California and Oregon Rafting

This picture of the upper Merced River in Yosemite was taken recently on a day hike. A group of guides decided to hike up and see what was going on after our commercial trips were cancelled due to high water and road closures. The day before, we ran the Tuolumne at 8,000 cfs. We noticed that with good guides that knew where to go, we were able to comfortably run the Tuolumne at high water. We also noticed that if a poor guide took over the guiding position that things could get out of control fast.

Please be careful when rafting the Sierra rivers this spring. There should always be at least one person that has seen the river at higher flows when attempting runs at high water. When rivers are high, they are usually at least one class higher than they would be at lower flows. That means that the South Fork of the American at high water is Class IV instead of Class III. With competent guides that have seen the South Fork at high water and the right equipment, that makes the South Fork even more fun and exciting! With new guides that have never seen the South Fork at high water, things can get out of control fast.

The National Park Service just posted the following Snow Survey Report for Yosemite.

“May 1 Snow Survey Results: An impressively wet April has added substantial amounts of water to the snowpack. Some courses gained over 20 inches of water over the month! Overall, the Tuolumne drainage is 179% of average and the Merced drainage is 192% of average ( The difference has more to do with the greater percentage of low elevation courses in the Tuolumne drainage than any real differences in the snowpack). We are about 7% over last year’s water content. Last May, however, had several big storms (350% of average precipitation for the month), so if this May is near average we should be about even with last year by the end of the month.

2006 is the sixth wettest 5/1 snowpack on record for the park. The high elevation snowpack is even more impressive. This is the fourth biggest snowpack on record (behind only 83, 95, and 69) for courses above 7500′. These courses are about 210% of average.”