Once you arrive as our guest please know you are now what we consider “River Time”. This means we try and stick to a schedule, but times are merely a guideline and may not be exact once we start our adventure. Times below may vary, but not much!
The night before your rafting adventure begins:
4:00-8:00PM – Check in to our South Fork American River campground for camping the night before you start rafting. Dinner is not included.
The first day of your rafting trip. Your guides will hand out dry bags for your overnight gear for camping tonight as it will be in a different location
7:00AM Dry Bags, coffee, tea and drinks are available in the kitchen
7:15AM Breakfast
8:00AM Load shuttle to the Oxbow Reservoir put in for the Middle Fork American River
9:00AM Safety talk @ put in
9:30AM Rafting lots of Class 4 rapids!
Once we are on the river there are several side hikes we can go on as well as enjoy our riverside lunch. Once we are thru the Class 4 action the river mellows out and we can sit back to to enjoy her spendor. Side hikes could include Darnell’s (to Darnell’s Waterfall/canyon, it’s an amazing and unique place)
We will pull into camp early evening, usually around 4:00PM. There is plenty of time for exploring, swimming, fishing, or just kickin’ it by the river!
You will also see the river flows drop in the afternoon, this is because this is a dam controlled river with the “power switch” literally turned on every morning and off shortly after. It takes a while for the flows to move down the Middle Fork American River Canyon.
Camp set up with time for relaxing while your amazing guides prepare appetizers & dinner.
Evening Campfire and riverside chats (campfire not guaranteed due to possible high fire danger)
Day 2 of your camping and rafting vacation. The morning is leisurely as we wait for the river flows to rise.
Just before sunrise –
Once you arrive as our guest please know you are now what we consider “River Time”. This means we try and stick to a schedule, but times are merely a guideline and may not be exact once we start our adventure. Times below may vary, but not much!
The night before your rafting adventure begins:
4:00-8:00PM – Check in to our South Fork American River campground for camping the night before you start rafting. Dinner is not included.
The first day of your rafting trip. Your guides will hand out dry bags for your overnight gear for camping tonight as it will be in a different location
7:00AM Coffee, tea and drinks are available in the kitchen
7:15AM Breakfast
8:00AM Load shuttle to put in for the Chili Bar Run
8:30AM Safety talk and put in and start rafting!
NOON Lunch
12:45PM Back to rafting!
2:00PM Pull into BLM camp
Free Time to hike, play and explore!
6:00PM Riverside appetizers
6:30PM Dinner
8:00PM Campfire and riverside chats (campfire not guaranteed due to possible high fire danger)
10:00PM Quiet Hours begin until 7:00AM the following morning, that just means no loud partying, music or noises…it’s not a bedtime!
Day 2 of your camping and rafting vacation. The morning is leisurely as we have to wait till lunchtime to get on the river! There is plenty of time to explore the BLM grounds and hiking trails, go fishing, or just sit back and enjoy the beauty of the river!
Just as the sun starts to brighten the sky your guides will have coffee, tea and drinks for you as you enjoy the amazing morning in the canyon! Breakfast is served shortly after and the guides will start to pack up the kitchen area.
After breakfast you will pack up your personal gear to load back onto the gear boat(s). We get all the gear loaded & do a sweep of camp to make sure we didn’t miss any trash or personal items and we get back on the river!
There are a few miles of the calmer Class 2 rapids and some additional places to explore.
Noonish we stop for lunch and shortly after getting back on the river we get back into the Class 4 action!
Once we come thru Chunder Rapid (Class 4 usually with photographers to capture the action) we will pull over for the gear boat to unrig or it will get taken off river. The next rapid on the river is the Class 6 waterfall called Ruck-A-Chucky. This is a mandatory portage (walk around) for our guests, sorry guides/staff only and you will get to watch from the looking perch while your trusty guide maneuvers the boat down a 28 foot waterfall and around a handful of rocks and undercurrents.
Back on the boat there are many more Class 4 rapids, including Cleavage a popular surfing spot as well.
We usually arrive at the take out at the bottom of Drivers Flat Road by 3:30 where we load the gear into the shuttles and head back to our campground on the South Fork American River
Fond farewells as you head home or to your next destination … OR maybe you would like to stay another night!
