Memorial Day Weekend

In just a few more days, California will be celebrating Memorial Day weekend. Weather has been beautiful, cool and inviting for those of us who love the outdoors. With the crazy weather we have experienced lately, it's a miracle that we have whitewater this season.

California Whitewater Rafting with W.E.T. River Trips

Rivers are in our veins. Pulses through the arteries and strips clean our souls. We love rivers. We love them so much that since 1978, W.E.T. River Trips has rafted the entire Western United States on every river out there. But, we speak of now. And, now, the rivers are mostly lower due to a lack of snowfall. Only a few chosen rivers are running this year.

A LIST of RIVERS:

South Fork American: class 3-3+, ideal for novice, families, youth groups and events
Middle Fork American: class 3-4+, ideal for athletic novice or experienced paddler, older youth groups, bachelor groups, team-building
Klamath River: class 2-3, ideal for beginners, novice, families, youth groups and events
Call: 888.723.8938 for reservations


The rivers will have good flows; remarkable as most other rivers will not. If anything changes, there will be some clues to look for based on past year's experiences.

Check the flows daily. Look for patterns in the release schedule and compare with historical data. If you get a series of drastic highs and lows outside of the realm of release schedules, then you might hesitate until you have a dialogue with the rafting company. Call them and ask questions. Email them and ask questions. Have the dialogue and really listen to their responses.

Whitewater rafting is a complex sport. The requirements can be minimal or a mind-boggling litany of lists for group trips. In spring, you have to wear gear. Colder weather means whitewater gear which includes a wetsuit or a dry suit. Warmer weather means bathing suits, shorts and tennis shoes. And, that is where we are today. Memorial Day weekend coming up next in Sacramento! Only 45 minutes to the whitewater!

As the rest of you take part in the hilarity of partying, I will personally be thanking and sending prayers to my dad for his military service for our nation. Thank you, Dad, for giving me the life I have now. And as I enjoy rafting on the river this year, I will be blessed with friends, great food, and the our beautiful community, planet earth. 

Call 888.723.8938 for reservations.
Visit our online store raftwet-store.com to purchase rafting trips.
Have a great summer!

W.E.T. River Trips since 1978 "We Got Whitewater!"

Written: ~ EL
Photos by: W.E.T. River Trips
WET River Trips was founded in 1978 in California

California Skiing and Snowboarding

Rain came like a silent warrior in the night. Just enough rain to wash the house, sidewalks and streets clean. But, then the next day... brilliant blue skies torturing all of us who love to go skiing! Fresh powder! Where is it?

Sugar Bowl in Northern California w/ GoPro

Ski resorts are best bets for friends and families this holiday season!

Here are the California ski resorts that are open now and those who will be opening next week:

Snow Country Info: http://www.snocountry.com/index.php/ski-reports/california

Associated Press just released a news report about more scattered showers are coming to California, "...Meanwhile out West, a low pressure system moves down the coast of California and will produce a few more scattered showers across southern California and northwestern Mexico. Snow may develop at high elevations of the southern Sierras..."

The site is a clean, no-nonsense list of open ski resorts, resorts that are opening within days, and more info about the resorts; including trail maps.

Take the family, your friends and enjoy the snow! Have that snowy, white Christmas! This holiday season, remember who you love, who loves you and what is most important to you and your life. Your family, your friends are the most important people in your life! Cherish them!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

WET River Trips

RAFTWET.com

raftwet-store.com

music festivals in the outdoors

What a summer of music festivals! From Coachella to SMMRBMMR to the recent and well-attended Burning Man in Nevada, this summer was filled with awesome music and artists. Tragedy over-shadowed the German Love Family Park where hordes of young adults were trampled in a tunnel and several died. And, of course, Teknival's free raves peppered abandoned military installations and other locations in the outdoors in the UK, France, Bulgaria and other countries. We are now entering the Fall music festival season.

Burning Man has influenced so many music festivals, raves and happenings around the world, and we thought we would share some of our favorites. Big Poppa was a bit disappointed in this year's Burning Man as he felt that the participants weren't true Burners, but he is a purist. Here are his photos and thoughts...

"I'm NOT a burner.

Yes, I've just come back from Burning Man event (I skipped 2009) and I'm NOT a burner. My first (as they @ BRC say..."Virgin") visit was approached like a wilderness river trip. I packed up the Dodge with waterproof metal boxes with food, sun shower, cooking gear, LED lights, solar batteries, toys and water. I also packed marine coolers with plenty of ice, beverages, and fresh food for a full crew. Adding to the pile were two bikes for myself and my crew of one: Mizz Maggie. The Dodge bed became a shelter, and I brought a shade structure and another tent for stowing gear out of the sun and wind...no dust. We went out for 4-days and had an amazing time; but, we left before the actual "Burn".

This year, I rolled out ultra-light; yet, still self-contained on my Kawasaki KLR 650. I still had everything I needed: food (freeze dried), water, tent, pad, bag, and solar-powered LED garden globes (that changed colors!).

In 2010, the winds whipped up the dust constantly on a record (reportedly) 65,000 "burners" and the party raged. I saw the "Burn". I also saw fewer happy, healthy people and fewer themed camps and out-of-date Art cars. Maybe I had a different perspective... after the burn... no shower, no bike, and no crew left me in that boat (maybe it was also the folks across the street (yes, it was called "That Camp") that had a club-sized sound system that blasted from 9am to 5am... with 4 people mulling around and stomping in the dust (oh well, they were from Philadelphia!). So, I packed up and rode the KLR home the long way over Monitor pass where I saw the signs of fall in changing colors and a nip in the air.

Next time (yes, I might skip next year)... I'm rolling hard and deep! Motorhome? Airstream? Dome?... who knows?

I'm not a Burner."

~~ Big Poppa 2010

Upcoming this weekend: American River Music Festival is ideal for families and music lovers and includes whitewater rafting, camping, music and food!

Music Festivals Around the World:

Burning Man : early September; theme camps, Black Rock Desert; art, raves, performance (began in San Francisco, California and influenced many festivals below)

Edinburgh's Hogmanay : Dec 30, 2010 - Jan 2, 2011; Concert in the Gardens (KT Tunstall, The Proclaimers, Madness, etc)

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival : mid-April Indio, CA; cutting-edge indie, alternative, official opening for summer festivals in US (The Black Keys and more)

Bonnaroo : Manchester, TN 2011 tba (Weezer, Tori Amos, Norah Jones & more this year)

Rocking the Rivers : mid-Aug, Three Forks, Montana (Collective Soul, Commander Cody, etc)

Love Family Park : early July, German Techno Rave (dj Sven Vath, Ricardo Villalobos, etc)

Paris Techno Parade : late Sept; 1/2 million people dancing in street (djs David Guetta, Mark Knight, Django, etc)

Teknival : free parties held all over the world; France, UK, Bulgaria, Czech, Italy (summer raves; grassroots, Burning Man influenced)

Vans Warped Tour : several sites in US from West Coast to East Coast (Dickies, Fear, Green Jelly, etc)

SMMRBMMR : alternate, indie music in northwestern US (G.Green, Mayyors, White Fang, etc)

Live Oak Music Festival : blue grass, jazz, world music held over Father's Day Weekend

American River Music Festival : whitewater rafting and music; folk, country, alternative (last year Jackie Green; this year Jesse Winchester and more)

Rio Carnival : mid-February Rio de Janeiro; world famous, colorful parades (Brazilian, world, jazz, etc)

New Orleans Mardi Gras : mid-February French Quarter; jazz, food, parades

No matter what music festival you attend, remember you are there for friends, fun, music, food and goodwill. Rave on and see you on the river!

Thanks to Big Poppa for his Burn pics and sharing his personal view.

WET River Trips photostream

Two Woman, Too Much Luggage!

My favorite summer ever was in Europe. Since I was a child, a dream for me was to travel abroad. I decided with a good friend of mine that we would travel to Paris, London, Cannes, and Monaco. Eight months of planning to get all the details together, but here we were on British Airways on our way to our first trip to Europe. I was glad that I was taking this trip with Jen since we love to laugh at just about everything and make the most of every situation. Jen is easy going, and she was just as excited as I was embarking on this adventure!

The entire trip from start to finish was filled with laughter and joy. I think we even had a hearty laugh with our passports, if you can imagine. I looked at her picture, and she looked extremely jaundiced, with deep hollowed eyes and a look of complete fear on her face. My own picture was just as scary. I looked as if I had been frightened and had been crying for days. All puffy and swollen! What really was hilarious is I looked exactly like my childhood pictures of when I was four years old!

Sometimes, I wonder if the people taking our pictures for our passports, take our pictures purposely to show us unattractive. You know what I mean... just like

the DMV and Costco!

When we finally landed, we were in London, tired and hungry because during the flight we never slept. We were too excited about this trip. Our feet had become swollen. Jen's feet were so swollen that her feet looked like tiny balloons in shoes! We hobbled off the plane and gradually the swelling subsided.

We got our luggage and decided to exchange our money to pounds so we could get to the hotel. Nothing exciting about customs, or the airport itself. Lots of people bustling about and many duty-free shops as far as your eyes could see. I wanted to take a cab to the place we were staying which is in a place called Knightsbridge.

Jen wanted to try what they call the Underground or Tube. Our American terminology would be Subway, Muni or BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). Anyway, we found the Underground easily, and with help from the locals, we were able to secure our tickets and locate which side to take to Knightsbridge.

The biggest problem was our luggage. No valet around, and we both had too many pieces to carry. (Remind me not to take the kitchen sink with me next time...) As we were on the train, both sides had windows, so you were able to see out when the train was not in the tunnel. Nothing impressive to see but lots of artful graffiti, concrete world and houses extremely close together. This reminded me of my own city of San Francisco, California.

Jen's luggage kept dropping with a huge clang (did she bring her kitchen sink?) as we were traveling and my irritation was building probably due to lack of sleep. I watched as I saw her struggle, and I could have easily helped to pick up her luggage, but I turned away worrying about my own tight grip of all my luggage. What a bad friend I am!

When we finally arrived in Knightsbridge, I was relieved and knew in just a short time I would be able to get cleaned up, and take a long awaited nap before exploring this fabulous city. When we got off the Tube, we started towards the exit and, lo and behold, we noticed a long staircase... not a short set of stairs, but probably the most intense set of stairs that I have ever seen. I felt like a mole looking up to the light. Go to the light, go to the light...

We tried to ask several people if there was a elevator, but everyone was in such a hurry that they moved briskly towards the (a few expletives with God thrown in) holy light. I looked at Jen, and she looked at me, and we said, "Lets just go for it!"

Sweaty and tired and still wearing the clothes from the day before, I drummed up all the strength I had and put my handbag around my neck, and dragged my luggage towards the taunting light. I reached the top of stairs and could see Jen struggling to get to the first set of stairs. The whole time, I’m cheering her on knowing I could not leave my luggage to help her because I was thinking someone would steal my luggage. (Hmmm... maybe I just didn't want to climb any more stairs...)

We looked absolutely ridiculous; not ingenue or au naturele or chic... not at all! When Jen finally reached the top, we proceeded to our hotel. More to come about our travels in Europe…….

Continued.......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For those of you who need to stay closer to home, do what these women are doing this Memorial Day Weekend! A two day American River Combo vacation package is available in Central Northern California for a whitewater rafting trip. Not too far from home and not too expensive. Best rates available on our online store: http://raftwet-store.com or call us direct 1.888.723.8938. See you on the river!

Thanks for the photos! smilepolitely.com, dezzen.com, Google images and WET River Trips!


Check out the recipes at Camp Chef for this writer's Riviera Swiss Chard! Yum!

group rafting trips

group rafting trips
Originally uploaded by W.E.T. River Trips

The weather is changing in Caifornia and today the sky is gray and ominous with the impending storm. Yes! Outdoor enthusiasts look at this weather and we start thinking about skiing, whitewater, rafting and anything on the water.

California's outdoor recreation depends on storms for optimum fun during the respective seasons.

We love the weather!

Start planning your group rafting trips now because it looks like Mother Nature is about to bring us our wishes come true.... just in time for ski season during the Christmas holidays!

And that white stuff? The frozen crystals of water laying its mass over the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains will turn into that whitewater rafting that all of us river runners will enjoy the most!

During this holiday season, grab some gift certificates, plan your bachelor party or just grab your friends and plan a group trip for 2010 on California's finest whitewater rivers! Woot!