Thursday, January 30, 2014

We Got Whitewater!

We got whitewater is our rallying cry! Rain and snow hit Northern California and soften the impending cries of "foul" towards Mother Nature. Yes, Mom took care of our world with a good shower of water and snow in the mountains.

We have flows this year... period.

WET Guests on South Fork American River

Flow schedule:

South Fork American River : everyday except for Tues and Wed!
Middle Fork American River : everyday!

Thanks to our representatives for their timely update!

"...hydro licenses on the South Fork of the American...  Those negotiations concluded back in 2007 and, though the new license is just being issued this spring, the flow regimes that were agreed upon have been followed by those two utilities since then... Chili Bar run on the South Fork ... Please note that in even the driest of water years (which this year is looking to be) we will still be getting 5 days of good water (with Tuesdays and Wednesdays dry) from Memorial Day all through the summer until Labor Day."

Now back to the river!
Call us and let's play on the river with all those rapids!
We got whitewater for 2014!!!

Call 888.723.8938 to make your reservations.
If you call, we will offer a better rate or discount!

W.E.T. River Trips has whitewater!
All pics by WET River Trips in Flickr

Monday, January 27, 2014

RAIN This Week!

The rain gods have heard us. The weather predictors are asking us to believe them when they say that rain is coming this week. Sigh... how many times have I heard that? The sky was promising this past week. Each morning, I would wake up to a sky full of wispy clouds. Then the last couple of days, the sky was dotted with fluffy clouds creating a grid-like pattern. Hmm... maybe rain.


I took a walk this past weekend to attend the Sacramento Bacon Week's offerings at Sellands Cafe. Good eats with a nice bottle of wine only set us back $25 for the two of us. We all walked over to share in Sellands promotion, and all of us hung out there for quite awhile sipping wine and talking about the weather.


Most of the neighbors had brown lawns or had already converted their water-hogging lawns to a xeriscape. Drought tolerant plants along with rock gardens made my day as I walked along appreciating what everyone is trying to say and do.


California is a desert. Yes, we have snow and rain that create the spring runoff and placates us with the allusion of a lot of water.


It's only the reservoirs and storage systems above those rivers that help to create the steady flow for Agriculture, Energy and Recreation. Wiser people than me have created that system. And, this year, with so little rain and snow, we all begin to hear the cries of "drought."

We should all do what we can to prevent the wasteful distribution of this water. Stop running the faucets for every flippin' reason. Wash your hands, but turn off the flow until you are ready to rinse. Wash your dishes only once a day. Don't wash your car in the drive way, please! Save it for a once in a blue moon, and wash that car at the carwash where they do recycle the water.


Politicians are looking at taking Northern California's water to the Southern California to redistribute the abundance (well, not this year...) of our water to the mostly desert environment of the southern part of our state. Let's nix that idea until everyone of us has a curb on our swimming pools, our water sucking lawns, our wasteful use of any water and our penchanct of keeping everything uber clean (a little dirt won't hurt you).


Drink your water. Taste that delicious liquid. This is the nectar of the gods. Seriously.


Next time you are on the river with us, thank the Gods that you are privileged to enjoy this whitewater trip with your family and friends. We do... we thank them everyday!


Praying for more rain and snow,
W.E.T. River Trips staff


written by ~ el
all pics by WET River Trips
xeriscape lawn pic by Don King Landscaping

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

2014 Flows on California Rivers

I was reluctant to post anything about the news we received last Thursday. Thursday was the day that every California outfitter arrived with clipboard, ipad, cell phone and reading glasses to gain an inkling of knowledge about the river flows for 2014.



South Fork American River and Middle Fork American River stream


We are going to have flows on (3) of our rivers this year. Here is the flow regime as outlined by our representatives and the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) contracts for South Fork American, Middle Fork American and Klamath River.

FLOWS 2014: California Rivers


The political arena should be a hot bed this year as less rain and snow have fallen. The Southern portion of the state is already burning due to very dry foliage and winds. 

Yesterday, I went out to Folsom Lake to see that reservoir very dry. South Fork American is out and flowing all the way past the old, historical Salmon Falls bridge. That means this year, we will be encouraging our paddlers to float the "Gorge Run" for a longer whitewater trip.


MIDDLE FORK AMERICAN RIVER w/ W.E.T. River Trips
Middle Fork American Tunnel Chute rapid with WET River Trips


Pray for rain and snow... Miracle March has happened before way back in 1991, and we hope it happens again.


Thanks to W.E.T. River Trips for their photos from Flickr.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Sunny with Clouds

Early morning sky ~ mid-Jan California

January 20, 2014 welcomes with another tortuous day of sunshine! Where is the rain and snow? Dry year but we will have water on South Fork American, Middle Fork American and Klamath River!!!


Schedule for 2014:

SFAR - every weekend + 4 midweek days

MFAR - every weekend + 3 midweek days

KR - natural flows everyday

Thanks to EL for pic!
All content belongs to W.E.T. River Trips

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Drought : Critically Dry or Super Dry?

California here we come... right back where we started from...

That little ditty was running through my head when I received the email this morning from Noah. In the email, was a single link to an NPR (National Public Radio) radio show this morning. Oh, Noah... such an appropriately inappropriate name for this message.

I turned the radio to the NPR morning show. A show about California's low snowpack and lack of rain presented several scenarios on what to expect this year. Agricultural, energy, riparian habitat and recreational concerns were all addressed in an hour long show.

One of our representatives from the whitewater industry was also there. The representative also feel that we will have boatable flows on the South Fork American River this year. We tend to agree with them, as we know that all the reservoirs above the whitewater section are currently at 70% or more.

With that said, we should have flows every weekend. Now, we can not know what the political agenda may prove this year, but, after May 1st' snowpack evaluation, we will know definitively how much water will flow.

Current storage (percent of average historical storage: (Dec '13)

 SFA:
1. Caples Lake: 124%
2. Slab Creek: 81%
3. Union Valley 94%
5. Ice House: 117%
MFA:
1.French Meadows 70% 
2.Hell Hole 81 %
3. Loon Lake 96%

Resources for the whitewater paddler:

American River : http://www.theamericanriver.com/rivers/american-river-watershed/

Reservoirs : http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action

Chris Shackleton's Dreamflows : http://www.dreamflows.com/graphs/day.075.php


W.E.T. River Trips on South Fork American



Thanks to W.E.T. River Trips Flickr for the photos!

Monday, January 13, 2014

GUIDE SCHOOL for Whitewater Rafting

2014 in California may be a bit dry today, but, we will be running our Professional Guide School in March, April, May, and June. Guide School continues because the water will be boatable even this year.



Here is the important information for W.E.T. Professional Guide School:

Bloggy: http://raftwetblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/whitewater-rafting-guide-school.html

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/WETriverTrips/videos

Facebook: http://facebook.com/wetrivertrips

Twitter: https://twitter.com/raftwet

Website: http://www.raftwet.com

Otherwise, just call us at 888.723.8938 for more details or questions.
If you call us, the office has a better discount than anything posted!


Photos by: W.E.T. River Trips in Flickr
Photos by: W.E.T. River Trips in Google+

Friday, January 03, 2014

Happy New Year! Ranting...

2014... and here we go.
The funny thing is the post.
You know... snap a pic, post it.
Maybe say a few words describing it or adding a link.
You know.

Now it's all about networks.
Which network are you on?

Here is what I see.
Networks that don't network anything but their proprietory content.
Websites that say nothing but show a lot of pictures.
Blogs that are totally not news, but blurbs from news media.
Talking heads saying virtually nothing except repeating the same content from a gazillion other news feeds.

Who will be the journalists?
Who will write the content that we need to read to make decisions on our next politician or bond issue or initiative?

Who will teach us anything new?
Who will teach us anything?

I can not even find the simplest thing anymore.
When I want to find out something simple, I am faced with a barrage of lists that only give me stuff I can buy.
Maybe I want to know more.
Maybe I want to know where it originated, or why it's called that, or what it means.
Maybe I just have a hunger for knowledge.

Oh, well...
I guess I'll just buy it.
Buy it until I
can not buy another thing...




frustrated as hell...
i'm at the return counter at Nordie.
hehe

Just a little rant from the peanut gallery at W.E.T. River Trips
Thank you Google images for the pics!
Thanks to techblogspot and urbanmoxy for their pics!