Winter Rafting on the South Fork American River

With our commerical river rafting season  over for us at  Whitewater Excitement, we all have taken a little break.  However we have all been itching to get back out on the river again.  So we dusted off our dry suits and all met at our South Fork American River Base Camp last Saturday and headed down the Gorge run on the South Fork of the American River. 

The weather was perfect for our trip, the sun was shining (although we all secretly wanted rain and snow) it was warm considering the date, and not a cloud in the sky. 

With the new relicencing agreement with the power companies gauranteeing good water releases from the dam at Chili Bar, we had very nice flow for our trip.  With Karl, Michelle, Brando, and Greg in one raft, and Norm, Phillip, Mark, and Aaron in the other raft we ran the rapids of the Gorge.  Satan's Cesspool was it's exciting self with lots of splash.  Karl actually jumped out and swam it.  With dry suits on, the water temp did not seem to be that cold. Because it was a great sunny day, not as hot as the summer, though, we stopped after Hospital Bar rapid and took in some sun on the rocks.  Norm talked his son into walking up and swimming Hospital Bar.  They walked up and just jumped in and after a couple of strokes, they went right through the middle of the rapid, both came up smiling as they swam toward shore. 

** Please note: everyone on the trip is a very experienced professional river guide that is comforatable in the river and swimming rapids , we do this to continue trainning to make ourselves comforatable in the river in case of emergencies while on our commerical trips.

After the trip we all had our fix for the river for the time being.  Winter rafting is fun and exciting and with the right river gear, namely DRY SUITS, can be a very exciting and rewarding experience.

Upcoming Winter Trips:  WWE Guides Annual New Year's Day Trip - 20th Annual