The All-Outdoors Whitewater Rafting California River Blog

The California Rivers Festival is just around the corner–it’s coming up this weekend, on March 15th. If you’re going to be in the area stop by and check it out. This Friends of the River sponsored event will be lots of fun–you can check out the swap meet, sit in on lectures, learn about safe boating (especially important during the upcoming spring season with its higher flows and colder water) bid at the silent auction, and network with the pros. You can also learn about FOR’s many efforts on behalf of California’s whitewater rivers. They have led the charge on education, conservation, and preservation for many years. Get all the details here.

And don’t forget that AO’s own Scott A will be presenting his beautiful photographs from his expedition to Ethiopia’s Blue Nile river a few years ago at this year’s California River Festival. (Above: lining boats on the Blue Nile River)

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Friends of the River’s annual California River Festival just got even better.  AO owner Scott Armstrong has been invited to present a slideshow and talk on his 2005 expedition to Ethiopia’s Blue Nile.  Scott helped lead the expedition’s international team from the source of the Nile to the Sudanese boarder.  There were nights in bat caves, dinners of power bars and tuna, snapping crocs, remote villages, thundering whitewater in rock-walled canyons, and lots of high adventure. 

As you can imagine the expedition provided many opportunities for whipping out the camera, and I can personally attest to the beauty (and sometimes humor) of Scott’s photography.  We’ve all sat through excrutiating travel pics, trapped in the monotony of one boring snapshot after another–in fact let’s face it we’ve all probably been the person droning on and on–but I am here to tell you that this is one slide show you will really enjoy.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be really grateful for the infrastructure in the United States. (more…)

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This latest storm may have botched my plans for a weekend in Tahoe to visit Tessa and Brooke, but I’m certainly not going to complain!  Our weather system keeps fighting for a great, above-average water year here in California.  I checked California’s data exchange center this morning, and we are already at 102% of the APRIL 1st average, which means that we are a whole month ahead of the curve.  Any new snow we get in March can only bring us further and further over that average, translating to good water for rafting in Spring and Summer.  Of course,  the weather in March can still change things, but all in all we’re looking pretty good!  So, like I’ve said before, keep those rain dances up and pray for more! 

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After a brief hiatus, river conservation and advocate group Friends of the River (FOR) is bringing back the California Rivers Festival.

This FREE event is great way to contact other whitewater enthusiasts, meet the Pros, swap gear, and learn about what’s going on in the California whitewater scene in 2008.  Highlights of the event include a swap meet for gear, films and seminars, a raffle and silent auction and a BBQ dinner and live entertainment at the end of the day.

The California Rivers Festival is March 15, 2008.  Drop off for the gear swap meet starts at 8:00 am and the raffle/auction starts at 5pm.  Come for as much or as little as you like!

Location: Waldorf School. 3750 Bannister Road, Fair (more…)

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More good news about the 2008 snowpack!  You already knew that the storms in early January got us up to normal for this time of year.  The latest storms have improved the situation.  Our informants in Tahoe say it’s been snowing consistantly, the drifts are piling up, and practically every day has been a powder day. 

Official sources like the state Department of Water Resources are reporting that the Northern Sierra Nevada has accumulated enough snow that we are about 20% higher than normal at this point.  It’s still too early to give any kind of ironclad sense of the 2008 California rafting season other than that–just like last year–dam-controlled rivers like the South and Middle Forks of the American, Tuolumne, and Cherry Creek will have consistant flows.  We’ll be able to tell you more a little later in the spring but for now, things are looking good and there are lots of smiles around the AO office–and not just from our happy snowboarders and skiers fresh off the mountain–because we all know good snowpack now means great rafting later.

 (Left: the slopes above Lake Tahoe)

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Despite freezing cold temperatures, muddy roads, and the more important fact that there are only about 100 cubic feet per second of water flowing downstream, I am still inextricably drawn to the river! What with the holiday season, and the weeks of trying to get myself organized again after the holidays, it had been a few months since the last time I ventured into a river canyon, or done anything active at all for that matter. So, dragging my innocent parents and visiting aunt along, I took a little walk last weekend down to the North Fork American River, on a trail that I would easily recommend to anyone else needing a new place to explore…

The trail is called the Euchre Bar Trail, and winds down to the put-in for what is known in the boating world as the Giant Gap Run. This stretch of river lies above the more commonly visited “Chamberlain’s Run”, where All Outdoors offers trips in the spring months. Giant Gap is not usually rafted commercially, partly because of its Class V difficulty rating, but mostly because of the fact that you cannot drive there. Instead, you park your car at an incredibly scenic turnout a few miles off Highway 80, (more…)

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The question on every rafter’s mind right now is how the recent storms will impact the 2008 California rafting season. Our informants living in Tahoe tell us they are snowed in, skiing fresh powder, huddled by their heaters, and watching the snow pile up. Is this great news or what?

Well, yes and no. Frustrating though it may be, the reality is it’s just too soon to predict anything. What we do know is the storms were massive and even record-breaking in some regions. They were so big they took the Sierra snowpack from downright dismal to average for this time of year almost overnight, which is great news. We also know much of the snow had really good water content, which is also good news for rafters. However, the storm season isn’t over, and we don’t know what will happen in the next few months.

Until we can tell you more, enjoy the ski season (you’ll probably see some of us on the slopes if you head up to Tahoe!), and keep hoping for more winter storms!

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All-Outdoors’ 2008 whitewater rafting guide schools are on the books.

Our first school will be a split session in the spring. Guide school begins April 17-20 (Thurs-Sun) and continues the next week April 25-27 (Fri-Sun). We split our spring whitewater school into two sessions to make it easier for people to fit it into school and work schedules. Our second guide school will be a solid week in June, running from the 17th to the 23rd.

Each whitewater school will introduce students to the fundamental techniques of navigating whitewater rivers. Topics include reading water, class III guiding, swimming rapids, safety skills and using rafting equipment. Our guide school will also introduce you to the wide world of commercial guiding, including things like cooking in a wilderness setting, people skills and ethical wilderness exploration.

(more…)

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Happy new year everyone! Here at the AO River Center in Lotus we’re hunkered down in the midst of a great big storm and even though the office floor is a muddy leaf-strewn mess, a tree fell down on my dad’s pasture fence last night, and we all look sort of like drowned rodents in our rain gear, wool hats, and boots, we’re excited by the reports of snow dumping down on the Sierras. Get out your chains when you dust off those skis and goggles–the snow is coming down hard.

It’s way too soon to predict what the snowpack will look like in the end, but at the moment, All-Outdoors is happy the new year is beginning with a good winter storm in our neck of the woods. When we have more information, Gregg A will get out his looking glass, magic beans, common sense, and years of experience and write up his 2008 California whitewater predictions. We’ll share that info with you as soon as we have it. For now though, we’re looking ahead to a great year !

(P.S: Holy Cow! The storm just cranked up a few notches–I think it’s trying to go from 10 to 11 on the dial. Branches are snapping off, sheets of rain are pummeling the road, and our ornamental garden is swimming in water. I think the power is threatening to go off at any second! I better hit publish before I lose contact with the outside world . . . )

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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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