Our sleepy little valley is going to reverbarate with the soulful sounds of another music festival! Either buy a ticket or get out some earplugs because the Coloma Blues Festival is back for another day of stompin’ guitar licks, screamin’ harmonica, and serious singing.
The headliner this year is none other than Los Lobos! Earlier in the day Alan Cummings, the Tommy Castro band, and others will warm up the crowd and keep the tunes flowing.
The festival will be held next to the South Fork of the American River in Henningson-Lotus park. For more info, or to buy tickets online, check out the festival website.
Local accomodations are less than a mile away–check out Camp Lotus or the Lotus Inn . And it probably goes without saying that if you go to the Blues Festival on Saturday, you’re right in the neighborhood for an American River rafting trip……wash the blues away with some sweet sweet whitewater……
(Above and Right: Alan Cummings and Sista Monica rock the 2007 Blues Fest)
AO’s very own Mark Reiner is bringing the Boulder Adventure Film Festival to our backyard this weekend. On May 17th he’ll show a selection of some of the festival’s award-winning films at Placerville’s Cozmic Cafe. Check out the festival’s website to see images from what look like some seriously remarkable films.
For directions to the venue, see Cozmic Cafe’s website.
The show will start at 7pm and I have no idea how long it will last so just go and find out! Tickets are 10 bucks.
As you know by now, water numbers across golden (well, still pretty green actually,) California are perfectly normal this year–which is perfectly lovely news for whitewater sports enthusiasts.
The story on the Kaweah River, in Southern California, is a little confusing. If you google water stats for the Kaweah you’ll see numbers that are a little higher than what we reported in our “flow prediction report” a little while back. Here’s why: Snow water content in the Kaweah Watershed is at around 120% of normal this year. However, since 2007 was pretty dry, the ground and plant life is prepped to soak up a lot of the run-off this spring. This means less will flow into the river, which is why we are predicting that this will be a “normal” rather than a “high water” year.
The reason this is still good news for Southern California rafters is that the 2008 season on the Kaweah will be longer than it was last year, when there weren’t very many weekends the river was running at great flows. We think the river will peak sometime around the Memorial Day Holiday weekend.
If you’ve never rafted the class IV whitewater of the Kaweah River Canyon, check out the video we shot there last summer to give you a taste……office cubicle one day, screamin’ whitewater the next. Cowboy up!
On May 1st, the long dormant volcano Chaiten erupted 40 miles from Futaleufu. We run river trips on the Futaleufu River every winter so we want to let our community know what has happened to this beautiful and sleepy town.
Since the first eruption on May 1st, Chaiten has erupted two more times, covering neighboring regions with 15 inches of ash. The photographs we’ve seen look like a snowy winter evening–not the green South American landscape we know and love. Many people in the area have been forced to evacuate, but others are trying to stay behind to care for livestock and property.
One of our guides works with a kayaking school based in the area and she told us that it has started collecting aid through an organization called the Futaleufu Relief Fund. Run by the Rane family, this fund will distribute badly need aid like water filters, first aid, and dust masks. The group is also helping clean up destroyed property, dead livestock, and the many tons of ash. All funds collected will go directly towards rebuilding this incredible town and river valley.
All-Outdoors has close ties with the Futaleufu River, and we are establishing contact with the families we know and love in the area. We will be focusing our attention in that direction and will keep you updated. If you would like to contribute to the Rane family’s efforts we know they–and the people devestated by this unexpected natural disaster–will be grateful. You can email them at futarelief@gmail.com for more information.
Our official 2008 flow prediction came out on April 10, almost a month ago. We predicted a good California rafting season due to a healthy snowpack left from winter (100% of normal). We also noted that once the snow started to melt the runoff would be good and rivers would flow well. What we did not know at the time is that the month of April would be cool and the snow in the high Sierra would remain relatively in tact and preserved for a later melt. This is good news for California rafting!
Here’s a cool opportunity if you want to spend more than one day enjoying the Coloma Lotus Valley while the grass is still green, flowers are splashed on the hillsides, and the temperatures are still pretending they won’t get fierce as the Sahara in July…..
I digress. Here’s the idea: Come up to the Gold Country on the Mother’s Day holiday weekend…. On Saturday the 10th the American River Conservancy is hosting a free guided hike exploring the Serpantine Habitat at Traverse Creek. Naturalist Robert is going to guide the hike, which is mellow and easy. (For more info on this event and other cool stuff the Conservancy is up to, visit their website.) Then, the next day, Raft the South Fork American for an adventerous wrap up of a nature filled weekend.
What to do in between you ask? What, you want even more to do? Well ok, if it was me, I’d go wine tasting at a local winery (Venezio, Gold Hill, and David Girard are all really close) after the hike, and then have dinner at Cafe Mahjaic in Lotus. If you stay at the Lotus Inn, which is right next door to the Cafe, you just could not get any more convenient. If you feel like camping check out Camp Lotus–they’re about a mile away from Cafe Mahjaic.
Every year the locals in the Coloma/Lotus Valley look forward to the Spring show on Mt. Murphy. Blankets of wild California Poppies ring in the onset of spring and paint it’s south facing slopes a golden hue that is utterly breathtaking (especially when the alpinglow sets in just before sundown.) Read more…
Last year we did our first wine tasting and whitewater rafting trips and we’re bringing them back for 2008.
Our July 19th trip combines some of the best receation the Gold Country has to offer–whitewater rafting and wine tasting. A little lux, a little adventure……..sounds pretty sweet to me! Napa and Sonoma may be more famous, but the Sierra Foothills are becoming more and more well known as the awards and accolades continue to roll in. Our first wine trip this summer will partner up with Boeger Winery–which has been making rich Barberas and unusual varietals like Tempranillo and Charbono since 1972.
Details on the trip:
When: Saturday July 19
Where: We’ll meet at our River Center in Lotus, California, at 9:00am.
What: Raft first! Lunch and wine second! After rafting the Upper section of the South Fork of the American River we’ll have a fabulous lunch, taste a flight of Boeger’s wines, and learn a little something about the Sierra Foothills appelation and Boeger Winery’s history. Boeger’s staff will be on the trip so the wine will be poured by the folks who know it best.
Cost: This trip is $175, and includes a one day rafting trip, lunch, and wine tasting. All equipment, shuttles, taxes and fees are included.
For more information, give our office a ring (800) 247-2387 or email Malina at Malina@aorafting.com
The Merced River is one of our favorite springtime runs because it’s one of the best introductions to Class IV (more advanced) white water rafting. This federally protected Wild and Scenic River is located just outside of Yosemite National Park and can be rafted in one or two days. The Merced is a popular river for California tourists because of it’s proximity to Yosemite. Last spring we filmed a Merced River rafting video that you can watch here:
The Kaweah River is one of the more exciting and lesser-known white water rafting runs in California. Located just a few hours from Los Angeles, the Kaweah River is a one-day Class IV river with non-stop action and beautiful scenery. You can watch our video of the Kaweah River from last spring:
Our sleepy little valley is going to reverbarate with the soulful sounds of another music festival! Either buy a ticket or get out some earplugs because the Coloma Blues Festival is back for another day of stompin’ guitar licks, screamin’ harmonica, and serious singing.
festival website.
AO’s very own Mark Reiner is bringing the 
Every year the locals in the Coloma/Lotus Valley look forward to the Spring show on Mt. Murphy. Blankets of wild California Poppies ring in the onset of spring and paint it’s south facing slopes a golden hue that is utterly breathtaking (especially when the alpinglow sets in just before sundown.) 
Our July 19th trip combines some of the best receation the Gold Country has to offer–whitewater rafting and wine tasting. A little lux, a little adventure……..sounds pretty sweet to me! Napa and Sonoma may be more famous, but the Sierra Foothills are becoming more and more well known as the awards and accolades continue to roll in. Our first wine trip this summer will partner up with 
For more information, give our office a ring (800) 247-2387 or email Malina at 
