High Water Madness for California Rafting
Posted June 9, 2010 by Malina
An internal AO rafting document “leaked” (read: cut and pasted from my email….) to the press indicates that it was one heck of a wild weekend for California rafting!
Check out what owner Gregg A reported back to HQ about how the weekend looked and what we can expect for the rest of the spring:
“Hi everyone,
Rivers have become quite wild during the last two weeks. The T peaked at 12k on May 14 and of course we happened to be on the river that day. The Merced peaked 12.5k yesterday and yes, we were there then too. The Kaweah peaked at 5k yesterday, and yes, we were there then as well. The North Stan peaked at 2k this past Sunday, and yes, we were there. The South Fork peaked at 5.5k this past Sunday, and yes, we (and me!) were there then too. The Middle Fork peaked at just below 2k on Sunday, and yes, of course we were there then too. The North Fork American peaked at 4200 this past Sunday, and no, we were not there then. Darn…we were almost 100%.
The Department of Water Resources has confirmed that peaks melt has happened on most runs during the past few days. The water bomb we knew would go off did.
What we will experience from this point forward is a healthy, long drawn out melt that will last about 3 weeks longer than a “normal” year. This is largely due to the cool and wet weather we experienced in April and May which “preserved” the snowpack. Note that the Kaweah season has been shortened to July 6 (was July 19). If weather gets very hot in June we will need to decrease again to the end of June (Danny will be able to attend his wedding on July 3). Also note that the Merced has been pulled back to July 26 (was July 30). The end of the North Stan remains June 25 and the North Amer June 20.
Contact me if you have any questions. Gregg”