California and Oregon Rafting

After heavy March and April rains, we are looking at having a bigger water season than last year across California. This is due to slightly bigger snowpack, water content, and reservoirs that have more water in them than in the past. We had fun with the high water last year and learned a few things to stay safe during these conditions.

• Obviously, high flotation pfds are mandatory. Wetsuits should also be mandatory when the water is high.
• Water can fluctuate greatly day to day due to reservoir releases and hot weather in the high country. Please pay attention to safe water levels and know the level you are on.
• If you are a private boater, please be sure someone on your trip REALLY KNOWS the river at the higher flows.
• If you are going on a commercial trip, please go with an established outfitter with a solid safety record. These companies will add safety rafts and kayaks on more difficult rivers or when the easier rivers are running very high.

Some of the better high water rivers are the South Fork of the American, the Merced, and the Kings. Below is a list of outfitters that I’ve worked for and I personally know follow safety precautions at high water.

The South Fork of the American

• W.E.T River Trips
• ARTA River Trips

The Merced

• ARTA River Trips
• Zephyr Whitewater

The Kings

• Zephyr Whitewater

The Tuolumne can be fun at high water, but this season many trips will be cancelled until the end of June. Late June and July will be a great time to see this river with some good water.

• ECHO River Trips
• Zephyr Whitewater

The North Fork of the American is also a great river that should have a long season. June and July should be great due to fairly predictable flows and hot weather.

• W.E.T River Trips

High water, road closures, and log jams have been conspiring against Tuolumne trips this spring. Here’s an update:
1. Last year we had huge water all spring and into July. This year there is more snow and the upstream reservoirs are more full and will continue to fill. Since the San Joaquin River is so high the reservoirs can’t dump water like they normally would. Very high water is on its way.
2. Road closures. Lumsden road is now closed due to some small landslides and probably will be closed for a couple weeks. Ward’s Ferry road was closed last week both ways and may still be closed. New Priest Grade is also closed. Road closure information can be found on the Highway 120 Chamber of Commerce web site.
3. Log jams. There is a 150 foot long log jam down stream (or down reservoir) of the Ward’s Ferry Bridge. This log jam is likely to grow and move above the bridge. It’s expected to be very large due to the expected high water.

We did a commercial trip with ECHO River Trips on Saturday, April 8th with the following logistics which made for a long day.
1. Hike down South Fork Road and drive gear in small vehicle down Lumsden (before it was closed).
2. Run the river.
3. Row a mile past Ward’s Ferry Bridge.
4. Cross the log jam.
5. Get a 45 minute tow across Don Pedro Reservoir to Moccassin.
6. Drive back to Groveland via Coulterville.

Twenty of us were planning a get together on the Owyhee River in Oregon this past week until someone checked the flow and saw it was 20,000 cfs. That meant challenging whitewater and small camps and nobody wanted that so we decided on another Oregon River, the Grande Ronde. We thought since it’s in Oregon that it shouldn’t be too far. From Groveland, it’s 16 hours. That’s half way to the Rio Grande!

We all met (Farmer, Sabrina, Costley, Travvy, Kyla, Matlock, Jules, Zach, Tessa, Hata, Maggie, Jess, G-Love, Trina, and some crazy Brits) in the morning at a camp along the river to put in. After a heavy night of drinking, everyone wanted to layover at put-in until we realized that more beer was under all the gear so we drove to put-in and started de-rigging. We put in, floated for an hour, camped, drank car bombs, layed over, played frisbee golf, did keg stands, floated for an hour, more car bombs, layed over, more frisbee golf, more keg stands, yoga, floated for 3 hours, camped, ate dinner, floated for two hours, and took out. All in all it was six days, sixty miles, seven hours of river time, hundreds of holes of golf, one keg, and one dog named Pinto.

The river was beautiful and had some good camps. We heard that at low water the rapids require manuevering (insted of simply floating down currrent) and the fishing is freakin’ amazing. Don’t forget that even though it’s in Oregon it’s really far away from California.

After a week of rain we dusted off our duckies and decided to run Grave Creek. This is the same Grave Creek that flows into the Rogue River as it enters the Wild and Scenic section.

The put in is reached by driving up Grave Creek about five miles to a fairly obvious mining claim that gets close to the river. We had about 500 cfs and found that the rapids were fun class II-III and there were enough rapids to stay entertained. The parts of the creek that we saw from the road had us a bit worried about brush and logs, but we didn’t encounter any particularly hazardous brush along the way.

About a mile from the Rogue, we found a wonderful surf spot where we spent about an hour surfing our duckies in a nice pourover ledge. Overall, this was a nice afternoon run that was definitely worth the effort.