Got to the South Fork Too Early? Not a Problem
Posted August 20, 2012 by cameron
You’ve done all the planning just right. You booked your rafting trip on the South Fork American River. You printed directions and packed up the car the night before. You even left yourself an extra 45 minutes of drive time just in case there is traffic…and there was no traffic. So now your 45 minutes of buffer time has made you exactly 45 minutes early. You sheepishly pull into the All-Outdoors parking lot and find a group of guides busy preparing the rafts for the trip.
“Hey,” they say, “It’s great to see you, but we were expecting you in like 45 minutes.”
I’ve found myself, as a guide, in this predicament as well. It’s better to be early than late, but 45 minutes is a long time to kill, especially in the morning when all your energy is focused on this whitewater rafting trip.
So here’s what you should do if you find yourself rolling into Lotus way before you’re supposed to get there. Drive straight past All-Outdoors on your left, and keep going until you hit a stop sign. You’ll be at a 3-way intersection. Make a left to drive over a bridge, and you’ll cross over the river (which you’ll be rafting on later). Make your first left into a parking, and right in front of you will be a great little, local bakery called Sierra Rizing. They make decent coffee, a really nice chai tea, and all of their pastries fresh that morning. They even serve breakfast most days. The seating is cozy, and if you sit there for a bit, it’s fun to watch all the rafting folks come through on their morning routine.
Planning too well doesn’t have to make the morning awkward if you’ve got the right backup plan.
