The All-Outdoors Whitewater Rafting California River Blog

Last week we launched some new California rafting videos, shot on our river trips last summer. We just added another one, of Cherry Creek, a river one of our guests described as “transcendent and transformative.”

Whether you’re an arm-chair adventurer or the real deal, check out our new video, which gives you a virtually-guided tour of the Class-V extravaganza that is the AO Cherry Creek trip. We’ve been out on the Creek since the 1980s, and even though we love family-friendly rivers like the South Fork, there are some of us that pretty much live for Cherry Creek I am not one of those people, because I am a wimp, but even I love the video.

After you watch the Cherry Creek video, check out our new “Cherry Creek frequently asked questions” page to learn more about these remarkable trips. Because class V rafting is a challenge, we’ve found that people tend to have lots of questions–so we thought we’d give you quick answers to some of the easy ones. Call us if we missed anything (800-24-RAFTS).

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Just a quick note for anyone who was as bummed as I was that the Tuolumne was supposed to “shut down” in four days…

We get two more weekends of flow!! Yippee! So, September 7th and 8th, as well as the 14th and 15th, are now raft-able days on the Tuolumne. Don’t forget that this includes Cherry Creek. So, if you want to end this rafting season with a bang on Class V Cherry Creek, you’ve now got two more weekends to get some friends together and come on up. Hope to see you out there!

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This is a rafting video from Cherry Creek on August 25, 2007.

Guides: Scott Armstrong, Adam Walker, Danny Walker, Matt Duperrault.

Videographer: B. Zupo Photography

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For a while there in the beginning of June, flows into the Tuolumne out of Cherry Creek were hovering somewhere around 2000 cfs. This may not mean anything to most of you, but 2000 cfs used to be the magic number for us on Class V+ Cherry Creek. It is what we previously had designated as our “cut-off point” for commercial trips up there, meaning that we would only go if flows were lower. The thing about the rafting world, though, (and almost all adventure sports), is that “cut-off points” are subject to change. We are always exploring our options, trying new things and experimenting with different ways to run a river. So instead of accepting our fate the last time a commercial trip was canceled because of higher water, a few of us guides went back the next day to try it out at higher flows; to see if maybe we could run it after all. To say it was the first time any of us had ever been there at those flows would be lying, though, because Adam and a few others went up for a high water scout trip last year. But most of us were seeing a “new” river that day, and our Cherry Creek guides wanted to be able to reach a group consensus on whether or not trips at those flows would be manageable. Turns out, they are! I won’t lie… there were definitely some times when we were scouting a rapid (when you hike downstream to look at the rapid before running it), that I felt those butterflies wake up in my tummy. But that happens on Cherry Creek anyway. And this is not to say that we didn’t think it was big out there. But the point was that it’s do-able, and fun. (more…)

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All-Outdoors just expanded our business on the Tuolumne River and Cherry Creek, which means we have twice as many available rafting trips up there and, even better, some new ones! With all those launch dates to choose from, and with such a long Cherry Creek season on the way due to dam-regulated flows, we figured we could put our heads together and come up with a few good ways to add some fun trip alternatives. Thus was born one of AO’s best ideas yet… (drumroll please)… the never-before-offered, fabulously brilliant,

Cherry Creek - Tuolumne River Combination Trips!

Our reasoning on creating these special combo trips went something like this: “Hey! Cherry Creek just happens to run directly into the Tuolumne… which puts two amazing stretches of river quite literally on top of one another… sooo… why not offer a trip that runs down both?!” (We’re genious I tell you!) The merger provides the best of both worlds: heart-pounding Class V accompanied by overnight camping in a beautiful canyon, hikes up tumbling creeks, exhilerating Class IV, and calmer stretches of river perfect for relaxation. (For any of you out there having a hard time choosing between a day of Class V adrenaline on Cherry Creek and a few days of wilderness camping and Class IV on the Tuolumne, we’ve just made your decision a whole lot easier.)

The order of events is totally up to you. (more…)

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Cherry Creek is rated Class V+ and is considered one of the most difficult whitewater rafting rivers in the counrty. This river is definitely not for the faint-at-heart or the first time rafter. But now all that is changed with the help of the internet.

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Cherry Creek… fourteen Class V rapids, 200 feet of elevation lost in one mile… one of the most intimidating and exhilerating rivers to raft on. And that’s if you’re paddling. The thought of having to make all the decisions of where to go and how to get there in those fourteen Class Vs and during that crazy “Miracle Mile”, is to me a bit daunting. I’ve been paddling on trips there for the past three summers, and the river has just started to “slow down” for me. (Slow down being a term that guides use to describe the phenomenon when a rapid ceases to be a panicked blur and finally becomes a somewhat comprehendable, step-by-step process.)

Butterflies hardly seem like the right visual for the feeling that a guide might get in his/her stomach the morning of their very first day in charge of a boat on Cherry Creek. I imagine that the inside of their bellies probably feel a little bit more like a jug of angry, buzzing hornets. Either way the point is made: one would be nervous as heck.

Until this year, however, that day seemed like a long way off for most of us sort-of middle generation guides here at AO. But then it started to happen… (more…)

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I can still remember the drive home from my first day paddling Cherry Creek. Scott A. turned to me and asked, “Isn’t it beautiful up there? What did you think of all those waterfalls coming down the canyon walls?” I looked at him for a moment, taking a few seconds to register that he had really just asked me what I thought about scenery, and then responded sincerely with, “What waterfalls?”

The truth was, the only thing I saw and noticed that day was my paddle (more…)

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