them on the boat and take them off again. The purpose of the trip was to see whether or not bringing our duckies on the Tuolumne would be an added benefit or just too much of a struggle.

Turns out that our little experiment was a huge success! (more…)

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Anyone ever read those horrible celebrity gossip magazines and see the pages where they try and make people feel just a little less average by taking pictures of really cool famous people doing everyday things, like drinking a Starbucks?

Well I figure those celebrity gossip magazines must be doing SOMETHING right, because even I can be found flipping through one every once in a while, as ashamed as I am to admit that. So, welcome to the All Outdoors version of Celebrities Are People Too: The Armstrongs Are People Too! Yes, they may own, run, AND guide for one of the greatest rafting companies in all the land, but they are actually regular old folks just like you and me. Exhibit A is pictured above: Laura Armstrong guiding a raft through Clavey Falls on the Tuolumne River… in a classic, bright orange jacket designed by America’s Cup! (Notice how similar her look is to everyone else’s in the boat).

Exhibit B: Scott A’s similar jacket choice pictured on the right here, taken on the Goodwin Canyon section of the Stanislaus River. And what’s more: Scott actually wears the purple helmet too!!

In a little more seriousness, we hear the question all the time: “Why do you guys (guides) get to wear those cool-looking lifejackets while we (guests) are stuck in these bulky, dorky-looking orange things?” (more…)

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