Whitewater Rafting @ the North Fork American River

The day began at 5am. And you know me..I am fond of procrastinating till late at night so I got about 1hour of sleep :(. Then also kena taking a SUV that drinks gas like 15miles/gallon and sharing with 4 other people...what a squeeze. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep in the car instead of making small talk - how typical of me! Also, good since I needed to make up for lost sleep.

We reached Raley's at about 9am and changed into our wetsuits provided by W.E.T. Rides. Wetsuits are gross because some of them are still damp from the last person who wears it. There was real changing room either so it was kinda weird changing in the carpark lot and it is VERY important to wear a swimsuit underneath.

Next we had a super long ride in a van to the put in point. Now I understand why we paid the premium for the Nantahala River rafting. We chose our groups and our helmets, had a short briefing on how to float if we fall out of the raft and were good to go. The North Fork American is rather odd in that all the rapids are at the beginning of the ride and the rest of the downstream is rather boring. I was in the first raft - the one with the camera man so he was probably the most well-versed with the river, the least likely to capsize and we had to bia very hard to row faster so that we could go down the falls first, and anchor at an eddy pool for the photographer to do filming.

Mile 0 Colfax-Iowa Hill Road bridge. Put in on either bank

- Can really see that something is going to happen very soon as the water is flowing quite rapidly.

Miles 0.4 Slaughter's Sluice (III-IV) There is a blind entry to this boulder slalom because of a huge rock in midstream. Scout on the left. Enter right then work quickly left behind the rock. Many consider this the hardest rapid at high flows.

- Can't remember this one...just remember pedaling really hard.

Mile 0.8 Chamberlain's Falls (IV+) A narrow slot with an eight foot drop funnels boats into a big reversal. At the bottom you may be caught in a violent eddy between the reversal and the left bank.

-Drop of about 8 feet down a real waterfall (though the water level was somewhat low). I heard that there was one raft capsized and everyone but one girl fell into the water. On another raft, one person fell into the water so the fifth rafter didn't need to do anything (since anything she did would make the boat lose balance) while going down the falls. The safety canoeist caught them deftly and people in other boats also offered their oars to those floating away.

Miles 1.1 Tongue and Groove (IV+) Horizon line across the river. The tongue on left provides the easier route. The groove (center) requires maneuvering.
- I think we must have taken the tongue.

Miles 1.6 Zig Zag (IV) Tricky boulder dodging. Start Center and move right then quickly back to the left.
- Oh yes, I remember us brushing real close to a boulder and nearly banging into one. I credit our guide with all the quick maneuvering.

Mile 2.4 Achilles' Heel (IV) Another boulder slalom. Toughest at low water when the right side becomes very rocky. (can't really remember what happened on this one I think we had to back pedal quite a bit).

Mile 2.7 Bogus Thunder (IV) A ledge creates a river-wide reversal. Scout either bank.
- Being on the ledge was fun!!! We had to hop onto the front part of the raft in order to allow it to tip down the ledge and quickly get back into our positions before the raft capsized. We also went down backwards whereas all other groups went down forwards.

Miles 3 Grand Slalom (IV) Huge boulders form al long technical maze. Scout the entry - from the right bank.
- I think my guide called it the key hole or something. I remember pedaling really hard and wishing that the bees around me would just leave!

Mile 3.3 Staircase (IV+) Three river-wide ledges, with a vicious keeper hole waiting below the second. At very low flows (400 cfs and below) the rocks on the left below the second drop have fatally entrapped swimmers. Scout on the right

- This one was tough and extremely exciting. We had to get through two rocks that had a really narrow space between them and people on the right side had to jump to the left so that the raft would tilt.

- Most people took the right route but we took the left/center route (since our guide wanted to have some fun)

Miles 3.8 Indian Creek enters on the left.

- NOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo no more waterfalls!

Mile 5 River Access. Shirttail Canyon Creek enters on the left, just above the Colfax-Foresthill Road bridge. Put-in or take-out on the left bank.

- I am wondering why we didn't take out. We should have took out and put in back at where we started for another round of fun!

- We stopped for lunch. Great meal of make-your-own sandwich and lots of fruit. I didn't like the bees though. I got to talk to Barnabas for a while and he mentioned that he was interviewing for a new job with private equity.

Mile 6.5 Brushy Creek enters on the right

- By then, people were so bored that guides were using their oars to hook people's life jackets and cause them to fall into the river. People were basically horsing around.

Mile 9 Take-out--Ponderosa Way bridge.
- I was kinda sick of having no excitement. Carrying 7 heavy oars up a steep slope was no joke either.

I slept on the way back even though there was a traffic jam approaching SF. Great day :), got very tanned too and suffered from a wet suit rash on my legs. I think it has something to do with the river water since my legs were the most exposed to the water. Maybe the wet suit was dirty... hmmmmmz

Verdict: Cost a bomb ($75 for big group, $110 normally) but worth the fun! It was quite safe too due to the big group (they can help catch people who fall out of rafts) and the safety canoeist.