Rain, Snow for California

"Don't complain about this rain," the mother said as she chided her young son.

Rain, snow in California

Her son was stomping his feet in the small puddles forming on the sidewalk. I could tell he was mad about something...

I chuckled under my breath as the fat rain drops hit my eyeglasses. Usually an annoyance, the drops looked like jewels against the glass. Brilliant white crystals of water refracting the light; making everything look psychedelic and wonderfully splendid.

Mother Nature at its finest. Rain and glorious snow in the Sierra Nevada. California has received the gift of water for 2014.

Don't get me wrong. I know we have a very long way to go. We need a minimum of (5) more storms like today just to catch up. The weather is on everyone's mind. Each day, when I am out and about, I hear the refrain of weather complaints. Or the lack of...

More rain, more snow, more storms. Smile when the clouds burst open with the splash of rain. Smile when the trees bend heavily with snow. Smile.

...wondering if the North Fork American is up?

Thanks to WET River Trips Flickr for photo
Thanks to Google images for raindrops pic!

MEMORIAL Day Weekend! 2012

Memorial Day weekend is finally here. May 26th is looming on the horizon. W.E.T. River Trips has been on the river since 1978 and every single year, we start early. Most years, we are the first whitewater rafting company on the river, and this year, we started in March.



We ratcheted back a bit this year due to personal issues at home. Ie, we needed a bit of a break from the intense reservations that fly in every year. How do we all do this? Every company wants to take everyone down the river. And yet, government regulations that oversee our industry does not allow this. So, many of our guests will call, and we have to turn them away! Sob!



This weekend should be hot, hot, hot! With a great whitewater rafting season ahead, all guests should be happy this year on our rivers. And, now we start Summer Rafting!



RIVERS:

South Fork American - class 3-3+, ideal for novices, intermediates, most popular river in the west

Middle Fork American - class 3-4+, ideal for intermediates or athletic novices, equally popular

North Fork American - class 4-4+, ideal for advanced paddlers, season ended early this year (last week)

California Salmon - class 5, ideal for advanced, athletic, aggressive paddlers, spring

Klamath River - class 2-3, ideal for youth groups or novices, throughout summer months to early fall

Call us and reserve your trip today!
W.E.T. River Trips
RAFTWET.com
raftwet-store.com
http://facebook.com/wetrivertrips

The Boy Scouts of America on Klamath River

The Boy Scouts of America were founded 112 years ago in 1910 when our United States was a much different place. Wild places were close to almost every urban center, and suburbs were a future concept. Today's Boy Scouts  are still in the need of finding wild places to experience, to enjoy, and to learn from so that they can accomplish many of their merit badges.  The longest undammed section of navigable river in California fits the mission of today's Boy Scouts... especially 50-miler merit badge!

Klamath River flows over 200 miles from I-5 to the Pacific Ocean and W.E.T. River Trips has been taking Scouts, their friends, their families, and others down the Klamath River since 1979. WET River Trips provides whitewater rafting programs of 3 to 6 days in duration with each trip incorporating class 2 and class 3 whitewater, spectacular scenery, interpretative of human history,  and sightings of wildlife found no where else in California.

The Klamath River lines up with the Pacific Flyway; the atmospheric highway to every migratory bird in North America.

The river corridor itself is home to Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, Egrets, Herons, Geese, Ducks, Hawks, and majestic Osprey.  The terrestrial wildlife is abundant as well with nearly daily sightings of deer, bear, and sometimes elk. The calm sections of the river are also habitats to huge turtles, otter, and other surprising creatures (sometimes even seals).  The fishing is amazing and the water is cool while not cold like our Sierra Nevada rivers.

Because of the various trip durations that we provide (3-6 days), many of our Scouts chose to do a 5 or 6 day trip that provides over 50 miles of river and 4-5 nights of camping.  The trip is also long enough to allow for kayaking, canoeing, and rafting instruction in order to qualify each interested participant for whitewater merit badges that can also be augmented with a 50-miler, and FOOD! or cooking badges if desired.

We also incorporate a 2-mile hike off river to Ukonom Falls on every river trip; in that, the Falls are the closest vision of Shangra-La you will ever encounter in Northern California. Huell Howser would truly exclaim "It's amazing!"

The W.E.T. staff is well versed in merit badge requirements, and we are registered to authorize each Scout for merit badge approval. Not only do we take great care of each Scout, we also give social attention to the adult leaders and provide them with relaxation and peace of mind. As we truly take each day as an opportunity to teach and to experience what the Klamath has to offer, we float and paddle in rafts, inflatable kayaks, and sit-on-top kayaks.

No worries....relax and enjoy what each day on the Klamath River delivers!

Klamath River is truly A-Mazing!





Klamath River Resources
Boy Scouts of America
Whitewater Merit Badge
American Whitewater
WET River Trips Klamath River
Klamath River Online Store



This blog and all photos belong to W.E.T. River Trips. Please ask if you want to share this blog or photos within your feed. Send us an email and just ask us!

X - California Los Angeles Band

Exene of X

Funny how time stands still in moments like this. I saw "X" on Thursday night at Harlow's on J Street in Midtown, Sacramento. Time came to a screeching halt as the band came out and grabbed their guitars and mikes. Los Angeles is where X comes from and their sound is uniquely theirs.

When I first saw them way back in the 80's, punk rock music was their calling. But, their punk was not the punk from Great Britain. There was more of a rockabilly stance then with Exene, Billy and John dressing so casual that one always felt that we were in their living room enjoying a wild night of music. X always respected their fans, and we always respected X.

Breathless by X

Three bands for the cool price of $32 beckoned us. First, we stopped for pizza and started counting our funds. Hmm... we needed two more tickets. The pizza parlor was near Harlow's venue, so we sauntered over hoping to score a couple of tickets.

The guy in the black truck... he had tickets and he was selling them cheaper then he bought them. Why? Because he scored X tickets for New Year's in San Francisco. Cool. Even cooler as I got to purchase those 2 ticktes for less than $50 bucks. Now, we were all set to listen and watch this sold out show.

We ran into Marcus and Chas on the way in and learned that it was Marcus' Birthday. They hung out with all of us as we found a view site from the bar. We could see the entire stage!

Billy Zoom of X - Mr Cool

First up was "Scott Wheeler and Zander Schloss" a twosome who wielded a big folk sound. I was taken to the isle of dreams as I sat their absorbing their noise. The music was tinged with a melancholy sound and had me drifting away in a silent revelry of my own place.

Second band was "The Black Tribetans" and they kicked their sound out to a roar of fan approval. They had a faster pace with rockabilly, psycobilly sound. I want to hear this band again... I think I might buy a CD of their music... listening to a youtube video of them right now.

Then "X" lit the stage. And I mean they lit it up with their charm and music. Gawd, I love this band so much! They are the best band that has ever come out of California! Every song was a power based riff of music and X-olator noise.

X - Los Angeles

A great time was had by all!

... wondering if I can get into the San Fran show tonight at Slims...

UPDATE: Yep, Los Angeles video was pulled! Yikes, we just replaced it with a "Los Angeles" live video... let's see if it survives.

This post and this blog belong to WET River Trips in California.

Photos by Big PoppahJah and video by youtube.com.

Excuses, Excuses... Poor Grandma!

Whitewater rafting trips are happening all over California and the western USA. W.E.T. is booking many paddling enthusiasts as this is shaping up to be a historical year for water and rafting in California.

A big snow pack and late storms are proving to be godsend for Northern California's spring rivers. A long season of spring flows until probably end of June? For real!

But, I digress, as I usually do when writing about the insignificant minutiae of the reservation office as we all sit here talking to guests, booking reservations and overseeing the online store for rafting trips.

What I do know is that guests are reserving later and waiting until the last minute to book a trip. We know one of the reasons is because of cancellation policies. It's a dilemma for both the company and the guest.

We have to have a cancellation policy or people won't show up. Any excuse could prevent

them from showing up! So the guests wait... until the last minute to book.

The entertainment for those of us in the office this month has been the excuses for canceling trips. You would think it would be about the weather which is a reasonable excuse given that May's weather was quite unpredictable. Some people do not like to do anything outdoors in the rain. Ok. That's cool, we understand.

Some of the best reasons for the dreaded "no-shows" have been unreal. We hope you understand, if your reason was real and it is listed here... it was just hard for us to believe!

TOP 10 REASONS (Excuses) for Canceling a Rafting Trip

10) I lost my driving directions, so I missed the trip.

uuuhhh... driving directions were sent w/ confirmation... they even called the day before to confirm directions again...

9) My boyfriend made dinner last night and it made me sick.

hmmm... we all wondered what he made...

8) We followed a truck with a raft on it and ended up in Tahoe.

we had a serious good laugh over this one... giggling still... lemmings are alive in California!

7) My friend organized this trip w/ my credit card, but he didn't give me any info.

right. someone uses your credit card & you don't have any info over a thousand dollar charge... sure.

6) I put the wrong date on my calendar.

this is actually a common error... double check peeps!

5) I got up too late, realized it was too late; so I went back to sleep.

WHA? this one was amazingly arrogant... couldn't they at least call us...

4) We got drunk last night and we were hung-over.

our fav excuse of all time! so honest and candid... we rescheduled them.

3) My grandmother is dying in the hospital.

this same guest used this excuse 4 years in a row... hmmm...

2) My grandmother died.

and the same guest used this excuse in between those years... 2nd or 3rd year...

and... TA DA-A-A-A... the top #1 excuse in the last few years...

1) I have to go to my grandmother's funeral.

and finally, the same guest used this one for a reschedule in another year... when we could not reschedule him due to a sold out date; he kept his original date and told us his grandmother was dead anyway and probably would not want him to miss his trip... hmmm... she probably would also wish he didn't use her as an excuse! Poor grandma...

Ok. For those who really did have the grandmother excuse, our prayers are with you. For those who used their grandparent for an excuse... well, I hope nothing ever happens to grandma. She deserves better respect than that!

We discussed this phenomenon and we all agree. The best excuse is this, "We have to cancel due to personal/work reasons." It really is none of our business why you didn't show up. It is only our business if you demand a reschedule.

Memorial Day weekend is coming up next. Saturday is packed and there is still some room on Sunday. Do us a favor and try... oh please, try... to book your reservations early next week. We want to make sure everyone is reserved in a timely fashion!

See you on the river,

WET Reservations

W.E.T. River Trips

RAFTWET.com

raftwet-store.com

Note from the editor: ...sounds like the office staff needs to go on a whitewater rafting trip...

All blog content including photos are the property of W.E.T. River Trips and related sites and networks.

North Fork American - March 4, 2011

Well, W.E.T. started with quite a bang last weekend. The day was sunny, blue skies and the people were great. A couple from the local area, some trainee guides and guests from past trips were all there to start the official first day on the river.

There was a relaxed feeling about that day, too. No stressful late arrivals or surprise add-ons at the last minute. Everyone was prepared and ready to roll onto the Class 4+ whitewater on the North Fork American. Chamberlain Falls is the big rapid there and most had seen it before, so the day was like a reunion of W.E.T., the guides and the guest all paying homage to this most wonderful river trip.

Big Poppah was there, too with a big smile as he waved off the crew as they snaked down the river bobbing and drifting into the big rapids ahead. 2011 rafting season is here, and it seems we just put the last river season to sleep in a blanket of paperwork and file folders.

Flowers are blooming, red bud is starting it's color change to magenta and chrome yellow daffodils are starting to poke their heads out of the ground. Spring in California! Nothing is better than that... absolutely nothing!

Video slide show by: Big Poppah

Blog written and upload by: WET River Trips blogging staff

More videos: http://youtube.com/wetrivertrips

Check WET Flickr photos

RAFTING : middle fork guests at safety talk

middle fork guests at safety talk
Originally uploaded by W.E.T. River Trips

New Video! ~~~ group rafting trips!

Time for whitewater rafting!

Get your groups together and give us a call to plan for a whitewater trip this season. You can have your friends reserve online or by phone. Make it easy!

Looking over the top of Rucka-Chucky Falls; the portage on the Middle Fork American.

Middle Fork American is a wilderness rafting trip in California. We pull over onto the beach and make camp there. Peaceful and quiet, the canyon's only sound is our laughter.

W.E.T. River Trips has two wilderness trips on the American River: South Fork American and Middle Fork American Tunnel Chute run. Are you surprised that we said the South Fork? YES! Both rivers have a wilderness camp and both have an ambiance like no other.

Group rafting trips: Reserve them now!

All photos by W.E.T. River Trips for the oldest rafting blog in the world! California whitewater rafting is a must-do. Join us for 2011!

white water safety talk wet river trips

white water safety talk wet river trips
Originally uploaded by W.E.T. River Trips

What an incredible year we had! The best white water rafting in 10 years was delivered to us in 2010.

Great flows in the early season with a long North Fork American season. Then, came the Middle Fork American with the longest river rafting season we have had in a very long time!

Yesterday, was our last final Middle Fork trip for 2010. The weekend had approximately 30 people showing up in summer gear! The weather was hot and the white water rapids were awesome.

Justin was smooth as ever as he delivered his no-nonsense white water safety talk. He is a former outdoor counselor/instructor and knows exactly how to instill both respect for the river and trust in his skills with his guest paddlers. As a surfer, kayaker, whitewater rafting guide and explorer, Justin brings a world-class experience to our rafting trips.

Jonny gave quite a show as he navigated his raft over Class 6 Rucka-Chucky rapid. The guests were cheering from the side of the river high above the falls since we do not allow any of our commercial guests to attempt this rapid. Jonny is one of WET's longest employed guides on our staff. He started so young that he is still a young man, and his enthusiasm never wains. His love of the river and his unique approach has brought him to a career in education. It was a natural outcome to his experiences with WET and educating our guests.

Duff was fishing on his day off nearby. The WET crew saw him on shore as he fished for trout. The guy can't stay away from this beautiful wilderness river and the trout fishing there is very good.

The cool thing about the entire weekend was WET River Trips was the only rafting trip on the river. Middle Fork American was at its supreme beauty! Crystal blue skies, 85+ degrees, beautiful white water and a group of guests who appreciated the river.

This is why we do our trips. WET guests are the best! And, we appreciate their patronage, their trust and their goodwill. We will see you all soon in a few more months for the North Fork American starting in spring of 2011.

First trip in 2011? March 4th on Friday for Class 4+ North Fork American Chamberlain Falls run. Are you gonna be there?

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