All-Outdoors California Whitewater Rafting

Ihave some more details on the 3rd annual American River MusicFestival coming up this September. Of most interest to you, oh faithful whitewater enthusiast and reader of this here rafting blog, is the musical guest that will be serenading festival rafters on September 18th...

Well, if there’s one thing we rely on here in the rafting business it’s that stuff changes all the time. The government and nature are more powerful than our powers to predict river conditions...

Here are AO guide Danny and AO office person Malina on spring break in lovely Meh-hico! And no, we didn’t bring home Swine Flu. Some tortillas, yes, a weird mutated flu virus, no...

Oh you know we love to toot our own horn. Just a wee bit. Especially those of us stuck in the office gazing wistfully out at the caravans of gear trucks and trailors leaving for the Tuolumne, or hearing stories from ’round the ol’ campfire. Good stories comin’ out of Camp Lotus already! Yowza...

If you’re in town June 8th, don’t forget to stop by the American River Trailfest! The day starts with the Headwater seminar 9:30-4pm. Among the speakers are UC Davis water politics expert Jeff Mount, kayaker Scott Ligare, and a docent from the Gold Discovery State Park...

The roller coaster continues! We started out the 2009California river rafting season with a serious “sky-is-falling-drought-of-biblical-proportions” message from the California government...

Click here to view the embedded video.Based on the 2009 snowpack and current temperatures, we anticipate that this weekend, June 6-8, will be the last chance for rafting trips on the Kaweah River. After that, flows will likely be too low for good whitewater. HOWEVER...

It’s curtains for another springtime California river. The snowmelt in the North Fork American River watershed is over for 2009 and flows are now too low for rafting trips. The North Fork isn’t dam-controlled so it always has a shorter season–but we’ll be back in 2010, ready to rumble...

This is probably the highest altitude place the AO t-shirt has traveled. Hopefully it got to eat some tasty milk chocolate and maybe buy a cool watch, as well as tour the Swiss Alps……oh–and hope AO rafting guide Jared had fun, too...

That’s it people! The North Fork of the Stan is ov-ah for the season. Water has dropped out; we’re packing up and re-deploying elsewhere...

Here’s a great (and free!) add-on to a South Fork American River rafting trip this coming weekend. The good folks down at the American River Conservancy are hosting a guided hike for kids in the Coloma Lotus Valley this Sat, May 30th...

On Monday, June 8, the Headwaters Institute is hosting the American River Seminar, a day of watershed education and networking for river guides and the local community...

AO web man Sammy and his wife got a day away from the family and headed out to play in the woods…..

The good folks at the Boulder Adventure Film Festival ( and AO guide Mark) are bringing their awesome stable o’ films to our very own Cozmic Cafe in Placerville on Weds May 27th...

The 6th Annual American River Trailfest will be held on Monday, June 8 from 5-10pm at the Earthtrek riverside camp in Lotus. The $30 ticket ($15 for kids) includes an awesome dinner and 2 drinks, plus great live music...

Early days…one of the great things about rafting is that things haven’t changed all that much. were these overalls and tee-shirts passed down to current AO guides? Washing dishes Luckily, the equipment has changed quite a bit and we no longer have to use bucket-bail military rafts Bookmark Th

The fabulous folks over at Sierra Rescue just announced two dates for Wilderness First Aid Classes taught on the South Fork American river this May and June. Here’s the flyer they sent us: Greetings from Sierra Rescue...

Good news for spring rafters! The strong snowpack from winter 2009, combined with this week’s warming trend, mean water levels are rising on springtime rafting trips. This might mean free-flowing rivers like the Merced will have slightly shorter seasons, but conditions are wonderful right now...

The annual American River Music festival is back for another weekend of music and rafting. The festival will feature as always Americana, folk music, and a little rockin’ blues. The headliner for this year’s line-up is local possibly-legend-in-the-making Jackie Greene...

More old photos…these are some amazing group shots that includes guides we still see out on the river today (or fixing busses, teaching advanced guide schools, driving shuttles). Some of these outfits are truly incredible. Bookmark This

Now that we’ve had a little more time to crunch the numbers I have an update for you about how the recent storms are affecting California rivers. As you know already, we had wild water on a number of rivers over the May 2nd weekend...

AO guide Lynsey submitted this report from our trip last weekend on the Cal Salmon River: Who would have thought, pulling away from the majestic Cal Salmon, the one name that would swirl around my head would be Wooly Bully?...

It was a heckuva weekend on California rivers! We had high water on the Merced–got up to 11,000 CFS for awhile there–bigger flows down on the Kaweah, and the Tuolumne shot up to 6,000...

From the snowy afternoons of a South Dakota blizzard we now continue our world tour and head for mighty China! Who knew we would travel so far and wide. The AO t-shirt really gets around. And by that, of course I mean well-traveled...